Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Follow Us On Twitter!!!
By the way, we are now up and moving on Twitter. Our address is SweetThingPDX. We will have updates about food items and anything else that fits our fancy.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Grand opening ... ?
So ... we had our grand opening. Sadly, we aren't open yet. If anyone desires to learn the nightmare that is dealing with contractors, open a bakery. Much frustration.
The grand opening was enjoyable. We had just over 150 people come through the doors. Another hundred or so were serviced with cookies and pastries at random red lights outside our front door. I think the public found that enjoyable. We are sorry we weren't able to open soon after, in order to take advantage of the buzz we created.
We currently wait for the last of the inspections to happen. A few contractor problems have caused much delay for us, but success looks immenent.
Below are a few pictures of the grand opening: a picture of the sitting area, the kitchen area, our first customer, the shop from the outside, and our logo on the window.
The grand opening was enjoyable. We had just over 150 people come through the doors. Another hundred or so were serviced with cookies and pastries at random red lights outside our front door. I think the public found that enjoyable. We are sorry we weren't able to open soon after, in order to take advantage of the buzz we created.
We currently wait for the last of the inspections to happen. A few contractor problems have caused much delay for us, but success looks immenent.
Below are a few pictures of the grand opening: a picture of the sitting area, the kitchen area, our first customer, the shop from the outside, and our logo on the window.
Friday, June 12, 2009
We're getting somewhere!
Life at Sweet Thing remains its fun self. We are still having back and forths with the contractor, but as you can see from the pictures the shop has begun to take shape. It's lovely, really.
Beside the contractor, the big deal right now is purchasing equipment. All eyes have been peeled on ebay, and craigslist, and whatever else could be found to find the best equipment for the cheapest price. So far, it appears we have been victorious. The equipment list shrinks by the day. Last night we drove down to Salem to pick up a fancy ice maker, then we wandered down the road to Independence to pick up a massive reach in cooler. The seller helped us load the cooler with his handy dandy fork lift. Sadly, we didn't have one when it came time to unload the contraption. It was a scary/exciting experience that involved large machinery on rusty wheels, rickity ramps, a clunky, junky pickup, and a few moans and groans for good measure. The good news is we avoided a large machinery hit and run. That would have been messy.
We also managed to find some fancy stools (or really tall chairs) for seating at the bar we'll have against the window. They weren't in perfect shape, but the price was mere cents on the dollar. It was too good a deal to pass up. So, it was decided the stools would work grandly ... if they could be repainted. Kindra has been up to her elbows in the mess that is repainting all week. She has loved every minute of it, to be sure. Except for the dirty parts. Oh well, we're all doing things we never imagined we'd be doing. Ain't it grand?!
Below are pictures of how the site looks currently.
Looking through where the kitchen will be toward Alberta.
Looking toward Alberta.
Looking toward MLK.
Beside the contractor, the big deal right now is purchasing equipment. All eyes have been peeled on ebay, and craigslist, and whatever else could be found to find the best equipment for the cheapest price. So far, it appears we have been victorious. The equipment list shrinks by the day. Last night we drove down to Salem to pick up a fancy ice maker, then we wandered down the road to Independence to pick up a massive reach in cooler. The seller helped us load the cooler with his handy dandy fork lift. Sadly, we didn't have one when it came time to unload the contraption. It was a scary/exciting experience that involved large machinery on rusty wheels, rickity ramps, a clunky, junky pickup, and a few moans and groans for good measure. The good news is we avoided a large machinery hit and run. That would have been messy.
We also managed to find some fancy stools (or really tall chairs) for seating at the bar we'll have against the window. They weren't in perfect shape, but the price was mere cents on the dollar. It was too good a deal to pass up. So, it was decided the stools would work grandly ... if they could be repainted. Kindra has been up to her elbows in the mess that is repainting all week. She has loved every minute of it, to be sure. Except for the dirty parts. Oh well, we're all doing things we never imagined we'd be doing. Ain't it grand?!
Below are pictures of how the site looks currently.
Looking through where the kitchen will be toward Alberta.
Looking toward Alberta.
Looking toward MLK.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Coffee School
Kindra and I went to coffee school for two grueling days last week. It was something to behold. The lovely lady that stuffed our brilliant minds with all the coffee knowledge necessary to run a successful cafe was a lot of fun. Her husband was the actual coffee connoisseur—he'd had successful coffee houses all over the country until he died—but she carried on the tradition well. As will be evident when Sweet Thing opens, her experience and knowledge held much value.
Also, for amusement factor, it must be mentioned that the Davison mind is also something to behold. And behold it this nice lady (Oksana) did. Heh. The first day of class she shared a billion stories with us to help illustrate the importance of what she spoke of. She had a funny habit of including more details than were necessary. I don't suppose it would have been so interesting to a lot of people, but when you have a mind like a vice details don't just skip across the surface. On the second day of class Oksana was quite shocked to hear the dreadful details of her most absurd stories relayed back to her. The situation made her state she should be more careful with the details of her stories. And, sadly, her stories were less frequent the second day.
We don't mean to scare people. It's just the way we are. Ask Grampa.
The second day was practical exam day. We made every hot drink on the menu before lunch, and every cold drink on the menu after lunch. We also were required to try every drink we made for experience sake. Ugh. A coffee high is so much more insane than tea drunkeness. We were wired for hours. We got the making of the drinks down on the machine Oksana had, but the machine we have is different. Hopefully we will get it up and running soon so we can adjust our tactics to suit it before openning. That will be fun.
These are all the cold drinks we made. Look at all that waste! But after consuming all the hot drinks in the morning, who could blame us?
Here is Kindra excitedly foaming milk. Don't scald it! Ah, just perfect.
Me acting like he's pulling a shot. I missed out on getting my picture taken while the real action happened so we had to make do. As you can see the espresso machine cleaner is sitting on the counter. Obviously not the beginning of the day.
Also, for amusement factor, it must be mentioned that the Davison mind is also something to behold. And behold it this nice lady (Oksana) did. Heh. The first day of class she shared a billion stories with us to help illustrate the importance of what she spoke of. She had a funny habit of including more details than were necessary. I don't suppose it would have been so interesting to a lot of people, but when you have a mind like a vice details don't just skip across the surface. On the second day of class Oksana was quite shocked to hear the dreadful details of her most absurd stories relayed back to her. The situation made her state she should be more careful with the details of her stories. And, sadly, her stories were less frequent the second day.
We don't mean to scare people. It's just the way we are. Ask Grampa.
The second day was practical exam day. We made every hot drink on the menu before lunch, and every cold drink on the menu after lunch. We also were required to try every drink we made for experience sake. Ugh. A coffee high is so much more insane than tea drunkeness. We were wired for hours. We got the making of the drinks down on the machine Oksana had, but the machine we have is different. Hopefully we will get it up and running soon so we can adjust our tactics to suit it before openning. That will be fun.
These are all the cold drinks we made. Look at all that waste! But after consuming all the hot drinks in the morning, who could blame us?
Here is Kindra excitedly foaming milk. Don't scald it! Ah, just perfect.
Me acting like he's pulling a shot. I missed out on getting my picture taken while the real action happened so we had to make do. As you can see the espresso machine cleaner is sitting on the counter. Obviously not the beginning of the day.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Here I go again.....Everyone hold your breath!
The last few weeks have been quite a ride......and have prompted me to put some thoughts together to post on our blog. This is only the second blog entry I've posted....thank goodness! We would have far fewer avid readers were I to post more often. Kenny does a much better job of entertaining than I will ever be able to do, and for that we can all be grateful. Nonetheless, I felt the need to subject you all to my (less than) literary prowess in order to thank everyone for their support this past while.
January 2009.....yeah, that month. Remember? It was supposed to be the month we opened. Unfortunately, for the collective sanity of our Sweet Thing crew and loved ones....that was five months ago!
Late June, early July 2009....the new "norm", the new target date range, and hopefully, the last opening date we'll have to give out.
So, without further ado....thank you all for bearing with us as we've journeyed through the tangled web of oh-my-goodness-are-you-kidding-me?-set-back-infused-grey-hair-inducing-FUN that is creating something from nothing. The shop will be something to behold, I'm sure! Not only for those who are anticipating our opening, but especially for those of us who are privy to the melt downs, late nights, sweat, blood, tears, and joy, that have gone into making the dream a reality!
Here's to the next few weeks and to not losing our tenuous-one-tired out-weak-little finger-hold on something that (sort of, but not really) resembles sanity.
All for now.....let's all go get some sleep! I have a feeling we're going to need it!
Shawna
The last few weeks have been quite a ride......and have prompted me to put some thoughts together to post on our blog. This is only the second blog entry I've posted....thank goodness! We would have far fewer avid readers were I to post more often. Kenny does a much better job of entertaining than I will ever be able to do, and for that we can all be grateful. Nonetheless, I felt the need to subject you all to my (less than) literary prowess in order to thank everyone for their support this past while.
January 2009.....yeah, that month. Remember? It was supposed to be the month we opened. Unfortunately, for the collective sanity of our Sweet Thing crew and loved ones....that was five months ago!
Late June, early July 2009....the new "norm", the new target date range, and hopefully, the last opening date we'll have to give out.
So, without further ado....thank you all for bearing with us as we've journeyed through the tangled web of oh-my-goodness-are-you-kidding-me?-set-back-infused-grey-hair-inducing-FUN that is creating something from nothing. The shop will be something to behold, I'm sure! Not only for those who are anticipating our opening, but especially for those of us who are privy to the melt downs, late nights, sweat, blood, tears, and joy, that have gone into making the dream a reality!
Here's to the next few weeks and to not losing our tenuous-one-tired out-weak-little finger-hold on something that (sort of, but not really) resembles sanity.
All for now.....let's all go get some sleep! I have a feeling we're going to need it!
Shawna
Friday, March 27, 2009
Tea too
Our focus is pastries and coffee, not tea. We will have tea, though, and it will be good tea. Kindra's been in communication with Matt, the owner of Townshend's Tea Company. His teas are fantastic and locally made (hardly a dozen blocks from our shop, actually). We will offer eight teas to begin with, but if we get mass requests for more, or different kinds, we will adjust that.
The loan is still in the works, but I have seen evidence (communications) of its forward progression. This is good. More evidence of successful certainty is that Shawna ordered a "Coming Soon" banner for the store front. That should get there in less than a week. Then everyone can drive by and say, "Hey, I know that place!"
Also, Marty, our fantastic chef wanted to be trendy and miles ahead of the curve, so he has looked into possible ways for us to offer our customers nutrition information on our products. His actions (and emails to the right people) has landed us the opportunity to be interviewed by the AP. The reporter wants to research eateries that offer nutrition information when they aren't required to by law. We need to get back ASAP about this lest the reporter dredge up another exciting start-up to question. Hopefully, though, national exposure will be ours.
The loan is still in the works, but I have seen evidence (communications) of its forward progression. This is good. More evidence of successful certainty is that Shawna ordered a "Coming Soon" banner for the store front. That should get there in less than a week. Then everyone can drive by and say, "Hey, I know that place!"
Also, Marty, our fantastic chef wanted to be trendy and miles ahead of the curve, so he has looked into possible ways for us to offer our customers nutrition information on our products. His actions (and emails to the right people) has landed us the opportunity to be interviewed by the AP. The reporter wants to research eateries that offer nutrition information when they aren't required to by law. We need to get back ASAP about this lest the reporter dredge up another exciting start-up to question. Hopefully, though, national exposure will be ours.
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