Hey, peeps!
I know some of you have been waiting for the part 4 story, apologize for the delay as I was quite tied up lately. So here it is!
Previously I mentioned that Jerry (my boyfriend back then, who is now my husband ❤️ ) left me without saying goodbye. He was arrested by the police and will be sent back to Malaysia. So I was literally left alone in the UK, taking care of our business, a Chippy (Fish & Chips Takeaway).
Without hearing any words from Jerry in the next few days, I did not know what to do and my mind was all messed up. I figured something might be wrong with the visa, hence he got arrested. Despite how much I was worried about Jerry without hearing a word from him, I still continue to run the business. On the other hand, I discussed with his sister should I go back to Malaysia too.
Since I was alone in the UK and I'm worried that my visa might have the same issue like Jerry, I think it would be better for me to go back to Malaysia. But if I am going back, what happens to our Chippy? Should I just end it like that? It's our effort in building the business, it was hard for me to just end it that way.
CJ's Takeaway = Chris & Jerry's Takeaway :)
During our discussion, I recalled that my part-time driver, Xiao Gao did mention that he has this thought of doing a small business, yet without any concrete idea. The sister and I decided to contact him and propose him to take over our Chippy.
So we called him out and asked him if he is still looking for a small business to do. He said yes.
Then I said:
"How about you take over our Chippy? I will train you and your partners on how to run the whole business and make sure you can handle it well before I leave."
Of course, I proposed a price to sell the business to him too.
After thinking for a while, he said:
"Ok, let's do this!"
So we shook hands, and the deal was confirmed.
Xiao Gao and 2 of his partners became my apprentices and started their training at the Chippy the next day. We had 3 men and a chef in the shop now. I started to teach them how to run the business, which includes:
Stations - What is the functions of each station
- Order station - How to take orders from the customers.
- Kitchen - Prepare the necessary containers for the chef
- Frying station - Frying chips, fish, and all sorts of starters.
- Sauces station - Make sure all the sauces (gravy, curry, barbeque and mushy peas) are in good condition, not too dry and not too watery.
- Wrapping station - How to wrap the food with the wrapper, method of wrapping and label it.
Fying Station
Customer Service
- Taking orders from Customers (Walked-In & Phone Calls)
- Get the customers' feedback regarding the food and service (which is really important)
- If we were late in delivery, always compensate the customers with something
Stocks (Including raw ingredients)
- How to check stocks
- When to check stocks
- How to define stocks level is low and when to stock in
- Where to stock in (I brought them to the wet market and the hypermarket)
- How to check if the raw ingredients are fresh
Preparing orders and check food quality
- How to make chips from potatoes
- How to prepare each dishes
- How to operate the cooking tools like frying box and warmer box
- How to make sure the chips and the fishes were cooked
- How to make sure the food cooked by the chef is good to serve
Potatoes to Chips Station
Marketing
- How to increase customers base
- How to distribute flyers without disturbing the residences or getting chased by the dogs 😱 🐕
- What kind of promotion can we do during certain seasons
I made it clear to them that multi-tasking is super important in a Chippy. When the shop gets busy, they will have to know what to do first and what to do next, and what to do concurrently so that the customers will get their order in the shortest possible time.
They learned something new almost every day, and they started to pick up after observing how I did it for after a week. I became an observer after that, to make sure that they can handle it well, and guided them along the way.
The 3 of them were very kind to offer me some relax time too! They were having fun working together, making jokes about each other which always got me burst out laughing 🤣 They brought me to a snooker game with them and we had so much fun then. They have been supporting me when I was alone in the UK and I'm so grateful that I have this bunch of friends.
Jerry contacted me after he got back to Malaysia. Told me what he had been through. It was not as bad as I thought. I was worried that he would be tortured in the jail 😂 He said he was quite happy with the whole experience. I was speechless for a few seconds hearing that 🤷🏻♀️
Now I had the confidence that Xiao Gao and the gang will be able to handle the shop well, I bought my flight ticket to go back to Malaysia after a month.
During that one month period, I kept in touch with Jerry, and he told me that he has decided to open a cafe in Malaysia. Knowing him very well with his entrepreneur spirit, I'm not surprised that he wanted to do his own business. What surprised me was he acted way too fast! It was just a week since he touched down in Malaysia, and he had decided which business to do!
Yet I thought we had been doing Food and Beverage business in the UK, so open a cafe make sense for us. (I was proven wrong to think that way after the cafe was opened!)
A little other incident happened when I was still in the UK within that 1 month, is that I was arranged to get married.
Yes, "was arranged" is the right word.
Here's how it goes:
Jerry called me up as usual. After talking for a while, he said:
"Oh by the way, my mom said 7th of July this year (which is the year of 2007) is a very auspicious date to get married. She has registered for us to get married on that day."
(Note: Chinese only get married on an auspicious date)
Seriously I don't know what went through my mind, well I guess maybe nothing went through my mind because all I said was:
"Oh? Ok."
And our marriage was fixed! Thanks to my mother-in-law 🤣
Thinking back about that now, I was like, what the hell happened with me that I answered such a way? 🤦🏻♀️ Maybe I just missed Jerry too much back then 😳
Jerry and I back in the UK
Finally, it's the day I'm going back to Malaysia. Xiao Gao and the gang sent me to the airport, and we hug each other saying goodbye. I can't wait to meet Jerry and my family.
After 2 months I'm backed in Malaysia, our cafe was officially opened and operates. We invested more than RM500,000 which we earned in the UK into this business. However, it only lasted for 10 months. We were so in debt and living became a problem for us. What happened in that 10 months?
I know you won't like me saying this, but let me continue that in part 5! 😆
Related Post:
My Part 1 Story: What I have been through in the UK when I was 19 years old
My Part 2 Story: I met the angels in the UK
My Part 3 Story: Goodbye Jerry