Hi! How are you all doing today? Do you have a pretty long agenda to get accomplished?

Winning doesn't always mean it has to be a huge accomplishment. Quite literally, if you got up an hour earlier than you normally do, that's considered a win. Why? Because a change in our normal routine to better ourselves will produce positive results if done with good intention. Sometimes as business owners, we strive to win at everything we do, but the reality of it is, we're constantly putting out fires, solving problems, negotiating better rates and deals to keep our profit margins at a reasonable amount (livable amount), etc. All the daily obligations may make us feel like lesser winners. So today, let's start with: WHAT'S YOUR WIN FOR TODAY? (You can totally do this at the end of the night when the day is done :) )

The key word: VALUE When you apply values and provide VALUE to your food and/or service, you immediately stand out above the rest. When I was two months young in my food truck, I met another food trucker owner who had four running trucks, drove an insanely sup'd up Escalade, and seemed really proud of his food. I bought tacos from his truck and it was the worst I'd ever had. The carne asada tasted old and dried up like jerky. Tacos were cold and garnishes were wilted and dried out. It was evident that I was served an old batch of food. I politely and casually brought up to him about providing fresh food. He said it didn't matter. Per food code, we could serve food up to seven days old. I didn't agree with it and stated I cooked everything fresh so yes, in turn, my customers do wait a little longer. He responded with, "Why? the longer you take, the less money you make." It has since stuck with me like glue. A constant reminder to never mimic his business models. He wanted fast cash at the expense of potentially not having returning customers. Not for me. Value is so important in the food industry because people can actually taste it. It's palatable. It's obvious. There's no cutting corners. And if you don't have value in what you offer, you don't have appropriate leverage power to raise your prices.

Good morning Academy! I think the best route to navigate all of the information in an organized manner is to release a daily valued topic. It may or not apply to you, so if there's a specific topic you'd like me to go over, please comment! We have all walks of professional life here with culinary entrepreneurs and aspiring ones so I am trying to find the perfect balance. Please regularly check the classroom tab. I am actively working on providing you step-by-step informational course guides and in order to make it flow, I have to start from the beginning! (Finding a niche) and I know most of you already have one, but this helps aspiring foodpreneurs figure out what they really want to do. Then I'll tap into many more topics throughout our time here. I hope it brings you value and please always ask questions and spark conversations!

Hi everyone! And thank you Barbie for opening up this group for us. I was born and raised in Taiwan, traveled in different parts of Asia, Europe, and then came to the states for education and work kept me here ever since. My favorite thing to cook is a fusion of Asian foods/western foods. I kind just combine what I’ve seen/tasted/known and put them together if they make sense in my head 😂 usually they turned out pretty well but sometimes it’s a flop haha. I guess my cooking is what they would call “inauthentic ally authentic”. I cook what tastes good, sometimes in more authentic way, sometimes with a twist. My ultimate dream would be to open an Art Cafe where it’s adjacent to an art studio space so ppl can come in, do art, or get something to eat in the cafe area too. For adults to decompress with creativity and foods 😌 Very excited to be here, learn as much as I can from everyone and cheer everyone on!!