In about a week or so, our last remaining Churro101 store will be closing.
It's been a crazy 2.5years since we opened our first store back in October 2015. I still remember arriving at our shop on our opening day to a long line of people, I was in shock because I honestly did not expect people to be queuing up so early in the morning on a weekday lol. The waiting time for that day was a mad 3hrs and we felt soo bad having to turn people away at the end.
To all those who has ever bought a churro from our stores, thank you so much. I really mean it. And to those whom I've ever served before, it was my privilege.
Churro101 was our first proper business, our baby. Looking back, I don't know what gave us the courage to take such a big risk then (I was about to give birth when we decided to do this haha).
No experience in F&B, no partners, no mentors here in Singapore.
But we worked hard, really really hard. And I'm thankful that this first business venture of ours has been a rewarding one, and even became a platform for us to expand to other industries.
I'm most thankful for the experience which in turn strengthened us as a couple. Initially it was really tough, we worked 12hrs a day at the shop before going home to continue the admin aspect of our business together everyday. I still remember our then 8mth old Kayla would cry each time we had to leave her - this was so challenging for us emotionally as new parents. But thank God we had each other. And through those dark times when we got backstabbed, cheated, taken advantage of.. we had each other.
And looking back, we also made so many wonderful memories together.. our almost daily after work suppers with our staff haha. Our first company Christmas party at KTV, the joy we experienced on the day we managed to sell 1000 churros, the excitement we had when we signed our lease for our warehouse (that space had an amazing sunset view), spending NYE making deliveries to the shops, decorating the shops for halloween after work hehe.. wah feeling quite emotional while typing this lolol. These are all great memories for me.
"Why are you closing?"
- Been asked this question so many times lately.. so here's why:
I'm honestly really tired. (I had a concussion early last year and was admitted for over exhaustion later in the year). And seeing my kids grow up so quickly made me realise that I would really love to have more time with them, and that's challenging for me to do if I continue managing this business (my husband is currently heavily involved in another business venture so I've been managing everything myself).
And on top of all these reasons, the queues that we've had have died down. It's sad but we were already mentally prepared that a "hype food" like ours is something that would most likely not last forever as well.
Moving forward (for now at least), I would very much prefer to take on a more silent role in regards to new businesses. So I'm partnering up with some very good friends of mine and venturing into another new concept instead :) And this time we're going to be the franchisee instead hehe. Will share more soon - hope you all will like this new brand too!
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