yep, it continues...

Okay, first, some disparate thoughts about the idea from the previous post.

When an order is shipped from a production facility, the person who packs it is to write a happy friendly note to whomever the recipient is and to include that in the box (along with the shipping sheet that shows the items ordered).

The least busy restaurant locations will be in the Diner format as discussed in the previous post. In the busier locations we will have it like BelloPro here in Montreal, where the client orders and pays up front and gets their drink and a tray that they glide along a railing and their order is made on the spot and put on the glass shelf at upper chest level for the client to take and put on their tray, and then they go and sit down. This is a higher throughput method.

For the rambutan wood chips that we burn to smoke the meat, there are sustainable forestry companies in Indonesia to obtain them.

For the dormitory bathroom on the men's floor, have a single toilet stall and a urinal instead of two toilet stalls like in the women's dorm floors. For all of the bathrooms, above the sink and below the mirror will be X number of cubby holes where X corresponds to the max number of occupants of the dorm, so that the staff have a place to put their toiletries.

Access to the dormitories in Asia will be from a common staircase accessible from within the location that a magnetic key card given to each staffer gains them access only to their own dorm room once they reach their floor's landing on the stairwell. During business hours the front door of the resto will be unlocked, during closing hours, the same magnetic key card can unlock the front door of the restaurant.

Access to the dorimitories in India is a little different, it is the same that the entrance is inside the resto, and so staffers will use their magnetic key cards to get in and out of the resto outside of business hours. But to maintain high discretion between the male and female dormitories, their entrances will be far apart. For example, the men's dorm from a doorway on the second floor in-person dining area, and the women's dorm from a ground floor entrance from a door behind the serving counter.

As the production facility is only 250-300m, the production room within will be in a U shape, so that the finished smoked product ends up kind of where the input raw briscuit arrived, as the product is converted from fridge or frozen raw beef briscuit to end product vacuum sealed flash frozen smoked meat briscuit.

I determined that Daikin can be the HVAC solution for all locations (SUIK and resto across all regions) and that Tyco would be the fire resistant sprinkler installer for all locations as well. Both would arrange for the installation team for the duct work and installation of machines for Daikin, and the water sprinkler system for Tyco. A general contractor would be hired in each city to do the work, in the Indian cities it could be the same contractor in a city that has two locations. I would ask the real estate broker to help me discover the general contractor.

During the initial foreman training, we would also develop a foreman certification program that can be used for the future locations. The first run of the certification program could be used for the two week period that JB new foreman go through in the Surabaya location as described below.

Once I have enough locations across east Asia I will offer to have foremen exchanges, I can post in the WhatsApp group that is me and all foreman to ask if any FOH and BOH foremen would be interested in a two week exchange. If there are any takers, we would pair up FOH pairs and BOH pairs to do exchanges. This is a way to promote the community, to share culture, to have each location provide the same quality and service since foremen will learn how things are at other locations. Will need to match genders as they will switch dorms.

I will hire the two foreman for JB a few weeks before the JB location is ready and send them to live in the Subaraya dormitories to receive training from the two foremen that are present there, in this way they can have two weeks of experience to come back to the JB location and to then help to hire the two female FOH and two male BOH to round out the JB location's staff needs. These JB foreman won't need to learn the production facility tasks, but, they can get a visit to the production facility with one of the Surabaya foremen. Here is the training plan for these JB foremen at Surabaya:

🌱 THE TWO‑WEEK FOREMAN IMMERSION PLAN

This is designed for your JB foreman (and later Da Nang foreman) to live in the Surabaya dorm, work in the Surabaya restaurant, and absorb the culture from the inside.

The goal is not “learn everything.” The goal is absorb the founder’s rhythm and learn the system as a lived experience.

🏡 WEEK 1 — DORM CULTURE + BASIC RESTAURANT FLOW

Dormitory Leadership (Daily Exposure)

They learn by living it:

• how to organize rotating cleaning duties
• how to maintain regular cleaning (bathroom, kitchen, living room)
• how to manage shared meals
• how to handle disagreements calmly
• how to restock TP, soap, cleaning products
• how to share the Wi‑Fi password and set norms
• how to maintain quiet hours
• how to set the tone of kindness and respect

This is the heart of your culture. They don’t “study” it — they live it.

FOH Foundations (Shadow + Practice)

• greeting customers with warmth
• smiling naturally
• answering questions about MTL
• explaining the menu
• handling QRIS payments
• managing delivery couriers
• keeping the dining area spotless
• bussing tables with grace
• pacing service during rushes
• maintaining calm during pressure
• learning the daily opening and closing routines

This is where they absorb the cadence of your service.

BOH Foundations (Observation + Light Tasks)

• the potato routine (washing, cutting, soaking, drying)
• rye bread slicing (as needed, not stockpiled)
• prepping the line
• cleaning the kitchen
• understanding the fryers

• learning the portion sizes for:

• classic poutine
• smoked meat poutine
• smoked meat sandwich
• understanding the flow between FOH and BOH

They don't need to master BOH - they need to understand it deeply enough to lead

Culture + Leadership (Ongoing)

• punctuality
• kindness under pressure
• how to ask staff to help during a rush
• how to give breaks during quiet times
• how to maintain morale
• how to keep the dorm harmonious
• how to communicate expectations without ego

This is where they start becoming a culture carrier.

🔥 WEEK 2 — LEADERSHIP, SCHEDULING, AND RUNNING THE SYSTEM

Now they shift from “learning” to “leading.”

Dorm Leadership (Active Practice)

• assigning cleaning rotations
• mediating small disagreements
• organizing shared meals
• maintaining dorm supplies
• setting the tone of respect and calm
• ensuring everyone feels safe and welcome

This is where they learn how to run a dorm without becoming authoritarian.

FOH Leadership

• running the FOH opening routine
• managing the FOH closing routine
• scheduling FOH staff
• handling customer issues
• coordinating with BOH
• managing delivery flow
• maintaining cleanliness standards
• coaching staff on tone and politeness

They learn how to run the front of house with confidence.

BOH Leadership

• coordinating with the BOH foreman
• ensuring prep is on time
• checking portion accuracy
• maintaining cleanliness
• ensuring fryer safety
• managing BOH breaks
• understanding inventory levels
• placing orders for more stock (with supervision)

They don’t need to be a BOH expert — they need to be a BOH leader.

Operational Leadership

• how to run a shift
• how to handle a rush
• how to maintain calm
• how to ask for help
• how to give help
• how to keep the team aligned
• how to communicate clearly
• how to maintain the founder’s rhythm

This is where they become a mini‑founder for their city.

🧭 THE FINAL OUTCOME AFTER TWO WEEKS

Your foreman returns to JB with:

• the culture
• the tone
• the cadence
• the SOPs
• the leadership style
• the dorm management skills
• the FOH and BOH understanding
• the confidence to train others
• the ability to run a soft launch
• the ability to build a team from scratch

And then they:

• hire 2 FOH + 2 BOH
• train them during soft launch (3 hours/day)
• build camaraderie
• set the tone
• open the restaurant with confidence

This is exactly how your multi‑city network stays coherent, humane, and founder‑led.

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Each restaurant location will have a Wifi connection that is for staff that is accessible across all floors of the building, paid for from the income for the restaurant location. This will get added to the job benefit section of the job ad from the previous post.

I sent to Copilot the blog post I wrote that is previous to this one, and it was suggested that I need to provide some more infromation to dig deeper, so first I decided on the name of these restaurants, they are called 'MTL' which is simple for all of the different languages across all of those countries. It will be in big letters on the front of each location with a neon bar along the top and along the bottom of the three letters. In the same way when uniform t-shirts are made, it will have the MTL logo with a line along the top and along the bottom. Additionally there is a tag line where I have settled on 'A Taste of Montreal' which can be a subtag on the outside of the resto, or, on the wall somewhere on the inside. By being less specific about what is being served, I could add touriere, pouding chomeur and other Quebecois food as options later on.

The next thing to complete the manifesto, is to explain the why of this whole plan. In the previous post was the what and the how, so here is a why:

THE WHY, THE PRINCIPLES, THE PROMISE

🍁 Why This Exists

This project began with a simple desire: to share the foods of Montreal — poutine, smoked meat, and the warmth of its culinary culture — with places that have never tasted them.

But the deeper “why” emerged as the idea grew.

1. To share Montreal’s food culture with new markets

There are entire regions of Southeast Asia where Montreal’s comfort foods simply don’t exist. Bringing these dishes to Surabaya, Johor Bahru, Cebu, Da Nang, Phnom Penh, Chiang Mai, and Luang Prabang is a way of sharing a piece of home — not as a franchise, not as a gimmick, but as a genuine cultural offering.

2. To build a workplace rooted in dignity

Restaurants often run on burnout, instability, and disrespect. This system is designed to be the opposite.

Dormitories that feel like home. Monthly salaries instead of unstable hourly wages. Cross‑training. Clear SOPs. Founder presence. A culture of respect.

This is a restaurant network where people are treated as humans first.

3. To create cross‑cultural exchange

This project is not just about food. It’s about connection.

Staff from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and Laos will learn about Montreal — and one day, some will travel there. Montrealers will learn about these cities in return.

The restaurants become small cultural bridges, linking places that rarely intersect.

🧭 The Founder’s Principles

These are the non‑negotiables — the values that define the company and guide every decision.

1. Treat employees with respect and dignity

Every staff member deserves stability, safety, and a sense of belonging. Dormitories, fair wages, training, and humane scheduling are not perks — they are the foundation.

2. Serve customers at the peak of excellence

Every plate of poutine, every smoked meat sandwich, every interaction must reflect pride. Excellence is not an aspiration; it is the standard.

3. Maintain the highest possible product quality

From curing to smoking to freezing to plating, quality is sacred. If we cannot do it well, we do not do it.

4. Expand intentionally, not rapidly

Growth must never outpace culture. Each new location must be stable, trained, and grounded before the next begins.

5. Build systems that support people, not burden them

SOPs, workflows, and structures exist to make life easier — not harder.

6. Honour Montreal while adapting locally

We bring Montreal’s food with integrity, but we respect the tastes, rhythms, and cultures of each city we enter.

🤝 The Founder’s Promise

This is what I commit to — to the foremen, the staff, the customers, and the cities we will enter.

1. I will be present during the critical phases

Not as a distant owner, but as a founder who shows up, trains, listens, and builds alongside the team.

2. I will protect the culture we create

Dignity, respect, and stability are not negotiable. They are the core of this company.

3. I will build opportunities for growth

Cross‑training, cross‑country travel, leadership development — these are part of the system, not afterthoughts.

4. I will never sacrifice quality for speed

If a location needs more time, it gets more time. If a process needs refinement, it gets refinement.

5. I will build a company worth belonging to

A place where people feel proud to work. A place that treats them fairly. A place that connects cultures. A place that feels like home.

🌍 The Tone of Inevitability

This is not a hypothetical. This is not a dream. This is not a sketch on a napkin.

This is a system. A blueprint. A culture. A network waiting to be built.

The Surabaya facility will exist. The seven cities will open. The staff will live in dormitories that feel like home. The foremen will lead with dignity. The restaurants will serve Montreal’s food with pride. The cross‑country identity will grow stronger each year.

This is happening. This is the future we are building.

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As part of the welcome package to the foremen I would include the page below, it is a one pager that describes the idea.

MTL — A Taste of Montreal

Welcome to the Team — Our Story

MTL began as a simple idea I couldn’t shake: the foods I grew up with in Montreal — poutine, smoked meat, and the comfort that comes with them — deserved to be shared with places that had never tasted them. Not as a franchise, not as a trend, but as something real, something honest.

As the idea grew, it became clear that this wasn’t just about food. It was about people. It was about building something that treats staff with dignity, gives them stability, and creates opportunities that reach across borders. It was about building a workplace where respect isn’t just expected — it’s lived.

You are now part of that.

Every MTL restaurant is connected to the others. We’re a network, a family spread across Southeast Asia, all supported by our production facility in Surabaya. That facility is where we cure, smoke, steam, cool, freeze, and pack everything we serve. It’s the heart of our system, and it ensures that no matter where you are — Surabaya, Johor Bahru, Cebu, Da Nang, Phnom Penh, Chiang Mai, or Luang Prabang — the food tastes like Montreal.

But the real heart of MTL is the people who work here.

We live together in dormitories that are clean, safe, and meant to feel like home. We work together in restaurants that rely on teamwork, patience, and pride. We treat each other with respect — not because it’s written in a handbook, but because it’s the only way this works. When you live and work side by side, dignity isn’t optional. It’s essential.

As a member of this team, you’re part of something bigger than a job. You’re part of a community that spans countries. You’re part of a culture that values learning, growth, and shared success. You’re part of a company that believes in doing things the right way — slowly, intentionally, and with care.

And one day, some of you will travel to Montreal. You’ll walk the streets where this food comes from. You’ll see the places that inspired this whole project. You’ll bring those memories back to your restaurant, and your photos will hang on the wall for everyone to see — a reminder that this company opens doors.

MTL exists because I believe food can connect people. It exists because I believe workplaces can be fair and humane. It exists because I believe that when people are treated with dignity, they rise.

I’m glad you’re here. Let’s build this together.

— Phil Founder, MTL

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After JB has trained at Surabaya it will follow a similar hire staff, slow unannounced launch and then grand opening. I will get the Cebu foreman to get certifiied training at JB since JB will have at least eight months of experience by then. Da Nang I will have trained at Surabaya since the Da Nang foreman will do the production facility work at the very beginning as the Surabaya foremen did too.

After I do Surabaya, JB, Cebu, once I reach Da Nang as my fourth location, I will also build a second production facility for the northern part of these countries. So the letter above will show Da Nang as the production facility location for the MTL locations that will source their smoked meat, cheese curds and poutine sauce packets from the Da Nang production facility. The Da Nang production facility will be identical to the one in Surabaya in terms of 250-300m2, U shaped process, smokers, steamers, chill blasters, walk in fridge, walk in freezer. Receipt of cheese curds from a local producer, receipt of beef briscuits from a local distributor.

There aren't a lot of options necessarily for beef briscuit in or near Da Nang, however, Da Nang is a major shipping port and so it is highly probable that I could get Australian beef briscuits from someone who imports them already. There would be plenty of dairy options in and around Da Nang to have them produce cheese curds. For bakeries for the rye bread and potatoes, this ought to be available with Da Nang like in every other city.

This Da Nang facility will then be the source production facility for the Da Nang, Phnom Penh, Chiang Mai and Luang Prabang MTL locations.

Together we put together the Standard Operating Procedures that become the manual that the foreman use at the production facility, I will list all of the SOP titles below:

• SOP A1 — Printing and Applying Curing Container Labels 
• SOP RB — Receiving Raw Beef Brisket 
• SOP RC — Receiving Cheese Curds From Third Party Manufacturer 
• SOP RW — Receiving and Storing Coconut Husk & Rambutan Wood 
• SOP 001 — Preparing the Curing Blend 
• SOP 002 — Trimming and Preparing Brisket for Curing 
• SOP 003 — Applying the Cure 
• SOP 004 — Smoking Process 
• SOP 005 — Transition From Smoking to Steaming 
• SOP 006 — Steaming Process 
• SOP 007 — Cooling and Vacuum Sealing 
• SOP 008 — Flash Freezing 
• SOP 009 — Packing Orders for Distribution 
• SOP 010 — Outbound Logistics & Delivery

The SOP A1 has a 1 just in case there are additional administrative SOPs that need to be added. The RB, RC and RW is for the receipt of beef, the receipt of cheese curds and the receipt of wood to use for smoking (could be coconut husks or the rambutan wood chips).

Each SOP has a very detailed format, below is an example of SOP 002 to show you what all of the SOPs would look like with their own descriptions.

SOP 002 — Trimming and Preparing Brisket for Curing

Purpose

To trim raw beef brisket to MTL standards and prepare it for the curing process, ensuring consistent quality, proper yield, and safe handling.

Scope

This SOP applies to all production staff responsible for brisket preparation at the Surabaya facility.

Principles

• Treat the brisket with care and respect — this is the foundation of our smoked meat.
• Maintain strict hygiene and food‑safety standards at all times.
• Follow trimming guidelines precisely to ensure consistency across batches.
• Work calmly, cleanly, and with attention to detail.

Procedure

1. Prepare the Work Area

• Sanitize the cutting table and surrounding surfaces.
• Wash hands and wear PPE (gloves, apron, hair covering).
• Ensure knives are sharp and clean.
• Set up:
• cutting board
• knife
• waste bin
• tray for trimmed briskets
• tray for usable fat (if applicable)

2. Retrieve Brisket

• Take the required number of briskets from the walk‑in refrigerator.
• Keep briskets cold at all times — do not leave multiple pieces sitting at room temperature.
• Work with one brisket at a time.

3. Inspect the Brisket

• Check for:
• proper color
• no off‑odors
• intact packaging
• correct labeling
• If anything seems unusual, notify the foreman immediately.

4. Unpack and Drain

• Cut open the packaging carefully.
• Allow excess liquid to drain into the sink or designated container.
• Pat the brisket dry with disposable towels.

5. Trim the Brisket

Follow the MTL trimming standard:

• Remove hard, waxy fat This fat does not render and must be removed.
• Leave a consistent fat cap Aim for approximately 0.5–1 cm of soft, even fat across the top. This protects the meat during smoking and adds flavor.
• Square the edges Remove thin, ragged edges that will dry out during smoking.
• Remove silver skin Trim away any tough membrane on the meat side.
• Preserve yield Trim with intention — remove what must be removed, keep what can be kept.

Place trimmed brisket on the “ready” tray.

6. Quality Check

• Ensure each brisket:
• has an even fat cap
• is free of hard fat
• has no loose flaps or thin edges
• is shaped consistently with other briskets

If unsure, ask the foreman for confirmation.

7. Prepare for Curing

• Weigh each brisket and record the weight.
• This ensures accurate curing ratios.
• Place briskets in the designated curing trays or containers.

8. Clean Up

• Dispose of waste fat in the designated bin.
• Wash and sanitize knives, cutting boards, and surfaces.
• Mop the floor if necessary.
• Wash hands after completing the task.

Notes

• Consistency in trimming directly affects curing, smoking, and final product quality.
• Work calmly and respectfully — rushing leads to mistakes and waste.
• If you are unsure about a trimming decision, ask.
• Treat fellow staff with dignity during teamwork and communication.
• Maintain the cold chain: brisket should never sit out longer than necessary.

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For the design of the production facility I am uncertain if the SUIK has a shipping door at the front and also in the back, my guess is that there is only one door for the 250-300m2 facility. For the walk-in freezer, I imagine it being accessible from two sides; from inside the HVAC area so as to place the vacuum sealed smoked meat after it has been processed, and from the outside that faces the shipping/receiving area, so as to receive the cheese curds, and so as to ship out the boxes ready for shipping. For the HVAC side I image a simple sealed door, but on the dirty side, I imagine a large vestibule of a kind that the two doors to it can never be open at the same time - if the freezer door is open to trolly boxes out, the door to the dirty is closed, if the door to dirty is open, the freezer door is closed.

The next plan is that for the meat processing and then packing process, this would not be linear, but rather, in a U shape with the stainless steel table at the center, in this way the finished product ends up back more or less where it started instead of ending up at the far end of the facility, and so the left tip of the U is where the processing starts, retriving the raw beef briscuit, and the right tip of the U is an open doorway that passes the flash frozen smoked meat into trays or boxes so as to then be placed in the walk-in freezer, waiting to be packaged for shipping.

Once the first 13 MTL locations are done (two each in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and one in Laos) I will accelerate the rate of adding locations in two parallel streams. Indonesia will get new locations in Banywangi, Makassar, Semarang, Solo (Surakarta), Yogyakarta and Vietnam would get new locations in Hai Phong, Hoi An, Nha Trang, Quy Nhon and Vinh. In both expansion plans, foremen or assistants from the two existing MTL locations within the country can move to each of these new locations as they open. For example, a foreman from Surabaya becomes foreman at Banywangi, so back in Surabaya an assistant moves up to foreman to take that person's place.

Our smallest locations will have three levels with the ground floor for the restaurant and kitchen, and the two above levels for the two dormitories. At our moderate locations, it would be four floors with the ground floor the resto and kitchen and the second floor in person dining, with the two dorm floors above. At the busiest locations, the restaurant service will be like Belle-Pro so not a lot of FOH staff are needed, so the same four floor setup would be used.

With respect to the MTL staff getting visits to Montreal, it would still be in year 3 of the location with foreman A and a staffer, and year 4 with foreman B and a different staffer. In the initial years they would go to a hotel for the week, but as the number of locations increase, and so the number of employees that get to go increase, I would buy a house in an urban part of Montreal that has four bedrooms and put two bunks in each. This house would then be used for every visit that MTL staff do when they visit Montreal which very much lowers the expense. For trips in the winter, have a variety of winter coats, scarves, toques, gloves that get stored in the house. Eventually hire a concierge person who becomes a Montreal based MTL employee who greets these MTL staffers at the airport, guides them to the house, takes them on tours, gives them free days, takes them to Canadiens, Alouettes or Victoire games and so on.

Based on how successful an MTL location is, the MTL location can sponsor, once or twice a year, a community activity or event to get soft advertising for the MTL location. The foremen will work together to decide if this is possible and then decide what they will support. Perhaps 1% of sales will be set aside to populate the fund from which the foreman can do the sponsorship.

Once the 12 east asian MTL locations are all up and running, and I have been traveling between them pretty regularly to provide founder visits and to check up on everything, I would post a job description for a regional manager for east Asia that I would advertise to all of the foremen across the 23 locations.

The regional manager would do the traveling between all of the locations that I had been doing, do reporting by country, and report back to me if there are any escalations that the manager cannot handle. Here is a job description for the regional manager role:

⭐ MTL Regional Manager — Internal Posting (Service Role)

This is a support position, not a top‑down management role. The purpose of this role is to serve the foremen, protect the culture, and ensure that every MTL location has what it needs to operate smoothly.

🌱 Purpose of the Role

The Regional Manager exists to:

• support foremen
• maintain standards
• ensure safety and maintenance
• solve problems before they escalate
• protect the MTL culture
• keep the rhythm calm and intentional

This is a service role, not a command role.

🧭 Core Responsibilities

1. Regular Visits to Each Location

The manager will periodically visit every MTL location in their region to:

• walk through the restaurant
• inspect the dormitories
• inspect the SUIK (if applicable)
• check HVAC, fire systems, and equipment
• observe cleanliness and workflow
• meet the foreman in person
• ask what support is needed

These visits are supportive, not evaluative.

2. Foreman Support and Escalation Point

The manager will:

• receive regular reports from each foreman
• receive escalations when something cannot be solved locally
• help foremen get what they need
• coordinate repairs, replacements, or contractors
• ensure foremen never feel alone in solving problems

The manager is the first line of support, not a boss.

3. Maintenance and Inspection Scheduling

The manager will maintain a schedule for:

• HVAC servicing
• fire protection inspections
• electrical checks
• plumbing checks
• dorm safety checks
• SUIK equipment servicing
• building maintenance

And ensure these inspections are completed on time.

4. Culture Protection

The manager will:

• reinforce the MTL way
• support dorm dignity
• ensure calm, respectful environments
• help foremen maintain staff culture
• encourage exchanges between locations
• coordinate with the Montreal visitor house when needed

This role protects the culture, not enforces rules.

5. Communication and Reporting

The manager will:

• keep simple, clear notes
• update the owner when needed
• ensure foremen feel heard
• ensure problems are solved quickly
• ensure no location drifts away from standards

Communication is light, human, and supportive.

🌏 Regional Structure

There will be two Regional Managers:

• One for East Asia (Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand)

• One for India (Vizag, Guntur, Vijayawada, Tenali, Vizianagaram, Srikakulam)

Each manager supports only their region.

🌟 Who Should Apply

This role is ideal for foremen who:

• love helping others
• stay calm under pressure
• understand the MTL culture deeply
• enjoy traveling
• enjoy solving problems
• are good listeners
• care about staff dignity
• want to support the whole network

This is not a promotion to “boss.” It is a promotion to guardian.

🔥 Founder‑Level Notes

Phil, this job description does exactly what you want:

• It prevents hierarchy
• It prevents corporate creep
• It reinforces culture
• It empowers foremen
• It keeps the system human
• It keeps the rhythm calm
• It positions the manager as a helper, not a controller

And because you’ll post this only to foremen you personally hired, the applicants will already understand the spirit of the role.

When the time comes, you’ll choose the right people — because you’ll know them not from résumés, but from years of shared work, shared conversations, and shared culture.

Expansion to India

First we would go to Visakhapatnam (Vizag) to build a production facility of 500-750m in the outskirts, and then two MTL locations within Vizag, one in Dwaraka Nagar which would be large busy and very high traffic and another in Siripuram which is a premium high end. The production facility will begin with three smokers, three steamers and three blast chillers, larger walk in fridge and larger walk in freezer and larger wood storate, but essentially the same design as the two production facilities in east Asia, just bigger. We would find a buffalo briscuit distributor and so would do the same 37 day start that Surabaya did at the very beginning so that we can figure out the best way to handle this different meat, what cure recipe to use, the smoke and steam durations. There are dairy options in Vizag to get them to do cheese curds. I would hire a production facility foreman from day one since this is a bigger operation and the amount of smoked meat needed would be big likely much more quickly. The same SOP from east Asia could be used. Once the production facility is doing its test runs, I could pay for travel for a few foreman from east Asia on tourist visas for a few weeks to help with the cure recipe and to taste test the smoking result.

I would buy the two properties more or less at the same time, focusing on the DN location first, so that then the gut the building team can work on DN and then go over to Siri soon after, so in the same way the HVAC team would do DN, then Siri, then the fire sprinkler first in DN, then Siri and then the general contractor work for the bulk of the work which takes longer, so I don't mind if Siri is dormant during this period, so that we can launch DN with the 37 day launch with two foremen who work in the production facility for three cycles, and train up on the restaurant location. A difference here is that for the DN location we would have these two foremen hire 4 each of FOH and BOH (instead of 2 each back in east asia) so that on Grand Opening day there are 11 of us (including me).

All Indian locations will be four story buildings, level 1 is the restaurant and kitchen and office and mechanical room and bathrooms, level 2 is more dining space and more bathrooms, level 3 is male dorms and level 4 is the female dorm. All of the dorms will have two bedrooms that each have 4 bunks for a max of 8 people per dorm. In India they may be more particular about dorms with men and women, so even though I have them on separate floors, if possible, the design is to have the employees access them from different staircases from the ground (or second) floor.

For all of the building purchases, including the production facility, need to hire a local real estate agent as they do not have listings like we have in Canada. Through searchs in street view it never seemed like any property was available, but if I have a cash offer from my initial 100M$CAD, this ought to be good to let potential sellers know that I am a serious buyer. Some of the buildings may have residential residents, in those cases I would need to give them sufficient notice that they need to leave.

Given the state of the surroundings based on my street view viewings, likely the first step will be to clean up the exterior landscape, paint the building a new colour, scrub the indoors, paint the indoors, and only by then, begin the work of converting it to the smoked meat prep like it is in Surabaya. I would do the same thing of having a 'dirty' side at the receiving / shipping door and a HVAC side where all of the work is done.

Once the DN location is done, I will draw the two foremen for the Siri location from the DN staff, and these will hire four each of FOH and BOH to do a soft launch at the Siri location. Next will be a location at Vijayawada (Vijay) and then a location at Srikakulam, in order, 8 months apart like we did in east Asia, foreman offers made to DN and Siri to populate these new locations.

Next is to build a second production facility in Autonagar, Gunter, identical to the one in DN. Similarly an MTL location in Brodipet, Gunter. The Gunter production facility will be able to use the SOP detailes from the DN location, so a long testing is not needed. Offers will be made to foreman and assistance of the previous Indian locations to become the foreman of the Gunter location, including for the production facility. Buying sooner, but opening every 8 months are three more locations, one in Tenali and two in Vijayawada. In Vijay, a busy 4 story is needed in the NW Benz Circle location and a 3 or 4 story locations is needed for Kanuru.

I would offer foremen exchanges across all India locations like I did in east Asia; in the Whats App group I have of Indian Foremen I simply send a message if anyone is interested in a two week exchange to a different MTL location. If two females pipe up, we schedule the exchange, if two males pipe up, we schedule the exchange. As in Asia, in the year 3 and 4 of each Indian location, one foreman and one staffer gets a trip to Montreal where the subsequent year it is the other foreman and a different staffer; then in subsequent years the foremen pick two staff to go and eventually every staff member gets a trip. The two people from an Indian location must be of the same gender.

The trips to Montreal, once the Indian locations send some, will be planned such that there are always a mix of east Asian and Indian staff so that the can compare their experiences. There is no easy way to do this through foremen exchanges as India can't exchange with east Asia.

I would not need a head office in Montreal, but I would hire an accounting firm to help with the fact that I am receiving royalties from all of the MTL locations that are overseas and have expenses like for the house and for the flights for the MTL staff. I would also engage with a global Insurance company to insure all locations (SUIK and resto and house in Montreal).

CAPEX and Finances

I had Copilot help me take educated guesses at the total CAPEX cost for all of this, and it comes to just under 35M$CAD. This includes all of the SUIKs in east Asia and India, all of the MTL locations in east Asia and India and the house in Montreal. It would end up being more than this as this value was calculated in today's dollars, but it could take 15-20 years to progress through all of these locations with a new location opening every 8 months. I suggested earlier in this post or the previous that I would allow for 100k$CAD per resto location to help the location get through the first year, but it is unclear that all of this amount would be needed. But if it was needed, this would be in addition to the 35M$.

Repeatedly I worked with Copilot to test P/L based on the expenses and the expected traffic we would get. The basic poutine has a high markup as two out of three ingredients are inexpensive and the cheescurds produced in these locations, ought also be not too expensive. The smoked meat is expensive at the beginning as each briscuit has to divide the fixed OPEX of the production facility, but once the SUIKs have ramped up to full production, the cost per briscuit will drop significantly. 

I would set up a Canadian parent company that would own the house, would receive the 5% royalties, would use those royalties to pay for the flights of the MTL staff, and would use the royalties to pay for some of the meals (mostly food provided in the house) and having the MTL staff themselves pay for some of their meals. These royalties could also pay the salary of the concierge I hire to help with these MTL staffers visiting. This would be the MTL Canada company. There would be MTL Asia Holdings in Indonesia and MTL India Holdings in Andhra Pradesh that each would receive management fees from the locations across their region. At first the MTL locations won't be charged any mangement fees, but once they reach a certain set of parameters, I will begin to get the management fees as I will be the regional manager until I elevate one from the foremen. This fee will be used to pay for my flights to move around the various Asian locations. The 5% royalty will go direct from the MTL locations to the MTL Canada parent company again, only once the MTL location is profitable (based on a specific set of criteria). 

Eventually when I have perhaps 12 Asian locations, I would elevate a regional manager who would then begin to receive the management fees as salary and as money to be used to pay for flights to travel to the different locations. Similarly once the Indian locations are pretty much all set up, I would elevate a foreman there to be the regional manager.

Both regional managers, if they have the budget to do so, can do marketing of various kinds, including getting social media influencers to go to a MTL resto location and try a poutine.

Finally, with me fulfilling regional manager for the first 12 locations, and for an elevated foreman taking on the role of regional manager afterwards, we both would sleep in the dorm room of an MTL resto location when visiting. This gives me time to engage with the staff members, and gives them a chance to interact with me, founder. Only if there is no room in the dorm would the regional manager stay in a hotel, but this would be good news as only if the resto is doing extremely well would they need to have full staff.

whoa, when an idea strikes

This may be one of the longest posts I write. I enjoyed quite a bit the working on it with Copilot doing some of the heavy lifting. Below are my words, but after having had a very lengthy chat.

There is a bill C-18 which is to implement a trade agreement with Indonesia. At the same time I paid attention to this I heard on the radio an interview with a guy in Tokyo who opened up a Quebecois food restaurant, including poutine when he was able to get cheese curds.

I combined these two ideas for me to open poutine and Montreal smoked meat restaurant in Indonesia. I asked what was the second biggest city and so I learned about Surabaya. After all of the discussion I picked Surabaya to also have a production facility in an industrial zone to prepare the beef briscuit that I get locally, that I turn into smoked meat. This facility will do more as explained further. A facility like this can produce far more than a single restaurant can do, so I decided I would expand to open similar restaurants in nearby countries, specifically:

• Surabaya, Indonesia
• Johor Bahru, Malaysia
• Cebu, Philippines
• Da Nang, Vietnam
• Phnom Penh, Cambodia
• Chiang Mai, Thailand
• Luang Prabang, Laos

And, given my production facility can do even more, that I would double up in all but one of the above countries:

• Malang, Indonesia
• Melaka, Malaysia
• Davao City, Philippines
• Hue, Vietnam
• Battambang, Cambodia
• Khon Kaen, Thailand

All of this assumes I have at least 10M$CAD to begin as I will be buying all of the restaurant properties. In Indonesia they are called ruko, in Malaysia they are called shoplots, the principal is a three story deep and narrow building that is commercial on the ground floor, and more or less anything on floors two and three. So my restaurants will have the restaurant on the ground floor, a women's dormitory on the second floor and a men's dormitory on the third floor. The tenants in these dormitories are the employees of the restaurant.

I will hire two local foreman, a front of house (FOH) woman and a back of house (BOH) man who are required to live in the dormitory to provide leadership and who get paid the best of all employees. In my dealings I decided I would pay these employees 600$CAD per month, but that 100$CAD per month is deducted for the lodging component, so they would keep 500$CAD per month. Entry level workers will start at 300$CAD per month and also pay 100$CAD for rent and so keep 200$CAD per month. If they work well, cross train, and do well, they can move up to be an assistant which pays at 400$ less 100$ for rent, so they keep 300$.

I always ask that these initial foremen have English language skills so that I can interact with them, but once they hire additional workers, the English language requirement is lessened. What I found through my research is that in all of the cities I have named, there is bound to be 2-5% of the population that is sufficiently skilled in English speaking, reading and writing to meet my needs.

In all of the countries where I picked these salary amounts, it works out very well for the employees but still allows for the company to be profitable once we are ramped up. What also works well for these employees is in the living conditions as the dormitories will have central HVAC with dehumidifcation, in unit laundry and a shared bathroom of a good quality. These are living conditions that are rare for common workers like these.

Okay, so here is the rough order of events.

I first need to get a PT PMA (foreign‑owned company) so that I can be permitted to buy commercial titles in Indonesia

I would hire a local notary who understands industrial leases to help with my production facility.

I would hire a tax consultant / accountant to structure VAT, import duties, and payroll and any other accounting needs I would need

And finally I would eventually need a halal consultant (for future certification) as Indonesia is a primarily Muslim country and without Halal certification my resto wouldn't work.

Next I would get in touch with SIER to get a SUIK. SIER is a government run industrial site where they lease to businesses industrial spaces. A SUIK is a small industrial space for the needs of a small or artisinal business. Ideally mine would be between 250-300m2. An issue with the SUIK is that the power supplied does not meet the needs of my production facility, so I would offer a 30 year + option of 30 year lease in exchange for them to upgrade the power of my SUIK to the power of their larger facilities. If they agree to this my project is a GO.

I would then hire an industrial designer that I would work with to put into this SUIK the following

• walk-in fridge and freezer
• curing station
• smoking and steaming stations 
• a flash freeze station
• vacuum seal and boxing section
• boxes and dried goods storage 
• receiving/shipping area
• wood drying and storage
• office and bathroom

Taken individually, the fridge is used for when we receive the raw meat briscuits from our supplier, held there until ready for processing. The fridge is also used for the curing process - in food grade containers the meat that has been coated with the cure, is left in the fridge for 7-10 days and is flipped almost every day during that span. The freezer is for vacuum sealed smoked meat that is destined for any of the shipped locations and for cheese curds that are delivered to this facility. And finally, the freezer is where shippable orders will be stored until the cold chain shipping company comes to get them.

The curing station is where the raw beef briscuit is taken out of the fridge, is smothered with a spice blend that is worked in, and then the briscuit is put into a food grade container and put into the fridge. Each food grade container will have a large number taped to it, simple sequential numbers. At the beginning we'll just have 1-10 but as we grow we'll get to 1-100. The worker that does this will enter into a computer an entry like:

April 1, 10h30, cured 2kg meat into container 1, put in fridge

With each subsequent step container 1 would get updated in the system, and subsquent containers would get used in order.

The smoking station is an actual smoker that has coconut hulls as a base for burning and rambutan wood chips for smoking. In the early days, the briscuit will be smoked starting early on the morning to have 8 hours of being smoked until it reaches a specific temperature. After the 8 hours it will be steamed, described in the next paragraph. The smoke itself will go up a chimney that has an Electrostatic scrubber + carbon filter to clean up the smoke as much as possible before it enters the troposphere. When production increases and we have the need for an FTE of labour in this production facility, the smoking period can be longer and slower and go overnight with the steaming to happen the next morning. Finally the food grade bin is washed and returned to the cure station stack.

The steamer steams the briscuits for 3-4 hours to 

• Break down collagen
• Soften the cure
• Create the signature texture
• Finish the cook gently
• Prevents dryness

The steamer is a closed system, so steam will adhere to the inside roof of the steam compartment and settle back down again, a little bit of steam will be lost with each door open, so occasionally water will need to be added.

Once the steaming is over, the meat will be quick cooled somehow, and then vacuum sealed and fast frozen and then boxed and put into the walk-in freezer.

We will order boxes from a local supplier that the meat is shipped in. We will work with an Indonesian large dairy company to have them create the cheese curds after I bring to them a few unopened bags of cheese curds that I bring with me from Quebec, asking them to reproduce these. Given I will produce a standing order that grows consistently over time, I believe I will be able to get this agreement done. This dairy company will deliver directly to this production facility in frozen boxes that I put into my walk in freezer.

We will order bulk bags of poutine powder from a Quebec manufacturer and these will get stored in a dry goods area, in the same space that the collapsed unused boxes are stored. When a shipment of meat and cheesecurds is sent out to a location, one or two or three bags of poutine powder can be put into the box that has the meat or cheese, so that this is a way we can supply that too.

We will order from local suppliers coconut husks and rambutan wood chips. In those early months I will always order more than what is needed and store them in a drying room that is not a kiln, but is dry due to the facility being HVACed, and has one or two fans to provide airflow. There can be pallet shelves that allow airflow between the wood that is stacked upon it. The idea is to eventually have a drying period of 6-8 months of the incoming wood so that it is dryer at the time it gets burnt, so it burns cleaner.

With respect to HVAC at the production facility, there will be effectively two zones. In the receiving and shipping zone, this will be closed off from the rest of the facility as the garage door that opens and closes for receiving goods and shipping goods will allow a large amount of humidity and hot air in, so this will be uncontrolled. In the HVAC controlled area, this will be kept at a comfortable temperature and a low humidity so as to help the stored wood to dry, to help with the processing of food and to keep the workers comfortable. Additionally, the HVAC zone will have a higher pressure so as to push invading air out rather than letting it in.

A receiving and shipping area with enough movement area to have pallets be moved around, and easy access to/from the walk-in freezer so as to move deliveres to the cold chain shipper's truck.

And finally, a simple bathroom and office, the latter to have the computer that tracks the shipping and receiving and the internal processes within the facility. The office can also simply be a place for the worker(s) to hangout when there are gaps in task time.

So while the production facility is being built and the equipment being brought in I will engage with a real estate agent to buy a ruko in desirable location, where there is already good foot traffic, and already a good amount of people within a food delivery radius.

Once I have the ruko I will hire a demolition company to gut it, and I will hire an architect firm to plan the three levels

1. The ground floor with the resto, kitchen, bathroom, back office and mechanical room
2. The second floor, the women's dormitory
3. The third floor, the men's dormitory

Local contractors won't have experience with central HVAC installations as this is not common in southeast asia, so I will hire a specific HVAC regional distributor that I would use for all of my buildings that can assign a team to do the HVAC installation. It will be a heat pump and A/C unit so that the heat pump can do most of the work and the A/C unit can kick in during the hottest periods. This system will also include a dehumidifier as this part of the world can be extremely humid. The main machines will be in a mechanical room at the rear of the building at the ground floor, with duct work rising straight up to feed floors two and three and with horizontal ducts going towards the front for all three levels. By being at the rear of the building the HVAC machines will have access to exterior air through the rear of the building.

I would also hire a global fire protection company to install a fire protection sprinkler system across all of the floors. I would use this same company for all of my buildings.

Finally I would hire a general local contracter to do the more traditional construction based on the architect drawings for the three floors described in more detail below. 

The restaurant will have a diner design with booths along the left wall, and a diner counter with stools along the length of the resto, with the kitchen behind a wall, behind the counter. A bathroom and a small office at the back. The office is for the two foreman to share and use to meet, to plan schedules, and so on.  At the counter side of the front window there will be an opening with a window that can slide up or to the left or right to allow for food delivery couriers to pick up orders without having to enter the resto. An awning above this food courier window will be added so that in cases of rain the courier can be protected. The interior resto walls will have various photos of Montreal, some in the fall of Mount Royal, some of murals in the Plateau, some of winter after snowfall in NDG, some of Old Montreal.

The two floors of dormitory will be identical, they will have:

• either two bedrooms with three beds, or three bedrooms with two beds, depending on the space available
• a bathroom with two shower stalls, two toilet stalls and two sinks
• a small kitchen with a basic two induction burner and a fridge and a coffee maker
• a lounging area with a sofa, a chair and a coffee table
• lockers near the entrance, six of them, for the tenants
• a laundry closet with a vertically stacked washer/dryer

As this construction continues, I will keep an eye on both the production facility and this first resto location to make sure the construction proceeds as expected. Early during this period I will spend a week in Johor Bahru (JB), Malaysia, to get the same types of business license and permits and to hire a real estate agent to buy a shoplot in a secondary street of a desirable area that has foot traffic. Ideally I am able to buy this shoplot before 8 months have passed since the first location started to be gutted. On that 8th month, I begin the gutting of the JB location, hire an architect to take the plans from the Surabaya location and tweak them to the JB location following local regulations. The HVAC and fire protection crews would come after the JB gutting takes place.

Back in Surabaya I would begin working on my ingredients supply chains. I would work out an agreement to receive beef briscuits in a low number at first, but eventually a standing order. I would bring Quebec cheese curds to a nearby large dairy company and ask them to make the cheese curds. For potatoes, at the begining I could just buy them retail, but eventually I partner with a local producer. In each restaurant, in the kitchen, will be a potato prep area where 10kg bags of potatoes are peeled by a worker, and using a manual fry-press, are pressed through the metal grid into a bucket, to soon after be fried in refined palm olein. For the rye bread, I would pay for test development at two bakeries for them to make rye bread like we get in Montreal, I would have them prepare it for us, but not slice it. Each of my restaurants will have a bread slicer so that the baker doesn't have to do it, and so that the bread is sliced identically at all of our locations.

There would be two or three additional Indonesian style poutines made with local ingredients that ought to be easy to source, since they are indonesian. As new locations are opened up in other countries, the restaurants in the cities in those locations can add two or three local to that country types of poutines.

About six weeks before the restaurant is ready but that the processing facility is near completion I would post an ad to hire the foremen. Below is a copy/paste from Copilot that is what the job offer would look like:

About Us

We are opening a Montreal‑inspired deli and smokehouse in Surabaya, bringing authentic poutine, smoked meat, and Canadian comfort food to Indonesia. Our restaurant is built on craftsmanship, teamwork, and a strong sense of community. We provide on‑site staff housing, cross‑training opportunities, and a supportive environment where every team member can grow.

We are seeking two dedicated leaders to join our founding team:

• FOH Foreman (Female) – to lead the front‑of‑house team and serve as the leadership presence in the women’s dormitory

• BOH Foreman (Male) – to lead the kitchen team and serve as the leadership presence in the men’s dormitory

Both roles are essential to building a stable, respectful, and well‑organized workplace.

Position Overview

The Foreman is responsible for daily operations, team coordination, training, communication, and maintaining high standards of service and professionalism. This is a hands‑on leadership role within a small, tightly knit team.

Because our staff live on‑site in gender‑separated dormitories, the Foreman must reside in the dormitory corresponding to their gender. This ensures strong leadership presence, safety, and support for the team.

Key Responsibilities

Leadership & Team Coordination

• Lead and supervise daily FOH or BOH operations
• Support and mentor staff living in the dormitory
• Maintain a positive, respectful, and collaborative team culture
• Communicate clearly with the owner and assistant foremen

Operational Excellence

• Ensure consistent food quality and service standards
• Oversee cleanliness, organization, and safety
• Manage inventory and coordinate with suppliers
• Assist with scheduling and shift planning

Training & Development

• Train new staff in their roles
• Support cross‑training across FOH, BOH, and the production facility
• Delegate tasks to assistant foremen as needed

Problem Solving

• Address operational issues quickly and calmly
• Support staff with dormitory concerns
• Maintain smooth communication between FOH and BOH

Requirements

• Strong English communication skills (spoken and written)
• Willingness to live in the on‑site staff dormitory
• Female candidates for FOH Foreman; male candidates for BOH Foreman (due to dormitory leadership responsibilities)
• Experience in hospitality, food service, or team leadership
• Ability to work collaboratively in a small, high‑trust team
• Professionalism, reliability, and a positive attitude
• Willingness to learn and embrace Montreal‑style cuisine

Compensation

Probation Period (First 3 Months)

• 400 CAD per month (paid in local currency)
• Dormitory rent: 100 CAD per month (deducted automatically)

After Successful Probation

• 600 CAD per month
• Dormitory rent remains 100 CAD per month
• Opportunities for annual performance bonuses
• Eligibility for future staff trips to Montreal (rotation‑based)

Benefits

• On‑site staff housing (shared dormitory) with free Wifi
• Cross‑training in FOH, BOH, and production facility operations
• A respectful, fair, and stable work environment
• Clear leadership responsibilities
• Long‑term career stability
• Opportunity to be part of a founding team
• Potential future travel to Montreal for cultural and culinary training

Work Environment

Our restaurant is built on:

• teamwork
• mutual respect
• clean communication
• pride in craftsmanship
• a calm, intentional working style

We value people who take initiative, support their teammates, and want to grow with the business.

How to Apply

Please send:

• Your CV
• A short introduction about yourself
• Your English proficiency level
• Your availability to relocate to the on‑site dormitory

Applications can be submitted via WhatsApp or email (details to be added).

-----

So the one thing that may be noted from above is a future trip to Montreal. This is an idea I have, that in the third year of operation of all of my restuarants, I begin a once a year trip to Montreal. For the location just opened it would be a foreman and a worker so that the other foreman can stay in the resto to keep watch and order. In the subsequent year it would be the other foreman and a different worker. The idea is to give them a sense of Montreal since the resto is based from there, to walk on Mount Royal, in Old Montreal, to try a poutine that is locally produced. I will encourage the two people from each location to get photos of them in Montreal places, so that then these photos can be printed, framed and hung in their restaurant in their city. This will give other emloyees at that location, and even clients who come in for food, something to talk about, or even, to look forward to.

I would set up the business acount out of which I will pay my employees, and into which I will receive the payments for food orders and for QRIS payments using a resto specific mobile device setup specifically only for QRIS payment verification. Obviously I fund it generously to begin with so as to be able to pay the staff until the resto location is self sustaining.

With the production facility ready about a month before we begin the restaurant, I would hire the two foreman and if the dormitories are mostly ready, allow them to move in. We would spend the next few weeks at the production facility so that they can learn and we can write the standard operating procedures (SOP) for what goes on there.

On the first and possibly second day, just do a walk through of the whole facility, turn the fridge/freezers and HVAC on and explain the procedure to the foremen.

On the third day we process our first raw beef briscuit. We'll learn to trim, weigh, calculate the cure % based on that weight, apply the cure, put it in the food bin and put it in the fridge. Log the entry.

On subsequent days we go to the production facility just to turn over the beef briscuits in their food containers. We would also together write the SOPs for Receiving the beef briscuit, the curing, the turning and sanitation.

On day 11 we prepare and start the smoker, remove the briscuit from the food grade container, set it up in the smoker and let it smoke for 8 hours. Once it is in the smoker, the smoker SOP can be written. After the 8 hours the briscuit is to be steamed for 3-4 hours, so in the last hour of smoking, set up the steamer. Once steaming is done, cool the briscuit down and then vacuum seal it, and then put it in the fridge.

On day 12 we use the steamer to heat up the smoked meat and then we try eating it. We keep some aside for a taste test comparison with next batch. We make adjustments to the cure recipe as needed. Then the two foreman follow the cure SOP with any adjustments on a new raw briscuit.

On subsequent days we flip the meat in it's food grade container, the three of us can take turns. During this time I work with the foremen to write up the job requirements for the entry level BOH and FOH positions, hiring two of each. We post them and interview them during this period such that they are to start on day 30 below.

On day 20 the foremen smoke, then steam, then cool, then vacuum seal under my supervision

Day 21 we steam up the batch #1 and the new batch #2 and taste test compare them. We then cure a large amount in preparation for restaurant opening making any final adjustments to the recipe. We adjust the SOP as needed.

Subsequent days we take turns rotating all of the meat we have prepared.

During this time we return to the restaurant to practice on potatoes. All three of us peel, we take turns using the potato to fry press device, we practice cooking the fries in the oil, getting used to how much time it takes, and how to know they are ready. We also practice making poutines, since we will have the cheese curds and the sauce, we'll get either a 1/3 cup or 1/2 cup metal measuring cup to scoop the cheese curds atop the fries, and a ladle of a specific size for the sauce.

I would travel over to JB for a day or two to see how the second location is coming along in terms of construction, leaving the production facility meat flipping to the two foreman.

Day 29 we smoke and steam and vacuum seal the large order, we cure another batch of the same large order size, and we bring the vacuum sealed order back to the restaurant.

Day 30 We open the restaurant for a soft launch, perhaps only three hours per day. We can invite neighbours of the business, the six employees can invite friends. For the new employees, we train them prior to our three open hours. We organize with the two main food delivery companies to be included on our Grand Opening date.

Day 37 Grand opening, we try being open 11am to 9pm with courier deliveries open until 11pm. We offer the Quebecois standard poutine at a discount for the first week. We can evaluate those opening hours as the weeks progress.

For that first week or two I stick around and help when help is needed, we get into a routine with respect to the production facility about how much to prepare and how often, and how often to order the beef briscuits and how often to order the cheese curds, the potatoes, the gravy and so on.

By this time the first location should be running fairly smoothly, so I start to spend more time in JB to get local producers of rye bread and to source potatoes.

I travel back and forth between Surabaya and JB and now make my first visit to Cebu, Philippines, where I get the permits to open a business, find a real estate agent to scope out a shoplot in a desirable location.

In JB as the resto gets close to being ready, I hire the male and female foreman who have the same requirements as the ones in Surabaya except they won't have any role at the production facility. Also as the JB location gets close to being ready, I hire a cold chain shipping company to do shipments from the SIER SIUK production facility to the JB restaurant location. 

Orders are placed from the JB restaurant probably by the JB BOH foreman that arrive at first to the BOH foreman at the Surabaya location. Eventually there will be enough production work at the production facility that another foreman will be hired who works full time at the production facility, and who is trained by the BOH and FOH from Surabaya. Once we have a foreman at the production facility, all orders will come to this person instead of the Surabaya BOH foreman.

When the JB location orders from the Surabaya production there will be a nominal charge, for example, 1$CAD per KG equivalent in MYR currency. This can be deposited in Indonesia's business account but in a subaccount in MYR currency; this way no currency conversion takes place. Eventually each of the different countries would do the same, and when the production facility needs to pay SIER's monthly rent, it can convert only what is needed from each of these sub accounts to get enough IDR to pay SIER.

There is an idea that if in the future we can build eight restos spread out among all of the Indonesian islands, there may be enough orders from just the IDR restaurants to cover all of the OPEX of the Surabaya production facility. If this happens, the 1$CAD per KG in local currency payments that other country restos make can be diverted to a sub account in that country's local business account. Then once a year I can pay a bonus to my staff, that in the MYR sub account where the MYR order fees were deposited, I divide that up among all of the MYR employees as a bonus. For IDR, I could forfeit my 5% royalty for a month or two so as to provide a bonus to those employees.

20 days before Grand Opening at JB, we hire two each of FOH and BOH entry level positions, for them to start on two days before Grand opening.

7 days before Grand Opening at JB, we receive our first shipment from the production facility, we have our potatoes, rye bread and poutine gravy. We do a soft opening of only three hours per day until the Grand Opening. We sign up to the food delivery systems to start on the Grand Opening date.

2 days before Grand Opening at JB, the four new staff members get trained by the two foreman. No cross training just yet.

Grand opening, we start 11h to 21h of resto and then 21h to 23h of delivery. We also have a one week opening sale that the traditional Quebecois Poutine is on discount.

I assist as needed for the next week or two, and then return to Surabaya to check things out.

The pattern is set, Cebu gets built and as Cebu gets built I go to Da Nang in Vietnam, get permission, licenses, real estate agent.

In each country I get a business bank account from which to receive the payments for food orders, to pay suppliers and to pay the staff. Once a location becomes profitable, I would take a 5% royalty per month from that location that I convert back to $CAD for me. I can issue a secondary debit card to the BOH foreman at each location that only allows for purchases, has limited or zero cash withdrawal, and no access to online banking, so no view of bank balance. This is so that the BOH foreman can buy potatoes, to-go boxes, toilet paper, cleaning supplies and so on.

At every location we gut, we get the same HVAC team and products (heat pump, A/C, dehumidifier, duct work) and the same fire protection sprinkler system. In each location we hire a local general contractor to use the same Surabaya architect plans but tweaked to the dimensions of the building and the local building regulations.

We hire a male and female foreman who can speak English and we train them well, then they hire two more FOH and BOH again female FOH and male BOH so as to settle the dorms evenly. We do a discount of the Quebecois traditional poutine the first week. We get our cold chain shipping company to add the new location.

Eventually each location will hire more entry level staff, and as the oldest entry level staff gain experience and become adept at all cross trained roles, the FOH foreman can pick an employee to become an assistant. Once promoted to assistant, their pay rate rises from 200$CAD net to 300$CAD net. All employees are eligible to eventually updgrade to assistant, however, there can only ever be one foreman for FOH and one for BOH. The foremen can delegate tasks to assistants.

Eventually a second location will open up in a new city within the same country. At that time, an offer will be made to the existing location for someone to become the foreman at that new location if they are willing to relocate to that location. The existing foreman will get first choice, and then the most senior assistant and then down by seniority. 

As discussed above, we would then expand to six more locations in Indonesia, spread out on the various islands, so as to hopefully be able to pay for the full SIER SIUK production facility OPEX in IDR so that we don't need those other country locations to send their money out of country when placing orders.

Okay, one last idea, I would get printed 300-500 t-shirts, perhaps with just MTL as a logo that would be the uniform for all of the staff across all of the locations. Perhaps similarly the restaurant sign out front would simply be MTL. Each staffer would get three t-shirts and every year we we would order one or two more for everyone.

That's all I have for this idea for now. It is quite a lot, I know.

send in your wraps

An inordinate number of numbers thought that the letters of the least common alphabet could be used as bowling pins in an alley made of compassion and iridescence.

A stupefied herring didn't know which ordinal direction would be best used as a luggage tag on a trip to the third closest Goldilocks exoplanet.

Sending a dizzy frog after the canine teeth of a Shire horse is probably not the best idea a subjugated grain of sand could bring to bear to a bear.

Count, twice.

jump twice, not the

being one, knowing two too, throwing three but not for four.

limping two steps forward while contemplating the previous three firm steps backwards.

dancing like a fish, fishing like a rock, rocking like a chair, being in a chair, slightly foul as the fowl flies turbidly.

making soup, kind of unlike what isn't, to be certain, or less certain, or lacking confidence, like a kite, but unlike a mop.

Chicken thigh debreaded, mixed with amber coloured acrylic paint used in the last two ceilings. Quiet mispelled as quite.

okay

Always the middle

Never the side.

Okay, settle in.

There will be books about the fall of the American Empire that will eventually be written, but we are living in the midst of it. The felon Cheetoh Buffoon (fCB) down south is doing things that is sinking the economy of the United States. For a little while at the start of fCB’s administration, we, in Canada, held up hope that we could negotiate to remove irrational tariffs that were laid upon us. In Jan 2026 Canadian prime minister Mark Carney made an historic speech in Davos at the World Economic Forum that indicates that there has been a rupture in the global rules based economic order. He proposed that as a middle power, Canada could partner with other middle powers to become a third global power. In fact, he said it was necessary as the alternative is all of us middle power nations in silos where we would all be poorer.

2026 begins with nations like China, Japan and south Korea gradually selling the US bonds that as a government they had bought in the past as the US bond was the most reliable financial product out there. Now that the US economy has begun to tank, the selling of those bonds will accelerate further economic declines. Of course, with Canada’s economy so intertied with the US economy, where they go, we go, so Carney has been working quickly to get trade deals with numerous other nations. Recent deals include a strategic partnership with China, a more open trade deal with Indonesia, getting on a military industrial deal with the EU and other deals that yet young, will hopefully soon get businesses in partner nations to start to work together with our Canadian businesses, to the benefit of Canada, to decrease our reliance on the US economy.

There are some who are hopeful that once the fCB is no longer POTUS, that things can possibly return to normal, however, many of us feel that the fCB is a symptom of what has happened in the US population, that an equivalent to the MAGA movement will persist long after the Buffoon is turfed or has expired.  Many of the comments that I see on YouTube videos about this show Canadian (and other non-US country people) vowing to not ever travel to the US for tourism, and to cease buying US produced goods or services. This is yet another by product of the fCB doing what he has been doing. These video commentors will often state that irrespective of what happens next in the US politically, their personal boycott of everything US will continue in perpetuity.

Perhaps the other side

In another topic, homelessness is on the rise in Canada, and perhaps in the global western world. The Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) is proposing to have the government to ‘get out of the way’ to allow the market to help solve this problem. I think this is particularly idiotic as the market won’t build social or affordable housing without government support. The Liberal Party of Canada (LPC) is going to release a new Housing Initiative in the coming months with a goal of getting into the provision of social housing and affordable housing in concert with provinces and municipalities. This is good, but is slow, especially if municipal level NIMBY forces cause a ruckus.

The root cause of this homelessness crisis, as far as I am concerned, is out of control capitalism. There is too much wealth being accumulated at the very top of society, with companies well beneath that high level scooping up apartment buildings as part of real estate investment trusts (REITs) that try to extract as much value out of the properties as possible. They buy the building and raise the rents at the earliest legal opportunity by 20% to 30% which ends up pushing people out of the building with no where else that is affordable.

Additionally, our food grocery environment in Canada is an oligopoly and so the prices that the grocers are setting have also increased over the last few years. So if a person’s rent and food represent 85% of their income, and both go up by 20-30%, their rent and food could end up to be 105% of their income, or more. Being compelled to spend more than you earn never ends well.

There is a group called Patriotic Millionaires Canada that want to push forward the idea of taxing the wealthy more, for the common good of Canada. CPC supporters would be against this as any increase in taxes is anathema. I am in full support of this idea, however, as those who are at the very top ought to be compelled to pay more into the government coffers. Their involvement in capitalism has gained them a fortune at the cost of putting 100s of thousands of Canadians into the street.

The top, not the bottom

So here are my thoughts about what to do. Definitely increase the trade with other nations, develop a CANZUK free trade network since these four countries are so clearly aligned in many ways. Accelerate the development of the port of Churchill, the St. John port in NB, the container port in Contreceour QC. Improve the Trans Mountain pipeline but do not build a new pipeline to the Pacific Northwest. Expand the LNG terminal that is already being expanded on the west coast. Accelerate BitCrude to get raw bitumen out to Asia for road building and to keep our bitumen mine workers working.

Work with the CANZUK to have a tax-the-wealthy plan that we apply across all four nations. With the funds that our government raises from these wealthy capitalists, pay to improve things like healthcare, education, public transport and social housing.

With respect to social housing, have the provinces work with the municipalities to situate the locations of the social and affordable housing units and put into law that given the urgency of the issue, that local public consultation is limited and not binding. Have the federal government pay for all of the infrastructural expenses and the foundations of these new buildings. Have the province and the municipality pay for the remainder. Still collect rents from the tenants, but tied to 30% of income.

In the building of these buildings, use advanced lumber products to both embed carbon, and, to support Canadian businesses that produce the advanced lumber so as to support our lumber industry.

With respect to food prices, fortunately there is already a plan to invest in, to increase, food production in Canada, specifically with efficiencies for existing farmers, and also, expansion of greenhouses. The latter are most important given our limited growing season. We should also expand our food processing ability, so as to have our own products be produced in large volumes so as to lower their prices. And finally, change regulations, specifically one that allows a grocery store to limit how close another grocery store can be, such that new competitors can enter the market, especially small ones that carry 80% of food necessities but not dozens of versions of similar products for each type of product. These small grocery stores can be directed to be built first in the most food desert places in Canada, but eventually, to be all over.

I have more thoughts about all of this, but this is sufficient for this post.