Thread by @kelin_online

anyway here's the story of how i worked with a cafe (isshiki matcha) to import the olympic village muffins for a popup in nyc...

buckle up for an old fashioned tweet thread

https://twitter.com/amylimabean/status/1824835737797222756

i live by this saying: "don't look for problems, look for opportunities"

3 wks ago, every other video on my tiktok fyp was about the olympic village chocolate muffin. henrik's obsessed. everyone's obsessed.

i won't ever be an olympian, but i can probably get a muffin right?

i decide to procrastinate on work and track down who made these muffins

i post a couple of tiktoks evaluating different options that i had seen mentioned online: otis spunkmeyer, delifrance, coup de pates

(this was over ~6hrs on tue 7/30 evening)

https://x.com/kelin_online/status/1818656077157630239

the tiktoks pop off

the next morning (wed 7/31), coup de pates posts a vague message on social saying their muffins are causing a lot of excitement

problem: cdp seems to only sell in bulk to restaurants and institutions in europe

the next day (thu 8/1) i speak w/ a reporter at eater (@bettinamak) about the saga so far

she emails cdp too, confirms they're the real supplier, and gets a contact for exports

opportunity: i could try the muffins if i get a nyc restaurant to import them. do it for the plot

the next day (fri 8/2), @ArianaNathani (who i didn't know!) sees my video and tags in her friend angel, who owns isshiki matcha

i've never been to isshiki, but @queeniiwu was sitting next to me when i got this DM and said she goes there all the time. sounds legit

before i even speak w/ angel, i send off an email to the cdp export department to see what's possible. i've never done anything like this before

i kick myself for not sending this email as soon as bettina got their contact... we'd lose the weekend waiting for a response

it's still friday 8/2. i meet angel over the phone and we chat for 15 minutes

isshiki is a new cafe making a name for itself in the city. she wants to try the muffin. she imports ingredients from japan all the time.

how hard could it be?

as expected, i don't hear anything back from coup de pates over the weekend. i do meet angel irl at isshiki. (incredible matcha btw)

monday morning 8/5 i decide to get annoying. i DM members of the cdp team on linkedin, their social pages, their online contact form...

i'm annoying enough that i get a phone call from a french phone number within a few hours

a woman with a french accent, who declined to provide her name, said they're looking into what is possible. they would reach back out when they know more. (subtext — stop spamming us!)

i go about my day, and in the afternoon i get a call while i'm walking to the subway in manhattan

it's an american number this time, and they provided their name: romain

when did we want the muffins by? how many? how much freezer space do we have? what address for delivery?

they don't have a US distributor, but they will look into what they can do in the states after putting the muffins on the plane in france

i spend half an hour on the sidewalk talking on the phone. i make my first 3way call. i feel like adam sandler in uncut gems

i go home and start planning promo for a popup for the coming weekend (sat 8/10 or sun 8/11) before the closing ceremony. making visuals, planning videos, DMing content creators, writing a press release

we will only announce the popup once the muffins are shipped

the next day (tue 8/6) i'm wake up to a phone call at 7:30am. it's the anonymous coup de pates woman

can we send them our import permits? do we have a customs broker? could we pick up the muffins directly from the airport? turns out they can't do door-to-door delivery

angel contacts restauranteur friends for help. she gets a customs broker, tony.

more paperwork, more emails.

i research delivery options from the airport. of course, i don't know which airport, which day, or how big the delivery is. i hit a dead end.

i film some popup promo footage at the cafe just in case it does all work out

next morning (wed 8/7), i get another call from cdp

muffins are on track to land in NYC on friday, but it would land after the FDA closes, leaving the shipment at risk of melting unattended over the weekend

we started everything a day too late. we push the popup back by a week

taking a break bc i need to eat and i already forgot how many twists and turns there were in this story... more soon

okay, i'm back

it's still wed 8/7, just 1 week after i started going down this muffin rabbithole

we push the popup back by a week to avoid risk of spoilage and other last-minute issues. who knows what might happen in customs?

bright side: maybe we can get more muffins?

thu 8/8, more back-and-forth on final flight info, timing, door-to-door delivery. see timestamps

tony the customs broker says we can probably get FDA approval on saturday, but atp the dry ice packing has been rescheduled to the following monday. can't add more boxes either

things are constantly changing, but i can't just go radio silent on tiktok

i'm a small unknown account. i need to communicate frequently and transparently to build trust

how can i remind people that the popup will happen soon, without having finalized the full event details?

in the meantime, we still need to figure out how to get the muffins from the airport to the cafe

we can't use regular moving trucks, they need to be refrigerated trucks

i think at one point cdp had a license (?) that allowed for fedex refrigerated delivery, but it expired (?)

at least we have final flight info now

it'll arrive at EWR around 9pm ET on tue 8/13

the weekend passes by in silence

mon 8/12 i start getting annoying again

we still have to lock in the last-mile delivery

i don't know how perishables are handled once they land. does someone from our side need to pick it up immediately? does customs store things according to instruction?

tony and angel sort it out — he'll get a refrigerated truck to pick it up morning of wed 8/13

i'm confused about the part where the plane lands tuesday 9pm but pickup happens wednesday morning, but i have to trust that the experts have it handled

tue 8/12 we finalize the event promo plan while muffins are in flight

we want to wait until we have goods in hand to announce

angel wonders if we should move the popup one more week bc of her schedule...

but no, the excitement might have passed. superwoman.

wed 8/13, delivery day

i'm just waiting on the word to post the announcement

and of course, something goes wrong with the delivery

they can't pick up from the airport today for some reason

????????????

so, i call tony. it's my first time talking to him. i'm very stern.

it seems the refrigerated truck was too small to fit the muffin delivery

i worry that the muffins will spoil if we delay another day. all the dry ice will melt

plus, we'd lose another day of event promo

tony says maybe 9pm delivery

i call tony back after 30 mins, as previously planned

i get sent to voicemail

i call 4 more times. no response.

at this point, tony offers a refund via text. tbh i get it, this is a headache.

i refuse the refund.

i had already researched refrigerated truck services that deliver in NYC. nobody has same-day availability.

tony finally calls me back, says he'll ask the airline to put the shipment in the freezer.

i didn't know they had a freezer.

at the very least, it should be fine until tomorrow morning (thu 8/14)

i arrange to meet the driver at EWR thursday morning

given the delayed delivery, we would need an extra day for proper promo

we move the popup to sunday

an hour later, tony calls again

magically, we're back on with a delivery today. he can get a truck to EWR in an hour

i finish up a meeting (yes, i still have other work) and call an uber in brooklyn to meet the new delivery driver at EWR. eta 5:50p

i make it as far as canal st in manhattan when i get a call from the driver (4:58p)

he's at customs already. it'll be faster to meet at the cafe

having some video upload issues smh. continuing shortly.

i have enough time to take the train home to grab some mics (for filming) and a box cutter

i meet the driver at the cafe just in time

we open up the packaging. everything's still frozen. thank god.

i carry the muffins down the block to the cafe

angel arrives to help unpack the muffins into in the freezer

atp we're feeling good. let's move the popup back up to saturday 8/17

angel had just got a new freezer delivered earlier today to store the muffins

it was too wide for the stairs to the basement, so her cofounder had to unscrew the stair railings (!) in order to move it downstairs

the muffins just barely fit. we had to tape the freezer shut

it's all smooth sailing from here

we finally announced the popup, and well... you know the rest

https://x.com/kelin_online/status/1824097147316207670

angel says she's the only cafe owner in nyc that's crazy enough to do this with me. and she'd do it again :)

isshiki is working on importing another batch for the paralympics.

and that is how i spent 3 of the funniest weeks of my life. fin.

https://x.com/evgrieve/status/1824824272482668948

answering Qs:

i thought the muffins were delicious!

by the start of the popup there was a line twice down the block. it looks like everyone in line by 10am was able to get one. we sold out by ~noon

https://x.com/Tiffytoes/status/1825641755448111380

@urcadu and i did a taste test comparing the OG muffins against costco, homemade (ibakemistakes recipe), and otis spunkmeyer

@urcadu idk why the colors are so washed out when i upload on twitter...

$10 each. originally we were hoping for $6, same as the other pastries in the shop, but the transport costs added up. cafe couldn't afford to lose money on it

https://x.com/time222smoke/status/1825643245986021735