Alya's Kitchen on Miss Universe event in Surabaya

Another Breakthru of Alya's kitchen.
-click on the pictures fo detail image-

One day Lydia Santoso (an online buddy) dropped me an email, it was just a simple question, "Hi Lia, do you make cakes for order? I need many boxes on early August."
Then there I was, on a fantastic challange she offered me. She asked me to supply some snacks for a prestigious beauty event in Surabaya, sponsored by Shiseido (where Lydia works for), with a world famous sensational guest star: Riyo Mori, Miss Universe 2007...! Ommi.... :)
The first plan was a snack buffet with free flow coffee and tea. I hadnt had experience in professional buffet service, yet it challanged me to prepare an elegant buffet. I quickly looking for partners for coffee service and serving equipments including some waitress, and I got. I also had prepare the buffet scheme.
But the plan was changed due to room capacity limitation, they decided to order snack boxes instead of snack buffet. The next and BIG challange was: the box MUST be in red with unique and exclusive design. I took a long and almost neverending search to find the right box that suit to their criteria, the right red, right dimension, right material, right design, and right price :)) I contacted many printing services all over Surabaya, nearly hopeless since they ALL said that minimum orders for new design printing should be FIVE THOUSAND box-sheets! Yet the order was only 300 :(( They could make my order actually, but you know how much it would cost me, for making 350 sheets with the same machine and processing for five thousand sheets, the box price would be four or five times than normal price!
"Never give up, Baby uh yeah... you're a tough girl, and only the tough will going through" I keep singing it myself. Alhamdulillah, my toughness really found me the way. I got the perfect box with perfect price, a beautiful madame -Yovita- who owned a renowned printing business helped me to make the box. Believe me, she was soooo... gracious, she made the new print for TEN THOUSANDS only to fill my 350 boxes order...!! I could get the boxes with nomal price!! Subhanallah, it was really like a daydreaming. She told me that she could sell any beautiful design boxes easily, that was why she didnt cost me too much. See the boxes in the pictures, it's beautiful isn't it? It's deep red with gold ivy printed on top and gold strips on bottom.
Well back to the event. Lydia couldnt come to Surabaya as she was ill and took bedrest for a couple days in hospital :( (Hi Darling how are you, get well soon yah! Hope to see you again in more relax situation).

I dropped the boxes on 08AM (the snack was: Fruit Taart, Steamed Chocolate Cake with Cocoa Dusting, Strawberry Brownies, Smoked Beef Cup Bread and Cheese Cup Bread). Unfortunately, I couldn't meet the World-Famous Miss as her schedule was on the afternoon. Lydia said there would be some famous celebrities and press on the spot, but I couldn't stay any longer for some urgent reason.

Above of all, this event just made me learned some new experiences to make me bigger from my home-kitchen business :) I noted two things:
- learned to organize a professional buffet service
- new experience of being "tukang kardus" (box seller) hahahaha....!! surely I will make this as my new business ;)

And the greatest lesson I learned is: Don't Give Up...! You could do anyhing beyond your capability only if you wanted it really happened to you!

Special thanks to Lydia Santoso who has brought Alya's Kitchen to another milestone :)

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Satu hari salah satu temen onlen gue, Lydia Santoso, ngirim imel singkat, "Lia, trima orderan kue? Aku perlu jumlah besar awal Agustus".
Jadilah, gue dapet tantangan fantastis dari Lydia. Dia nawarin gue menyuplai snack untuk satu acara prestisius yang diselenggarain Shiseido (kantor Lydia) dengan mengundang bintang tamu: Miss Universe 2007!! Ommigod...!
Rencana awal adalah snack buffet dengan konsep elegan lengkap dengan teh dan kopi. Gue belum ada experience untuk jasa buffet profesional (palingan buffet acara2 kantor/rumahan yang standar2 aja). gue segera cari partner termasuk penyedia layanan kopi free-flow (tau kan, yang pake tangki stenlis guede), alat2 serving dll. Gue juga nyiapin skema buffetnya tar mo gimana.
Tapi rencana ini terpaksa berubah karena keterbatasan kapasitas ruangan, jadinya pake snackbox aja. Snackbox pun bukannya tanpa tantangan, tantangan terbesar adalah: kotaknya HARUS warna merah dengan disain unik dan elegan. Gue berkelana seantero Surabaya cari percetakan yang bisa menyediakan box yang sesuai (sesuai jenis merahnya, dimensinya, ketebalan bahannya, disainnya, dan tentu aja sesuai harganya hehehe...).
Too bad, hampir semua percetakan di Sby menolak order gue dengan alasan minimum order adalah LIMARIBU lembar, sementara order gue cuma 350 lembar! Kalo mau sih bisa aja, tapi tentu harganya jadi sangat mahal bisa sampe 4-5 kali dari harga normal karena meski cuma bikin 350 lembar tapi mesin dan prosesnya adalah untuk kapasitas limaribu lembar. Rasanya nyaris hopeless deh... :(

"Never give up, Baby uh yeah... you're a tough girl, and only the tough will going through" gue nyanyi2 menghibur diri. Alhamdulillah akhirnya dapet jalan juga. Seorang Ibu cantik pemilik percetakan besar dan terkenal bersedia membantu gue bikin box yang gue maksud. Gue sangat terharu dengn Ibu Yovita yang sangat cantik ini, blio rela bikin SEPULUH RIBU lembar (ini angka mati blio untuk sekali cetak) hanya sekedar untuk melayani order gue yang cuma 350 doang. Ternyata, blio bilang ngga kesulitan menjual box2 dengan disain cantik jadi blio ngga keberatan dengan orderan gue (kebayang sih, customer blio nih katering2 besar di Sby, party organizer dan cake shop beken2 bahkan airlines juga). Jadi, meski cuma 350 lembar gue dapet harga normal loh...! Subhanallah, rasanya kayak mimpi gue bisa dapet box ini karena gue udah nyaris hopeless merasa smuanya gagal hanya karena gak nemu box yang tepat :D
Balik ke acara. Lydia ngga bisa dateng karna dia lagi sakit & opname di rumahsakit (Hai say, cepet sembuh ya... pengen ketemu kamu sambil nyantei2 gituh). Box dianter jam 8 pagi, isinya: Fruit Taart, Steamed Chocolate Cake, Strawberry Brownies, Smoked Beef Cup Bread dan Cheese Cup Bread. Sayang gue ada kepentingan lain yang urgent jadi gue gak sempet liyat si mbakyu Miss Universe 2007 (lha jadwalnya jam 12 siang jek!). Padahal Lydia bilang bakal ada bebrapa seleb dan banyak wartawan yang dateng *sapatau Alya's Kitchen dimuat di koran hahaha...*
Secara keseluruhan gue dapet beberapa pengalaman baru untuk perkembangan ome-kitchen business gue :D setidaknya ada dua hal:
- belajar mengorganisir professional buffet service
- pengalaman baru sebagai "Tukang Kardus" huahahahaha.... pasti nih gue jadiin bisnis baru gue ;)
Dan satu pelajaran paling berharga: Jangan Menyerah! Kita bisa melakukan apapun yang kita pikir diluar kapasitas kita, hanya bila kita benar2 menginginkannya terjadi!

Special thanks buat Lydia Santoso yang membawa Alya's Kitchen ke satu milestone baru :)