Haha “The Woman Behind the Moustache” sounds like the title of a good book! If you do want to know more about her, you can find her on her personal blog www.makinglittlecents.wordpress.com
It’s a business-focused blog which allows you to see behind the scenes of Mousache.
Thank you dear, business in NZ is never easy but it’s people like you who really do make it so worth while. We’ve only been open 5 months now but we are really excited for the future and if we all just keep going strong, we’ll be able to look back one day and know that we made a difference - even if just a small one. Thank you so much for your support - you are part of our story too. Much love, Deanna x
]]>Hello lovelies,
Apologies for the small amount of blogging I have been doing on this blog! It’s so hard keeping up with so many different social media mediums! Thanks all for following :)
If you’d like to read a bit of insight about the girl behind Moustache - she has a personal blog on wordpress called www.makinglittlecents.wordpress.com
It’s a blog that documents her journey to opening Moustache and running her first small business, so if you’re interested in that side of things - or just want to look into her brain for a second, feel free to find her there
x
]]>Never give up. There will be days when you feel like nothing is working, where people won’t believe in you and when you feel like you’re wasting your time. Take each day at a time and just keep going. Don’t be disheartened when you make mistakes - mistakes build character.
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8th July 2012:
Today I met up with Monica & Miguel (the architects helping me out with the project) and Scotty (the builder). These people have been amazing to me & I can’t begin to describe my gratitude to them.
The thing is, despite saving for Moustache for so long & often having to work 2-3 jobs to make this project come alive – there still isn’t much money. This means that they’re doing a lot of work for me purely for the passion of it.
I don’t ever ever ever want to take people for granted & so with this pen & paper as my witness, I won’t rest until Moustache is a success & I can repay everybody for their kindness, for their passion & for their faith.
This project has given me the opportunity to see so much beauty in humanity. Being surrounded by this constantly inspires me to be a better person & for this in turn to be reflected in any business I may have.
Moustache, I believe you have the ability to change lives. Money may be tight & it’s hard to see it now, but I have this peaceful & undying belief in myself that Moustache is going to transcend the boundaries of “success”. I don’t want Moustache to just make money, I want it to contribute to communities & inspire others to chase their dreams…to spread the beauty.
I want all of that but right now it couldn’t feel anymore distant. There is much work left to do & everyday is an upward battle, pushing this boulder up the hill.
But you’d be surprised at what magic humans can conjure when resources are low & the odds are against them. All you need is a bit of faith.
Ashamedly, I haven’t had a chance to say a public thank you to those who gave so much to me when I had so little to give back.
So most notably, Monica & Miguel from mimo-inc.
They are the amazing people who helped me design the shop so that Moustache is a beautiful place for all of us to enjoy. They took my vision and really turned it into something special.
They stuck by me when everything took so much longer than anticipated, they encouraged me when so many things kept going wrong and despite all this, they came out with an amazing result. Check out their blog and go like their Facebook page too. These guys have true talent.
And a huge thank you to Deborah Teh, Kalana Dayaratne, Alex Kong, Genesis Diep & my family for your support. You each know what you did for me. For all those weeks staying up ‘til 3am doing DIY; painting, sanding, polyurethane-ing, demolishing…at a time when not many people believed in me, your support kept me sane.
Two months since opening; it is still early days and we still have a lot of work to do. We are a tiny shop with big ambitions – each day we will take baby steps so we can keep improving for our customers. To Team Mo, my friends & family & all of our customers – thank you. It is only through you all that Moustache is here now.
Deanna
Some behind the scenes construction photos:
Above: Our soon-to-be kitchen…where do we begin to start.
Above: Halfway through construction
Above: Felt like I was painting, painting, painting for three months.
Above: Monica, Miguel & I screwing together the milk-bottle pendant lights
Above: mimo-inc & the early stages of the pendant light
Above: Starting to all come together now
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First of all, I want to say Hi! Let me introduce myself. I’m Deanna & I am the Chief Cookie Officer (that’s a way cooler way of saying managing director) of Moustache.
I have been blown away & humbled by all the support and enthusiasm for Moustache in the past week. Thank you all. The unexpected demand has put immense pressure on my tiny kitchen and on Team Moustache who are incredibly sleep deprived. Every single cookie we make has so much love put into it so we have had to cut down our opening hours in order to keep focusing on QUALITY over quantity, which is always the first priority for Moustache.
I’ve had a few people complaining about the fact that in the four days we have been open, we have sold out each day. I want to give you my own personal promise that I am baking as often as humanly possible and only sleep for 2-3 hours so that there can be as many cookies as possible for you all. I truly do care, but I know this isn’t a sustainable way to run my business if I am sleeping so little. I only want the best service given to my customers & after baking all night, I feel the life ebbing from my usual cheerful self.
Of course, I would love to one day upscale and be able to cater to more people without compromising on quality. But this will take some time as finding good quality staff is a lengthy process and upscaling always takes a lot of time and money; I hope people will be understanding of this.
Some people are under the impression that Moustache is this new company with lots of money behind it - when really Moustache is merely a start up project on a tight budget run by an ambitious girl from humble beginnings. I have poured my entire heart & soul into Moustache and want nothing more than for my customers to be happy but I am a firm believer in the saying, good things take time.
We make every cookie by hand & fill them with as many quality ingredients as we can. Everything is made with so much love, to the point where Team Moustache often refer to the cookies as our “children”. It is a process we cannot rush and the quality is something I am unwilling to compromise on.
I am truly sorry for those disappointed customers who have missed out various times because I have sold out or are in short supply of the cookie they want, but would just like to let people know that I am here, I am listening to your opinions and I am doing everything I can to cater to them.
To everyone, you have all been amazing and make everything worth it. Thank you for supporting small NZ business. I have been really touched by all your kind words and I really love meeting you all in the shop. I think we’ve created something special and I hope you will be patient with me as I continue to learn, improve and strive to keep Moustache at the top of its game.
Much love, Deanna
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I’d like for you to share in our journey - talk to us, laugh with us, praise us, criticise us and of course, please do visit us. Welcome to the beginning of Moustache.
- Deanna
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