Sunset Deliveries is a food delivery service founded in July last year. We are based in Mui Wo.
Our start-up is a success because of our location. We have strong connections to the Mui Wo community, and we are able to meet restaurant owners face to face, instead of emailing or calling back and forth. We believe this has been one of the key components of our success so far. On top of that, given the current climate with COVID-19, the opportunity was, of course, there.
To start up our business we first devised a list of costs, then we moved on to discussing our business idea with restaurants to see how they felt about it.
Our advice for someone looking to start up a business is simply to start. You are never going to progress if you allow every whisper of information to get into your head. Sometimes you just have to commit and do your best to persevere. Before we created Sunset Deliveries, we were always trying to work out the logistics of how a delivery service would work and we kept getting bogged down in the details. This was the biggest barrier we faced.
Our most important lesson to date concerns WhatsApp. Before we launched, we were in constant contact with our web-developers over when we would be able to release our website. At the end of the day, we started with just a simple Google form and a WhatsApp hotline. Now that we have released our website, we’ve removed the Google form but WhatsApp has been quite a big hit, so we’ve continued to use it as a means of ordering. Customers appreciate the personal touch.
The thing that interests us most about our business is the fact that it is our first – we are both learning and growing along the way. Every month has come with new challenges. We put all our profits straight back into the business and it gives us new and exciting opportunities to expand in so many directions.
To succeed in business, you need to be capable of seeing something that others may not, capable of seeing an opportunity or a hole in the market. Going forward, you need to be constantly looking for further niches in the market and unexplored opportunities. And you need to understand your personal motivations. When we created this business, it was clear we had no intentions of trying to climb the corporate ladder, we wanted to find something different.
The greatest challenge we face is the language barrier. We are mainly an English-speaking team, so when it comes to Chinese restaurants communication can sometimes be a little tricky. Fortunately, we do have a few staff members who are fluent in Cantonese.
Our greatest achievement is turning an idea into reality. There is nothing more satisfying than seeing your plans come to fruition.
Our plan for the future is to continue to grow Sunset Deliveries to the point where we can use it as a platform to branch out into another industry, while continuing to give back to our community. We are still growing and have a lot more expanding to do. It’s great and really incentivising when you are working towards something with others who share a similar goal.
When hiring staff, we always ask ‘Why do you want to do this job?’ It makes us so happy to see our riders enjoying what they are doing.
The entrepreneur we most admire is Jay-Z.
Our personal motto is “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt.
FIND IT
Sunset Deliveries, Mui Wo, 9719 1311, [email protected], www.sunsetdeliveries.com