KimEcopak: A Vietnamese restaurant owner's journey to
becoming an eco-friendly packaging entrepreneur!
In this article, we'll
go into Kim's relocation from Vietnam to Canada, the difficulties she had
running a restaurant, and how she overcame them to launch KimEcopak. We'll also
talk about how food packaging affects the environment and how eco-packing will
develop in the restaurant business.
A.
KIMECOPAK FOUNDER – KIM VU’S STORY
Kim Vu, Founder of KimEcopak, is a visionary entrepreneur with a quest to make the world a better place. Her love of nature and traditional Vietnamese cuisine inspired her to develop a unique eco-packaging solution that is revolutionizing the restaurant business. Kim faced difficulties on her way to Canada after leaving her lucrative corporate career in Saigon, Vietnam, but she never lost sight of her goal of having a positive influence.
Kim's journey began in 2018 when she fell in love with Canada's natural beauty while on a discovery road trip. She made the decision to leave her corporate position with a multinational company in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) two years later, in 2020, and migrate to Canada.
In order to fill her craving for Vietnamese cuisine, Kim and her business partner, chef Yen, decided to build an actual Vietnamese restaurant. To create an authentic Vietnamese atmosphere, the restaurant, known as YenKitchen, uses Canadian foods.
B.
THE CHALLENGES OF RESTAURANT OWNERSHIP
Chef Yen and Kim
experienced a variety of difficulties when running their restaurant, including:
-
Finding
the best restaurant packaging suppliers and controlling inventories
-
Dealing
with high labor costs
-
Complying
with Covid-19 rules
-
Balancing
work and family life
-
Maintaining
consistent quality
In the following
section, we'll go over each of Kim's challenges and how they affected her
restaurant. You can discover that, at your own restaurant or in any other
F&B business, you are battling comparable difficulties.
Continue reading for
an in-depth study of Kim's path, helpful insights, and the knowledge that you
are not alone, as well as how Kimecopak could assist you overcome challenges
when running your own restaurants.
1.
Finding the best restaurant packaging suppliers
and controlling inventories
While wholesale
wholesalers in town treated their customers unfairly when it came to
eco-packaging. For example, a case of 500 take-out containers at $100/case
could be raised to $170/case without warning. Furthermore, suppliers challenged
Kim to go "on the street" for a lower price, claiming that their
offer was already competitive. Kim recognized that the issue of rising prices
was a difficulty not only for her business, but for many others, particularly
in small towns or remote areas of Canada.
Furthermore, inventory
management became the second most challenging due to suppliers constantly being
out of stock, making it tough to manage the restaurant's supply.
Kim also had to figure
out how to make the most of the limited storage in the kitchen while making
sure that all of the goods were accessible when needed. The fact that Kim owned
her restaurant in a tiny town with few suppliers made this challenge even more
difficult.
2.
Dealing with high labor costs:
Kim was responsible
for managing her personnel and ensuring that they were adequately compensated
as the owner of a small business. Kim found it challenging to control her
spending due to Canada's high labor prices. In addition, given the competitive
labor market in her town, hiring and maintaining skilled workers was difficult.
Kim frequently had to work long hours herself to make up for personnel
shortages.
3.
Complying with Covid-19 rules
Kim had to follow a
number of requirements about food safety, trash management, and environmental
norms. Frequently, complying with these laws required large outlays for things
like specialist equipment purchases or external audit fees.
In addition, only
customers who have had all required vaccinations are permitted to dine in
during Covid, which caused 50% of customers to opt against doing so. In that
case, breaking the law could lead to penalties, the restaurant's closure, or
harm to its reputation.
4.
Balancing work and personal life
Running a restaurant
required long hours and dedication, leaving Kim with little time for her
personal life. She frequently worked six or seven days a week, missing family
gatherings, friend gatherings, and personal time. Furthermore, the stress and
anxiety that comes with running a business can be overwhelming.
Kim had to keep her
business open seven days a week during the pandemic because closing even for a
day meant losing revenue while still having to pay rent and electricity. As a
result, in 2020 and 2021, Kim was required to work between 10 and 12 hours per
day, seven days a week, making it even more difficult to reconcile work and
personal life.
5.
Maintaining consistent quality
Chef Yen, Head Chef of
YenKitchen and a qualified Red-Seal Chef in Canada, takes pride in offering
high-quality food to her clients and requires tight quality control on the
entire meal in the restaurant.
However, maintaining constant quality was a difficult effort that needed her to obtain high-quality ingredients, train workers, and invest in equipment and facilities. Furthermore, unanticipated incidents such as equipment breakdowns or labor shortages may disrupt the cooking process, resulting in lower-quality meals and disgruntled consumers.
C.
KIMECOPAK: THE
SOLUTION TO ECO-PACKAGING CHALLENGES
Kim's dedication to
conquer the problems of restaurant management has led her to develop a
game-changing solution that benefits not only her but the whole restaurant
industry. Kim has invented an eco-friendly packaging solution that has caught
the market by storm with the help of her boyfriend, Chef Yen.
KimEcopak addresses
issues that many restaurant owners confront, such as locating dependable
suppliers and managing inventories. Kim's dedication to the "6-month fixed
price" offer has helped her company stand out in the industry and
solidified her reputation as a clever businesswoman.
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