Joinsupermoms

The first time I had a Malasada, it was gifted to me late winter in February by my amazing Madeirense hosts at my AirBnb.

These malasadas were more than a mere fried dough. They were flavoured with cinnamon and barely coated with sugar. A soft chewiness and just barely sweet, so I could keep dipping bun after bun in my rich sugarcane honey.

It reminded me of the sweet warmth of home, but not quite.

It came with so much personality. It was made by grandma and brought by her son and his lovely wife. They told me stories of what to do and where to go in Madeira. They weren’t just some malasadas in a stainless-steel bowl.

Fast forward to the December holidays when the circus came to town. Though they called themselves a circus, it was more of a travelling carnival. I was terrified at the rollercoaster rides, but my daughter was having none of it. There were two particularly heart stopping rides and we were going to ride on both.

I mustered up some courage, held my heart in my hands and rode both rollercoasters to my daughter delight. I survived. My reward? Churros. What’s that, I asked? Atrocious! How could I not know what churros are, asked my daughter.

One thing that came with the circus rollercoasters and bumper cars were the myriads of colourful food trucks and stands sprinkled all around. I couldn’t count the pastries, snacks, drinks and street foods on offer but one thing that I definitely couldn’t miss spotting were the malasadas.

And what do you know, it was always malasadas and churros like peas in a pod.

This was brilliant, I thought. I was going for the malasadas, my daughter all about the churros.

Of course, I told her the story of the malasadas, while I discovered her churros. An unhealthy indulgence, you say. Well, it was the holidays served with a brilliant and sustainable business idea.

For me, it was the creative way they married the old and the new, keeping the old alive. But it is also a beautiful way to sustain culture and identity while adapting to fresh, ever evolving tastes.

If you’re a foodie, hopefully you serve traditional dishes for a living. Have you considered catering to the palates of visitors who travel to your destination?

I didn’t travel for food tourism; I actually live here. But here are my 10 commandments for your food business from a foreign resident to the foodie chef.

Stay original. There were malasadas and there were churros. There were no chulasadas. There were no malasaros. There certainly could have been, and I am sure they would have found a waiting market.

But there’s nothing like the original flavour. Every successful brand keeps the original or traditional recipe. Because it almost always has a huge classic market waiting.

Know your competition. There were churros. Not necessarily tastier or healthier, just different, with a trendy dip-friendly shape. So they would cater to a specific crowd and if that was the trending crowd you needed to keep business relevant, you’d be ready to serve it.

This might involve some data-driven decision making.

It’s not enough to know what the competition is serving, but what makes the product so likeable and by whom. In this case, a younger generation. Hence another reason not to do away with the original, so you don’t lose an existing market. But to expand by satisfying an emerging market.

Marketing Promotion. Take advantage of national days, holidays and events. This was a circus, but you could use any event or outing to showcase your culinary art.

Share your content on social media and partner with food bloggers and brands that are popular in your area.

Understand your Customers. Each customer is unique and different. Some of us come for the experience and others want to offer critique – constructive or otherwise. Others are just hungry and might swing either way depending on what and how they are served.

It’s up to you to understand and analyse each customer with the objective of identifying with them so they can identify with you. If you’re serving something new, consider partnering it with something they know or offering free samples of the new.

And I can’t say this enough. If your customer is not happy with the service, offer a replacement or be willing to refund.

Strategic Planning. Closely linked to knowing your customers and marketing promotions is being intentional about what type of foodie you attract and what destinations to target.

Carefully research locations where your target clientele most often visit and be ready to serve them.

Innovate. Get creative with your seasonal campaigns by offering flavours and colours that blend with the season or provide some comfort. Some people had never heard for sugarcane honey, but they had them with churros at the circus.

Standards. In the food business, sanitation and hygiene, proper preservation through temperature control, allergen management and labelling are all non-negotiable.

While food safety and best practices may vary from place to place and depend on the type of food you serve and the scale of your service, basic rules apply everywhere.

So, if you’re in a hot kitchen, be sure there is a way to keep your staff from getting sweaty. Never use your bare hands to serve food directly to your client – even churros. Unless you’re kneading dough, everything else can be handled with equipment or gloves.

I found it reassuring to see a visible sink and cleaning area in the truck. And it made a difference that surfaces were wiped after every use.

Efficiency. This was not the first malasadas and churros truck we came to. The first truck had 1 sales guy just too overwhelmed with clearing and sorting to notice we were looking at his menu.

The stand we bought from had 2 quick hands, both smiling and in gleaming readiness to attend to us. They were also able to answer my daughter’s questions before serving us.

Also, they let up pick up some of our supplies ourselves, like tissue and even our preferred sauces. That meant the staff could focus on frying and serving the pastry hot and fresh.

Talent Management. Treat your staff with dignity and respect. Each staff has a strength that you should be able to build on using a transparent reward system.

Recognise and reward each staff in a way that best appeals to them. Design a clear-cut career progression plan and let staff understand their role in the plan.

Digital Presence. This goes without saying in our digital world. Make sure you are on social media platforms that serve your clients. Staying afloat in the food business is no easy task. Even if you’re not doing deliveries, be sure to let yummy pictures and irresistible short videos guide your customers to you.

I was too busy chomping away to notice if our malasadas and churros truck did deliveries, but I did notice they had a scannable QR code on their packaging.

Finally, in addition to the 10 commandments above, I thought I should mention, though obvious, that you should offer a great product. Love your food. It should be tasty, rich and flavourful.

You shouldn’t expend all this energy only to lose clients to a product that doesn’t deliver. Really, go back to grandma’s love and prepare a recipe that even youngsters couldn’t resist. A recipe with a story bursting through its flavours, just itching to be told.

Staying original but creative, maintaining high standards and managing clients, staff and marketing promotions are some methods that I observed at the circus, but you may have tried others that worked for you. Would you like to share?