FAYI

More than just Greek Food

MEZZE COOKBOOK – TIMELINE

BOOK PROGRESS AND TIMELINE

Although it seems like a really long time to wait, we only started our project in March – which is about 5 months ago. Here is a list of all the things we have achieved in that time:

1 March 2016 (about 5 months ago)

  • We launched our cookbook idea and asked the world/facebook if this is something that you would like us to produce. We had an amazing response to our launch video and we were overwhelmed by the support we received. Thank you!
  • You can watch our original launch video here: Launch Video on Facebook

March 2016

  • Recipe creation, recipe converting and recipe testing started!
  • We cooked along side our mothers, our aunties and our grandmothers to convert some of the best recipes in our family!
  • We built our website (from scratch, on our own) and we started all of our social media pages including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest.
  • Our very first recipe was published on the blog – Halvas Fourno
  • We started making “how to” videos and shared general tips for using a Thermo Mixer.
  • Our partnership became “official” when we registered our name FAYI PTY LTD and started all the legal/accounting stuff that needs to be done when starting a business.
  • We were introduced to doTerra and became wellness advocates of these amazing essential oils.
  • Chrystalla mastered the recipe for halloumi cheese – one of the more advanced recipes in our cookbook required skill, knowledge and patience.
  • We added an extra 20 recipes to our cookbook. We started with 25 and actually converted 45 traditional Greek/Cypriot recipes that we are very proud of!
  • The 40 day fast began for Greek Easter and we shared a recipe for Lagana which is a special bread that is baked on Clean Monday.

24 March 2016

  • The pre-launch of our cookbook opened. We started crowd funding on this day and we set a goal to sell 1000 cookbooks.
  • Janine Baroutsis from Grandma's Pantry was our very first customer!

April 2016

  • We started to promote our cookbook and tell as many people as possible. This included:
    • Interview with Beeso on the Cheeeeesy Podcast at Scrumptious Reads
    • Lailah Rose Thermomumma
    • Bec & Joe from The 4 Blades
    • Tanya Halse the Aussie TM5 Thermomixer
    • Bec Allum from ThermoBexta
    • Nikalene Riddle from Skinnymixers
    • Nicole & Dave from Thermoart
  • We prepped and cooked every single recipe in our cookbook – 45 recipes – for the photoshoot and we raided our parent's cupboards for cups, plates and table cloths.

18 & 19 April 2016

  • We had a massive cook up for our photo shoot and spent two full days styling and photographing each dish.
  • One week of cooking and preparation – two days of shooting – plus a week to clean up and recover from the massive event.

1 May 2016

  • We celebrated Easter, Greek style, which involved a lot of cooking and a lot of eating.
  • Our recipe for Koulouria Greek Easter Biscuits was very popular!

May 2016

  • Recipe testing continued.
  • Book writing continued.
  • At this stage we could have sent everyone a PDF word document with 45 recipes, however we decided to make our cookbook a beautiful, hard cover print with a professional design and graphics. As promised, anyone who requested a copy of our recipes were sent these word files so that they could start cooking!
  • Our babies celebrated their 1st birthdays.
  • We hosted a cooking demonstration at the Paniyiri Festival in Brisbane.

31st May

  • Our goal was to sell 1000 books by the end of our pre-sale period. The deadline was 31st May 2016. We did not hit our target.
  • We made a decision to go ahead with the print book, despite the fact that we did not reach our goal.
  • We are overwhelmed by the positive support that we have received and we really want to finish the book.

1st June

  • The graphic design of a professional, hard cover print book started.

1st July

  • The inside pages of the cookbook are designed and complete.
  • The front cover design options were shared on Facebook. We asked you to vote for your favourite cover design.
  • Our cookbook was reviewed by a dietician and we have a special list categorising our recipes as gluten free, refined sugar free, vegetarian, vegan, dairy free, egg free or nut free.

5th July

  • The book is complete.
  • The first draft of the cookbook was sent out to our volunteer editing team and we requested honest feedback.

14th July

  • Due to the feedback that we received from the editing team, we had to make some changes.
    The ebook was not user-friendly and did not look good on some phones or tablet devises. For this reason we needed to create a re-design of the e-book.
    This was disappointing as it has delayed the the ebook from being sent out to everyone however it will be much better in the long term.

15th July

  • Our Facebook video – How To Peel Garlic In Your Thermo Mixer – went a bit viral!

1st August

  • We sent a draft copy of our cookbook out to some of the “professional thermo mixers” in the blogging world and asked them for feedback. The feedback was very positive 🙂

8th August

  • Our graphic designer said that the ebook is nearly ready to go. We are super excited and we can't wait to share it with you!

We have been working as hard and as fast as we can to create an amazing cookbook for you. We are very proud of our recipes and we hope that you love them as much as we do.

The book will look amazing!

MEZZE is going to be printed with a hard cover, a beautiful bookmark ribbon and colour pages featuring professional images and graphic design.