My fren sucking experience from fucking condo management.

Picked from a fren of mine in facebook. http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=53658248895

Dissatisfaction


Yesterday at 8:24pm

It is now February. I have been operating my business for less than 60 days and a lot has happen during these time of operations. Business is not so promising, each day we have less and less people coming in except for the regulars who loves the café.

There are some issues that have been haunting us since the 2nd week of our operations. The first on the list and my favorite is: MPPJ License. 2 weeks AFTER we start our operation, I got a request from the management office that we need an MPPJ License. If you have been reading my notes you will have a slight recollection of this issue. At that time, we just started the business and we are financially tight, going for an MPPJ License is going to cost some money which we cannot afford at that time.

So we request for a delay during which I happen to go to MPPJ to asks about a business license. When they asks what type of business we are running, we told the officer that we are running a Food and Beverage business… Café we said and he handed us a stack of papers. The regulations and the specifications of how a restaurant/café or any Food and Beverages outlet is suppose to be.

When I read it through, I was like OH! MY GOD! There’s no way we can get an approval from the MPPJ! The walls, the floors, the tiles and the plumbing IS NOT TO CODE! There is no way we can do this LEGALLY! If we have to go under table wise, which I have no intention, I will end up running a business buying everyone off! Besides, I am running a café inside a condominium, WHY do I need an MPPJ License? I am catering for the residents. If I am running my operations outside and in a commercial area, I don’t mind getting one. At least, the place will be build accordingly to code.

Anyway, some 3 weeks ago, I had a private meeting with some of the committee members and the issue came up. I explain to them about the license thingy and they said ok, they can forego the license as long as I register my business with SSM, which I have and I even gave a copy to the management office, which they somehow misplace.

About a week or so ago, I got a call from the manager from the Management office and he we requesting some stuff and guess what is on the top of the lists? Correct! MPPJ License. The committee and the management people have meetings every week and 2 weeks have come and go and I am not sure if the issue every came up but I thought I settled it already! What have they been talking about during the meetings?

So, 2 days after the call, the manager was in the café and he sat me down to talk to me about some stuff and there I was repeating myself over and over again about why I refuse to get the license. Come on, I have invested time and money into this café to improve the quality of CAFETERIA dining, why the heck are you telling me about the MPPJ License 2 weeks after I start the operations. Why is it not brought up to me before I even start scraping the shit that was left on the kitchen door? If they brought the issue up before I start operating, we will at least get the MPPJ officer to come and check the place up before we jumped into the deal.

Question: They know something is not right and keeping quiet or they are trying to create problems for us?

If I bring in the authorities, they will shut us down. First warning, might be to do the renovations until it is to the code and to do that, I can guarantee you the whole condominium will have to reapply for their strata title, because THIS IS A BIG RENOVATION and I am not PAYING FOR IT. I have another 10 months in the place and you think I want to spend millions to renovate the place? Nevermind that, after beating around the bush, he is willing to let us go if we have Liability Insurance, he said we needed some coverage in case someone fell, food poison and die of choking while they are inside the premises of the café.

Question: Before we operate, the previous operators run the place as a mamak. Do they need the MPPJ License and/or Liability Insurance as well or is it just us? Talk about food poisoning, etc, etc, they are generous with their waste what…

I do not mind getting the Liability Insurance, in fact, I am ready to get one. After about 10 minutes of discussions, the topic of parking came up. Before we start our operation, the rental agreed upon is RM 1000 a month. I stipulate and request for a parking specifically for us. The committee and the management has no problem agreeing to the stipulation and thus, I ended paying RM 100 for the parking access card deposit. Fair and square right? Read on…

In the beginning, our allocated spot is near the entrance of the condo where our lot is mark ‘VISITOR’ and they chop the place for us with a traffic cone. In the beginning, I thought they will repaint the ‘Visitor’ mark with ‘CAFÉ’ but I was wrong. 2 weeks after we operate, especially when we have to go out to get the groceries/ingredients during the afternoon, someone else almost always takes our lot. If we park some other lot, the guard will come chasing after us and bark at us. My main purpose for a parking space is for the loading and unloading of the ingredients/groceries. We tried using the loading/unloading area but within 3 minutes, the guard came to us and try to chase us away again. He claims that we are blocking the traffic!

I drive a Kenari and Keith drives a MyVi. How much hassle can a small car like us create? It’s a designated spot for ‘Loading/Unloading’ right? Fine, we got the parking through the CORRECT way and other ‘VISITORS’ always take our spot. The manager then explains to us that they have limited parking spot for visitors and he asks us if we can move our car to the basement parking. He inform us that there is a designated lot for ‘Management Only’ in the basement and asks us to use it for the time being. He also asks me to write in a letter requesting the transfer of parking spot. Fine by me, as long as we have a parking lot, then it’s okay for us. Guess what, 3 days ago, after we move to the basement, our spot were being grabbed! Huh? Surprise! Surprise! That spot is no longer available because someone from the management office is USING it.

So we got booted around with a legal access card, drives around the condominium, through all the humps back to the ‘VISITOR’ lot if it is not being taken by some other ‘VISITOR’. Look, if the parking is so valuable to you, I am willing to give it up. But the stipulation says very clearly that if you refuse to lower down my rental, give me a parking spot! Previous operators pays lesser than us and they have at least 3 months of free rental. Us? We pay more than them and we have only 1 month free rental and that is for the renovation month! Since we are doing the renovation and not operating, we got it for free… YIPPEE!!!

Question again: Are they trying to drive us away?

There’s the question about whether our food quality is up to standard or not. In the beginning, without experience, I admit that we have some mishap. We admit that we do not have experience in the first place what. If being inexperience is wrong, then my condolence to all those who has no experience and is trying to make a difference. Anyhow, even if a cook who is experienced enough still needs adjustment to a new kitchen, new environment and new crewmember. Our food is good. If our food is bad, we won’t have a resident who came down personally and offers us to expand to Mont Kiara. He said he loves the concept, loves the café and loves the food, he has contact in Mont Kiara and he WANTS us there! If my food sucks, why am I getting offers like this?

If my food sucks, why am I catering to private functions? And after the private functions, the host came and had dinner at our place again, TWICE!

If the question here is my menu is getting old and people is tired of the food… My apology! I am designing and putting a new menu that boast more than 300 recipes in it. Western food, Asian cuisine, finger food, you name it we have it. Designing menu takes time. Putting a menu that caters to the residents taste takes time. Customizing the recipe according to the pricing range takes time. Everything takes time and you need to study what is going on before you send it to final printings!

I'm troubled. The biggest problem that is bothering me now is why is all this an issue only after I run the business and none of this ever came up before I operate the business? This minute I was renovating the shop, then purchasing the kitchen supplies, money and time invested in the business and 2 weeks after operation there's a list of demand from all parties? Am i being kept in the grey area or is there something fishy going on here?

My other question is are we the only one who is facing this problems or all the previous operators have the same problem as well? I did not ask around much but from what I hear and discover, never once this issue came up from any of the previous operators. I have a gut feeling this is more personal rather than business wise.

The lot is an empty lot without a tenant there, and we just want to run a business honestly. No matter how difficult it is to make ends meet, we are willing to pay whatever amount they stated there, we paid for the parking and we got booted around like some outsiders. We are a bunch of honest people who is making a living by creating a servicing business but I feels like I am being watched under a microscope all the time, being push around like some unwanted piece of junk!

Tell me, where did we go wrong? If bringing in the authorities means so much to some people, by all mean, I am prepared to lose this business. Bring them in.