What's The Frequency, Kenneth?

27 November, Thursday, 12-2pm, Liverpool Street.

I was at Wrap It Up! which does world wraps and Veronica, who helped out today was counting at Tiffin Bites.

The process at Wrap It Up! was fantastic - they had 7 people working in the shop at lunch and they managed to keep the queue moving really quickly. Interestingly, the customer mix was about 80% male! Maybe because their wraps are messy?

Let's keep that queue moving:



I had company in the form of Andrew and Mathew, and bets were placed for the final count at Wrap It Up! Not surprisingly, star UBS trader Andrew Kim cleans up by buying at 345. Final count is a massive 388. There is some demand for hot wraps eh? Tiffin Bites finished at 144 but with a much higher average ticket (tiffin boxes going for 9 quid!). Thanks to Veronica who counted and had to put up with really bad customer service (some things never change).

Andrew and Mathew, happy to be out of the office:



Andrew likes it:

The Times They Are A-Changin'

Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.

I got to the Souk (Arabian wraps on-the-go) off The Strand at 12.15 and a homeless person (the founder?) was sitting outside a shut shop. So this is what can happen. :o



But I really believe that this is strangely a very good time to be starting. Rents are falling, landlords will get desperate and if you're under 5 quid, you're ok.

So I went to Embankment instead and ate at ... wait for it ... Subway. Ouch. As Kartik says, a mooli's gotta do what a mooli's gotta do. Process wise, they are closer to us than say Wasabi (each sub is made right then) and I wanted to observe them at lunch. It was good to see that they could serve a lot of customers quickly with just 4 people in the shop. The manager, a nice guy, said they do about 200-220 subs in 2 hours. Which seemed right in the 30 min I was there. Wasabi on Oxford Street managed to do a whopping 379 between 12-2pm and Maoz on Old Compton Street did only 58 in the same time on a cold, cold Monday afternoon.

A well deserved coffee at Cafe Vergano.



Tomorrow, I'll be at Wrap It Up! Liverpool Street and at Tortilla Angel on Friday. Lunch anyone?

Down On The Corner, out in the street

25 november tuesday 11.55am

some live blogging for you. i am sitting outside on oxford st. at the pret (like on the street, not inside) with my laptop next to the wasabi so i can count customers and also observe who/how people buy food. it is fucking cold so please pardon the small caps and any spelling errors. very very cold, hard to type. seriously guys. two more. tick tick. the counter moves. lots of women buying food at wasabi, the hot food is doing well (especially their ramen), lots of deciding/looking taking place. one more. i will put up a picture of my counter from rymans tonight.

as you can gather, this is counting week which means:

a) you get bombarded with blog entries.
b) i freeze my butt off.

yesterday i was at maoz at soho which was very intresting. they are a lean operation. average ticket is higher than i thought. about £5.5/6.0.

lots of counting this week: mexican places (tortilla/mucho mas - was with chandy at tortilla last night - they are sort of similar to us), tiffin bites, wrap it up, souk.

ok it really is too cold to type. will post this now and write later.

ps: my trusted counter

Orange or Pink?

I hear you loud and clear.

Orange it is.