Rolling Along

Here's a little more excitement. Things are rolling along. Perhaps in a little while longer we will have rolled the edges off our square wheels and might roll more smoothly.

Stuck in a Rut

Sweet Thing is in a lull at the moment. The economy stinks right now, and that fact has caused lenders and landlords to be skeptical little devils. How to drive them forward to believe in our vision is our predicament at the moment. There are many hopeful signs, but none-the-less it has been a cause for stress... which is never a welcome thing.

We have looked at another space over near the pearl, but just a hair off the beaten path. It's a brand new building with lots of square feet. We were promised a fair deal and even more if needed. We like it, but wonder how much excess work it will be to market our brand when we are not on a main thoroughfare. Who knows? All we know is that the Alberta and MLK space is pretty much the perfect space for a new bakery. Hopefully something will work out soon -- we are getting anxious.

Last night it was mentioned, "you guys better have a dollar menu!" Ha! I don't know how feasible that is, but it's a good thought. Maybe if we made mini pastries... hmm. Anyway, the point is, all suggestions are considered around this joint. We plan to be successful and that doesn't happen without listening to our adoring public. So suggest away... but do be aware I don't subscribe to that dumb saying, "there are no dumb questions." Yes there are. And yes there are dumb suggestions. So no doggy log biscuits please. =)

Cupping

Last Saturday, Sweet Thing's management and family got together for an official coffee cupping. Talk about your snooty individuals. We were encouraged to be discriminant and determine which coffee was preferable over another. We are not normally encouraged to be discriminant, so it didn't come easy. None-the-less the caffeine slurping was pleasurable.

For a cupping, a few ounces of freshly ground beans are put into a small cup. Steaming water is then poured over the ground beans. The gritty concoction is left to brew for four minutes and then the cupping begins.

First, the individual is encouraged to get his or her nose down next to the lip of the mug and embrace the aroma that wafts from it when the surface is broken with his or her spoon. When the intoxicating aroma is fully comprehended, the individual then tastes the coffee. He or she sets a spoon on the surface of the coffee until the spoon has coffee in it, then the spoon is brought to the mouth and a fantastic slurping sound is made as the coffee is dispersed to every area of the tongue.

Quite amusing, actually. Yes, there was a little gagging as a few errant coffee grounds pummeled unsuspecting uvulas, but overall the event caused little harm. A little enjoyment was even had!

In the process, our forced discrimination determined three brands to be our favorites. When we get our espresso machine up and about we will then have the final judgment to determine the overall winner.

After the cupping the party moved on to a meal. An Italian meal, to be exact. After all the coffee tasting we needed something to overwhelm our palates.

What A Zoo!

In places of unknown, fears are elevated; emotions run high; tension attempts to tear apart all that has been put together. During such times it is essential that life, purpose, and sanity not be neglected. Overwhelming support is key in such a miracle.

Sweet Thing has been in the midst of pushing through first phases of "ideating" to apparent physical achievement — many contract meetings and emails have led to many design meetings, which, sadly, have led back to more contract meetings and emails. We love our place — it is perfect for traffic — but we would like some allotment for bumps in the road. Who wouldn't? How many people expect to get things perfect on the first attempt. So, that is the why of our intense correspondences: Sweet Thing WILL be successful and a good lease agreement is a vital step.

On another, happier, note Sweet Thing's management has begun its weekly meetings. The first meeting was simply to provide assurance of job descriptions and to provide assignments for each to accomplish before next meeting. There is little more exciting than actually using physical things (i.e. people, hard copy documents, etc) to produce progress—virtual and imagined progress looses its comfort factor after a time.

Tonight will be our second manager's meeting. Assignments solutions will be related, ensuing ideas pitched, and final decisions promulgated within the organization. It is very exciting. We have a very talented and productive team!

Tomorrow Sweet Thing's management will meet again for a blind cupping. We have five brands of coffee that we have looked into serving at the shop and tomorrow we will test them all together. The hope is that through this process we can narrow the field down to two or, at most, three brands and then (when we actually hook up our espresso machine) we can compare the coffees as they would be served in the shop. For some of us this is a completely new experience and we hardly know what is required of us, but we are slowly learning to become snooty connoisseurs.

At some point in the near future we plan to roast our own beans, but in the beginning, simplicity dictates, that would not be possible with minimal employees.

So, Sweet Thing still exists, yes, and is more real than ever. We will have updates from the meetings with new ideas and such. Opinions are more than welcome—as was stated earlier, "Overwhelming support is essential in such a miracle."

Below, for you enjoyment, is the platter that Martin (our pastry chef) prepared for us as an introduction to his wares. Quite fantastic.

Meetings and such

Last week we met with the land owners. We got a lot of information and a lot of promises and a lot of hope... but we didn't have a lot of progress. It turns out we have a problem.



Yes, we are in the process of changing spaces. The space is a better location, but we will not have the outdoor seating we were hoping for. But, if everything works out (which, we have no reason to believe it will), we may get something even better than outdoor seating. We will not share what that may be at this time for fear of jinxing the endeavor.

We will meet again with the developers this week or next week, depending on schedules. That meeting should determine, for sure, the terms of lease, square footage, and so forth. That will be a happy day.

And then the week and month following should be a lovely combination of stress and progress.

We're moving forward... really.

It may seem as if nothing happens around here, but, honestly, we actually work hard. Our two largest obstacles (floor plan, and lease) are close to being realized. We received an initial floor plan before turkey day, which Shawna immediately marked up and returned for updates. We expect an update any day now. The wretched part about the floor plan is that the estimates the designer gives us hinge entirely on the terms of the lease... which, obviously, we have not obtained yet.

Today we did get some reaction concerning the lease. A fellow with significant clout at the developer was spoken with and a time set for a lease meeting. This has happened before and resulted in a canceled meeting. But this time it is with a different fellow. Hopefully a different result will ensue. Once that is complete it's off to the bank to beg for money, and then off to find some willing contractors to make quick work of our little plot.

Yesterday, we had a rather festive time. In the evening a pastry chef we are, so far, well pleased with dropped off a platter of his wares that we might get an impression of his baking style. Mmmm. Fantastic. It's amazing how we randomly run into all these fantastic contacts we have.

All in all, things progress. There is so much stinking paper work involved with every dadburn process it gives one urges to harm things. Overwhelmed is a pretty normal feeling these days. If we just keep our heads about water, though, we should be good.

Ugh.

Many Updates

It has been ages since this blog has been updated, and for good reason—there has been little information to share. For the past month all has carried on in a boring manner—we baked and grocery shopped. That's pretty much it. Now however, things are moving rapidly. It is time for the build-out to be kicked into gear, and who knew there were so many intricacies involved? The city and county have honorable goals, I'm sure, but those goals inhibit progress above anything I've witnessed. So, a lot of the work is simply to learn what hoops to jump through.

A few weeks back we finally got our design fellow in to see the building. He took measurements, asked questions, gave advice, etc. He is currently engaged in preparing a preliminary restaurant design for us. Hopefully we will have it soon. Once we get it we then need to review it and decide on any changes. Then it all happens again. Until we are satisfied. Good luck with that, huh?

Once the floor plan is done we will be able to move forward with city and county permits. These are extensive processes that involve many signatures, many agencies, many pointless documents, and, after all seems complete, many weeks of dumb waiting. Ugh. If our government was more efficient in its processes I doubt it would be the largest employer in the nation. Sigh.

It appears, from talks with the developer of our building, that build-out completion is no longer targeted for late December. It seems the grueling process will drag on until late January now. Disgusting. We already have our business cards made, too! But what can you do?

Another bit of news is that we no longer deliver to Bikini Coffee. This is a twofold blessing (though it wouldn't seem so): first, we didn't make enough products to actually turn a profit; and second, Bikini's management's form of communication was hand-penned notes written on various coffee shop paper products. Phone calls were not returned. Emails were rarely acknowledged. Essentially, we now will save money and headache. Not that it wasn't nifty to have a customer, but, honestly, some things aren't worth the effort.

So, now it's all effort on build-out and OLCC (which is another governmental pile of pooh we shall not venture to describe for lack of time in the day). The first and most essential thing is the floor plan which we hope to have this week. Once that is in hand the ball begins to roll whether anyone is prepared for it or not.

An update will come when we get the floor plan.

By the way, our business cards are amazing and fantastic!