Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Honey, I'm Bringing Home the Vegan Bacon Tonight!

Business at the store didn't seem to be blooming today. Maybe the reason why was because everybody was startled from yesterday's counterfeit bust couple blocks from us. The police seized more than $1 million in counterfeit items and temporarily close 32 illegal Chinatown stores. Customers would probably prefer to avoid the mess for the timebeing.

From opening to the afternoon, there were ten customers. Although there were not large purchases, 8 out of 10 customers had one thing in common; they purchased our vegan bacon strips. It started off with one of our regular customer purchasing two pieces and she introduced to the next customer. Somehow the bacon message spreaded throughout the neighborhood and by noon time we had to restock the shelves again.

But that is not the end of the story. By the time I awarded the bacon as our best seller of the day, one of my VIP customer came into the store and asked to exchange 7 pieces of the bacon she purchased a hour ago. There went my motivation for the hot seller of the day. Her reason for the exchange was because she was not able to read the Chinese ingredients and did not trust that there were completely vegan. Good thing I was able to read and translate all the ingredients (soybean protein, mushroom stem, salt, sugar, and vegetarian seasoning) for her. She called her husband and announced that she'll be bringing the VEGAN bacon home tonight. Without any hesitation, she took the bacons and said goodbye.

You always hear people in movies say "Honey, I'm bringing home the bacon tonight!" But at the vegetarian store, you hear customers say "I'm bringing home the VEGAN bacon tonight!" It seems like strange statement, but it's definitely something I won't get tired of hearing.

Wan.

Monday, February 25, 2008

What is timeless about May Wah Healthy Vegetarian Food?

What do I want my customers, staff, distributors, and partners to understand about the company's identity? 

I've been catching up on my readings regarding brand identity. What does May Wah Vegetarian Food brand stand for? I've been thinking about this question for the last few days. It's definitely taken a lot of my sleeping time away. There's so many topics flowing all over the place that I can't seem to grasp all of them and turn them into one idea. 
  • Established as the first vegetarian retailer in New York in 1995 
  • First to introduce Asian vegetarian/vegan options into the restaurants
  • Familiarized the local health food markets with the upcoming trend of a healthier alternative
  • Specialized in creating meat alternatives
  • Largest vegetarian distributor in New York 
So what is timeless about it and what is not? 

During my last reading, the author pointed out one point regarding how Asian companies tend to get distracted by short term goals and practices. Although the short term goals will move faster, that is the bottom line attraction for the company. I really hate to admit it but I feel like I fall right into that circle. I always tend to start projects and ending them right away without investigating the results and providing solutions. It's always been a big problem I had. 

Let's end by using one rubber band to sum everything up...

"May Wah Vegetarian Food"
  • Welcoming newcomers towards the new trend of Asian vegetarian lifestyle and diet
  • Educate ongoing consumers that are health and animal conscientious by providing the best products and services in terms of quality, taste, and price
  • Emphasizing the cultures of the Asian vegetarian communities
Wan. 

Thursday, February 21, 2008

What is tangyuan / 湯圓 ?

My mom brought me to the temple this morning and told me that today is the day of the Green Lantern Festival also known as 元宵節 in chinese. Apparently it is the last day of celebrating the Lunar New Year. People usually celebrate the holiday by carrying lanterns with messages of good fortune, family reunion, abundant harvest, prosperity and love.

To celebrate this holiday, the temple aunts decided to make something special and created tangyuan soup! Instead of making it as a desert, they added some vegetarian chicken, mushrooms, sea mosses, and taro and it was.....DELICIOUS!

Whoever heard of serving tangyuan as a meal instead of a desert?




White Balls: Tangyuan
Vegetables: Spinach
Bottom Cubes: Taro
Left Chunks: Vegetarian Chicken Bites

Note:
Growing up in Taiwan as a Taoist, my mom was always provided with delicious vegetarian food, but when she moved to New York, the cultural environment lacked many of the foods she grew up with, and it affected her traditional eating habits. And that's how she began the business of providing mock meat to newly vegetarians. Nowadays she's always lecturing me on how lucky I am that I am able to enjoy all these mock meat to help me with being a vegetarian and help balance my inner soul by not killing animals that may affect my karma in my future lifetimes... (exhale..) I tell her that she should not worry about me and think about spreading the message faster so more people could see try fake chicken or the fake duck that do not contain any animal products at all! (EXHALE...)

Wan.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

The Only Vegetarian Store in Chinatown

Recently I've been pondering on how to make consumers more aware of being or enjoying vegetarian. I've wondered how to make vegetarian products more acceptable in the society? Where should I start? What visions and goals do I have?

Yesterday I asked my friend for suggestions regarding awareness. He told me that my vegetarian store is very special. "You are the only vegetarian store in chinatown," he said. "Not only do you provide meat alternatives to having a healthier diet, you have great customer service. You should be proud." He went on telling me that if he was richer, he would open stores that will help influence the community in a good way.

Only vegetarian store in chinatown? Be proud being the only vegetarian store in chinatown? Spread the message of Asian vegetarian?

This will be a new beginning.

I never really had the habit of writing things down. This should be a good habit to start since I tend to forget a lot of things I say, giving myself a bad rep of not keeping anything in mind or not able to focus on one thing.

Let me reintroduce myself and the company. My name is LiLbluie and I am the official blogger of May Wah Vegetarian Food Inc. This blog is to let customers, staffs, and distributors understand the body, soul, and conscious of our brand. Not only will be discussing the foundation of May Wah, we will also be sharing our future cheers and tears with you.

May Wah Vegetarian Food Inc. was founded in 1995 as a small family business store located at the heart of Chinatown, New York City. Our mission is to serve health and happiness to customers with the best of Asian vegetarian foods in terms of nutrition and taste. Today, we have not only accomplished this goal, but our continuous commitments contribute to the cultural awareness of health benefits in consuming vegetarian foods.

Recently we have sucessfully launched the redesign of our site, www.maywahnyc.com. We welcome you to the online home of the only vegetarian specialty store in New York City. With our new features, you can now enjoy the following benefits:.

  • Search our website with ease to find vegan specialties, best sellers, or anything you want
  • Learn all about our products and prices available for retail and wholesale through listings
  • See the best of what we have to offer with our brochures!
  • Ship your orders all over USA within 7 to 10 business days!
  • Locate the nearest distributor with our products throughout New York, USA, and the world!

By the end of the year we will try to accomplish the following goals:

  • Past, Present, and Future of May Wah
  • Upward Flow of Our Company
  • Rethinking our Social Responsilibity
  • Emphasizing the cultures of the Asian vegetarian communities

This should be a good beginning.