a dream job

i've never thought of myself as a business person, but lately i keep dreaming of owning my own tea shop or cafe. it would be lovely and sunlit, and serve homemade cakes, salads and afternoon tea sets. the menu might change daily depending on what was baked that morning/last night. the drinks would be fruity sodas, tea and coffee. people would get complimentary glasses of water without having to ask. the interiors would be delicately designed, and there would be a poetry wall for people to scribble poetry and to contribute to lines of a running poem in the making.

maybe the theme of the place would be books, but i don't know how marketable that is and how as at theme that translates into the food. maybe all the foods and drinks could be named after books and authors? you know, having some red-orangey drink called 'The Sun Also Rises', lemon cake as 'Oranges Aren't the Only Fruit' hahaha, a tea set called 'Sense and Sensibility', or a couples one called 'Romeo and Juliet', or the caesar salad being 'Julius Caesar' (lamee). but then not all of the names would be so eyeball-rolling worthy. some could just be named after famous writers - maybe biographically related to what those authors actually enjoyed. oh and i would sell books too, both new ones and second-hand books.

my maternal grandparents ran an eatery/cafe in HK in the 50s-70s, serving HK style breakfasts and teas (a lot of toast, noodles, bo-lo bao) and drinks and ice creams. they were able to earn a living from it because of the strategic location - it was by the harbour near a petrol station or some kind of construction site, so all the workers would go there for breaks, and my mom and my aunts/uncles used to run deliveries, and serve in the cafe. they lived right next to the shop, so it was convenient. but although this all sounds very nice, i understand that the food and beverage industry is ruthless, and their turnover high. but it seems like an interesting kind of life... especially if you keep it small enough so that you can interact with customers and try to develop good relations with them. the problem is then that you can't utilise large economies of scale to keep costs low. i guess the thing would be to make sure that i own that property so that overhead costs are minimalised. but that would first mean earning enough to have one's own house and own's own shopfront!

you know, just something to dream about, to remind me that one can really do anything...