Blog

After a pretty stressful year that included some significant lows, it is a true pleasure to be reminded of the highs and the achievements that get so quickly lost in life’s daily dramas.
This is not to say that 2010 has not been an incredible year for me. I have , of course, all a chef could wish for… my very own cook book, published and now available in all good book stores! But the year has not really been about the final product; rather the journey producing the book – it has been unbelievable.

Well, where do I start? What an experience!

I had no idea what to expect from China– my perception was that it is the most powerful country in the world, has the largest population in the world, is the number one for technology, yes?

Life is full of choices we have to make – most of them not nearly as easy as this one!

As the quote goes, ‘it’s the choices we make not the chances we take that determine our destiny.’ I tend to agree with this, yet it is certainly not the easy option.

Chances come along very rarely and of course we must take them when they do, but they don’t normally require nearly as much thought as a choice that has to be made.

In light of 2010 being our tenth year in business, I have been thinking ... how do you measure success? Surely keeping a cafe running several years is a success, especially since many new businesses don’t even last a year. I am not sure how success is meant to feel and if you actually know when you have reached it.

When Bitton opened 10 years ago I promised myself I would always give back to the community that supported me from the beginning. Many of our local customers have frequented the Cafe almost daily, keeping my business up and supporting me. In return, I strive to find ways to give back, or at least, to balance my karma.

“We've met some lovely people in the cafe who we have made and maintained great friendships with, and these relationships have grown and blossomed even away from the café. The cafe has created a little community made up of all sorts of locals who take an interest in each other and enjoy catching up over coffee. We enjoy coming to Bitton, a place that feels like home away from home. We always attend the degustation dinners with a group of people we met at Bitton Gourmet, who we now call our friends.” Quoted from one of the locals

Bitton Gourmet was created from a little dream my wife Sohani and I had, of running a small café, something we could call our own. We were both at the peak of our corporate careers when we decided to give it all up and start afresh.

What’s so social about social media?

I have been asking myself this for some time now. Social media seems to have taken over the world. The reality is you cannot ignore it. Hundred’s of millions of people are involved in this new craze that is just a few years old. It’s also fun – that’s why Facebook and YouTube are worth billions.