Argentina´s Best Kept Secret?

I have long felt like my company was one of those best kept secrets out there.

The people that I would go and pitch my product to didn´t know who I was, they never saw my product, they weren´t sure if they could sell it.

The people I would sell to during the holiday fairs had never heard of us, and would not know where to buy our cookies.

The magazine people would often offer us publicity in exchange for cookies. That´s right, I now have an alternative currency.

The TV people would offer me interviews in exchange for money. Yep, I could buy airtime. I tried to tell them that since no one knew who we were, we really could not afford buying air time by the minute.

All of that has slowly, but steadily changed.

I now have little time to go out and look for clients, they are calling me.

I am so busy that I can no longer participate in fairs or expos.

Magazines and Newspapers are calling us for interviews and a couple of TV shows have jumped on the bandwagon as well, and they are not charging me anymore.

I had my first foreign based interview. John Bell from Digital Influence Mapping Project was in town and he was wondering if it was "easier for small businesses to "get" social media?". Here is an article in Apertura (in Spanish) that weighs in with more evidence to the affirmative to his question.

However, I have not had any luck with any of the foreign media that have been lurking along the cobblestone streets of my Palermo Viejo.

This past Sunday an article was published in Clarin, Argentina´s largest newspaper. The article itself will take a while to go on-line. I was also asked three questions by Apertura. This last one will be in print only.

I also have an interview on the radio scheduled for this Saturday morning. The station is called Radio America. The show is called "El Emprendedor Urbano" / "The Urban Entrepreneur", and it will air from 11am to 12pm. No, I am sure my segment will not be an hour long, more like 5 or 10 minutes most likely. They tell me that this is a brand new show so it doesn´t show up on their line-up yet.

Meanwhile, our humble little store chugs merrily along. It´s very quite and does not see a lot of action. However, every month it manages to sell a little more. This is how I am gauging that we are still a secret in Buenos Aires. In fact, the editor of Time Out Buenos Aires did not even know about us. She has not set foot in our little store... yet. If there is anyone out there that should know about us it should be them.

Now that they do know about us and they are visiting us, together with Clarin´s article, I am beginning to feel nostalgic for that time when we were still underneath the radar. At least, for the foreign media we still are Argentina´s best kept secret.

Road Show talks to Sugar & Spice

The Road Show is a weekly television magazine news format that runs for 30 minutes. Within those 30 minutes they gave me about 9 minutes. This is the excerpt on Sugar & Spice.

Can you tell I was a little bit nervous? I have been on TV before, but that was at my own shop and it was much shorter, and unfortunately the link to the video itself is no longer there.

Anyway, if you understand Spanish you can view the interview below.

Fundacion Leer Reading Marathon 2008

I have written about Fundacion Leer before. Last year they ran their Reading Marathon 2007 and now they have started their subscriptions for 2008. Things are looking great for them in Argentina, while things are not so great for Reading is Fundamental in the United States. Click -here- to find out what is happening to them.

The event will take place on the 3rd of October. What exactly is this event? This is a nation wide effort that culminates on the 3rd of October in reading groups throughout the country. The idea is to dedicate a few hours of the day to reading. The groups are made up of children, teachers, parents and volunteers. Whole comunities come together to read to children, listen to stories and poems, and to help foster a love for books and reading in children.

Last year, Fundacion Leer reached 2.3 million kids and 159,447 adults in Argentina. This year they want to reach even more.

I have been involved with Fundacion Leer since I arrived in 1999. At first I donated my time and now my company supports them financially through donations. This I have done because I have been moved by what I have seen.

Now I invite you to see for yourselves a little about what Fundacion Leer does. I have never been able to actually witness these events and not be moved.

The first video takes place in the province of Misiones




The second video was put together by EMpower, another company that supports Fundación Leer. When the end credits roll you can stop viewing even though the counter will indicate that there is more, it just starts over.




Fundacion Leer´s blog Post on this year´s event
Fundacion Leer´s award winning web-site

I hope you you feel strongly enough to want to do something, as I did when I watched these kids receive their very first books for the first time. Please get involved. Making kids hungry for reading will only help empower them. Education is only a cost if it is not given out, it is an investment towards the future.

Secret Life of a Soccer Mom

One of the things that I also miss from home is being up to date on what is going on in Television. It´s not a big deal really, but sometimes I miss out on these little gems that get people all riled up. Who would have thought that a reality show about soccer moms would get people all excited?

I have not seen the show. I have only read a Newsweek article on it. I have also looked up the show´s website. On that website they even have a discussion forum where people are writing in and venting. There is also a little video on the show.

The idea of the show is that they pick a Stay At Home Mother that has been out of the workforce for some time and land her a job. Meanwhile, the show sends a "SWAT team of three ponytailed model types clad in black to cook and clean while she's scoping out the job". At the end of the week, she either gets a job offer or is canned and she has to decide what to do.

There seems to be two very opposite camps shouting out their views on this topic. The SAHMs (Stay at home moms) are insulted that the show is expressing a point that your life is not complete unless you go back to work. The working mothers are insulted at the idea that you can only be a great mother if you stay at home.

While both those view points are extreme and wrong, I don´t know if the show itself is actually expressing either of them until I see it and judge it for myself. Knowing some of the past shows that I have seen on TLC I would be surprised if they only show one side of the argument.

This is also interesting to see from the outside. I mean, from living in Argentina. We, as a couple, got to try both experiences. We started out our business from home when our first daughter was born so we got to see a lot of her. We loved that experience. As the business grew, and we were blessed by a second child, we could not be around the second one as much as with the first one.

The culture here is very family oriented. You see your family all the time, not just during the holidays. Also, here, children are welcomed just about everywhere. If you are pregnant you don´t get to wait in line for anything and you also get preferential parking spaces assigned to pregnant mothers. People will give up their seats on the subway and buses for you. This is a very child friendly country. Leaving your child in the care of others here usually means leaving them with the grandparents or other relatives.

Still, it would be interesting to hear from local Argentines what they think of this subject.

Would it be wrong for a mother to leave her children at home, in the care of others, to get back to work?

Do you think that you can only provide the best possible upbringing if you stay at home and decide to work on your family as opposed to a career?

Of course, these arguments apply mostly to families who are in a position of choice. If you have to work, because otherwise you will not be able to provide for your family, then these arguments are pretty much useless, daydreaming exercises for the wealthier-than-you.

However, if you have the possibility of choosing to stay at home or going to work, then you´ve got some thinking to do, or some television to watch, and see what some moms decide to do with their lives, and their family´s life, after a week of trying out a job.

Trivento and Sugar & Spice celebran El Día de la Mujer

Trivento Winery has sent out a gift of their Cabernet Sauvignon with our Cantucci Nocciola to a select group of women in Buenos Aires to celebrate Women's Day. If you click on the image above you can get a bigger view, and therefore be able to read it.

This winery has only been around for 10 years and in that time they have grown to be the second largest exporter of wine in Argentina sending their bottles to over 100 different countries around the globe. That is a great achievement.

Sugar & Spice is no where near achieving any numbers like that just yet. However, we have come far in 5 years. As of just this past month we have national distribution. It is possible to enjoy a Sugar & Spice cookie in Salta, Bariloche, Rosario, Cordoba, Puerto Madryn, and Ushuaia as well as many other cities in between.

A woman is at the head of this company and is at the head of my household. Today, I salute her and all women. Just think how different the world was for women just 50 years back. You´ve come a long way baby, but I know there is still room for improvement.

Women everywhere, I wish you all a great day today!

Row row row your boat...3 (2008)

Thursday 28th of February started out hectic for me, but not nearly as hectic as it ended up being. The kids at the factory ended up saving our neck.

In the first video you can see a car that was floating towards our store. Luckily, the bars that I had installed on the curb stopped its progress. The kids thought that the store window was going to break against the onslaught of waves from the passing buses that went by, but the glass held.




This street gets flooded every year. We knew that and that is why we installed these metal flood doors in front of the store and inside behind the garage door. We also gave the building some height. In the past, the flood doors would keep the water at bay, but this time it was higher.

One of the kids filmed these on his phone. I was out running an errand when the storm hit and I was trying to make it back to the factory, but it was impossible. I was hoping to at least cut off the access to the street to make sure that the buses would not try to go through.

The water ended up going higher than what is shown in either of these videos. The water line itself did not end up going over the flood doors, but the waves did.

In the end, there was no damage done from the water. We did loose a batch of brownies though due to the lack of electricity that hit while they were in the oven.

These kids kept the water from reaching our elevator shaft through quick thinking on their end. I am actually very proud of them.




The mayor of the city has promised that he will make the necessary improvements to the city so that these floods do not happen again. This is a mayor with a goal set on the President´s chair in the future, so he might actually do something about this. In any case, I will wait and see.

Some more positive things I took from this event came from Edenor. They came out and made improvements to the substation that houses the transformer serving our block. Apparently they physically moved the transformer so that it would be out of reach of the water or at least it would not be as exposed to flooding as it has in the past. I wrote about the last flood in post 1 and 2 titled "Row Row Row Your Boat". They even informed us as to when they were going to cut electricity, and when they had to enter our factory they even took their muddy boots off. They kept the downtime to a minimum and came around to do a final check before they left for the day. Now that is class and great customer service.

I Love NY

This was the first time I have been to New York with the kids. It was a short trip, but I was hoping they would love it. By the end of the 5th day, as we headed towards the airport, both of them mentioned that they did not want to leave. They also wanted to know why everyone was so polite. Yep, we did not run into the New York stereotype (well one little bit, but the kids did not see it and it was over a cab).

There are so many things I could pick out about this place that makes it great that it would be impossible for me to keep this relatively short. So, I thought maybe I could just write about the exceptional experiences that we shared this time.

Jacque Torres Chocolate - Mr. Chocolate himself was at the store we visited. While I downed what could be one of the best hot chocolates I have ever had, first his manager came by and gave my kids some chocolate on a stick, and then he himself came by and gave them some more. I swear I did not see this guy loose his smile the whole time he was there. It was contagious and all of us were smiling while enjoying our chocolate. If you are ever in town you have to visit his chocolate factory.

Rice to Riches - Talk about turning an old dessert into a novelty. They have managed to turn rice pudding (arroz con leche) on its head. The place looks fantastic and better yet, the rice pudding is the bomb! I had a dark chocolate with hazelnut pudding. They give it to you in this really cool Tupperware type container that you can take with you. I brought mine back with me. This is a must stop if you are ever there. I have to admit that someone wrote to me telling me that my store reminded him of the Rice to Riches store in New York. Having seen it first hand, I am so honored that he would pay me such a great compliment.

Madeline Tea Party at the Carlyle Hotel - What does Madeline have to do with The Carlyle in New York? Well, there is a room that was painted with murals by the illustrator author Ludwig Bemelmans. The murals are mostly New York Central Park scenery, but if you look closely you will find Madeline in there. Meanwhile, the pianist was fun and the food was great. The little ones could choose scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, shrimp, cupcakes, chocolate chip cookies, M&M's, gummy bears, etc. while they listened or danced to live music.

One new restaurant for us was Isle of Capri. We had not heard of it or anything. We were simply walking along and decided to try it. It is a family run, small Italian restaurant and the food was first rate. I had veal Parmesan that was one of the best veal dishes I have had. My kids tried some of mine and they liked it as well. The little one thought (and most likely still thinks) it was a pizza.

Another new restaurant, for me and the kids anyway, was Alfredo of Rome. I ordered their Fettuccini Alfredo and I have to say it was the best one I have ever had. I actually ordered Trittico di Pasta (fettucini alfredo, lasagna, and veal ravioli). The small portion of the fettucini left me with the desire for more, but that was my choice. I will just have to go back one day and have that as an appetizer followed by chicken marinated in lemon and rosemary. I can`t wait!

The American Museum of Natural History was mandatory stop since the kids saw the movie Night at the Museum. It was a great museum and I am glad they insisted on going there.

I also got to see a dear friend of mine from Chicago, who is now living in New York. She asked me what the things that I missed from home were. I gave her a short list and now I have had a little time to think about it a little more. Here is what I should have answered:

I miss driving with the windows down as well as driving in the States in general. I guess everything car related really.

I miss bagels

I miss cheesecake

I miss cereal and milk (Yes they do have milk in Argentina, I am just not used to the taste of it; this is not a quality issue, just my problem.)

I miss my family and my friends

I miss the cleanliness of my outdoor surroundings. Yeah, Chicago, especially where I lived, seemed much cleaner and green. I lived in Wrigleyville nearby Belmont and Southport.

I miss having an almost unlimited choice of beers to try. You know there are bars that have over 100 different beers?

I miss spicy food and authentic ethnic foods of all kinds. Buenos Aires is getting better in this area, but it is still a long way off from the restaurant scene in New York and Chicago in regards to authentic ethnic restaurants.

I miss the ease of shopping. By this I mean that there is so much variety, sizes, colors, convenience, innovation, etc. and if for whatever reason you messed up, you can return it. The kids are not always in the mood for trying out clothes at the actual store. We bought them and they would try them on at the hotel the next day. If we needed to return or exchange something we would just go back and do so with no problems. In fact, we could even buy stuff in one state and return or exchange it at a branch in a different state. Everything was just so easy.

Sometimes I miss snow, but then I get over that one quite quickly.

I miss the Chicago lakefront in the summer, and pumpkin patches in the fall

Chicago deep-dish pizza. There is just nothing like this here in Buenos Aires. Again, like the milk, this one is just something I have to live without. So, everytime I go back, I have to stop by my favorite Lou Malnati´s.

For the second leg of our vacation we went to Disneyland. I will write about that in a separate post. In that one I could write about the things I missed about Argentina to give a counter-point to this little list, and in fact, I did honestly start missing some things.

Things that bugged me about Argentina (some still do)

Like everything in life there is always something else to every story, a flip side to every coin. Argentina is no different. I previously wrote about some of the things I liked about my new home. Now, after living here since 1999, I realized that I do look at some of my surroundings differently. Here are some examples:

1. Why can´t anyone be on time? At first I was just amazed at just how common it was for people to arrive late to just about everything. I had several jobs and most of the time I was the first one to show up. I realized that at the time that I used the bus, I was on a very frequent bus line (the number 10) and it was just impossible to arrive late for me. However, this city is very complicated and there are demonstrations, picket lines that cut-off traffic, streets that flood consistently, construction work that is unannounced--they just pop up like pop quizzes in school. One job that I had, right before I started my own company, was for a relocation firm in zona norte (north suburbs). Most of the employees lived in the south of the city and they had a very long commute. When there were strikes called they would literally panic because they would have no way of getting home. They had to not only cross the whole city but then take a bridge that unites the city with the south side and that bridge was frequently cut-off. During those times they would have to leave early and we would have to watch the news the next day to see if they would make it to work. Currently I am more and more amazed at how people manage to get to work at all much less on time.

2. Lack of choices in stores. When I first got here I noticed that the retail stores are so depressingly low in choices for just about everything. The toy stores are actually kind of depressing, any entertainment devices like stereos and televisions had so few choices and very expensive. Now I actually find it a little refreshing. Any locals who are reading this and have not gone to the United States are probably wondering what the hell I am talking about. In the States you are always surrounded by choices of things to buy: If you want a toaster, you have what seems like an unlimited number of makes, models, etc. to choose from. The same goes for coffee makers, stereos, running shoes, computer games, etc. Here, I bet you can count the different types of toasters you can buy on your fingers and then have some fingers left over to count the different coffee grinders you can get. I realize now that it´s due mostly to different customs. I mean, people still repair stuff here and not throw it away like back home for example. I really don´t mind not being bombarded by a constant sales pitch. I don´t even get catalogs in the mail here. Well, okay, I guess I would not mind at all if we could have Victoria´s Secret catalogs delivered, but nothing else is fine with me. I also have more time for other things and not so much time to ponder which toaster to get.

3. "Oh, look, they have tiles on their sidewalks. Don´t they look pretty?" Yeah, except that they become dangerously slippery when wet and after it rains and you step on a loose tile all of a sudden your pants are stained with all that dirty water that was resting underneath. I can´t stand the tile sidewalks. Although, I guess they are easier to clean and that is important since there is a stubborn small segment of the population that insists on not picking up after their dogs. Two negatives for the price of one on this one. Yeah, this one still annoys me a little bit.

4. No Refunds. There is not much to say about this one. It really bugged me and knowing that any and all purchases were final I mostly did not buy stuff. I went from a shopping paradise to no shopping cold turkey and this one was one of the reasons that helped me through this transition. So I would have one toaster to choose from and if it broke I couldn´t get my money back, but I could at least send it in to get it fixed and be happy that there was one less toaster filling up the landfills of the earth. This one doesn´t bug me as much since it does help me focus on buying only stuff that I absolutely need.

5. Parking by brail. Everyone does it. No one even tries to maneuver into a space and see if they could park without touching anything. It´s as if the motivation is placed on just the opposite. "That´s right, let´s see if I can park and make sure to touch both cars and if I can actually move one of them I could get extra points." I wrote previously about how I even saw someone go out of their way to bump into my car (the only one parked on the block) as they were parking. Amazing to watch this in action. Yep, I have had confrontations with people regarding this one and one day I hope to not care about something I would spend thousands of dollars on. Hey, it´s only money, it´s only plastic, glass and steel on four wheels. Something else that concerns me is the way people drive in general. There are some great posts by some other bloggers related to this topic.

Traffic Deaths in Argentina Imagining Taos
Porteños Behind the Wheel Un Año Sin Primavera
By Bycicle in Rosario D for Disorientation
Traffic in Rosario: Rant 1 D for Disorientation
Traffic in Rosario: Rant 2 D for Disorientation

6. Those metal poles sticking out of the sidewalk into the street could really mess up your car. I thought they were so ugly, and dangerous. How on earth could the authorities permit this to go on? This is one of those that I did a complete 180 degree turn. I love those things. They are my salvation. Everyone who has a driveway should have them. Let me explain: We bought a house in an up and coming neighborhood called Palermo Viejo. Currently this is no longer an up and coming neighborhood, it is a red hot neighborhood. Now it is so crowded and it is impossible to find parking on the block. Parking space is so limited and in such demand that people resort to parking in front of your driveway. If there was something that gave me an urge to go out and buy a gun so I could shoot people it was this. I would call the police, but all they could do is give out a $35 peso ticket. Sometimes I would get lucky and get to confront the people themselves. That was good for a little release of pressure, you know let off some steam, curse and yell at someone and eventually lower my blood pressure. I put up with this because the city had come around one day and cut the poles that belonged to the house. Mine was the only house they got to that day. Now the poles are back in place and I swear I will chain myself to those if the city decides to come back and mess with them.

That´s it for now. Maybe I could make it a yearly thing and see if I could eventually dwindle this list down to zero. It could be my Argentineness barometer. Don´t bother looking up "Argentineness" in the dictionary. It´s my blog and I can make shit up if I want to.

Now I am off on vacation. See you all in February! Besitos to all of you.