← Musunda · Step 6 of 7 · one Saturday
Before anybody spends real money, one test answers the three questions that matter: Can it be made fast? Can it be made cheap? Do people want it?
What you need
Groceries for the six starter items, enough for about 100 pieces. Keep the receipt.
A rice cooker and a small rice mold or press.
A kitchen scale that reads in grams.
A timer. Your phone is fine.
Ten people who will tell you the truth.
The morning: make 100 pieces
1. Cook the rice and the toppings first. Do not time this part.
2. Start the timer when you form the first piece. Stop it when the hundredth is wrapped.
3. Weigh five pieces of each kind: the rice alone, then the topping alone. Write the grams down.
4. Write down anything that slowed you: sticky hands, a mold that jams, a topping that slides off.
The afternoon: feed ten people
Hand each person a box of six. Then ask three questions and write down what they say, not what you hoped they would say.
Which one would you order again?
Which one would you skip?
Would you pay $6 for this box?
What counts as a pass
These three marks are our proposal. Argue with them.
Speed: 80 pieces or more per person, per hour.
Cost: ingredients at or under 33¢ a piece.
Taste: 8 of 10 people say yes to the $6 box.
Miss one and you have learned exactly what to fix. Pass all three and the next page is worth reading.
Keep your numbers on your own paper or your own computer. They are the first page of your own book on this, and nothing on this site stores them.
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