January 2021 Discussion
January Thoughts
(Friday, 22nd) Boy oh boy! So much learning to be done. Today, we’re figuring out RESY our reservation system/software and we already have quite a few people with reservations which is really cool! I love scanning through the dates and seeing all the names of friends and family on the list. I picture them coming in, having a pint, enjoying the food! This is WHY we do what we do. Relationship building, community building… they’re in our DNA. I love being able to host people, to give them a delicious meal and to give them a place to create memories with THEIR loved ones!
We are just a few days away from getting started here and I think we’ve got menu #1 dialed in. It’s super simple, but for those people who just love a good burger and fries with a beer – my favorite meal – I think this will totally hit the spot! By the following weekend, I hope to have another 4-5 menu items loaded up which will give people the variety they want! And then we go all out! And that’s when the place starts getting a little bit crazy! LOL I can’t wait!
Brian
(Wednesday, 20th) One of the things I love about our brewery is brew day, specifically coming to the building in the morning and smelling the delicious smells of boiling wort. The malty fog that eminates from the building is HEAVENLY to me! Sort of like walking into a bakery at full power.
That’s also one of the things I’m looking forward to in Craft EaTS! The smell of proofing pretzels, burgers being grilled, garlic roasting, herbs in the air… I LOVE IT! Each smell catapulting me back to one memory or another of a kitchen I once worked in. Smells are one of the most powerful memory devices! Songs are not far behind.
B-Russ
(Monday, 18th) I’d forgotten how hard and consuming it is to run a restaurant!!
It is taking a lot of my brain and attention. So so many details to consider!
Food, People, Equipment, Workflow, Décor, Merch, all the things need attention!
Food – how much do we have on hand for a given nights orders? What if a certain dish isn’t coming out like I had planned? What are we going to put on the menu next? How do we balance having enough food on hand with not having so much that it goes bad?
People – WE NEED MORE HELP! Ahhhh! I already lost one cook and our lead curator, Mike, thinks we need up to 4 more people! I make assumptions that people know how I want food prepared when I haven’t been very clear in communicating how an item should be prepared… and I’m trying to balance that against micro-managing and looking over people’s shoulders.
Equipment – New equipment is great! Built in timers, better controls… even little things in design. For example, oven rack have a cut out in the front of them about the size of a ruler so you can grab a sheet tray more easily. So simple, but so helpful! It’s been about 15 (20?!) years since I opened a restaurant and the technology today is fantastic. I can see my food delivery truck via app and how far away it is, estimated time of delivery, etc! Super cool! And yet, just because it’s more advanced doesn’t mean everything works perfectly…
We’ve got some workflow issues we need to solve. We’re in a very tight space and don’t have a lot of room for storage, working, and even drying… dishes that is! It’s a bit cramped back here!
Décor – We’ve got blank walls that need to be filled!! Now I PREFER to fill in things more slowly, but I want the space to look nice and not barren… so we need to consider that too!
Merch – how much to buy and have on hand? How much to let customers order online and have sent directly to our them? More apparel or more cups/glasses/keychains?
The list goes on and on… AND I LOVE IT!
-Brian
(Friday, 15th) There’s so much to do when opening a restaurant. People, product, promotion - all have to be managed in the limited time in a day. It can be exhilarating and exhausting all at the same time. There has been a lot to get things to the point of just opening up, which we can go into another time, but there will be much more as we go forward. My hope with this running blog post is to share a bit about it all with you as we mover forward, in case you had the crazy thought to actually open up a restaurant… 😏
On today’s to do list: Pick up uniforms for curators and cooks, training our first cook, test baking of pretzels and burger buns (or should I call them rolls?), washing all the new cookware and wiping down all the equipment (after the installation of hood #3-yet another story).
- B-Russ