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Not a switch per se, because I still work on IT related stuff, but I started a bakery and a retail store (two separate businesses). I hired a chef and a manage

by Ayesh 5y ago

Not a switch per se, because I still work on IT related stuff, but I started a bakery and a retail store (two separate businesses). I hired a chef and a manager to do the work professionally, and I pay for wages, rent, material, etc. But I get to learn the immense efforts it takes for a brownie to be on a table, for a cake to bring a smile to face, and a cheesecake to melt in the mouth. It was a fresh experience, and I really like the change of pace it brought. We have been experimenting with waffles, brownie flavors, cheese cakes, etc. It feels like buying a new domain every day!

v-yadli 5y ago
> It feels like buying a new domain every day! ... and gain new domain knowledge every day (sorry :D How about version-controlled ingredients, chief-as-a-service CI pipelines, taste issues tracker, things like that?
moneywoes 5y ago
How is the cashflow?
pearjuice 5y ago
Any insight on initial investment required and ROI? Is this actually passive or you still have to do a lot of back-office work?
hieu229 5y ago
Try banana bread too!
gmays 5y ago
Interesting, have you leveraged your tech background to help the business? I'm in a similar spot--my wife bought a retail business (gift shop + dress boutique) with her sister around 2018. My tech background made some things easier, like modernizing how they operate (bluetooth scanners, iPads, inventory management vs. the old clunky stuff that was in place). Retail is a hard way to make a dollar, but very interesting -- I manage the business's finances and bought the commercial building they operate out of (and rent it to their business at a loss), so I've been learning a lot. For context, the business has grown ~30% YoY the last few years. But to continue growth I think we'll need to expand business online (90%+ of sales are in person). "Sell online" seems harder and harder these days due to the competition--building to thrive in brick and mortar is different than online. During COVID they started weekly Facebook live shows which do well, but the audience is mostly local. Since it is a brick and mortar businesses they already have processes for inventory, etc. in place with thousands of SKU's and are next door to the local post office, so I think there are some opportunities to leverage that into unique business opportunities. For example, they are a gift shop and specialize in helping people find gifts. What if they turned that into a service where people submit who they need a gift for + their budget and the store sends a gift to the person? If I ever take a few months off I'd probably spend time thinking about how to leverage the unique advantages of old-school brick and mortar businesses like this.
- Schweigi 5y ago
  My wife is doing the online business for her mother’s brick and mortar business. Unfortunately having the brick and mortar store doesn’t help all that much for the inventory situation. That’s because you can sell 1000 different SKUs with only 1 of each in inventory in a brick and mortar store. But online you better have only 1 SKU and 1000 of that in the inventory. It takes effort to put a SKU online as you need a description, picture etc. for each. You might want to keep that in mind when looking at helping your wife & sister to bring their business online. For example by having a reduced availability or offering a live video call service walking around the store and let customers choose that way.
  - gmays 5y ago
    Thank you. Yes my wife has had the same trouble putting stuff online: much effort to put it online without the inventory depth to make it worth it.
- jrumbut 5y ago
  > What if they turned that into a service where people submit who they need a gift for + their budget and the store sends a gift to the person? I've built sonething like this ~3 times as a consultant and I've never seen it get meaningful usage. Somehow it still sounds like a genius idea. Maybe if they have a following that is personally loyal to them it will work well? I hate to be discouraging but I might see if the idea gets traction with your customers by mentioning it on Facebook Live and running it through the chat before building out anything complicated.
  - gmays 5y ago
    Thanks for the insight--that's a good suggestion!
  - jareklupinski 5y ago
    I just watched a video about a Japanese website where you can put in an item you received as a gift, and it recommends items that are 30-50% of the gift's value that would make for an appropriate okaeshi or "return gift" https://tinytotintokyo.com/gift-giving-in-japan-uchiiwai-%E5%86%85%E7%A5%9D%E3%81%84 https://tinytotintokyo.com/gift-giving-in-japan-uchiiwai-%E5...
nouveaux 5y ago
Where is your bakery/store located? I would love to visit a bakery owned by another HN user.
zschuessler 5y ago
It's a dream of mine to exit into running a bakery/cafe when I retire from IT. So much in fact I've held off on buying a house. Have you written about your experience anywhere? And if not would you be open to sharing more of your experiences with it? Cheers.

by Ayesh 5y ago

v-yadli 5y ago

> It feels like buying a new domain every day! ... and gain new domain knowledge every day (sorry :D How about version-controlled ingredients, chief-as-a-service CI pipelines, taste issues tracker, things like that?

moneywoes 5y ago

How is the cashflow?

pearjuice 5y ago

Any insight on initial investment required and ROI? Is this actually passive or you still have to do a lot of back-office work?

hieu229 5y ago

Try banana bread too!

gmays 5y ago

Interesting, have you leveraged your tech background to help the business? I'm in a similar spot--my wife bought a retail business (gift shop + dress boutique) with her sister around 2018. My tech background made some things easier, like modernizing how they operate (bluetooth scanners, iPads, inventory management vs. the old clunky stuff that was in place). Retail is a hard way to make a dollar, but very interesting -- I manage the business's finances and bought the commercial building they operate out of (and rent it to their business at a loss), so I've been learning a lot. For context, the business has grown ~30% YoY the last few years. But to continue growth I think we'll need to expand business online (90%+ of sales are in person). "Sell online" seems harder and harder these days due to the competition--building to thrive in brick and mortar is different than online. During COVID they started weekly Facebook live shows which do well, but the audience is mostly local. Since it is a brick and mortar businesses they already have processes for inventory, etc. in place with thousands of SKU's and are next door to the local post office, so I think there are some opportunities to leverage that into unique business opportunities. For example, they are a gift shop and specialize in helping people find gifts. What if they turned that into a service where people submit who they need a gift for + their budget and the store sends a gift to the person? If I ever take a few months off I'd probably spend time thinking about how to leverage the unique advantages of old-school brick and mortar businesses like this.

Schweigi 5y ago
My wife is doing the online business for her mother’s brick and mortar business. Unfortunately having the brick and mortar store doesn’t help all that much for the inventory situation. That’s because you can sell 1000 different SKUs with only 1 of each in inventory in a brick and mortar store. But online you better have only 1 SKU and 1000 of that in the inventory. It takes effort to put a SKU online as you need a description, picture etc. for each. You might want to keep that in mind when looking at helping your wife & sister to bring their business online. For example by having a reduced availability or offering a live video call service walking around the store and let customers choose that way.
- gmays 5y ago
  Thank you. Yes my wife has had the same trouble putting stuff online: much effort to put it online without the inventory depth to make it worth it.
jrumbut 5y ago
> What if they turned that into a service where people submit who they need a gift for + their budget and the store sends a gift to the person? I've built sonething like this ~3 times as a consultant and I've never seen it get meaningful usage. Somehow it still sounds like a genius idea. Maybe if they have a following that is personally loyal to them it will work well? I hate to be discouraging but I might see if the idea gets traction with your customers by mentioning it on Facebook Live and running it through the chat before building out anything complicated.
- gmays 5y ago
  Thanks for the insight--that's a good suggestion!
- jareklupinski 5y ago
  I just watched a video about a Japanese website where you can put in an item you received as a gift, and it recommends items that are 30-50% of the gift's value that would make for an appropriate okaeshi or "return gift" https://tinytotintokyo.com/gift-giving-in-japan-uchiiwai-%E5%86%85%E7%A5%9D%E3%81%84 https://tinytotintokyo.com/gift-giving-in-japan-uchiiwai-%E5...

nouveaux 5y ago

Where is your bakery/store located? I would love to visit a bakery owned by another HN user.

zschuessler 5y ago

It's a dream of mine to exit into running a bakery/cafe when I retire from IT. So much in fact I've held off on buying a house. Have you written about your experience anywhere? And if not would you be open to sharing more of your experiences with it? Cheers.