 Knowing what we know now, we could have done things so much more differently. Hey guys, my name is Wilson. Today you're in for a treat because I'm going to be sharing with you some of the behind the scenes of our journey. If you've been following along the journey, you would know that we have an ice cream shop called 720 Suites. We sell ice cream, bubble tea, we're national across Canada and international as we have one location in China, Beijing. So without further ado, we're going to share the news with you. We have been bought out. So yes, I know we have aspirations to hit 100 locations in five years, but obviously we fell short. And as a result, we are getting grilled or I am getting grilled by Jason behind the motives of why I'm selling 720 Suites and how this whole process has inspired and how everything worked out. Nonetheless, we're super, super excited because now it is in better hands and our job is finally done. If you guys want to learn more, make sure you smash the like button because that's just going to help us out a little bit more with that YouTube algorithm. Without further ado, I am now prepared to get grilled by Jason. Awesome. Welcome to this session. So four years didn't make you do 100. Nope. Well, I didn't decide to sell it now. To be completely honest with you, the environment in this industry, like knowing what I know now, I understand how competitive the landscape is, how much more fundamentals I need to put in in order for me to achieve the goal that I've been always wanting to do, which is 100 jobs. And knowing what I know now, I think now is a good time to part ways with it because it would take me another five years to build the fundamentals right to start off right again. That's why we decided to sell a little bit earlier than I expected. Actually, not really early. It's within the trajectory of our timeline. We built this four to five years ago knowing the fact that we want to sell in the next four or five years. We just fell short of our goal of 100 shops. But nonetheless, we still were able to go international. I guess what was reason for the shortfall? Reason for the shortfall is because I don't know what I don't know. Going to this industry, I didn't really know the fundamentals of what food and beverage is. Like when we first went into this ice cream shop business, we set out to create an ice cream store. That's what we set out to do. Within opening doors for like two, three weeks, we were slammed every single day. And people were inquiring about franchise, which got my heart racing, which got me tickling, which got my ambition to be off the roof. And that was when I sat out the expectation and told the team that, Hey, you know what, instead of doing an ice cream shop, we're going to become a franchise chain. We're going to create this chain and blow up to a hundred locations like Pink Berry, like all these different crazy stores. And then we're going to sell it in four to five years. That was the ambition. So instead of creating an ice cream store, or instead of just creating an ice cream store, we ended up in the franchise business at the same time. So there was so much that we had to learn. It was such a steep learning curve, let alone like us trying to build an ice cream shop. It's just crazy. Like knowing what we know now, we could have done things so much more differently if we were given the chance to redo it. So I think even if I were to rewind four years ago, we would still be where we are today. We would still be short of the hundred shops, because we don't know what we don't know. That's the reason why we did not hit that goal. Do you think you would still not be able to hit that goal if we only focused on 720? Because you do have Mako Project smart for what, which is really different from people. Right, right, right. I don't think so for the listeners. We actually run a few different businesses and 720 suites is just part of my profile and portfolio, just to give them a little more context. But I don't think so. I think it would still be in the same way if I were 100% focused on it, mainly because like I said, I don't know what I don't know. And the mistakes that I need to make, I still need to make. Yeah, I don't know. I don't think so. I really don't think so. If I were to fully focus 100% on it, I probably would hit around 30 stores by now, but still not to the level that we aspire to become, which is 100 stores. Because I feel like as we progress, as we build more stores, there will be more problems. There will be more ups, more downs. And at the end of the day, I feel like that unless I found a mentor to begin with, unless there was someone to show me the ropes to begin with, there was no way that I was going to hit 100 stores. Whereas right now, if I were to repeat what I'm doing right now, I think hitting 100 stores in five years is doable, but requires a lot more resources than I expect. In this whole business that we have running from the get-go, not once have I ever thought of raising funds from other people and then to start strong with it and to have a big team to create what we need to create the infrastructure, the logistics, and everything in order for us to hit that goal. But now, knowing what I know, I think we can hit that 100 store goal if we were to redo it. So now that you've sold it, it's been acquired, what are you moving into then? Before you said e-commerce? Yeah, I still think that e-commerce is the way to go. Just to give you an example, with 720 suites, we have roughly 30 to 40 employees. We have six locations. With my events business, we have over 100 staff. And yet the revenue that we hit is nowhere close to some of my other buddies who are in e-commerce. They have a four-man operation and they're hitting mid seven-figure mark. We're talking about five million dollars, six million dollars. And yet the infrastructure is so much more lean. Whereas my events business, we need over 100 staff in order for me to be able to hit that seven-figure mark. With the ice cream business, how many ice cream do we need to sell in order for us to be able to hit that goal? It's just so much more difficult to scale and so much more difficult for us to build a brand because it's a brick and mortar store and people are much more likely to try out different concepts, especially in Vancouver, than to have that brand loyalty to stick with that one brand. So all in all, I really believe that the future is definitely e-commerce. And that's the reason why with all the different experiences that I was able to gather for the last 10 years doing business, I think like moving into e-commerce is definitely a huge benefit on my hand because now I have these business acumen and logistics and handling with people, HR, business, marketing, all these things powing up. What do you think is two of the biggest lessons from something that we think are restaurant owners who need to hear? Ooh, that's a good one. That's a good one. Number one is really have a product that is proven. And what I mean by proven is that it is good. That not, it's product that's so good that people will always come back for it. Okay, so not only is it good, but it's a product that people will always come back for it. Have a product that is like that, have a hero item that is like that. And if you don't have a hero item like that, do not get into this field, do not get into the food and beverage field. If you don't have a product that people will always come back for. What's your go-to place after you party? For example, for me, every time I'm after a party, I would always go back to this Chinese restaurant to eat their rice bowl because it is soupy, it is flavorful, but yet there's no MSG. It's something that I truly enjoy. It's their staple item. So what that means is that in a year, I would go at least once a month, at the very least. That's what I mean by an example of an item that is like really good and that people will go back again and again for. So if you enter into this field, if you want to create a restaurant, if you want to serve people your recipe, you better have an item that people would always be like, ooh, this is great. And always ask that second question, will you come back for it again? And if the question and if the answer is that, yeah, this is amazing, but it's a probably a one-time thing, then you know there's a lot more improvements that you need to be able to make. And that is something that I highly, highly recommend. Any entrepreneurs, any restaurant here is that if they want to get into the business, it's for them to really consider. What's number two? Number two is the importance of your community. I think it rides on the first one as well. Like as a restaurant, there's no point of being slammed, being super busy within the first four or five months because those are fake, those are the honeymoon phase, right? Some restaurants, they open doors and then they have a spike because of fat, because of promotion, because of marketing and boom, they go back to the bottom, right? That's a really poor sign. Some restaurants, they open up and they never pick up. That is also a poor sign. What you want is to create a restaurant that starts here, that when people come and try it, they're like, wow, this is amazing. Let me introduce it to my friend. I love the atmosphere here. I love the owner here. I love the community. I love what they stand for. I love everything about this place. I'm going to bring my friend. I'm going to refer someone over. One people bring two people, two turns into four, four turns into eight and as it grows steadily, year by year, it will pick up where it will be always busy because it resembles something, right? So the second feedback or the second lesson that I would share with people is that create your community. Create something that is amazing and start creating your community that helps people promote your item, helps people promote your store, stand for something, have a great culture within your own food and beverage because that's what gets people to come back. That's what gets people talking about it. That's what gets people to have this community where they feel belonged and when they feel belonged, that's when your business is going to be thriving because they come back every two weeks. All you need is a thousand customers. All you need is a thousand loyal customers that come back every two weeks. Then you're golden. You're going to be always packed. A thousand customers. That's all you need. I guess like what's not that you're leaving the food industry? What do you think is the future for them? I think 720 sweets will still be thriving to a certain extent. When the new investors bought it, they have big plans for it. I'm super excited. Like for me, it's actually Aubrey. Aubrey dropped by from Brunei just a week ago and we had a chat and she was asking me, hey, you know what, Wilson? Do you feel really sad on selling the business? I told her because she was here. I'm like, hey, you know what? What harm is it to tell a fan of ours? I'm like, no, I don't really feel sad about it because I feel like that I've done my part. I'm not personally attached in terms of my own identity in this project. I feel like that 720 sweets is 720 sweets. Wilson is Wilson just because 720 sweets is successful or is a failure doesn't mean that I'm super successful or that I'm a failure. It's two different identity, right? So what that means is that I'm not going to be super sad now that I sold it, nor am I going to be super proud. I'm happy that it sold to investor who can bring it to new heights. But at the end of the day, like, I think I'm happy and content of where it's going moving forward. But on the other hand, I can't release too much because it's, you know, confidential to the new buyers. And so none of you have a lot more time to work on other projects. And you said these are versus the thing. So where are you going to be spending your time? Are you still going to be making videos here both through the beverage or what's happening? So I'm not going to be making as much videos on food and beverage. I feel like that, you know, when I'm in the trade or when I'm in the industry, I can talk a lot about it. I can talk a lot about the nuances or the insights that I was able to gain and learn and share it with our audience. And I can still create and I will, I will still create things that I truly have inspiration on and insight on. But the quantity of videos that we're going to provide is definitely a lot less because I feel like that I want to be able to document the next part of my journey within e-commerce. So for the people that are interested in that journey, I would want to continue to develop, share with the people what we're able to learn throughout each and every single lesson in our new channel. So I'm not sure if the video is up, if this is going to be out yet. If you guys like it, definitely go check it out here. Otherwise, you know, check it out next time. Yeah. So we're going to be able to document that journey, building e-commerce, building a branding business, everything that we've been able to learn throughout the years, all into this channel. So it's not a good buy? It's not a good buy. Not a good buy at all. I mean, I love documenting the whole journey. Even within this whole food and beverage journey, I, in the last three years, as you can see, like from the very first video that I decided to upload, you know, my aspiration, the whole vlog on building 720 suites, I did that for a whole year every single week without fail. That was a lot of commitment. Now looking back, I'm like, it's pretty surreal because, you know, from declaring that and putting that out in the world just three years ago to today, it's a full circle that we talked about something that we want to do. And then now we have a closure, although we are short, but it is still an amazing achievement by far that we are able to achieve because how many people can say that they have built multiple locations, let alone selling it out to another party who can bring it to new heights? I don't think a lot of people can say that, right? And have the, have the tenacity nor the commitment to be able to see through a project. A lot of people just run their business to the ground because of their poor doings, because of their poor habits and bad practice, competition, and they lose faith, they lose steam and everything. But with us, you know, it's a really, really great project that we worked on. We learned tons of things. There were so many ups and so many downs, like so many times we were so close with getting into bankruptcy. Yeah, and it's just crazy to think of how far we have actually been able to achieve and gone so far. So ending us off? A crazy story? A crazy story, crazy story. Most memorable story? Most memorable story. You always told us about how you guys didn't have a till in the very first night, but there's probably more crazy stories. Okay, I want to share one crazy story with you. Is that not a crazy story? Oh, crazy story. Surprising story. Surprising story. Oh, you know what? I want to dress it to the camera right away. I think a surprising story is when we were able to work with Nespresso. I think Nespresso is a really, really big national, actually global brand out there. And for us, that when they first reached out to us, we're like, we're a super small potato. We had aspirations to work with the major brands in the world. But for them to reach out, I was just having double takes. I'm like, oh my goodness, like, is this the Nespresso with George Clooney in it? And after months of collaboration and months of going back and forth, we were actually able to settle in a collaboration with Nespresso. And that itself is a huge, huge compliment to a brand like ours, like a local brand that we started with just one idea. And we're able to work with a brand that's working with like a listed celebrities. And it's just really surreal for us. Not that it's the easiest journey nor the most rewarding, but at the end of the day, just having the experience to work with these brands is something that never hurt a thought of in the very beginning. So at the end of the day, I think like for those of you on the other side who aspire to become someone or build something for the world to impact the world or have your recipe to bring it out to the world, I think, you know, never give up, really just go and continue to consume these videos, not just mine. Any videos out there be as as much like a sponge as you can to soak up all the knowledge and to be able to bring good stuff to the world, I think that is super, super important. With 720 suites, I'm super proud to say that now we have sold it and that we are moving to new projects. And yeah, that's super, super exciting. And it's just been so much, so much work that we have put in. And yeah, I think it's it's a really, really great lesson. So see you soon. See you soon, guys. See you soon. And we're going to create a few more videos along the series of this. I know if you guys have any questions with the sale, if you want to know how the details of the sale, if you feel leave in the comment section below. I'd love to share everything that I've learned throughout the journey with you. So now we can benefit from it. So then that way you can create this dream of yours. I'd love to share everything with you. I have nothing to hold us back anymore. So yeah, leave me a question below. And if you guys like this video, make sure you smash the like button. This is the first time getting grilled by Jason behind the screen. So yeah, nonetheless, if you guys want to check out or, you know, join our next part of the journey with the e-com, definitely check it up here. If at the time of posting this video is not out yet, check back next time. We're definitely already starting to build more videos for this new channel of ours. Nonetheless, I'll see you guys real soon.