Chez Flo

New pastry items Chez Flo, you will find in small size but as usual, you can order the big ones for your family or friends ;-)

Mango or Pineapple biscuit tart with pastry cream

and the Lemon biscuit tart filed with fresh lemon curd and "meringue" on the top ;-)



Enjoy!

You can order for your private parties or simply for your own delight some of our items for example
our famous chocolate Fondant (for 8 to 10 people)

Our chocolate Mousse (just tell us how many you will be) and also the fruits Cakes, the Quiche, the tarte Tatin Mango or apple and other items.







Just call us 1 day in advance or before 10am for a pick up in the evening on 01 91 24 26 045.

We are really proud to say that we have been appointed to provide a cocktail party yesterday for 60 people.
L'Alliance Francaise has asked us couple of weeks ago to provide new ideas for the inauguration of their new branch in Uttara as they wanted something french and a little bit different.
So we have provided 4 salty items and 4 sweet plus fresh juice and the service.

The menu was
- mini tart tomatoes, feta, basil
- mini toast eggs coriander
- mini toast onion raisin cinnamon
- mini crepes chicken curry

then
- mini chocolate fondant
- mini biscuit tarts lemon and orange
- mini glass of pineapple ginger compote and english custard.

Everything went in half and hour! like an army of birds on a cherry tree ;-)
The client is extremely happy ;-) and so do we!
It was also the right occasion to try our new uniform and as promised here are some pictures.

SUVO NABO BORSHO.... which means HAPPY NEW YEAR! No, you are not dreaming, today the 14th of April is the bangladeshi New Year! Families went out for nice lunch and the tradition is that you have to wear new cloth. So Dhaka was so colourful today with all those beautiful and new saries ;-). Noppp, I did not get one as I do not wear saries, just the traditional 3 pieces but I promise, I will show you that soon ;-)

I moved couple of days ago in the new house. We managed to get one room ready at least to put my suitcases. Again a new place but a nice one now. Many things to do but it is moving forward. I manage my days by getting the renovation going on which is quite a challenge as I want to get the best but spending some time with the workers and asking again and again seems to work.
The house was previously a kindergarten and I can confirm that the kids looovvveee to paint the walls ;-)). We had to repaint the full house and change most part of the sanitary. As I said previously everything is difficult in Bangladesh but everything is possible, even getting back an old dirty bathroom is a clean proper place without changing everything ;-)
Now we are in the phase of finishes and that’s where I need to be constantly on the back of everyone as I don’t think we have the same definition of “finishes”!
What a lesson of patience for me especially with the language and cultural barrier…
But as I don’t want to spend my full time doing only renovation, I manage to get business meetings at least twice a day. I have met already a good number of people learning more about what is happening in Dhaka and Bangladesh.
I went to see Partenaire, a French NGO in order to have another idea of how another personal initiative was happening.
They take care of street children, begging to get couple of Taka. Partenaire takes them from the street and give them a chance to study on daily basis or join the boarding school. Very basic settings for this project if I compare to the sophistication of TDP I was collaborating with. Classes are taking place on the floor as they have only desks for one room. Then, in the evening, mattress and blankets are displayed to change the classroom in dormitory.
The kids are healthy, getting good food and a first aid center provides the basic medication needed. Staff, as usual, is multi tasked and dedicated to the children like a real family.
I met Radia and Melanie, two French volunteers who will leave in May after 6 months of contract. We spent a great time discussing about the project, the challenges and also the NGO community of Dhaka. They met a lot of people and gave me extremely useful advice and contacts.
I met also the Embassy Trade commission reprensetative who gave me also good information. I spent some time at l’Alliance francaise who welcomed my project with enthusiasm as they say there is no nice place to chill out in Dhaka with a freash juice and a good “gateau au chocolat”.
Also, I heard that they just opened a branch in my area and are looking for new teachers… Let see, maybe I will be one of those ;-)
Day by day the project is getting more clear in my head and each time the people I meet confirm that I am moving in the right direction.
Chez Flo and Café Flo are going to be the center point of the Responsible Business I want to develop here especially in providing skilled and semi skilled people abroad for the hospitality industry.
The country is growing and it seems quite promising but at the moment, the economy is difficult especially with the problem of the nonstop raise of the rice price.
A kilo of rice is today 42 taka when it was 38 couple of weeks ago and people are worried it will go up again. It’s because there is a shortage of stock explained in different ways by different people…
Bangladesh is composed by 95% of very poor people with a daily average income of 100 to 150 taka. You can easily do the calculation of the crisis when you see the price of the rice…
A lot of Bangladeshi see the only hope in finding a job abroad and this business is bringing a tremendous income to the country as the workers are sending 90% of their salary back to the country.
Today, what I want to do is to focus on the “niche” of supplying people only for hospitality. In couple of days, just talking to the right people, I have already some candidates ready to apply or who would like to.
So, Chez Flo and Café Flo is going to be a “live training platform” for those people who want to get a better chance to go to work for some prestigious hotel chains in decent and fair conditions....
I have managed to get a Pastry and Bakery trainee already. He will spend one month with me, working on the set up of the Café, sharing recipes and improve basic skills in Café management. With the help of a friend, we will provide free classes in the evening for English (oriented hospitality), hygiene and social behavior in a hospitality environment. If I get a partnership with a computer company, I will give some basic computer classes as how to use word, excel and emails.
Tomorrow, I promise I put more pictures ;-))

Welcome Chez Flo, the new blog telling the adventures of Flo in Bangladesh.
First of all, some basic news. I just arrived couple of days ago and until the house is ready, I stay in a guest house let say... just clean! I am writing right now from what they call the business center which is just a computer and a chair behain a dark bow window...
Anyway, here I am, starting this new adventure, in a new country with new people. Thanks god I have people supporting me, believing in me because I can tell you that when I am alone at night in my room surrounded by my life in 8 suitcases, it's good to think of you all.

I need to adapt myself to this new culture as everything takes mucccchhhhhh morrreeee time. I think it's an excellent school of patience. I believe the most difficult for me at the moment is to stay in this guest house. But at least I have a real benchmark experience ;-). I can tell you that I will do much better!

For those who just arrived here, what is Chez Flo? Chez Flo is a "Responsible Guest house" welcoming tourists, travellers and volunteers who come to Dhaka for business, as a stop over or to spend some time as volunteers in the surrounding NGOS. Chez Flo is the starting point of Responsible Business that Florence will develop in Bangladesh. This country has an amazing development potential and the human resources necessary to operate a really soon take off. It needs ideas, training and a small financial input to do so and that's where all of us are involved.

For proof the meeting I had this morning with the Managing Director of a Branding Company who is working with the Chamber of Commerce on "how to brand Bangladesh". I am very excited by the idea to participate to couple of workshops just to add my input in term of branding knowledge and also by the fact that we spent 3 hours sharing ideas and opinions about responsible business and changes that will occur in the country in the next 3 years.

This morning I found someone sharing the same ideas and it makes me feel much less lonely ;-))

Regarding the renovation of Chez Flo, the work is in progress. Painting of one room is complete, we just bought the beds and fans. We will negotiate the AC tonight as it's a huge budget... Now we are working on how to set up the Home Cafe to give it a friendly and simple feeling. It will be a mix of French and Bangladeshi. I have some pictures but I am worried to show them to you right now because you will say I am crazy (even if I have to be a little bit to start this new adventure ;-))) I prefer to wait couple of days in order to give you a "Before" "After" feeling ;-

Please do not consider the design of this blog definitive as I am struggling with Photoshop right now in order to create the banner and harmonious colors.

A special standing ovation for Mariam who designed the logo even if it is not the final one ;-)) she is extremely talented and if anybody in Dubai is looking for a great young Emirati lady to join a creative team, I definitively recommend her. For any details, please contact me ;-))