On November 22nd I wrote something titled "Kill That Man", which was of course meant figuratively not literally. Anyway, now I think we should show him mercy in return for the lessons we learned from him. Here is the story: after the initial shock, on the 23rd of November we decided to place an order on his website so we could test his cookies... to see if his cookies were as good or better than ours. Essentially, we wanted to put ourselves in the shoes of one of his customers to see what this guy was really up to.

First of all, it was a nightmare to place an order. My wife, who is a computer engineer, spent more than an hour figuring out how to do it. Then we paid the money by bank transfer to the account specified on the site. Next, we waited and waited and waited some more to receive the cookies. Then on the 7th of December, which was a full 15 days after we had placed the order, we received an email from the man saying that he was sorry he could not deliver the cookies as ordered. Apparently he had a problem with his chocolate supplier, who was until further notice out of the chocolates used in our order. The guy was honest enough to ask for our bank information so he could send our money back, although a quick look at the bank transfer notice would probably have given him this information anyway.

So, I think we should hold off on killing him yet because of the following lessons:

1- Working with a website must be very easy and quick, otherwise why would customers spend longer than a few minutes trying to demystify how things work. We spent a lot of time, because we had an inherent interest in knowing how a potential competitor operates.
2- Our deliveries must...must...must be absolutely on time. A long time ago I read something to the effect that "promise the moon, deliver the sun". If we say delivery in three days, we must do our best to make it in two. We felt more and more cheated as we waited and waited for the arrival of our cookies.
3- Selecting suppliers is as important as anything we can think of. It's a supply chain, if one link breaks the whole operation screws up. This is something that we will have to scrutinize even more closely in the coming weeks and months.
4- Saying sorry and offering to send a customer's money back after a two week delay in delivery is just not enough. We may order cookies from this man again in the future, just to see the development of his operation, but I doubt if many others who had a similar experience will.

I was so happy that our cookies were not delivered that I could hardly contain myself. However, this competitor failed this time... others who will surely show up as time goes by may not. We will remain on our feet, let them come... and go. We will observe, learn, improve, and go on.

Things are moving along fine. We had a good meeting with Benjamin a couple of days ago and exchanged ideas, both professionally and otherwise. Together, we discussed some technical aspects and features of the site, the graphics, how the logo would tie-in with the other parts of the website, etc. Most of this meeting was spent on the logo itself, and we made some adjustments . Although in modern marketing and branding thinking, logos are not at the top of the VIP (very important parts) list anymore, we all agree that continuity is very important and that every part of the whole operation must look and feel like Cookie Cabana. Identity is everything, recognition is all important. Anyway, We appreciate Benjamin's creative ideas, and I trust we will see his and his team's technical prowess in a few weeks as well. I'll send them some prototype cookies in a few days to perk them up a bit.

Meanwhile... replies from the packaging suppliers are coming in. We have had some reasonable offers, and actually a couple of good ones. We are thinking about modifying the box design a bit to make it more suitable for labeling and delivery. It should not be a big deal, and I will be working on the details during the coming week... the German Trademark and Patent office has accepted our application for trade name registration, we have paid the fees and we wait for the certificate. I hope things keep going as planned, and we have all of the "legalities" in place before the countdown clock reaches 00:00:00:00, everytime I see the countdown on www.cookie-cabana.com I get a rush of anxiety, a feeling of "oh, there is so much left to do", but generally a somewhat pleasant excitement at the same time.

What's there to worry about after all? Our concept is great, our product is top quality, we are in touch with suppliers of equipment and materials we need, and I am certain (with my fingers crossed) we will go online at the strike of 00:00:00:00... and all we need then is friends and customers, friends and customers, friends and customers, and more friends and customers. Pray for us.

Today was the day I began searching for packaging for the cookies. Really, we had looked into packaging before (did you read my entry titled "Lady Werbeagentur"?) and we have an idea what we are looking for, but now is the time to seriously make arrangements for the container the cookies will be presented to our wonderful, and hopefully many many, customers. Since early morning I sent out emails, faxes, etc. and by noon I had almost ten replies. One man even called on the phone, amazingly an American selling packaging materials in Germany. His prices are not too bad either, I'll give things another couple of days so all the others can make their offers as well.

As the seconds tick away on the cookie-cabana.com countdown, my heart rate goes up accordingly. I know there is still some time left for all the things we have to do, but look how fast the seconds are vanishing into the past. Anyway, I am not worried... just a little anxious... well, maybe a little worried too. I don't know.

I asked our lawyer about the status of the company name registration, and he assures me (as lawyers seem to often do) that everything is in process, and that we will hear from the Deutschen Patent- und Markenamt in due course. I suppoe he knows what he is doing.

The first thought that went through my mind when I saw that somebody else was trying to do the same thing as we are doing was "kill that man". The second thought was who amongst the people we have discussed our idea with was a traitor. Next, I tried to convince myself that no one around us would have betrayed us intentionally, maybe someone had said something about our story to a friend, who has then copied us. Finally, I did some checking. Actually, the "competition" has a head start on us, by about four months. So?

So, this is becoming exciting now. I have checked into this guy's work. His idea is almost identical to ours, although developed quite independently and without knowledge of each other. He has taken steps similar to us, however details are naturally different. I can just imagine his surprise when he finds out about us. This sort of makes me feel like the Wright brothers, Edison, or Marconi, who were in fact not the ones who had first thought of airpanes, the electirc light, or radio. But... who invented the airplane, electric light bulb, and radio?

Anyway, may the best man win... as long as it's me (us).

Until now everything was kind of happening in fantasyland, although we have already taken many concrete steps. Since this afternoon, we are looking at things under a different light altogether.

cookie-cabana.com is finally semi-officially online. At least the "please hang in there with us until everything is finished" page is online. Of course, adjustments can be expected during the next few days, but essentially we are asking you to accompany us on our journey, and to wait for the grand opening. This is the first publicly visible sign of the direction Cookie Cabana is going to take, and I must tell you it gives us a sense of urgency. The countdown is a great tool to remind ourselves how much time we still have to make all of the necessary arrangements... and believe me, there are quite a few to work through.

During the past couple of days we have seen previews of the actual site, and I hope you will like it as much as I do. When online, it should be "eine angenehme Überraschung" (a pleasant surprise), as the Germans would say. Please think positive and give us your good karma.

This morning I was, as I often am, thinking about Cookie Cabana while I sat at my computer, and I just googled it. I was surprised that this blog shows up on the first search page. When my search brought up Cookie Cabana "The True Story", I felt real encouragement in the sense that this blog is only a few weeks old, and it shows up on Google without any effort on my part. What can cookie-cabana.com achieve with good promotional strategies? Probably a lot.

Although I am a frequent internet user, and my search techniques are quite efficient, I have not so far delved too deeply into the particular area of building a high click rate. I must learn more, and fast.

Thanks to everyone who might read this blog, and who would comment and share their ideas with us.

As we move on, things seem more real, and honestly, more doable to me. This is fun. As we dig deeper into the world of "cyber marketing" and maybe a little later franchising (non-cyber outlets to offer the cookies in), it becomes more and more clear that what we are doing is cool, and this is actually the right time to do it in.

By "cool", I mean the "Cabana" cookies are the embodiment of the attitudes of our target market- the early to mid-course yuppies (young upwardly-mobile professionals), the sizable late highschool to late college-aged people with a little "for-fun-money" left in their pockets, and the countless numbers of wonderful, beautiful, internet friendly, socially active people in offices and homes all across Europe (for now) who spend a good part of their free time online. This target market is accustomed to good, high quality products, We offer good, high quality cookies. Fierce competition amongst multitudes of businesses has given our target market a very large selection of products to choose from. Choice is paramount in our cookies. Nowadays, "choice-based marketing" is a success story in all sorts of businesses, from reataurant chains like Mongo's to Timberland's configurable shoes to Mymuesli breakfast cereal combinations. Our concept is "in". Our price will not be cheap, but absolutely fair. And most important of all, we foster a culture. We see in cookies, what Starbucks saw in coffee; although, in a much different way.

Also, this is the right time for us to let Cookie Cabana loose. The retail internet market is slowly maturing, peole's trust in internet shopping has increased dramatically since even a few years ago (I consider myself a conservative shopper, but even I spend an increasing sum of money on various online purchases). A growing number of online tools are now available that offer effective marketing venues at a reasonable cost. And, not to forget, this is the right time because we can finally do this thing now.

Cookie news:
-- The cookie-cabana.com "under construction" page should be available by the end of next week. This is what Benjamin has promised. The page should be interesting, it is designed to keep people coming back regularly until launch time.
-- We have eventually decided on four cookie sizes, roughly corresponding to the Starbucks' short, tall, grande, plus a jumbo version of our own.
-- The flow of technical information between us and the web design team has already begun, and the first milestone results are scheduled for presentation around three weeks from now.

Do you remember Willi Nelson? As the lyrics sung by Willi Nelson go, it seems that we are "On the road again, Goin' places that I've never been; Seein' things that I may never see again. And I can't wait to get on the road again."

After a pause in pursuing our cookie dreams, we finally shook hands with Benjamin, and he will send us a contract, we make the first payment, and things start rolling. Actually, I think he already has most of the concept well thought out, and probably a lot of the basic work already done. He is an interesting person... he talks about his opinions strongly, but he also listens, and we have talked about a rainbow of subjects from the memory capacity of a Goldfish to the more philosophical concepts of physical and metaphysical existence... oh, and of course also the more basic things in life like food, wine, women (our wives), money, etc. I think it was a good choice for Cookie Cabana to team up with someone a little out of the ordinary "box". Soon you will be able to go to www.cookie-cabana.com to take a look around and Please buy some cookies.

It will now apparently be possible to register our name, so we have made a contract with a lawyer to do it for us. Although it seems that we would save money by not using a lawyer, the fact is that research is what costs the most money. When lawyers have to do research for your case, they charge you an arm and a leg, but if you do the research yourself, then filling out forms, etc. does not have a high price tag. Lucky for us, we have our own in-house research department: my wife.

By the way, we decided not to change the cookie shape at this time. We may however modify the sizes we will offer.