Thursday, July 29, 2010

Did you know?...

Yesterday, Greg and I met with Bill (the fire marshal) at the store. We walked with him through the store as he gave us an assessment of our "life safety" measures (basically, are we set up properly in case of a fire?).

Here is what we learned...hopefully someone out there can use these tips for their own retail projects:

1. It's a good idea to go to the fire marshal prior to construction to get an idea of what you will need in terms of life safety.
2. There are different kinds of fire extinguishers. A general one you can find at Home Depot is an ABC. If you have the potential for grease fires, you will need a more heavy duty "K" marked extinguisher.
3. Our deep fryers are located next to our stove. This is problematic because oil from the fryer can easily splash over and ignite a flame on the burners. Luckily, there are steel barricades you can buy to put in between the two. PHEW.
4. Emergency lights must be checked once a month. You can do this by holding down the switch for 30 seconds to make sure the battery is not on its last legs. Same goes for the Exit sign lights
5. You must have a life safety training plan for employees - it must state a common meeting place nearby for employees to gather to make sure everyone is out of the building.
6. New regulation states that the Ansul system must be checked 4x a year.
7. This is interesting - your ceiling tiles and anything that is upholstered must be certified. Each material must have its own permit - this can be done at the ISD.

So these are just some facts we learned from our meeting. We are constantly amazed by how much goes into this business...

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Testing the waffle irons

We have decided to get with the times and incorporate videos to our social media activities.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Decor

With the permits taking as long as they are, we have had extra time to embellish our store with awesomeness. Before we started this project, we knew that decor would play a huge part in our store experience. It would cost more, but we had our hearts set on a fun, hip, traditional, yet contemporary space. So we hired Brandon Graska, a young architect who is pursuing his masters at the Boston Architectural College and is currently working at Concise Design in Brookline. In addition to designing the store, he has been helping us frame Belgian comic strips and black and white photography (scenes of both Bruges and Boston, taken by photographers Michael Joseph and Andrew Ong, respectively) that will be featured on our walls.

Design, decor, and general atmosphere can really contribute to someone's dining experience...and in different ways. Let's look at some famous names: Starbucks, in their early years of expansion, made a point to retain the local, indie coffee shop feel of their original store by featuring photography from local artists, allowing local organizations to post flyers on a bulletin board, and even entertaining local bands to play live music (usually jazz and usually in their larger locations). McDonalds went the other way -- their shtick is fast and cheap and their interior reflects that philosophy to this day...nice, high quality fixtures and artwork do not further the low-cost corporate model.

For us it was simple. We, as diners, wanted to go somewhere that offered counter service. Somewhere that is inexpensive, but unique (not sandwiches or pizza) and offers high quality ingredients. In addition to that, we wanted a nice atmosphere that was inviting and even homey. Why was this so hard to find in downtown Boston?

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

the Saus team celebrates

For Greg's b-day, the Saus team decided to relax and enjoy some cocktails, conversation and jazz. Oh, and do what we do best- eat!

Renee and Tanya laughing, waiting for the music to start

Close up on our delish cocktails. Yes, mine's purple!
Chin, Greg and Renee
This was a much needed break for the team. The next morning was business as usual. So when you see us at Saus covered in ketchup, mayo and waffle batter, remember- when showered and fed, we clean up nice!

On another note, our mayo is back on track and better than ever. In my last post I said a test run had been a disaster. But not to worry, Chin brilliantly worked out the kinks that came from making the mayo in such large batches (as opposed to our test runs in a home kitchen with a non-commercially sized food processor).

Monday, July 12, 2010

Another Day in the Life...

In my last post, I talked about running around like chickens without heads. Running errands and running from task to task. Well, here is another look into how some of our days go (a much more blasé look).

This morning the team decided today was a non-errand day. So I sat on my couch and started typing. My task: documentation!

We have to know exactly who is going to be doing what and when. And how long any given task will take. And how will any interruption like a spill in the dining room effect our work flow? Who will have time to clean it up? Who can we spare from their normal tasks to clean it up? Our employees need to know what's expected of them. And we need to be able to tell them from DAY ONE. We need to know how our operation is going to run, down to every boring detail.

So I worked on that for a few hours. Then when it gave me a headache, I switched to reading. Since we are going into this venture as newbies, we are getting some of our experience from books. We have made several business how-to books, as well as "behind-the-scenes" restaurant books required reading. Currently I'm reading Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential. He is scaring me.

Then after Anthony made me question my chosen path, I went grocery shopping. Nothing soothes me like food! Time to cook.

And while this may seem like a waste of a day because we are scrambling to open, we need to be prepared when we are open. So today was a prep day. However, tomorrow- back to craziness. On the agenda: getting some supplies at Restaurant Depo and then testing our recipes. Our last mayo test was a disaster, sadly.