The Best Way to Save Up for Your Dream.

"How did you save so much money in such a short time???"

We get this question often, and many of the people that asked us would go on and say, "Oh I can't never do that. I have so many bills to pay and I don't make enough to save."

I really do understand how that feels. I've felt like that until 2 years ago, and never understood how anybody could put away money in the savings account. What I learned was that the art of saving was really an art that required a lot of practice and a solid strategy.

I think many people are doing this, as I was before. "Okay, whatever I have left at the end of the month, I'll put that in the savings account."  When you are going about it that way, nothing is left at the end of the month.  The first key to saving successfully is to "treat the monthly saving amount as a bill to pay."

The second key, which actually might be more important than the first one is budgeting, or how to budget "correctly."  For this method, you'll need Excel, 2 checking accounts at the same bank and a saving account at another bank (I recommend American Express Personal Savings personally, because it has the highest interest rate.)

Here is the spreadsheet format I like using. This also includes the area to record cash tips taken home daily. If you work for a salary or wages only, disregard that part.  The key to using this format is to enter all income as positive and all bills (payable) as negative numbers, so that you can tally up at the end of the month.

If you are like me who works on tips and hourly wages, you should project your tips income very conservatively.  If you receive exactly same amount in checks every month then use that amount.  The payable items are in the colum by higher priority to lower, in my opinion, and highly suggested that this order be followed.  (Notice the "going out" budget is at the very bottom???)

In this example, you have a surplus of $105 in the projection column. From that you know you have a wiggle room of that much in case something happens.  In the actual column, the surplus is $204.  I think you are entitled to use this money as you please at the end of the month, because you already saved what you planned to save.

Now the multiple accounts trick. I've always had one account that I deposited my income which is connected to a debit card for daily use, and another one that I transfer the money into to pay the bills with.  All my bills except the rent are paid online, and I use this checking account number for the money to get drafted and write checks occasionally.  This way your checks or payments would never bounce, and you always know exactly how much you can use on hand in your debit card account for daily shopping.

Dear my fellow restaurant tip workers. Do deposit the cash to your bank account as soon as you get it! And do all of your shopping on your debit card. This way you can keep track of all of your purchases.  Carrying cash around after work walking by your favorite bar IS the reason why you can't save!!!

The third account is the one that builds your savings.  Why should it be from another bank, not the one with the checking accounts??? Because you want to make it as hard as possible to touch the savings.  What I recommend doing is moving the savings amount from the deposited income in the checking account #1 into the deafting only account #2, then link the outside savings account to this #2 account.

Ask me any questions if this wasn't too clear! Good luck everybody!

Cappuccino. Tokyo. SF.



Working at a restaurant bar, making espresso drinks was just pain, especially during the hellishly busy Sunday brunches. Most of the SF top coffee house cappuccinos always tasted way too bitter for me and never understood the joy of making the cup or having one, until we were in Tokyo 2010 winter.

We stayed in the neighborhood called Koenji in Tokyo and found a super great neighborhood cafe called "Coffee Amp". http://www.coffee-amp.com/  That cafe was the very first one that gave us the "correct" cappuccino we felt like.  Sweetness of the espresso and steamed milk was well brought out, unlike any of the bitter burnt cups we came across in the States.  "So coffee CAN have sweetness of its own and doesn't have to be bitter." It was almost like an enlightment moment we had there.

Now that I knew what a cup of correct cappuccino was supposed to taste like, it became so much more enjoyable making the coffee. I would simply try making a cup of cappuccino and taste it to see if it was any close to what Amp was serving.  It's been almost a year and half since our coffee enlightment, and my cup is a lot closer to Amp's than before, minus the world championship class mastery latte art, of course.

We also did the same thing while trying out different coffee houses in SF and around to see who we wanted to partner with.  All the top coffee houses were all great, but we thought Ritual Roasters was the closest to our "ideal" coffee flavor. They seemed to have a similar taste to ours, interms of the balance of the sweetness of the ingredients themselves, not to mention their very ethical business philosophy.

And our search came to an end. We will be serving Ritual Roasters coffee at our cafe.  More about their fabulous wholesale program on later post!

Drunks, Addicts and Folks with Sticky Hands in Restaurants.

Really interesting story that my owner chef friend told me.

He was talking to his friend who owned a 30 milion dollar corporation.
"I think a lot of what we do is very similar. You go to work, manage people and make sure the projects are getting done."

The chef said, "Well, do you have to worry about people stealing from you? Or not showing up because they got too high the night before?" The corporate guy then said, "I guess what we do is pretty different."

Not everybody in the restaurant industry is like that. But it is pretty clear that this industry does have higher percentage of people with less education, addiction problem with alcohol to hard drugs, and most of all, no plans for life.

We would like to change that. When we do have more than one location, we want our company to be somewhere people are proud to work and the job can provide enough for those that work for us.

Just a thought.

Money Part 1. Funding to Open the Doors.

2 most asked questions are "How much was the place?" and "How did you come up with money?"
The answer to the first question is $30k. The reaction is usually, "That's it???!!!"
The answer to the second question is from our savings. Yes, savings. But not entirely.

At one point, we were seeking to acquire loans. But we decided not to drown ourselves in debt even before we open the doors. Also we ruled out of partners and investors after reading anonymous proverb/quote "He who has a partner has a boss."

We were lucky that the current location owner is a very nice gentleman who offered a owner financing with no interest. $10k down and the rest in 15 monthly payments. Very doable. 

Secondly, we decided to lease all of our equipment, which much likely works as financing with APR and everything, but on the books it won't be seen as our assets because technically we don't "own" them.

But above all, our savings that we accumulated from our hard earned! money is the very foundation of us being able to take this step.  "I never make enough to save!" you say? I would like to share how we did it in another post soon.

The Very First Step!

It is actually happening.

We've always, always talked about it.
"Someday, very soon, we'll have it."
But now, we actually do have it!
We have bought ourselves a tiny bakery cafe.
It's a super small 450 sqft place, no hood, but our very own.

Scheduled open date: Feburary 27, 2012.
So ready.