27/03/2021
Whenever I do anything, I always give it my best to include providing excellence in service & product.
Anyone who has attempted to make Apigigi knows that it's not a quick, simple, easy process especially if their standards are high.
In fact, it's a tedious process that most people would rather pay for than do on their own as it requires much time. From selecting, cleaning, preparing and rolling on nice & fresh banana leaves to wrapping, cooking & presenting the finished product - it's a process that doesn't take 30min or 1hr to complete especially if your making several pieces.
Everyone's schedule is busy.
Because I have a full-time job, it took me nearly 3 days to prepare 100pcs from start to finish (with help from my boyfriend).
I don't shortcut quality work or service and customer satisfaction is very important to me.
I pride myself on always delivering excellent quality & customer service, value and satisfaction.
It begins with finding nice banana leaves and they have been scarce throughout the island since they've been infested. As a result, I can't push out Apigigi like when we first began making them 2 years ago. It was a learning experience 😅 but was also rewarding & worthwhile.
Frozen banana leaves are in abundance at the grocery stores, but their quality isn't as great as the ones growing in our backyard and if anyone knows me, the leaves I select must be perfect - not too old or young, nice & pretty and are then cut to my liking to be individually washed by hand and then made pliable for wrapping. This step alone takes me 1 day to do.
Then I prepare the batter. I like things to be perfectly sweet - not overpoweringly sweet or tasteless, but just the right amount of sugar. After my batter is made, I start wrapping. Because I want every piece to be tightly rolled, nicely & uniformly wrapped, I leave my boyfriend out of this process LOL (I have OCD when it comes to presentation) - so it takes me about 2 days to finish my large batter.
The final step is cooking the Apigigi. After many attempts, through our hundreds of trial and error, we've done everything to perfection to include setting the right temperature when cooking a few or several at a time and removing it from the griddle at the preferred texture.
They say, "a job worth doing is a job well done" and everything that goes into making Apigigi from the time we expend, to the reward of customer satisfaction, it truly is a blessing to be passionate about something that brings smiles to people & instant gratification.
Thank you Lord for making this all possible and thank you to our customers for your continual love and support. 🙏🏼❤
