So the world cup is literally around the corner and everyone is starting to feel the world cup fever!  Everyone has this weird anxiousness about the world cup because no one is sure how its all going to turn out.

Besides the actual soccer games that will be played, we are all waiting in antisipation to see if we will make millions in our business, renting out our houses, making merchandise, selling houses etc.  You cant help but wonder if the World cup is going to bring some light to the many South African’s who are struggling at the moment. If it does bring some “silver linging”, especially to our pockets, in this winter then thats great and I hope that when you/we receive that many will give and basically “make the circle bigger” kind of thing.

I am usually a positive person, I always look for the light at the end of the tunnel but sometimes I have to wonder if we are all expecting too much from this infamous World Cup.  A lot of people are expecting to make millions and for their sake I hope they do because eventually and hopefully that money will be circulated back into South Africa. But I just have to wonder about those who took out loans last year in the middle of our economic recession to last till this year and the world cup hoping to make all that loaned money and more back.

I want to be positive and I am really happy that South Africa has been given this oppurtunity to host the World Cup and potentially make some money. I just hope that a lot of us have realized that the World Cup is a huge gamble, we might make money and win and we might not make money and therefore loose. In the end I hope there arent too many people dissapointed and ruined trying to hold onto a “we might make millions” hope.

Here’s to everyone out there who has put a lot on the line and to new beginnings and to making that circle bigger and sharing our wealth with each other so that in the end wether Bafana Bafana win or not, at least we all do!

So its the end of the tax year and our accountants is asking all sorts of new information from me and wanting all our slips and receipts so that they can get all their figures correct.

Wow, what a mission it has been. If you have ever owned any form of coffee shop, restaurant, catering busines etc you will know that you go through a lot of staff as they all come and go on a monthly, if not daily basis.  I had to do our IRP 5’s and put in everyone who worked for us in the last year with their I.D numbers, their bank accounts and their home address.  When most of your staff dont even have a valid address this kind of makes it difficult, even more difficult is when they have fallen off the face of the earth and you cant get hold of them for their I.D. numbers.

Needless to say going through 12 months of bank statements and finding every single staff payment was not a small task but I finally got it done and handed it in today! Shoo what a load off my shoulders. Now lets just hope the tax man doesnt find any fault with it iether.

Did you know that from now onwards every worker has to have a tax number even if they earn under the taxable amount. If someone works more than 24hrs a month, they have to get UIF deducted and have a tax number.  Now think of the Spur or a KFC who go through hundreds of staff a month who only work a few days or a couple of weeks. They have to collect every single staff’s members details and keep this for a year to hand in to SARS for the end of the tax year. Not an easy or quick job.

Owning your own business is great, but the amount of work, time and effort is huge and one does not realize this when starting your own business. In the end it can be greatly rewarding but make no mistake its hard work!

Yet Mark and I are quite happy with it all!

I never thought the time would come when The Business of Catering would have to look for bigger premises for our kitchen but the time has arrived!!!  Over the last 2 years we have bought so much and grown that we are now getting cramped in our 60 square meter fully kitted out garage.

So we have been looking in the areas from Steenberg/Retreat to about Plumstead.  Not as easy as it seemed.   There are plenty of places but we are only looking for about 100 – 150square meters and some parking space.  If the kitchen becomes too big then things become too far away from you and you spend half your time running from one end of the kitchen to the other just for a knife or bread board. So we can’t go too big but just big enough to not have to move again.

 Another problem we have is that we don’t want to move into a place that gets sold and we get told to move out after a year.  That’s the disadvantage of having a landlord and the advantage of owning. So my goal is to hopefully find a place we can start renting but will be able to afford if they want to sell one day.

Then there is the whole issue of business rights, the place has to have business rights due to us being a catering business, we need the place to also be up to standards with the Health department.  No wooden floors, only tile or concrete, Sufficient ventilation, drainage, a secure place to put our gas bottles outside and then lets not get started on fire precautions. The list is long and the things on the list have to be done properly as we get checked on and its just the proper way to do business in the end isn’t it?

So the search is on to find the perfect venue – wish me luck as it really isn’t that easy!

It really hurts when people you put your trust into take you for a ride and take your money with out even blinking.

When we got the ship contract we set out to have a mobile kitchen built for us for the job.  Mark found Carrello Trailers owned by Jacques Mulder in Killarney Gardens Milnerton.

Mark had endless conversations with Jacques Mulder about the mobile kitchen trailer and how it must be done, worked out plans for it, the time to build it etc.

Jacques Mulder aka Carrello Trailers gave assurance that it would all be done in time for our contract but needed a R40 000 deposit to get it all started. This is normal in business as you have many people who order something and then when its ready dont pay up and you have gone and wasted your time and money on making what ever was ordered.

So we paid the R40 000 deposit and Mark kept in contact with him on a weekly basis and basically story after story, lie after lie was told to us about our trailer. Jacques Mulder made out as if the trailer was being made and he would have it ready in time for our ship contract.

This never happened!!! We then had to make another plan for our contract and then also asked for our deposit back, we paid the deposit last year August 2009 and we still have not seen a trailer or a cent of our money.  I have phoned and phoned and asked for our money back and he just promises that he will deposit it by the end of the day or week and it never happens.

We have handed him over to the lawyers who he ignores as well and will hopefully see something come from this, even though I doubt it and I have this horrible feeling we are just wasting our time and money once again on this low life of a human being.

It just really gets to me that Mark and I are open and honest and if we have not given someone 100% service then we will refund them, apologise, what ever it takes to make it right. Here we have worked our behinds off to make The Business of Catering a success just to be taken for a ride and to loose our well deserved hard earned money of R40 000 to a man who doesnt even blink about stealing our money and buying his son the latest quadbikes and accessories.

So I hope that someone out there has read our story and has been warned as I would hate for another innocent person to lose their money.

Last year The Business of Catering was blessed with a great 3 month contract with a gas rig/ship – Chevron, good old Yanks!  So Mark and I decided that when you receive you must give as well.  I looked around for a charity or 2 to give to and make “ours”.  We decided that we werent going with the normal SPCA, aids charity, Darg, Tears, Little Angels etc as even though those charity’s still and always will need help, we wanted to go with a charity that hardly gets anything if anything at all.

I asked around and finally came up with 2 places:

Reech Old Age home – Axminster Road Muizenberg

Douglas Murry Old age home – 12th Avenue Retreat.

Both these old aged homes are not well off at all and in fact Douglas Murry is the worst.

I phoned the matrons/ladies in charge and spoke to them and asked what The Business of Catering could help them out with.  Reech asked for food – that broke my heart, because the thought of an old person starving is just too much for me and Douglas Murry asked for adult nappies.

Douglas Murry does not get any nappies from the government like they used to and because these items are to expensive they dont fit into their budget which is very small.  They are also very short staffed and so the elderly cant get to the bathrooms quick enough and therefore have “potty” accidents all the time which takes a while to get cleaned as there arent enough nurses to do everything.

So adult nappies, all sizes are welcomed in Douglas Murry.

I had a birthday in January and so decided that everyone should bring non perishable goods instead of presents so that I could donate it to Reech Old Age home.  I am so proud of my friends and family as by the time I packed it all in my car, I could hardly close the boot.  Reech was over the moon with all the goodies and I am sure it went a long way since there is only 9 elderly in the home as that is all that it can accommodate.

Imran (one of our staff) and I then went to Douglas Murry 11th March and handed over 5 huge boxes of adult nappies to them that we had bought through L&A Safety as they got us the best possible price you could get for such an exspensive item.  Douglas Murry was over the moon and very grateful because even though it wont last for ever, the nappies will at least take the pressure off the understaffed nurses for a few days.  There are 90 elderly people in Douglast Murry and I soon found out that they need 4500 nappies a month.  Wow, here I thought our 5 boxes was over kill and it made me realize just how lucky we are to have what we need and to be healthy.

So in my blog here, I urge any one and everyone who is reading this to consider the 2 charities above for any donations.  For more information you can contact me:

Lee-Ann  – 0834562762 and I will be happy to help you get in contact with Reech and Douglas Murry.

When life is crap, just think……….there is someone worse off than you……….I promise!

Lee-Ann and Mark

The Business of Catering

info@thebusinessofcatering.co.za

www.thebusinessofcatering.co.za

Wow, The Business of Catering’s very 1st blog, who would of thought? I remember over 2yrs ago when Mark and I started TBC, the thought of having our very own website was over whelming to say the least. With our great webmaster Shalene who put our website together, she totally convinced me that having a website was a good thing and since we get 80% of our business through our website I kind of have to believe her when she said that having a blog would be a good thing as well.

So here I am sitting on my laptop starting our very own blog! So what can you be expecting in the future?

Well as soon as I work out how to get this blog to everyone and how to post pictures with our stories and functions I will be telling you what we get up to and where its all happening.

At this very moment though, I have to figure out how to save this so it doesnt get lost like my last attempt.

WATCH THIS SPACE!!!!

Lee-Ann and Mark

The Business of Catering

021 7888 402

info@thebusinessofcatering.co.za