It has been about two weeks since I wrote last. Several things had a role- first, we travelled through the "Deutsche Weinstrasse" for a few days, using the children's school holidays as an excuse to reward the parents. We had a good time tasting wine and buying a few bottles, we also enjoyed some local restaurants, passed through some of the old German villages that postcards are made from, and were generally dominated by a feeling of awe about how much grape there is and how much work goes into making all those grapes into so much wine.Then I made a few days' business trip to Milan and Turin, and later spent a couple of days of doing not very much at all... in a business sense. What I keep seeing everywhere, I mean everywhere, no matter which country you go to, is that FOOD is the dominating aspect of life. Eating and drinking takes up and makes up so much of life.

The cookie business is going back on track now. The only trouble is we are laying the tracks as we go and we have to be careful where the tracks are being put on the ground, and if we add my natural propensity to do things as slowly as possible, the results are at times frustrating... no that's not good enough... maddening, hmmm that's not strong enough either... alarming, apalling, stupefying, or even frightening to my partner in life, and of course in the cookie business.

Anyway, the good news is that we can probably have the name that we want. My wife contacted the company that the lawyer had said had registered the name, and they replied with the information that they have never used that name or produced anything under that name in Germany. This opens our hands. There are other possibilities to register our chosen name as well. Additionally, we received some good advice on name registration, etc. which we will use to finally name this business.

We have also been thinking about somewhat modifying the physical appearance of the cookies... you know, make them a little prettier. Actually, prettier is not exactly what we are after... maybe the word I am looking for is distinctive. Something that will be a part of the image of the cookie, however, each seemingly small change has many technical ramifications. Simply put, if we change the shape or texture, we would have to go through another many kilos of flower and sugar and other things to get things right again. We'll have to see.

Our lawyer has made a search of the German registries, and has found out that the word "Cabana" is already registered as a traemark of one of the international food giants. He seems to think that it may be a problem for us later, if this German subsidiary of one of America's largest food companies decides to sue us over the use of the word Cabana. But, I don't know. Cabana is a common word, it is in the dictionary, it means cabin, small house, home, cottage, hut, etc. Why should it be forbidden to use a combination word which includes cabana. After all, can someone patent the word "Deutsche"? If so, how come there is Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Krankenversicherung? Deutsche Lufthansa, Deutsche Welle, and many others? I think lawyers must be very careful, sometimes to the point of being overly conservative. I sent him an email, he will answer soon. I'll let you know.

Sorry it took a little longer than usual to update the blog. I was travelling on business for the past few days (unrelated to cookies, as you know I have another life as well). Actually, we are leading four lives at one time. I have my own business, she is an engineer with a telecom company, there are three kids and a dog to look after, and then there is our beloved cookie business. Things do run into each other a bit at times.

Now, the cookies. We are still going back and forth with the logo designers, it does not look really promising yet, but they are supposed to change things until we are completely satisfied. They will be paid after we are happy with the logo, or so the agreement is. Meanwhile, my wife has contracted a lawyer about registering the name "Cookie Cabana", but damn... everything costs so much money. The expense to register a name in Germany alone will amount to around 1,000 Euros, and registration in each additional country must be done separately, at additional cost.

Although it may all seem like a slow process, but it takes time to do everything right. Right now we are only setting the stage for Cookie Cabana.

I have to be in touch with Benjamin (the web-site guru) to see if I can come to some sort of agreement with him about developing the website one step at a time, first the essentials, then the fancy things. You see, the problem is I really like the preview that he showed us, and we want him to do the site, we don't want to look anymore. It's like when you want to buy a shirt, you have seen what you want, and you still go to different stores to look some more. You really want the one you liked, but you have to convince yourself that you have looked everywhere you could have and have made the best choice. I know, I know... we have the money to do it all at once, and I know the bank is also willing to lend us the money we need, but we think it is better to go slowly. By going one step at the time, I mean first developing the website in the way it will finally look to the public, but without all of the behind the scene technology that will make it into a complete, state of the art job with all of those automatic bells and whistles. The extras can be added one at a time, from the money generated by the business itself.

Although we want the best, we have to be prudent with financial matters as well. We can only run a successful business, if we have the safety and the peace of mind necessary to support the three kids and a dog, while slowly shifting more time and effort away from our present jobs to Cookie Cabana. As the old saying goes, we must achieve something better by giving up something already good, and giving up something good can be a little scary at times... especially at my age.

One interesting thing about Germany is the number of organized socio-economic events they have set up to bring people out of their homes, onto the streets, eating, drinking, generally being around others... and hopefully spending money "mit Vergnügung" (happily). There are all kinds of Schützenfest, Strassenfest, and other "Fests", and they rotoate from neighborhood to neighborhood, village to village, and town to town. Today it was "Tag der offenen Tür" in our town.

The local cafe where our cookies have been on sale for the past couple of weeks is directly on the town's main street, "Dorf Strasse", the street was closed off, it was a beautiful sunny day, stands selling everything from food and wine to clothing and insurance were set up along the street, and entertainment for all ages was abundant everywhere. We set up a table on the sidewalk where the cafe sets its tables, and offered cookies to the customers of the cafe, and to the people passing by.

First of all, I must say that today my respect for people who run cafes went up considerably. These people really work hard, especially on days like today. Our cafe had about 15 tables outside, and 5 or 6 inside. The tables were all full between let's say noon and 6 o'clock in the evening, often with people standing and waiting on the street for a table to be freed. I watched the five or six waiter/waitresses who really worked their butts off to keep a crowd of suntanned, well dressed, mainly grown-up people happy. They were successful, and I was appreciative of how much work really goes into success of any kind; even in just one cafe on a street in a small German town on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

Anyway, we had six varieties of cookies in nice glass jars, around 180 cookies total, with printed signs on each jar that showed the company name, cookie variety, list of all-Bio ingredients, and price. We sold around 120 at the price of 50 cents each. Some of what we learned was:

1- Although the cafe experience and test was interesting, our market-focus must remain on the internet.
2- Feedback about taste was quite positive, but our "cookie concept" is still the main selling point for the internet market.
3- Promotion is very very very very important.
4- Selling price is a factor, but not the most important one.
5- If your product is good, you will have repeat customers.
6- Chocolate melts under direct sun.

This morning I met with the web-designer in a cafe near home. I had a certain agenda in mind, mostly business matters. As we talked, we discussed many subjects, philosophy, sociology, economics, women (our wives), and very briefly business. The guy is interesting, he is not a run of the mill computer "nerd"; he also actually has an agenda for life, and strong opinions.

It's interesting, as we make further progress down the path to making and selling the best cookies in the world, we have met some new people who seem to keep an eye on what we're doing, and often offering a helping thought or hand. The web-site guy seems to be one of those people. He told me that from a couple of hours after he had met us, he had thought that this idea might work, and that he had thought about it afterwards. I also told him that after we had seen the very first samples of what he had had in mind, we knew that his work would help us make our cookie business work. Anyway, I think we will work well together. And, after thorough discussions, I must admit that I agree with his ideas about the demographics of the web customers more than with my own original judgement.

Another person of this type, is the owner of the cafe where I had my meeting. The man is nice enough to have set two classy jars of our small-sized cookies on display at a prominent place in his cafe... I have to find out why they are not selling. As I sat in the cafe for almost two hours, and watched people's path, it was obvious that the cookies were not seen at all despite the fact that they were in front of the eyes as people walked in.

It feels good when people say nice things about you or what you are doing, especially when praise comes where and when you don't expect it. We have had our cookies on sale in a couple of cafes so we can sort of (very un-scientifically) judge people's reactions to our cookies. We get some interesting feedback, good and not so good, but all with great educational value. One gratifying feedback came today as my wife was in a beauty salon and telling the owner about our cookies and where they were on sale, etc. when a lady customer commented that she had tested the cookies, and that they were so good, and that she would recommend them to others. I hope she recommends the cookies to a million people, because they areally are good.

How do you tell someone that you don't want to work with them? That their work is not what you are looking for? That if they thought you were really impressed by their work, they were wrong? I suppose all you have to do is to just do it.

When we began thinking seriously about our new business, we really had no clear idea of where to look for all the people who would each play a role in establishing the business. We needed good web-designers, packaging suppliers, printers, etc. So, I googled Werbeagentur in our area. I picked three names, and decided to talk to two of them. We met with both a few times... one was more organized, the other more creative; one seemed more professional, the other was artistically haphazard; One gave the feeling of being dull but safe, the other colorful but uneasy. The one I felt safe with introduced a good web-desiner, the artisitc one came up with good packaging. I should also explain that the better organized one never talked about money before we would sign a contract, but the creative one was immediately concerned about charging for the time they might spend doing some work- even before signing a contract.

Maybe it's just me, but in the end analysis I prefer safety to creativity.

The problem is that we may want to buy the packaging, but not the agent, and she is totally offended. I have copy-pasted a sentence she wrote in one of her emails: "Es tut uns leid, wir sind eine Werbeagentur und leben von unseren Ideen und Realisierungen, die wir uns bezahlen lassen und nicht von dem Verkauf von Verpackungen zum Selbstkostenpreis." Now, my German is not all that great, but the angry vibrations coming from that sentence are too strong not to understand.

So, we offered to pay for the time they spent looking for the packaging... She wants 640 Euros plus tax for 8 hours she says they have worked. We think this is way way too much for the three 1/2 hour meetings we had and the completely mediocre web-desinger they introduced. Also, she told me once that her father had been a packaging supplier, and that she knows a lot of them, and this makes me think that she probably spent all of maybe one hour talking to old friends and acquaintances about packages. The only reason we are even considering to pay anything at all is because, well, we live in the same small town, shop at the same stores, sit in the same cafes... we want to be neighborly, and to be fair.

I don't know, maybe we are being hard. But, we are not going to let a "neighborly" feeling dig too deep in our pockets. After all, we are running a business.

I should explain that we started to document our adventure into "cookieland" a couple of months later than the time we actually began our journey. So far down the road, we have almost picked a name for the website we will mainly sell our cookies through; nearly settled on a possible package construction and design; found a web designer who seems to understand what we are trying to do; had many seriously pointless discussions with ad agencies who keep on doing everything they can to convince us that we need them and should pay them high fees for things we can do ourselves; thought about where to begin baking the cookies; considered what steps we may have to take very quickly... just in case our cookies are successful faster than we anticipate; and baked and tested many hundreds of cookies until finally coming to the "oh so good" way of making them. These cookies really are good... like no cookie anyone has eaten before.

All of this seems to be a lot of work, and as anyone who has started a new business knows, it has been a lot of work, mostly fun work, and at times also fearful and nerve wracking moments. A lot of hours spent thinking, dreaming, planning, seeing, calling, talking, learning the proper rules and regulations of doing business in Germany, reviewing everything, and re-doing many things.

Now, the hard parts are starting to begin. We have to make money and career choices that are likely to greatly affect our lives and family, now and in the future. You see, we are both professionals with high educations and rather good incomes, with an idea in our heads that is taking us in a completely different direction- To creat Europe's first "Cookie Democracy", for money.

Good morning. This is the true story of our ongoing adventure into making and selling the best cookies in the world. First, I'll give you a little background.

Since a few years ago, we have had this idea to make and sell something sweet... You know, people like sweet things and It makes them happy to eat sweet things. Over time we juggled different ideas, and finally everything settled around the thought of making and selling the best cookies in the world... First in Europe, in fact, in Germany to begin with, and mainly on the internet. It is essentially an internet-store concept.

Why Germany? It's a long story, but to make it short, because Germany's business climate supports start-up companies, and encourages entreprenureship. In other words Germany makes it easy to do business in. On the other hand, Germany has some of the toughest regulations which, in part, are responsible for its world famous reputation for "high quality" products, which in turn supports and regulates a very high quality supply chain...But the most important of all reasons, because fate has made Germany our home for the past 11 years.

This blog is the "almost daily" course of events in our adventure in making and selling the best cookies in the world. Come with us, or as a German might say, "sei dabei".