A couple of people have remarked this week on the bread at The Cart. No, you’re not just imagining it, it  did just get better.

That’s thanks to Doan who joined our team recently and he’s now responsible for making all our bread – both the baguettes and the rye. That means it’s a little bit fresher and a whole lot tastier.

You might also have noticed the occasional croissant and new style of cake knocking around our diplay cases. With 10 years baking experience Doan is a very talented man and he’s slowly revealing to us just what he can do.

This is huge for us and to my reckoning it’s takes us to another level. The Cart started with a single antiquated domestic oven. We’re now up to three almost as antiquated domestic ovens. Progress of a kind but we’ve plans for a proper commercial bread oven as befits a man of Doan’s talents.

Doan, the man with the magic hands,  joins us following a stint in what the local papers call Chinese Taipei.  We’re delighted to have him with us.

Just what we, err, kneaded.

Sorry.

…and playgroup starts in 20 minutes – only a double espresso will do.

We did it.  The Cart Nghi Tam now open.

We’re a little tired right now to write much more but essentially we’re open 7am – 7pm.  One of us had to go to their proper job today but did so with a takeaway skinny latter and a bowl of muesli and fruit.

Staffing continues to be a nightmare and we’re going to do what we can to: a) recruit someone quickly (there must be something we haven’t tried) and b) stop it affecting our service.

Right now one member of staff would make a huge difference, two would be incredible – but we’d gladly take on four if they were out there.  That way we all get to work reasonable hours at a reasonable pace.

But we think the new place looks great.   Good times.

Thanks to everyone who came out for the first breakfast opening and to all our customers.

For a brief while we thought we might get opened this Saturday but, having decided instead to play it safe, we’re now saying The Cart Nghi Tam will open for the first time at 10am on Sunday November 6th.

The current state of play is we’re a front counter, sun awning and a sign short of being where we want to be but with a sign on the way and the rest promised….Sunday it is. If we’re not all there then we’ll make do.

We give you fair warning that this will the softest of soft openings.  Softer than tofu ( as my wife likes to describe me).  Please be gentle.
Thanks, as always, for your patience and support. We, of course, love you all.

Steve

We set off to Metro this morning – a large megamarket type place on a dusty street on the outskirts of town. It’s never a fun trip.

Even if you can hold your brain in check against the onslaught of the worst of eighties pop (I heard “Take Your Breath Away” three times) then there’s the queuing, the aisles so packed with palettes that you can’t get your trolley down them, the staff look miserable and everything conspires to make you want to run. The final point is when the security checks your goods against your receipt just to double check you haven’t stolen anything.

Anyway we went looking (again) for takeaway coffee cups, aprons and a stainless steel jug for steaming milk in. On all counts we failed miserably (anyone else know where to get these?). But we scored big just the same.

We found not just ketchup sachets but Heinz Ketchup Sachets. We bought out the store – both chilli and original.

This is something we’ve been trying to find since we opened. Judging by the hand-filled plastic bags full of sauces from other takeways we’re not the only ones. And, trust us, we know that a lot of customers like sauce with their pies. You spoke, we listened – we just had to find the things.

Anyway, we arrived back with our bumper bag of sachets to find our kitchen full of chairs delivered by Maroon Driftwood. Stools for the front bar/counter that will look out over the road and smaller chairs for the couple of tables inside.

They were great.  Nice and broad to suit even the most generous tay behind.

Oh and we’ve had calls from a couple of people looking for jobs in the new place.

All in all, those illusive coffee cups aside, a very good day.

So when we decided to go for it with the the new Cart in Nghi Tam there wasn’t much time for hanging about.

The new premises, we reckoned, were perfect for us and so it was a case of raising three months rent, paying it and staking a claim.

Then came the hard part – turning it into the new Cart – worthy of the Nghi Tam community.  Lots of decisions had to be made a long the way.

The good news is that we’re looking like opening the weekend of November 5th and 6th.  But there’s still some way to go.

First the progress – well we checked out pretty much every option going for an espresso maker.  We looked in Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore and then ended up importing an Italian machine from London.  It made sense to us at least.  The good news was once the deal was done it arrived inside two days.  The bad news there was some damage on route – in the end we managed to fix it. It’s currently a fixture in our kitchen and I’ll miss it when it takes up it place in the Nghi Tam Cart.

Coffee cups have been a nightmare.  We wanted a triple layered, cool wall cup and were told that we’d need to order 30,000 if they were to make them for us.  By our reckoning that would take us three years to get through  – by which time they’d have turned into mush in this humidity.  We’re considering a plan B.

As ever the biggest headache remains staffing – lots of people talked to, lots of people keen and yet there’s always a problem.  People want to start in a month or start now but need next month off or really want to work but can they just get back to us.  It shouldn’t be this hard.  If you know good people who want a good job then send them to us.  No experience required just honesty and enthusiasm.

In the meantime though there’s been a whole load of work done.  A kitchen has been set up from scratch, furniture is being made by the good people at Maroon Driftwood.  Other purchases alongside our well-travelled espresso machine are a freezer, fridge, oven, juicer, blender and a whole load more.

Oh and at some point the new place turned a fetching shade of orange.

But as you can see – there’s lot more to be done. There’s a new sign and awning to be installed. Also some frosting for the lower half of the window. We’ve also just purchased chairs, tables and a fan to sit outside. There’ll be no smoking inside but there’s plenty room on the pavement.

We did decide to go with WIFI in the end so that will be up and running when we open.

It’s going to be a busy final week.

Now if only we had more staff.

It’s common wisdom when planning a new shop, restaurant, cafe, store or whatever to keep shtum until it’s pretty much ready to open.

At The Cart we’re intending to turn this logic on its head.

So here goes – we’re opening a new Cart. In Nghi Tam Village, Tay Ho.

For those who live in the area you’ll certainly recognise the pictures at the top and bottom of this post. Yes, it’s the convenience store that has served many of us so well and has now moved to larger premises next door.

So we’re moving in.

Downstairs is surprisingly large now the assorted drinks, veggies and pastries are cleared out. We’re intending to install a counter and stools along those large windows and there will still be room for a couple more small tables too.

Upstairs will give us what we’ve been wanting for a while – a large kitchen space. We’ll be moving much of our cooking from our current site at Au Trieu but the current Cart will have a major part to play alongside the new one. This is a new outlet, not a replacement location.

Much of what we do will be the same but with a few subtle differences. We live in Nghi Tam ourselves and reckon there’s a market for breakfasts, tea and coffee on the run. Either takeaway or served and consumed quickly.

In the end the main reason for not keeping our intentions a secret is so that we can get your suggestions. If it makes good business sense and if we think there’s a market it for it then we’ll incorporate it. We’ll also blog, tweet and Facebook our progress as we go.

This is a massive step for us and we can’t be the first fledgling entrepreneurs who are making such a move while crossing our fingers that we can do all we need to on a budget that’s probably just shy of what it should be.

With a fair wind we’ll get it open before the end of October. In the meantime send any ideas, potential staff (enthusiasm more important than experience) and luck our way – we’re going to need all three.

See you Nghi Tam. We are very very excited.

Steve & Loan.

These were the scenes outside The Cart on Monday just as we were approaching the busiest time of the day. Staff were reduced to bailing water out of the door while others braved floods to ensure lunches reached the desks of hungry workers.

Apologies if the conditions slowed us down a little but we still managed to complete all deliveries.

Food for the workers – rain or shine!

Hi all

Just a quick note to say that I’m taking a long awaited break.  That means we’re unable to update our Facebook and Twitter pages with our specials each day.

However they are available the old-fashioned way by giving staff a call on 0439287715.

Unfortuantely my absence has also coincided with a staff member being sick. So despite recruiting especially to cover my absence we are still short on numbers.  Hopefully there shouldn’t be any problems but we’d be grateful if you’d be good enough to allow a little extra time for deliveries.

In return I promise to try as many pies, pasties and sandwiches on my trip to the UK and I’ll add them to the specials in time for the autumn.

Wish you were here.

Loan