Lacking Noah's ark...

Back in December we were so immersed in all the planning for Cuca that we hardly realized that the weather in Bali was gradually changing. Summer had been amazing; the cold wind from Australia’s winter brought perfect temperatures and the driest months of the year. The raining season started gently in November but by mid-December was unstoppable. One of those first rainy mornings we happened to pass by the restaurant site and were shocked by the horror scene: our beloved garden lounge to-be was flooded and this was only the beginning of the monsoon season!!!

Frantic calls and emails followed: we had to address this problem before starting construction!!!! During the next few days we found out that the situation was even more critical. Bali infrastructure leaves much to be desired and there isn’t a proper system to get rid of any excess water even if we managed to collect it within our land. We had to come up with a clever solution and our contractor was the only person we knew who understands about pipes, water and geology. This is his master plan, right now being implemented:

The idea is to let the rain water infiltrate easily into the soil to reach the “water table” (natural water level in the soil) instead of just running-off on the surface that is what creates puddling and floods on the garden.

To facilitate this, infiltration wells are dug by removing the soil within. A “geotextile layer” is then applied to filter the water and prevent the sand from going through into the well together with the rain water, what would cause landslides.

The well is then filled with rock piles kept in place with a steel string cage. The rocks let the water go through to reach the “water table” and are covered with stones and soil to grow back the grass.

This system is supposed to be highly effective but have limitations in case of extreme rainfall as it would not work when the water tables are full and the water has no place to go…

Anyway and as you can guess, our contractor is now our hero. He has rescued Cuca from the floods and we will be forever grateful.

Wells being dug in our garden

Infiltration well

Rocks to fill the wells

A meeting of the minds

Kevin is desperate for jumping into a professional kitchen and all of us around him can feel (and suffer) his urge to get going, so we all decided to prioritize the kitchen. The idea is that although construction will be still in progress at the dining room area, Kevin will be able to start cooking.

The meeting you see in this photos is between the contractors and the kitchen designers and suppliers. We had to review every detail of the drawings made by the designers to make sure the contractors understood it and found it feasible. We also had to identify potential conflicts between the structure of the building and Kevin’s dream kitchen.

It was really interesting for us to see how engineers analyze drawings and what issues are critical when approving final designs: gas pipes, gutters, air ducts, electricity outlets... Our kitchen is especially tricky because apart from being open and thus very visible, we came out with the idea of playing with different elevations and that turned out to be very difficult to implement. You need to understand and coordinate multiple heights: the kitchen equipment, the cooks, the bar counter, the stools, the customers… A headache that we hope will be worth it when you see the end result.  

Despite the several complex issues derived from design, the team managed to find the way around them and make sure our original ideas were respected when planning for their implementation. What a relief!

Gas VS Electricity

Kevin’s master plan for his kitchen before moving to Bali was to get all electrical equipment. After years facing open fires, he was convinced that gas is messy and electric stoves and equipment are the way to go especially for open kitchens. During numerous meetings with our designers the focus was electricity but sometime down this long road of finalizing the kitchen the engineer uttered: “Well, with all this equipment you are going to require as much electricity as a Balinese village…” This comment sounded off an alarm… We have heard a few people say that electricity is quite expensive in Bali and if our consumption was that high… oopps… But before changing our entire concept we had to gather more information and getting actual numbers was really difficult. Nobody in the island was using this type of equipment in its electrical version so we could only guess.

Our contractor, Pak Didik, discussing structure details with the gas supplier.

Time passed by and Kevin was quieter than usual (something rather unusual) until one sunny morning he dropped the bomb: “Virginia, I think we better switch all the equipment to gas”. Surprisingly for him, I couldn’t agree more: to settle now for an option that would forever carry a high monthly cost was not the way to start our project. So determinedly we met the kitchen suppliers and with the best of our smiles we asked them to change all the equipment. Together we found ways to adapt it to an open kitchen and we kept a couple of appliances electric as they would not be consuming too much power.

This week we met a supplier for the gas piping equipment and after showing us the most shocking sales video we have ever seen (happy customers using their services and national news of a huge fire at a restaurant using the competitor’s services), we learned that the installation is quite expensive but the consumption cost is really low (especially when you compare it with the very high electricity cost on the island). Unfortunately there are more cons: we found out that the ugly gas pipes must come from the ceiling and cannot be hidden beneath the floor. Given our open kitchen concept, if we cannot find a good way to hide them, you will be first-hand witnesses to our clever cost effective strategy :)

Let there be light

If there is something that contributes to create a great atmosphere in a restaurant, it is lighting. This is something that restaurateurs either entirely overlook or become obsessed with as the possibilities seem endless.

Cuca will enjoy natural light during the day with its unique open space design, but how to create a magical intimate environment in the evenings? We had an idea of what type of atmosphere we want in each space of the restaurant but we had no clue on how to achieve that result. We needed our interior designers to help us with the type of lighting required and they will also need the support of a lighting consultant to determine the specifications of each lighting device. A long chain of people that need to trust each other and agree despite all having different opinions and interests in mind.

For the bar our interior designers chose a set of fashionable and gorgeous lights from overseas that look great but cost a small fortune. We, who are responsible for the budgets, started to think of options available on the island to find more affordable prices and save the additional shipping cost. The designers showed their concern for local quality and we thought of the potential problems related to servicing overseas products. As you see, everyone is right.

For the dining room our designers proposed a concept completely based on lighting. We were very happy to agree this time with them as we loved their vision but our partner expressed his concern for the electricity cost in Bali. Once again, everyone is right.

We are still facing this dilemma and are trying to find a solution that addresses everyone’s concerns. Not easy, but we like to be surrounded by professionals who care and have principles. And anyway, balance between cost, look and long term feasibility are factors that we would need to take into consideration no matter who is involved, so better to have passionate professionals who know what they are talking about. At the end of the day, we are sure there will be light.

A day in our sandals

You may be wondering how our days pass by on this beautiful island and how busy can we be if Cuca is not even open. Being distractions dangerously reachable, it may well look like we are spending our days getting a tan and drinking mojitos.

Well, this post is going to reveal the truth of our island life. While all the Balinese walk around giving away their gorgeous smiles, telling us to relax and being a living proof of balance with their environment, we must confess that we struggle to follow their example and advice. This is what a very typical day in our new world is like:

• Alarm kicks off at 6.30am. We need to get up to beat the jam! 
• 7.15: we jump in the car and make our way flowing among rivers of motorbikes going to work, women carrying market products on their heads as they make their way home, ceremonies filled with beautiful white costumed worshippers… 
• At 8.30 we arrive at our first destination, a company where we are asking for a second quotation for our uniforms. We meet a lovely lady who spends an hour telling us about options and their respective pros and cons.
• It is 10am when we walk into our printer’s shop. We have brought them our designs and today we need to select the colors from their Pantone. It seems they cannot make round stickers in small quantities as they require an expensive custom-made knife. The containers we have chosen for our retail products are round so after discussing for long and looking at different options, we have no choice but to make thousands of labels… we hope you all support us as we have stickers enough for everyone.
• We now meet the company that is going to engrave our cutlery. They have prepared a sample but unfortunately the result is not as good as we thought it would be. We need to find a solution… what about painting the engraved logo to cover the uneven wood? “It may work”, they tell us, so we need to go back to their workshop in a week time to see the new samples. 
• Time to collect our “beloved” round containers… This is a hectic Arabic run shop where everyone is immersed in captivating tasks: they make and bottle perfume, among other products, so their job is to smell and smell again. While we wait for our receipt, the owner comes to us and asks us if he can help us with something else… we look at each other and come up with an amazing idea. You will have to wait to find out more…
• We speed towards an area called Kerobokan, where all the interior design shops are located. We need to find hanging lamps for Cuca. Our designers have come up with a few proposals but they are completely out of our league (designer lights from Italy…) and we really want to find Indonesian alternatives as part of Cuca’s philosophy of going local. After visiting 5 or 6 shops we find one where the owner tell us he can custom-made all type of lamps. We can’t believe our luck! It usually takes us weeks to find the suppliers we are looking for! We get his contact, shake his hand, returned his smile and tell him we love him.

• Our empty stomachs strike at 4pm… we don’t have time to stop for lunch so we buy some bread and eat in the car on the way to the construction site. We want to have a look at the progress and at the same time collect some paper samples for our menus. 
• On our way home we stop at a servicing centre. Our car has been working as hard as us and needs a little oil change. 
• We get back home at 7. Time to check our emails and get back to suppliers, interior designers, contractors… We also send emails to everyone we met during the day recapping our meetings and “gently” reminding them of the looming deadlines. 
• I check once again our “to do” list and take the last few decisions of the day while Kevin starts preparing dinner. 
• We smiled at each other and tell ourselves we need to take it easy. Things will only get more hectic when Cuca opens and we will need to be rested… Sigh. 

Can I get a menu, please?

One of this week´s missions was finding our menu holders. This is an item that has taken us long to design because we wanted something different than the typical leather folder.

We squeezed our brains to come up with an idea that we were happy with both functionally and esthetically. Apart from looking good, the holder must be easy clean, long lasting and with a simple system that enables us to change the menu pages frequently so they always look fresh.

We spent months discarding lousy ideas until we found the right one and when we finally did, we still had to see how to produce it. We then went from shop to shop asking for what seemed impossible and after being met with nothing but confused Balinese faces and even considering to make it ourselves, all our problems were miraculously solved when we walked into this shop, recommended by another of our suppliers. Despite having literally hundreds of menus on display, it was great to see nobody had thought of our idea (this made us smile… it is so damn hard to be original nowadays!) but they still were willing to help us by producing something from scratch.

We now know where to have our menus made and only need to understand the sizes of paper available in Bali (yes, this is not “paperland”) to finalize the measurements of our holders. Can’t wait to see them finished and more so you holding them!

The faces of Cuca

We are now focusing on analyzing our staffing needs to start advertising the positions we want to offer. This may sound pretty simple but we need to create the foundations for a solid human resources structure that attracts great talents to Cuca.

We have started by drafting our organization chart in which we establish departments (culinary, marketing, etc.) and levels and classes within each of them to make clear the reporting line and the respective compensation packages.

The second step was to identify the stages for the hiring process. For example, we will first need someone who works closely with Kevin to test and study his recipes. We will then need a core team to be trained under Cuca’s values, products and services that later will be able to train the rest of the staff. The size of consecutive teams will depend on our sales forecast for each period and increase as our business does.

Another task is then to describe each position and define its respective job scope and remuneration. Finally we will also have to compile this plus other relevant information into an Employee Handbook that will work as a reference tool for all our staff.

The greatest challenge for us now is to design packages that are attractive enough to appeal to great employees (Cuca bets for on its people) and at the same time try to keep costs low as we are obviously working only with sales projections and not actual revenue. It is also difficult to decide the exact number of staff for each stage: we may be busier at the beginning with guests who want to try out Cuca and thus we would need to be ready for high numbers or we may be less busy until we get better known.

Well, at this stage we are getting used to face option after option. We are learning to overcome uncertainties by trusting our knowledge and experience and to move forward despite the obvious fear of making mistakes. What a journey…

New Year, First Guest

How have you all started this promising 2013? Ours kicked off in a big way… Our first guest showed up a bit earlier than expected in the midst of Cuca's newly dug foundations!

Yes, as you see we have finally started construction.

We witnessed the first days of the digging in awe, hardly believing this is really happening and getting goose bumps looking at so much action, all directed to build up our dream.

Now the clock is ticking and although we are walking towards the right direction, we realize there are still hundreds of things to be done.

Prioritizing is key, especially because being in an island the lead time for almost every product is 3 months so we need to make sure we place on time the necessary orders.

On the other hand, decisions made from now on are critical since there is now way back as the digger moves unstoppably.

As our adrenaline is peaking up, please expect continued excitement attacks from us!

Sent to chase a wild goose

I would have never imagined how many things can go wrong simply by choosing the wrong floor for a professional kitchen. If you are half as naif as me and believe you would be safe by simply asking the contractor, you are in for a big surprise...

Last week we met our contractors for the first time and they kept on asking us questions we had not yet thought of. One of the many was about the kitchen flooring. They recommended "epoxy" but before we said yes I, the tireless researcher, thought we better did some research before confirming our choice. This decision unexpectedly triggered a chain of field trips, meetings, findings and surprises that kept us busy for the week.

Our goal is finding a flooring solution that stands the test of time, resists chemicals, spills and stains, it is hygienic, easy to clean, anti-slip, affordable and looks good. Secondary research showed a few options which we narrowed down to three, and a deeper look into them proved that each had unique pros and cons. Let me enlighten you:

Epoxy quartz floor

It is applied in multiple steps. First a resin is painted on the floor, then quartz is broadcast into the resin. The dry quartz then soaks up much of the resin that would otherwise soak into the floor. After it cures, an epoxy is painted over the quartz.

Pros: it is highly resistant, hygienic, exceptionally durable and soft on the feet.
Cons: it is quite expensive compared to the other options, it chips so it needs to be replaced periodically, it could be slippery and the biggest con of all, it requires a very long time to prepare both the surface and each layer, and extremely skillful labor, quite scarce here.

These are some of the scary consequences of a poorly applied epoxy flooring:

Tile

It is usually made out of natural clay and applied to the floor with a troweled-on cement based mortar. 

Pros: it is comparatively inexpensive and easy to install, can be individually replaced and readily available.

Cons: it is very hard on the feet, it is a porous material so can easily grow bacteria (specially in the grout joints), it breaks quite easily both under impact or as water eventually goes through it and the grouts are very difficult to keep clean as grease, water and food particles get trapped.

Vinyl flooring

This is a finished flooring material used primarily in commercial and institutional applications. It is made up of a mixture of polyvinyl chloride and plasticizers pigments are added for color. Vinyl flooring is usually flexible, fine textured and appears to be relatively non-porous. It is applied to a smooth, leveled sub-floor using a specially formulated vinyl adhesive that remains tacky but does not completely dry.

Pros: it is soft on the feet, it looks good when new and is cheap. Also it is quick and easy to both install and clean and it has high resilience to abrasion and impact damage.

Cons: it does not work very well at all under wet conditions. Almost always, the water gets underneath and the floor starts coming off.

Lost in these lists of advantages and disadvantages, we decided we needed to better understand our options in Bali so we visited several professional kitchens around the island to see what they were using and get their opinion. The outcome was a myriad of advice. Our decision would change every time we ended a conversation or faced the disturbing truth of a wrong choice.

Will keep you posted on our decision but as you can see, there is never a dull day in our adventures in Bali.

Pick up table 12!

While regular cash registers used to be acceptable, it seems that a restaurant cannot longer efficiently operate without a Point-of-Sale (POS) system, a must in today's technologically advanced world. 

We recently decided it was time to start checking our options for POS and understanding their prices so we have met a few suppliers who briefed us on their respective systems. 

Basic systems are commonly offered in restaurant packages and usually are a combination of hardware and software. They typically include: a touchscreen monitor to enter data (for example customers’ orders), a receipt printer, a cash drawer, a reservation system, kitchen printers, wireless tableside order-entry devices, etc. 

Beyond serving as a method for collecting payments, POS systems also help track sales and inventory and streamline the accounting process. For example, if you start the day with 50 bottles of beer, after entering customers’ orders of 40 bottles, the system will alert you that the restaurant is low in beer stock so you know when you need to order more. Furthermore, they are a powerful communication tool between the dining room and the kitchen. After the waiter has entered a guest’s complete order, he can then transmit to the kitchen, through the POS, the timing on when each dish needs to be served.

Premium features are really smart. For example, nowadays POS can split bills, get instant pairing recommendations to help upsell, reward repeat customers, alerts for customers’ long waiting times, etc. 

The good old days of a waiter coming to your table with a pen and a notepad seem to be coming to an end…