University to small business

This post’s title may seem like it was generated by ChatGPT, but I promise that it was not. It’s the result of pushing myself to start this blog, and that entails writing poorly.

I think I want to start documenting my journey in launching a successful cloud kitchen. Here is why:



1) A gap in social media

I’ve been absorbing a lot of social media content lately, and what I find to be missing is people documenting their journey to their successes. I think the closest things are those “Day in the life (of a Software Engineer, Student at Harvard, etc.)”. But showing viewers of oneself eating breakfast or going to the gym after class does not deal with the main topic at hand which is, of course, working or studying. It’s difficult to express this phenomenon, because most would argue that the lifestyle surrounding a particular job/academic career is vital for one’s success. Yet, I would argue that there is too much momentum going in that direction, at least on social media. I want to see more technical details, be it an actual task at work (rather than a 2 second clip of you coding), or how you’re trying to understand a particular topic in school (rather than a 2 second clip of you twirling your pen looking at a notebook with notes that we can’t read).

This applies to cooking content. Often, we see recipe videos by highly experienced chefs, but little of the journey in becoming so skilled and successful. The closest are chefs mentioning “this recipe has been developed for 20 years.” Okay, so what did the recipe look like in the beginning, and what prompted the changes that made the recipe so perfect? Besides cooking, there is also the “business” side of restaurants, such as deciding a menu, pricing, sourcing supplies/equipment, marketing, etc., that once again I find to be lacking in social media. Most of what we see is the end state, be it an already perfected recipe or finalised launch of a restaurant.



2) Chance to learn to cook

Yes, I’ll need to finally learn how to cook to embark on this journey. Admittedly, it’s quite difficult. Having bought and started to watch a Udemy beginner’s cooking course, seeing the concepts on my computer screen makes me think, “this is incredibly simple”. But once you hand me a chef’s knife, I’ll falter in front of the onion that I’m supposed to cut.

Nonetheless, I find the physical aspect of this journey to be a unique counter-balance to the digitisation of everything nowadays. I’ll have a chance to combine tradition and innovation together in a physical space, which is quite exciting, though understandably it will take a lot of work, both physically and mentally.



3) Continuing to write

Strangely, it’s towards the very end of my academic career that I find the importance in writing. Documenting this journey will at least keep me writing on a regular basis. I think for many people, writing is enjoyable, but few, including myself, bring themselves to do it outside of school.

I think this is a good point to discuss the recent ChatGPT. As with most of the world, I’ve been pondering use cases of ChatGPT, and its benefits along with risks. After some thought, I will try to limit the usage of ChatGPT, just like how an aspiring chess master may limit the usage of a chess engine when studying. ChatGPT will not be the driving factor for ideas. I think its ideas are useful to act as a “reference of the norm”, from which we can agree, disagree, or innovate upon. Using ChatGPT to write is out of the question.



4) Learn videography

Knowing myself, even just learning to cook and writing on occasion is a lot to ask. However, I’ve recently been inspired by YouTube videos, such as this one and this one, which imbue a sense of calmness, with the calmness acting as the perfect foundation for an extended, detailed discussion. Again, knowing myself, I probably won’t get started soon on a video component, but at the same time I’m excited to delve into it.

There is certainly a lot to write about next, be it scheduling, menu item ideas, learning recipes, marketing (if any), etc. Thanks for making it this far. If you have any insights to these types of endeavors, be it cooking or literally anything else, please let me know, so we can exchange ideas, or even collaborate.



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