Be Prepared

We were hired to set up in one of the Parade of Homes houses this past weekend and next weekend. This is a huge event for us because not only are we serving a cash bar from 10:00am until 6:00pm, we are also going to get our name and information in front of 6,000 people. I am using this as advertising and have been very happy with our sales since the beginning of the event. How many times do you get paid to advertise? Not often. We have had the biggest week since we "opened" and I am loving it. The problem is being prepared for such a large event. We were at the Grey Fox Gallery in Downtown Bozeman on Friday night and had our best evening there as well. The problem? We ran through supplies faster than I thought we would. So, there I stood on Friday night with no milk left, no 12oz cold cups left, and a few other things. We had to be at the Parade of Homes at 8:30 with is a few hours before CostCo opens for the day so I was feeling overwhelmed. Once we got the equipment set up, I began to feel better and soon enough, was not worrying anymore. There are a few things I learned from this week however: 1. Prepare in advance 2. Be confident in your business 3. Don't worry about the small stuff We had designed a way to keep track of "inventory needs (dairy products, etc)" and I have decided that I will be prepared for every other event that we do. The first weekend went great and we had our biggest cash sales deposit that we have ever had. We are at that point where we have to push harder in our marketing and advertising efforts to really saturate this market and educate people on what coffee catering is all about. ..be bold Tagged: coffee, espresso, tea, bozeman, montana, cafe evoke, coffee catering, parade of homes