The Third Option

In my earlier posts about the future of my business, I've always implied that there are only two options - expand or quit. Expanding, sadly, is not an option I can entertain at the moment. Quitting is not something I would consider because it would result in an emotional train wreck. Besides, I'm nowhere near achieving my goal of a cake empire yet ... for now I have only a small village, and I've got heaps of conquering to do!

Recent time to think (and complain, as per usual) has meant that I've realised there is actually a third option to my business dilemma - and this option is to ADAPT. Given that I cannot currently afford to move from the premises I am in, the next best thing is to make the space more usable to me. I need to be able to produce more product in the same amount of space, and yet I cannot tear down the walls (much as I wish I could) to create that space. The business is almost literally bursting at the seams.

So enter the lateral thinking. When I moved into the kitchen there was a massive 4 burner cook top and oven combination placed right in the middle of one wall. A cook top which I almost never use (except for boiling cream or melting chocolate, both of which can be done via other means.) To date I've mostly used it as a spare bench top for putting finished cakes. So after weeks and weeks of wheedling my landlord, he got rid of the stove. (Note sparkly clean floor is thanks to DH!)


....and I moved in a brand spanking new work bench, plus a decent (eg: safe) bench for my beloved mixer. Then, I utilised my married-an-engineer-with-spatial-skills magic and got him to figure out how to best use that space. The answer was to move everything over a bit, turn the freezer around, and VOILA! Instant space. For the cost of about $800, I managed to increase my work space by 50%. Next up on the agenda is a reorganisation of the dry store area, which I'm hoping will mean I'll be more able to actually find the stuff I already have instead of spending too long looking for it (or, being too lazy, actually just buying more.)

My fabulous FIL and DH's cousin putting together the stainless steel fabulousness.

Finished product - look! More bench space and even a shelf or two!

I'm sure you're looking at these photos and wondering what the big woop is....and the big woop is that the business can actually afford these new shiny benches, will work better because of it, and the biz will live another day in cake land. So Option Three ...to adapt, is A HELL of a lot better than quitting, and is a good stepping stone to getting to Option One of WORLD DOMINATION BY CAKE.

You may now all stop drooling over my most fabulous oven.