Asking for Money

...is always a bit awkward (like this fragment). Like we have mentioned in previous posts, the only outlet for fundraising at this point is through family and friends. Seems easy enough - I mean, we're a small quick-service joint and compared to other start-ups, we don't need much. So we put together a nice little package detailing the terms of the investment and planned to distribute to everyone we know in hopes that they would then distribute to everyone they know in hopes that somewhere along the email chain spectrum, someone would be interested in investing. Why did we do it this way? For one, mass emailing is efficient and allowed us to cover a lot of territory. Second, we were able to include important information for easy forwarding. Third, we could put off making awkward phone calls and let the email do the talking. This method, however, has not worked for us. I will be candid - it's a very uncomfortable conversation to have (close family members excluded) because it just seems impolite to ask for money.

What we have had to remind ourselves is that our investment proposal is a potentially profitable one - it's the whole reason we decided to execute this concept in the first place! Of course we think it will be profitable and wildly successful - but for whatever reason we cannot help but feel we are desperately asking people to take a risk. Here's the Saus lesson of the day (something we still have a tough time with): getting on the phone (or meeting in person) and selling your idea is a necessary evil. In entrepreneurship classes they make it sound so darn easy. You sit down in class, which should be called Entrepreneurial Strategy for Idealists 401 and the professors make raising money sound like just another item on the checklist to be crossed off as easily as bananas (what?) on a grocery list. We have raised a decent chunk from family and friends (fairly easy portion) and once we have raised the rest we will share with you how we did it (and I can tell you right now that unless there's divine intervention the SBA won't be repairing itself for a while).

Perhaps making money will be easier. Let's hope.

May we take your order? We don't have one...

We do, however, have lame one liners in abundance. Seriously though, I'm not sure that there is such a thing as a right order of events when starting a business. What to do first, next, or later? They never really tell you this in the books. It's not as easy as idea -> business plan -> fund raising -> execution -> nirvana. Throughout this journey, we have found ourselves in catch 22s where order was not even possible. For example, we could not raise money until we had a location and we could not have a location until we had money! Currently, while we do have a location in mind for the shop (nothing signed off on just yet), we don't know whether to start with architectural plans to give to the contractor, or to have the contractor tell us what to incorporate in the design so as to lower costs. And how do we plan for equipment when we're not sure about an exact layout?

How have we dealt with this so far? Well for one thing, we have stopped being so hung up on having all our investment money before we took action. Once we obtained a portion of the total required start-up capital, we hired a lawyer and actively pursued a location. Now that we are approaching actual renovation, we'll need a second round of investment money before we hire a general contractor. On that note, there is no order, just a natural evolution of events. The way we have dealt with it is thrown the notion of "perfect planning and timing" out the window and have accepted just being able to handle chaos well, often followed by a lull period of intolerable inactivity, and once again followed by pure chaos.

We hate lull periods, and you'll know when we're in them when we don't post on the blog. But being the true food entrepreneurs we are, we utilize this down-time well. Two words: field research.

Quench Your Thirst

So for those who took our last survey, we are on the brink of another! (This one will be much shorter. Promise.)

As I was getting my ideas for the survey together, I thought maybe this forum would be a good way to get people prepped for it and get some initial feedback. (I do realize I'm talking maybe two responses.. but you never know.)

The Saus team was discussing what kind of beverages we were going to have, soda wise. Traditional American sodas, ie. Coke, Sprite, Root Beer, Mountain Dew, etc. Versus imported European sodas to lend to our Euro vibe, ie. Orangina, San Pellegrino, etc. Or perhaps more natural offerings, such as Steaz (which is organic), Fuze, or Izze.

These are the three directions we have been debating. But YOU tell US, which would you rather drink???

Just a quick update

I figured since I lately couldn't shut up about my farm research, I'd provide an update. Especially since I'm feeling euphoric about it.

I've made progress! Thanks to some great friends who were not only there for me so I didn't quit, but also pitched in with research (that'd be Christine!) I now have a long long list of farms that I'm going to spend today emailing- asking for prices, if they deliver to restaurants in Boston, and if they can handle our volume.

I'm going to buckle down and get some real work done and then I'm going to spend the weekend knowing I accomplished something. Can't wait.

Maybe I'll make some lunch before I get started...

The Experience Factor

One of our major fears when we decided to start the business was that we knew nothing about the business we were about to enter apart from the fact that we had been faithful patrons for the whole of our lives. Luckily, there was an easy remedy for this concern and that simply was to find jobs in a quick service restaurant setting. After we were laid off, Tanya landed a part-time job at a marketing and pr firm and, since then, has gathered a legion of talented, creative minds that will be helpful when Saus is ready to perform some marketing magic. Chin is working part-time at a very popular bakery/sandwich shop and I have been working at a quick-service burger joint. Our respective employers and customers recognize us only as front of house staff people, but little do they know that behind the grease stained uniform t-shirts and fleeting pleasantry there's a clever and calculating apprentice (alright, maybe not always clever...) to an otherwise transitional establishment.

While we won't learn what it's really like to manage a restaurant until we actually have our own, we have drawn from our experiences to consider how we will and absolutely will not run our operation. Let me first say that standard management principles we learned in school apply only so far as general bookkeeping, efficient operations and inventory management (in other words, ensuring customer orders are filled with speed and finesse and making sure to avoid stock-outs, shortages, and waste), etc. What's unique about restaurants is that variables outside anyone's control often dictate volume.

Anything can happen. For instance, how do you prepare for the possibility of a bus full of 60+ hungry tourists who have decided to make a pit stop at your store? Do you keep the place fully staffed at all times in anticipation and risk spending more than anticipated on labor costs? If not, are you doing your employees a disservice by not giving them enough hours? I mean, what if this tour bus comes and you're short-staffed? The staff would be overextended, in turn making them unhappy, not to mention the tourists who may become frustrated with bad service and leave. These are the decisions we must make, in spite of having no clear direction as to how to make them. Sometimes it's easy. We know that busy lunch hours are usually between the hours of 12-2. We know that 3-6 is generally a lull period. Beyond the general assumptions, however, that bus can come at any moment and throw hunky-dory, business-as-usual operations out the window.

Variables aside, there are some constants that serve as underlying values for any restaurant organization. The problem is that many food service establishments neglect their true lifeblood: employees. The fact of the matter is that employees will deal with the uncertainty and unpredictability so long as they think it's worth it! If the employee does not think it worth their while to go the extra mile, then the employers are screwed (I did try to make it all rhyme) and probably doing something terribly wrong. In other words, bad service is not always the employees fault, folks.

I'm sure you will hear from us again about valuable lessons learned (I'm sure most being from mistakes we will have made), but in the meantime, the most important thing learned thus far: we have only a general idea of what to expect in terms of day to day volume, but what we do know for certain is that we need to keep our employees happy and make them feel like they mean something to the organization.

Breaking Down

The inevitable has happened!

While we love what we are doing (entrepreneurship wise) and are thrilled with our choices, every once in a while it catches up to us.

It got to me. I had a breakdown.

I was sitting on my couch, researching farms (still) and making no progress, when all of a sudden I felt overwhelmed. I've dedicated so much time to this with nothing to show. No solid leads. No strong contacts. No idea of how much space we need for deliveries. How often do we need deliveries? Can we handle once a week? Do we have enough room? Where are all the farms? Why don't they have websites? Why can't a farmer just email me back saying, we are the farm for you!

Kill me.

So I sat and cried a little. And lamented my life decisions. Why didn't I just get a real job? Why do I have to be all ambitious? Some call it ambitious, I call it Stupid.

And then my teammate/partner/friend/lifesaver Renee called. She listened to me to cry/whine/bitch. And she gave me what I needed- support, reassurance and empathy. She, too, felt this strain.

This is going to sound sappy (and for those who know me, I don't really do sap, so bear with me). She reminded me why we are doing this. We love it. Why play it safe? We are taking a huge risk for something we love. And we are hoping/praying/begging for it to work out. But that's why we have each other. For support. And to talk us down from the ledge. And to say, that project is wearing you down? Put it on the side burner for now! Let's talk website design!

So (it's going to get worse) I love my teammates. I need them. I couldn't do this adventure without them. I know it's gonna be great.

Ok- done now. Back to normal posts.

Learning the Ropes

As I delve further into the world that will soon be earning me the big bucks (fingers and toes crossed!!) I am learning that there is jargon I never dreamed of. I recently spent a whole day (which has turned into several days) emailing and calling farms across the nation searching for our produce match made in heaven. So far the farm refuses to be found... It's much like the search for the perfect man.

Anyway, back to produce jargon. A phone call with a farm went something like this...

Farm Sales Rep.: "Would you be needing a full load volume?"
Me: (Not wanting to let on that I am a novice and have no idea how much a full load volume is...) "Well, I would be requiring about 500 pounds a day."
Farm Sales Rep.: "Ok. That is a lot smaller than 40,000 pounds. 40,000 pounds is about 300-400 boxes. Now you would be needing something closer to 10 boxes a day. Which isn't even near a pilot."
Me: (I think she said pilot... I don't know the jargon, so it could have been a different word.) "Uh-huh." ( I say this in a very intelligent voice.)

The conversation continued much like that, while I tried to stealthily hide that I had no idea what she was talking about most of the time.

Well anyway, the search continues. Maybe the next phone conversation will go something like this:
Person: "Do you know how much you'll be requiring?"
Me: "Well nowhere near a full load volume. Probably closer to 500 pounds per day." Witty laugh.

Oh, produce jargon jokes. Man, I'm getting better at faking that I know what I'm talking about. Now if I could only find Mr. Right Farm. (Or Mrs. Right Farm...)

Even when there is no confusing jargon, my jokes are bad.