Do You Know (2)

I've once again here to share some of the facts about what i've learnt on and off lesson. Some amazing, some shocking and some interesting.

- StarBucks
How many of you actually drinks Starbucks Coffee and went gaga over it. It's so nice and tasty (i'm not sure if this is the appropriate word to use for coffee or not because i'm not a coffee drinker) that i've heard of how coffee lovers sing praises of it times and times again. However, ever wonder what makes their coffee beans so special as compared to others?

Starbucks doesn't buy their coffeebeans from wholesaler but instead, they purchase the whole area which is said to be a mountain that produces coffeebeans. Which means, whatever the amount of coffeebeans this mountain produces, it all goes to the 15 thousands outlets of Starbucks worldwide. And it's because of this that no other compeitors is able to compete against them, which is the world largest coffeehouse company in the world.

- Brokers for food?
You thought that there's only brokers for stocks? Well, there's actually brokers for anything and everything else. There's brokers for clothes, food, beverages, shoes, electronics even...you might be wondering what these brokers does. Take food for example, you expect NTUC who carries about 800 items in their supermarket to have a department who does the 'buying and scouting' of those 800 items? Large supermarkets like NTUC actually have a group of appointed brokers who scout for food from all over the world, mainly from South East Asia. The brokers is a middleman between farmers/producers etc and NTUC itself, and they simply does nothing but scout for those items checklisted by NTUC itself. And mind you, they earn big bucks...

- Abalone
Abalone is commonly found in certain specific parts of the world. It's considered a delicacy in most parts of the world. And in Singapore, there's actually a monopoly for it. New Moon has been dominant for a long time and are still a leader in this market. Wonder what's their success?

It's actually only right that abalone are being sold so expensively. Do you know abalone have to be kept 12 months after they are being caught before they can actually be cooked and serve so called freshly? If not, the abalone that you eat will have texture as hard as a rock. New Moon strategy is that they speculate the amount they will need throughly from what they have planned for the 12 months ahead. They did survey constantly to keep up with the current market area. From there, they pick up and estimate the amount they roughly need. Take for example if they need 15,00 cans, they will purchase that area used to harvest the abelone and after harvesting, they will keep the abalone for 12 months before they start selling.

- Grade Egg
Ever know why the eggs sold @ YaKun is much more expensive than those sold @ the coffeeshop? This is because the eggs used by YaKun of a grade A. There's four different grade of eggs in Singapore's market - namely, grade AA, A, B and C. Grade AA are the best eggs. To differentiate the grade of the egges, simple. Crack the eggs open, if the egg yolk in intact and still one whole, it's probably of Grade AA or A, if the eggs you crack, the egg yolk will also 'leaked' out and mix into the egg white, it's probably of Grade B or C...

- Dangers of Margarine
Which is healtier? Margarine or butteR? Many would think that it's the first one which in fact is the truth. Margarine are first being introduced in Singapore market back in the early ninities..Then, people realise the 'unhealthiness' of butter and some company see the chance to produce margarine to replace butter.

Margarine does contain less fats, be it saturated or trans fat and also cholestrol because margarine is being chemically modified and treated. This process allows the taste of margarine to be of a mild similarity to that of a butter while at the same time, keeping the nutrition level a more healthier choice as compared to butter. However, this process has its hidden dangers.

A normal human being body will not be able to digest this margarine well because of the process mentioned above, and when this happen, the digestive juice in our intestine and stomach will therefore, so called 'digest' the organs instead of the margarine. This leads to the organs producing a form of liquid which can cause liver, kidney and other problems. If you notice if you take too much margarine, you can find some of them even in your poo. So perhaps, it's better to use Kaya instead for your bread. Haa...