Saturday, November 19, 2011

My mood is tangled up in the weather today...

A quiet day today with overcast skies. I can't seem to get warm (despite my very fluffy wool socks and layers of clothing). I went to Costco this morning to pick up a few odds and ends for the cafe. I hate spending money right now, but it can't be helped. The next few months will be very precarious as it is generally the slower time in the downtown and I opened at an awkward time of the year (for making money anyway).

But... I can't help but be hopeful. Friday was slammin' and so many of our preconceived notions have been way off (in a good way). Like for example, we thought the Ploughman's Lunch would be pure vanity on our part... a plate of house cured meats and cheese and stuff; who was going to buy that other than the hard core foodies??? We figured we would sell 5 or 6 a week... we are selling more than that per day! And the crazy awesome interest in the cured products is... the most pleasant surprise yet. I knew charcuterie was vaguely trendy right now, but I had no idea just how savvy the general public (at least my general public) is about what I do. I am not sure who is more surprised/excited, me or my customers, that we've found each other.

I had a group come in yesterday early in the day (11ish). They'd been on their way to Starbucks, but the weather kind of sucked so they popped into my place (which was closer). They were like explorers who'd found an alien planet, examining everything... the walls, the bathroom, the menus. They asked a million questions and then we started talking about our wines. I gave a little taste of the Valdiguie to one of them and they ordered wine as well. One of them popped by today to grab some pancetta to bard their turkey.

My favorite customer is still my first; Mr. Hot Chocolate, Esq. I suspect he's made it his mission to help me succeed... It's been restorative to have my own passionate cheering section. The courts are closed thru Nov 29th and I am really going to miss him! But it should be a good experiment to see what business is like without the surge of jurors that are affiliated with the courthouse. We were calling Friday "Foodie Friday" because the surge of foodies in the shop on Friday was totally fantastic.

We are still not hitting our break even point on a regular basis. I based my business plan on only two of us working in the shop and having the third person has been throwing the numbers askew. I think if we can just get thru the next couple of months, we will be ok... but I have to find a way to raise revenue. I have some ideas, but I am so tired, it is hard to focus on much in my down time. I know that will change, hopefully soon. There is only so much Bejeweled Blitz a small business owner should be playing on her day off. What happened to my once thriving social life? Konstantina's Bachelorette party is tonight and I am probably going to be snoring on the couch by 8:00 pm.

But I suspect it is normal for where I am in the process.

Things I did not expect:

To still be having money struggles
So many awesome foodies!
How beautiful the space is

So some good things and some bad... but my feelings of gratitude for the good things have been growing exponentially every day. I am so lucky! Lucky to have a Stein and a Galen, lucky to be doing what I love, lucky to have made it this far.

1 comment:

  1. Can you ship the corned beef? Can you ship pastrami? I would buy some in a second and I suspect that you could raise some revenue that way!

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