Thank you all for the nice and positive reactions to my last blog! It’s quite scary for me to write, but you all seem to like it, so I’ll just keep doing it;-)
These last four weeks have flown by… I keep taking a lot op small steps, as it seems to me in a lot of different directions, but with a bit of luck all leading to the same goal. Sometimes I find it hard, because due to my lack of experience in this whole matter I am not always sure if I am taking the right steps and if I don’t skip any important steps. One day that can make me really insecure and the other day everything seems to get in a flow because of new resources, help or other things coming my way.
I registered Mrs. Italy with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce and opened a business bank account! Soon, hopefully approximately as from the second half of May, I will convert my plans for crowdfunding into action.My idea is to give everybody who would like to help me, the possibility to buy vouchers of 25, 50 or 100 euros. With that I aim to collect 10.000 euro. As soon as the pizzeria will be open, people can pay with the vouchers and receive a 10% discount. This discount will function as a kind of interest on the funding amount. This way I can show that a lot of people believe in me and I will be able to come up with a financial contribution, which might be necessary to receive funding for the remaining amount…
In March I went to the seminar ‘Being a successful entrepreneur’ by Erik Smitshuis. He is one of the founders of an important educational institute in The Netherlands. In an energetic way he talked about the way he managed to get where he is today and which mindset and competencies helped him most. A few things that stuck with me are:
- “Take the road less travelled: observe the mass and do the opposite. Where can I make a difference?”
- “Don’t let business take over. Real, open conversations are beautiful and provide energy. Always keep asking yourself what drives you, what makes you tick. Who are your supporters (and how often do you show them how happy you are to have them?)”
- There is no such thing as a quick way, everything has to go step by step, so enjoy the journey. Where it is scary, it will bring you te most.”
- “Intellectual Honesty’ – See things like they are, not better than they are and not worse than they are. Stay connected.”
- “Silence, reflection, study and vitality: keep renewing, keep learning, seek a great mentor.”
He kept everybody alert and awake by facilitating some fun group exercises and energizers. “Shake your neighbour’s hand and tell him or her in one minute who you are.” To ask everybody after that: “Who had a nice conversation!?” “Rub your hands and give yourself a facial massage. Rub your hands and give your neighbour a facial massage!”
Ik registered my website www.mrsitaly.com and Fleur’s brother made a start with the design. Work in progress, I need to find some great pizza pictures and write some decent website texts but it ís a start and it already has a really professional look and feel, layout wise!
Furthermore Fleur, Dania and I did a brainstorm session about core values, target audience and corporate identity. I am still in resistance about the logo, haha. Darling not yet killed…
We determined three core values, but a few days ago I read them again and decided to change one;-) Now they are: ‘distinctive’, ‘personal’ and ‘gezellig’, which is a Dutch word that comes quite close to cosy.
It is nog so easy to determine the target audience either. Although we were quite unanimous about who are not part of that: youngsters that prefer cheap New York pizzas and don’t care a lot what those taste like, as long as they are cheap (apart from Dania’s classmates who are my best testers, help improve the concept and can’t wait until the place will be opened!)
A few weeks ago I passed by my former colleagues of PGGM. So nice to see my Continuous Improvement friends there; they immediately started brainstorming about target audiences and suitable location 😉 I probably miss that the most… I am trying to find out a lot of things on my own these days, but during these brainstorming moments I often get a nudge in the right direction regarding ideas and energy. I will create/look for more of these moments in the future! Also my phone call with Anna was a moment like that. Through her connections I got introduced to an account manager of a big Dutch bank with whom I had a good exploratory interview about funding possibilities. He brought along a colleague of his who has some more hospitality companies in his portfolio. It was quite scary to formally present my ideas, but fortunately they liked them.
I had an interview with the centre manager of my town, Hilversum, to talk about available locations, the Community’s developmental plans and contacts with brokers. Next week I have an appointment with a broker who might help me find a suitable location.
This week I visited an available location in the center of my town Hilversum Probably the place is not really affordable, but it was funny to walk around pretending to be a business woman who knows what she’s doing…;-)
From 19 to 26 March I unexpectedly left for Rome to participate in a special pizza course to learn how to bake ‘Pinse Romane’. Exactly one spot was left on the course, so that was mine…! Pinsa Romana is a Roman pizza made of very crispy dough containing a lot of water. een pizza van heel krokant pizzadeeg dat van speciaal samengesteld meel en met heel veel water gemaakt wordt. Those are very hard to make; I had been trying to make them for a while, but I couldn’t get it done. Now I know why not!(And now I can;-) Unfortunately I can’t test those on you, as I need a professional dough machine for it ;-(
Through my neighbour Sandra I got in contact with her boss, the owner of a bakery chain. For some years now he has been developing dough without E numbers using lean, a natural kind of yeast. This could also be interesting for pizza dough… As soon as I will have something close to a professional pizza kitchen, I will do some experiments with that with his help.
End of March I studied the new Hygiene Code and passed the exam. It wasn’t very complicated, but still: check! 
I also found a suitable coffee and milk art course that I am planning to do in Milan next July. Good coffee with a drawing of a pizza in the cappuccino foam really is indispensable, haha!
(OT: at home we have a litter of kittens at the moment, so this one is fun too!)
During the past 10 days I replaced the pizza baker in a pizzeria near my house again because he went on holiday. It was the busiest Easter weekend ever, but fortunately everything went well. I had an opportunity to practise, got some more experience and most of all, I learnt a lot about how to run a restaurant!
Last but not least I had a meeting with a professional hospitality consultant of the Dutch Royal Hospitality Association. He helped me get a clearer view on some facts, i.e. if I am doing the right things, if the concept I am trying to develop will be distinctive enough and what I should be doing next.
The coming weeks I’ll have to get clear which dishes to put on my menu and determine cost prices. You would assume I already have very clear ideas on that, but no! Of course I have ideas for the concept and I made approximately 500 photographs of pizzeria menus in The Netherlands and abroad, so inspiration shouldn’t have to be the issue. To complete the financial picture this step is essential, so hopefully I will be able to magically transform the black spots in front of my eyes into a super tasty menu… To be continued!
Mrs. Italy 