It could be better..

Many of you have been following the Starbucks Challenge that has been going on for the past several months. This challenge is a push for the US's largest coffee chain to buy more fairly traded products. I found this article over at the The Institute for Humane Studies If you are sipping a latte somewhere in the vast Starbucks empire, you can rest assured that the corporation is moving steadfastly toward more environmentally friendly practices. Chief Executive Orin Smith says he has launched an aggressive plan to ensure that coffee purchased by Starbucks comes from farms that follow strict rules to reduce deforestation and pesticide use Now, I think if you ask many that are in charge of the Starbucks Challenge, you will find that this is not entirely accurate as the mermaids only have a minimal amount of Fairly Traded coffees. This company has the ability to really make a difference in coffee producing countries if they would just commit to buy 100% fairly traded products. The company already pays a premium on the coffee beans that it buys from Latin America and Asia, which it says provides an incentive for plantations to plant shade trees and limit pesticide use. Starbucks has paid an average of $1.20 a pound for coffee during the last three years, while the New York Board of Trade recently listed coffee at 77.7 cents per pound. These higher prices make Starbucks the company that everyone wants to do business with, which in turn gives it a great deal of leverage in how the coffee is grown. By 2007, Starbucks expects that 60 percent of the coffee it buys will meet C.A.F.E. standards, and after that Smith says it intends to keep raising that percentage. I am going to give the company the benefit of the doubt and say that maybe they are trying to pull things together and get back to business. I feel they have been trying so hard to take over the country -- maybe the world -- with their "corporate" coffee experience that they are forgetting that it is going to be important to take care of those who are actually growing their cash crop. They have done a great job bringing specialty coffee to America and I have to thank them for that. All I want to see if a better representation of certified Fair Trade coffee. You can find information about Fair Trade coffees at all Starbucks locations but it does not seem that the company really puts a priority on educating employees and customers. I do not believe that the lack of knowledge is the baristi's fault but the fault of the management. This needs to be a big part of the training/educating program for all employees. I feel this should be true for ALL coffee bars, houses, kiosks, and drive thrus. I hope this article is correct and something that is being attended to NOW! Lets see it... ..be bold Tagged: Fair Trade, starbucks, coffee, starbuckschallenge

There seems to be more sick days when it snows..

I have been paying attention to my feelings about calling in sick to work each day new snow falls. It seems my manager must be doing the same thing as there are quite a few sick days being used lately as the resorts near us are having record breaking snow years. We were supposed to get 2 feet yesterday and last night so I am expecting a call today about someone being sick. Some days just feel right sitting around, watching it snow, sipping an Ethiopian Yirgacheffe or Kenyan AA, Fairly Traded of course. That is the mood I have been in lately. I am keeping a close eye on the activities of the leasing agents and of the developers we have been working with but haven't begun to really push them yet. I have not yet heard back from the president of the neighborhood association that I emailed a few weeks ago about Cafe Evoke's hopeful home in his community. I am going to give him a day or two more and send a follow up email. I talked with my buddy Matt with Viva Barista and Bellissimo Coffee InfoGroup, yesterday, about pricing, menu planning, and the new budget. We are excited to get the new budgets rolling. I am holding off a bit on getting them reorganized as the space will play a cornerstone role in our decisions. I raise my Cafe Evoke travel mug to all you sick folks in the mountains who will be getting fresh pow all day as I sit at my desk and dream of our opening day. ..be bold Tagged: Cafe Evoke, coffee, bozeman, Montana, ski

Update...

It has been rather slow for us and Cafe Evoke for the past week or so while we await responses from the owners of the two buildings we have been working on to get back with us. I know they have both been meeting with the city and have been getting plans together so at least I know they are working on it. I had set a goal to know what building we were going to be moving into and also have a formal agreement signed by the end of January. Well, that date is tomorrow and we are still in the water on both goals. I am going to extend that deadline a bit and try to get some final word by the end of the week. We are meeting with our lawyer today to have our first corporate meeting for Conversations, Inc. It feels bittersweet at this point because we have not even opened yet but that is part of it. We organized because we had a lease signed and now we are stuck paying the taxes, filling out the paperwork, and having the meetings. It is good practice I guess. At this time, we are still in a waiting game and cannot do much more until we find a home. When that time comes, we will begin to again get ourselves ready for the build out and opening. ..be bold Tagged: Cafe Evoke, Bozeman, Montana, coffee

green LA girl � The Logic of logos

I think many of the reasons why people do not understand the importance of Fairly Trade goods is because they are unaware. What does it all mean? How do you know what is and is not certified Fair Trade? I think this problem is similiar to what the music industry is facing with listeners burning music without paying for it. Lack of knowlegde can account for most of the reasons behind it. Green LA Girl offers this nice piece about the different logos dealing with Fair Trade and what they mean. (on a side, I sorta like the US logo myself -- although I see the reason for liking the UK and Australia version) ..be bold Tagged: Fair Trade, coffee, Cafe Evoke

Taking the day off..

Today, my wife and I are both taking the day off. We are heading up to Moonlight Basin for a day on the snow. This is going to be nice as I have only been out once this season (in contrast with about 40 days a year for the past 4 years while living in Nashville). It will be a great time to relax and regroup a bit. Have a great weekend and I will be back Monday. ..be bold Tagged: ski, montana, cafe evoke

Update...

We are still on cruise control and in some what of a holding game at this point with Cafe Evoke. There are been some activity but we have not been updated with any new information. I have found myself getting a bit disappointed and frustrated in the past few days. There is another new shop in town that has plans of opening by the end of January. They secured their location and got everything in just weeks. Here I stand, 2 and a half years into this, without a location and no tentative date for opening. Have I been lost in the details to much? I feel that I have done a good job in planning and organizing the is business but maybe have focused to much on horizontal movement and not enough forward movement. I think we are in great shape and that we know our model well. I wish I could say we would be opened in just months but I have to keep telling myself it looks like it will be about a year still. My hopes are that the planning pay off. You have to be consistent and, as my friend over at Start-up Guide says, "It seems like for these types of ventures it is a lot of planning and waiting for that moment when everything finally aligns itself, then you have to execute a ton of stuff all at once. Keep moving forward, if success was easy everyone would be rich and it wouldn't be worth it." So, here's to continued work and preparation for Cafe Evoke.. ..be bold Tagged: Cafe Evoke, Bozeman, Montana, start up

Quote of the Day...

"There is a great deal of poetry and fine sentiment in a chest of tea" Ralph Waldo Emerson ...be bold Tagged: quote of the day, tea, Cafe Evoke, Bozeman

Some activity in the distance

We have have been on the "highway" of starting Cafe Evoke for the past month or so. What I mean by this is that we have been on cruise control -- working on proposals, market research projects, and other paper work type things. We had a small perk of excitement when we were introduced to the 3300 square foot warehouse space last Friday and we are back to cruise control. I am not getting passive about my planning, just realistic. We are going to be prepared when the time comes but I have come to grips with the facts our journey so far as uncovered. I did get a call from our leasing agent about one of the buildings we are excited about. There seems to be a parking issue (yes, again) and I had somewhat written it off. I found out today that the owner was working with her leasing agent and also the architects to try and figure out the space. I am still working on two deals but if we can get this first building set up, I think it would work the best (reasons I can describe at a later date). It is tough to keep going at a nice pace in this planning process but we have to. I scheduled a vacation for late April to my families condo in Colonial Williamsburg, a place I used to visit very regularly and, for a time, hoped to attend college (The College of William and Mary). My goal is to get as much done before this vacation as possible and my main goal is to get a lease signed (or at least an official commitment). I want this vacation to be a time to hang out with my wife and parents. I have made it a value in my life to be consistent and I am being tested now. ...be bold Tagged: Cafe Evoke, Bozeman, Montana, lease, vacation

"Printing Responsibly"

Many of you know about the brochures that we are having printed to take to the community for feedback. I really want to make sure I find a printer that will print to recycled paper and with non-toxic ink. I was reading over at VigilanteWeblog yesterday and came across this post about responsible printing. I want to take a moment to advocate for the use of environmentally friendly printing for your business printing needs. Most of the marketing collateral that is produced is done so on non-recyclable paper and using inks that are toxic (not only to the earth but to the printers as well). Its an easy decision to gloss over or let someone else make the decision. It may initially cost a little bit more than conventional printing, but in the long run it will end up costing more to our earth. Please, at least just ask and see what the cost difference would be, and then make your decision. There is also a link to Printing Responsibly.com which I have not heard of before. We empower businesses through education and project management. We help businesses stay within budget, preserve design and communication goals, and still print responsibly. We also help businesses develop strategies for communicating their responsible stance to stakeholders. This is going to prove very important to me as we go forward with Cafe Evoke because we need to be printing on earth friendly materials. ...be bold Tagged: environment, printing, green, Cafe Evoke

New Address!

Hello. I just wanted to take a minute and remind everyone of our new address! This blog can now be found at blog.cafeevoke.com. Please update links, bookmarks, and RSS feeds to our new address. For now, the old address (forcoffee.blogspot.com) will redirect you to the new address (blog.cafeevoke.com). At some point, I would like to cut that site out all together so it will not be as confusing. Thank you again for reading A Thought Over Coffee over the past year. I have benefited greatly from your comments, suggestions, and overall support. Thank you also for changing over the links! ...be bold

To Measure Success

The Entrepreneurial Mind talks today about the measure of success. It is often assumed by the uninformed that the only reason for becoming an entrepreneur is to make a lot of money. While making money is clearly a fundamental goal for entrepreneurs, profit is the only metric they use to measure their success. Just ask any entrepreneur how their business is going and you will begin to see the richness of how they measure their successes. For some entrepreneurs, success is measured by the jobs they create. When I was asked about our business, the number of employees we had grown to was always at least part of my answer. My partners and I took pride in creating good jobs in an industry that was not always kind to its workers. I agree that while we want to make a lot of money and be financially well off, there is more to what we, at Cafe Evoke, are doing. I want this place to be a difference maker. We want to provide people with the best in fairly traded and organic coffees and teas, a place to help people grow as a community, and a place that will be known for taking care of coffee producing countries. We will measure success by where we stand in all of these things. We will strive to be included in the "Best of Bozeman" and to have regulars. How will you measure success? I hope there is more to it than strictly money. ..be bold Tagged: Cafe Evoke, Bozeman, success

Thoughts on Saving

I have been doing a lot of budget work on a personal level in the past several weeks trying to cut our money spent to better save for our future. My wife and I are very interested in buying a house near the place we call home for Cafe Evoke and we want to be in a position to do that sooner than later. I have cut back our spending to better align with our salaries. We are working on the following to help this: 1. Finding a cheaper place to live (currently we live in a very old house that is very expensive to heat and also a bit more than what is comfortable for monthly rent) 2. Checking our options on downgrading the car that we own that still has payments left. By working on these two areas, we could save ourselves up to $500.00 each month. My wife and I are also both looking forward to hopeful pay increases over the next several months that will also help us put money away. This will not only help us reach our goal of maybe purchasing a home, it will also help pad our accounts when Cafe Evoke does open. I was reading this post at Thinking Outside of the Box today and it really fits in with what we are doing. A pay raise should be handled more maturely. That extra cash on your paycheck means a lot more than going to the movies twice per week instead of once. It's an opportunity for financial growth. If you're not a risk taker who may buy stocks etc, then you can just save the extra 200 or 300 dollars in the bank...One thing that I have mastered is to have an unchanging monthly budget regardless of pay increases. If your current pay allows you to save 100 dollars, then a pay increase of 200 dollars should mean you can now save 250 or 300 dollars. The idea is to put more away and keep our current budge in place. This post gives some great advise for anyone that is wondering where all this money that were going to be getting as a raise is going. Tagged: Savings, Cafe Evoke, start up

A Great Meeting Yesterday

Yesterday we had a meeting with a new building owner that had contacted us through our leasing agent, Sarah (who is great. If you are looking for help in finding a location for your own business -- I will pass along her contact info), about having a coffee and art place like Cafe Evoke in their building. It is a true warehouse space with about 3300 square feet available. This is bigger than we have been looking because of our budget but with the lease factor they are asking, it is in check with our budgets. This would give us the space to created a video room in the back that could also be used for parties, corporate meetings, and other events. It would also make the front part of the space smaller and more cozy for the coffee aspect. I cannot post any more information at this time as there are some details that must get worked through with some other people before any more can be passed along. We are very excited about it as it is a true warehouse feel with great woodwork, concrete floors, and high ceilings. I hope to be able to post a bit more info and maybe even some pictures of this space. It will be ready for tenant improvements in about 3 months so it would be great for us as we are ready to begin serving Fair Trade coffee to this community and hopefully making an impact and difference on the global community as well. ...be bold Tagged: coffeehouse, Cafe Evoke, Bozeman, montana, lease, building, location, Fair Trade

We will call it Press Release 1.0

First of all, thank you to everyone who emailed or commented about our press release (and for those of you who had comments or suggestions but have not yet gotten them over to us. We understand). I have taken many notes and will begin revising and re-creating this release. I am going to officially (not that it really matters--but) call it "Press Release 1.0." The goal of this "release" is to gain information. We need to know what people think about our hours, offerings, and values. The most important thing to get out of this are thoughts on the hours of operation. Are people okay with having a Fair Trade and organic focused coffee and art house in their neighborhood? That is what we need to find out. I will begin working on version 1.0 (we will call the one posted here version .5 or something.) and get it posted. This release has not gone to the paper and has not been sent to anyone but bloggers and the president of the community's association. The brochures that are being created will have information to the same tune as this, however. We will be handing these out to the community when they return from the designers. We are still at least two weeks away from getting these out to the people as they need to go through another re-write and also get edited by a few people. This is my new project. Please keep sending in your thoughts as I am all ears at this point. I have done my best work while listening to great ideas and suggestions and I will not stop -- ever. Thank you again. On a side note -- We are meeting with a new building owner today as they have some warehouse space and are interested in being home to Cafe Evoke. Could be nice. I will post about it over the weekend so check back. ..be bold Tagged: marketing, bozeman, pr

Montana Loomworks for Great Recycled Rugs

I bought a great rug this summer to put under my keyboards while playing at different places and I really love it. I bought it from the artist and craftsman (woman in this case) over at Montana Loomworks. Montana Loomworks practices textile recycling transforming used up textiles into beautiful handwoven rugs. Each rug is a unique piece of functional art to be enjoyed for many years to come. Color and texture combinations are scrutinized in the design process to create a useful, valued, and artistic rug I have made it a point during this year to buy as much recycled, fairly traded and organic things including food, bags, coffee, teas, etc as I can. I am only one person but the more we buy fair, the more of a change we can help create. If you are in the market for a great looking rug, book, or other small gift, this is the place to get it. You can also try some green knitting by Green LA Girl. Will she sell? Not sure but I bet if you asked her, she would consider! ...be bold Tagged: Montana, rugs, recycled, green

A Press Release

To go along with our brochures I have been talking about, I have been sending the below e-mail to people in Bozeman to try and spark interested and comments for Cafe Evoke. I have sent it to a few Bozeman bloggers to put on their site and I hope to gain some results. I have a friend at the local paper in town and I am going to try and set something up with him next week and talk about getting this letter printed as a press release in hopes that it will reach more people in the North East Neighborhood. The goal is to get feedback. We are a community coffee and art house and we need the input from the community. The email is below. If you are a Bozeman reader and have comments or questions (or would be interested in posting this on your blog!), let me know. My name is Jason Duncan and my wife and I are hoping to open Cafe Evoke, an art and coffee house, in the North East Neighborhood. Our art and coffee house is dedicated to building community on both a local and global scale. We are planning to serve Fair Trade and organic coffees and teas and organic foods whenever possible. Our goal is to provide a place for people to come, sip, and talk. A place to build relationships with each other and also learn about issues that are affecting our friends in coffee producing countries including Ethiopia, Kenya, and Guatemala. We plan to display the work of local artists, bring in singer songwriters, writers, poets, play writes, videographers and others to share their passions. We have been in contact with One.org who wants to host Bozeman meetings at Cafe Evoke. We plan to host Fair Trade seminars and do our best to not only serve great coffee but to educate on the passionate journey this product takes from the bean to the cup. In an effort to be a community coffee and art house from the beginning, we want to know what the people in this community think about our ideas. We have dreams of providing a place for people to just be from 6:00 am to Midnight. We desire Cafe Evoke to be an alternative to the bar scene and think it will be a great place to "work together to create community." It seems that we all agree: by working together, we can make a difference. We are looking for a location in the building on Wallace and Peach and also in the new Freight Building that is going up in March. I would love to get your feedback, ideas, concerns, and suggestions. We feel the values of this community are a great match for Cafe Evoke and we want to be a voice and meeting place for all. Please feel free to email us at info@cafeevoke.com with your thoughts, suggestions, questions, and concerns. We want to make sure all have a voice in what goes on at Cafe Evoke. You may also call me at 406.599.1628. We want to know how you feel about our hours (6:00 am to Midnight) and what things you would like to see in a community art and coffee house that is dedicated to serving the best organic and fair coffee. Thank you for taking the time to help. Jason Duncan Cafe Evoke jason@cafeevoke.com I also hope to have the brochures completed and ready for press by the end of next week. The designer is working on them and I need to price out what it will take to get them printed, stamped, etc. I will get you updated. ...be bold Tagged: marketing, bozeman, PR

Employee Retention

The Entrepreneurial Mind posts today on the results of the Entrepreneurial Challenge Survey. The top five challenges reported where: 1. Retention of key workers--73% 2. Developing new products and services--38% 3. Expansion to markets inside the U.S.--36% 4. Increased productivity--35% 5. Upgrading technology--28% It is interesting that Retention of key workers was number 1 by a large percentage. I have written before that hiring, educating, and managing my employees (and payroll budget) is bringing the most anxiety as we get closer to an opening date and it seems that I am not alone. Good workers are expensive and need to be taken care of properly. I feel that it is worth the extra time and the few dollars more they require in pay to keep these workers. It is more expensive (because of training, etc) to re-hire than to retain. I am determined to created a good team of employees and keep them there as long as possible. It not only helps keep morale alive, it helps the business run smoother, customers feel secure in who they are dealing with, and keeps money in the business that would otherwise be spent on advertising for new employees, training (from scratch), and time spent in interviews. My goal is to treat my employees fairly and pay them as much as I can per my budget. Payroll can get out of hand easily but we do not want to lose the workers that are helping us succeed. A good worker is worth the investment. This might not come as more money but in certain rewards or benefits that we can offer. I will do my best to created a system before we open that all employees will be familiar with. That will help keep morale high and expenses in check. ...be bold (you can read more about this in a earlier this earlier post by Dr. Cornwall at the Entrepreneurial Mind)

First Contact

I decided a week or so ago that I needed to make contact with the northeast neighborhood association before I did anything else. I had not acting on this realization yet, however, until last night. Mike (who runs a Bozeman blog) replied to an email I had sent him and gave me the one person's info that he knew in this community. It happened to be one of the presidents of this association. I emailed him last night and I am very excite and anxious to hear back from him. This community is very active and wants to preserve community. I was reading through their site and they share a lot of the values that we at Cafe Evoke have. I really think this is going to be a good place for us as long as we do not rush into anything and act outside of what the people know about and want. We need to be realistic, however, and realize that there will be people over there that do not want us to open. We need to do what we can to assure them that this coffee and art house fits with their community. I feel that it will be a long road ahead as we begin to venture out to the people but it will pay off in the end. ..be bold

Why not?

One of the leasing agents that has been helping us along the way the past several weeks called to let me know that there were some old buildings that the owners are wanting to get retailers into. She had given them a run down about who we are and what we are doing with Cafe Evoke and the owners sounded interested. The area in which the building is located is already zoned M-1 which would allow Cafe Evoke to opened without all the mess with the city (besides the Health Department, etc) which would be nice. There are some things that would need to be worked out if this were to be the new home for Cafe Evoke but I thought we would meet with them just to see what they have to offer. The meeting is set for the end of this week and I am excited. We really have nothing else we can do until the city lets us know about the zoning timeline and also about the chances of getting a conditional use permit which would allow us to work a deal in the location I have been talking about lately (we still have two options for that community). I keep telling myself that this will come -- one day at at time. Was it nice that the lease fell through the last time? It probably will be better for us in the long run I would say. The thing that really ticks me off is that Starbucks can now put another indie on their list of conquered competitors. (not sure if they really have this but why wouldn't they?) The first run of the brochures was completed yesterday and we are excited about them. They are going to a designer today and also to our board of advisors for revisions and additions/deletions. I will post it (if I can figure out how to) for all to read when they are completed. ..be bold

Quote of the Day

"...that was what the world was like for many people on the planet before the fall of the wall. When it fell, it was like the frog in the well was suddenly able to communicate with frogs in all the other wells. If I celebrate the fall of the wall, it is because I am convinced of how much we can learn from each other. Most knowledge is learning from the other across the boarder." This quote comes out of Thomas Friedman's book The World is Flat. It was from an interview with Amartya Sen, the Nobel Prize-winning Indian economist and now Harvard professor. ...be bold

New Coffee in Bozeman, Montana

I found out that there was a new coffee place opening in downtown Bozeman, Montana. This new shop, called Wild Joe's Organic Coffee and Tea House, will be going into the old Harley Davidson building across the street from The Leaf and Bean. You can read more in this article from the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. Coffee junkies rejoice! There will soon be a new coffee shop downtown. Wild Joe's Organic Coffee and Tea House will be located in the former Yellowstone Harley Davidson store at 18 W. Main St. There's nothing inside the store yet, but owner Aimee Gerharter hopes to be serving coffee and tea by the end of the month. When asked how she thought her store would do considering the number of coffee houses already downtown, she said there are more than enough coffee drinkers to go around. "There's enough people and enough going on down here," she said. Well said. Cafe Evoke will be joining the others in the next 12 months and we are excited. ...be bold

Our Handouts

We have finally begun working on the text and layout of the brochures we are created to pass out to people in the community of which we hope to call home for Cafe Evoke. These brochures will be single fold with our logo on the front and contact information. On the inside will be an "about us" section telling what Cafe Evoke is all about, short descriptions of me and my wife along with a picture (to give a face to a name), sample menu selections, and then finally a comment card. I have been thinking about the comment card for a while and have decided that the best way to get feedback might very well be have a comment card that can be torn out of the brochure and dropped in the mail. So, we are going to try and create this card inside the brochure with a stamp already on it. This allows the hopeful friend and customer a chance to leave us their feedback and drop it in the mail free of charge. We are going to put these at the gas station in this community and at the Community COOP (where we buy our groceries) to hopefully get some feedback. We are also creating a list of people that we have been referred to that live down there and will begin making calls early next week. There is a lot to do right now and the hard part is that it is all paperwork -- proposals, LOI's, these handouts -- and I have been struggling to get things done. I sit at the computer typing emails for 8 hours a day and the last thing I want to do when I get home is sit in front of the computer again. We are going to make a push next week and try to get everything completed. The handouts will not be cheap to create but we feel that it is better to make them look good (and on recycled paper of course) and get information from the community than to opened without ever reaching out our hands. You spend money to make money (sorry for the cliche this early in the morning) and this is what we feel is best. I am going to try and get one on this site so everyone can have a look. As I have said many times before, however -- "I'm not very good at writing code and changing files, etc." I will do my best. ...be bold

Choice Organic Teas

I have been looking for an organic, Fair Trade company to buy from and serve at Cafe Evoke. I might have found just the place. The company is called Choice Organic Teas out of Seattle and they seem to have their act together. They are one of the first tea companies to carry the Fair Trade seal which is exciting. Choice Organic Teas is the first teacrafter in the United States to Fair Trade certify many of its teas. More than a catch-all phrase, Fair Trade certification translates into guaranteed fair wages while providing an additional premium paid directly to tea estate workers-steps that provide access to better housing, healthcare and education for tea growing communities. Fair Trade certification adds another degree of integrity and social responsibility to our already certified organic teas. An ingredient that is often difficult to measure, we think it makes all the difference in the world. I agree. I have requested samples from this company and hope their tea is a good as their values. I will let you know.

I need a Vacation

This is bit of topic but I think at least somewhat relevant for this blog. I have been thinking a lot about vacations. I know, I just got back from a short trip to Oklahoma to visit my family and some old friends but I do not think I can classify this as a vacation. Here is why.. Vacations are a time to relax, sit around, and really enjoy yourself while not thinking about being home and working. While I believe this is easier said than done, there are a few things I can do to help this while I am gone. 1. Keep the cell on at a minimum 2. Do not talk about Cafe Evoke 3. Do not bring my trusty PowerBook 4. No e-mails or blogging While I did have a great time in Oklahoma and got to sleep in past 6:00 am, I still worked. I had meetings with my father, our financial planner (which helped us write of this trip), I blogged and sent emails. I was also on the phone with people here in Bozeman talking about Cafe Evoke. I think it is time for a real vacation. I am a lover of snow skiing and normally get about 50 days a year on the sticks -- even living in Oklahoma and Nashville. I finally live in the mountains have only been out 1 time! I am now trying to plan a trip to my parents home in Crested Butte, CO to go and really get away with my wife. No computers, no cell phone, no meetings -- just good ole' fashion skiing and Guinness. It is important as a small business owner to plan for time away -- really away. It is a goal of mine to keep doing the things I love even while running Cafe Evoke. I have worked it into the business plan and have made it a priority once we are opened. I think I should keep this in mind from now on. This business should not end your life as you know it now. Yes, there will be hard times and I will be very busy but if it bring me to put aside everything that I love (art, music, skiing, wine, etc) maybe we are doing the wrong thing. So far so good. Maybe a vacation is in the near future for us. ..be bold

Not just our coffee..

I have been doing a lot of thinking the past several weeks about Cafe Evoke and what image I want it to display. I know for sure that coffee (and tea -- I'm working on this. Any suggestions?) needs to be organic and certified (with bird friend, shade grown, etc as well) Fair Trade but what about everything else? My father in law just purchases some land a few hours away from Bozeman that has an old barn sitting on it. This barn is falling apart and cannot be used. I had my wife talk with him about this last night and we now have our wood for the bars/counters! I'm very excited because we are now using old, recycled wood which will carry our message of environmentally friendly cafe to more than just coffee. I am now working to further get this message across by finding companies that can print with soy ink on recycled paper (our cups, coffee sleeves, business cards, letterhead, print ads, etc). This has not gone into full swing yet, however, because there is much to do before I have time to think about coffee cups. We need a space. I am currently working on two proposals and want to have something nailed down (contingent on the zoning) by mid February. This gives me a month to crunch numbers on the two remaining options. I am going to do my homework as I mentioned in my last couple of posts and if we can get the ok from the community, maybe even go back to the first building owner and see if we can work something out. I agree with her fully about not going against what the people want. It looks like we will be a year out (at least) from opening but that is what we are going to have to do. I feel it is the right location (if people want us there) and we just have to wait. ...be bold

Market Research

Thank you very much for your emails and comments regarding our market research plans. I have taken notes and have come up with a few ideas that I think will put us in good shape for continued work in this area of town. We are working on a brochure that we can pass out to people that will give the following information: 1. Who we are 2. Our vision and goals for Cafe Evoke 3. Hours 4. Events 5. Possible Menu 6. General Atmosphere (not listed in any sort of order) We are then going to head down to that area and begin to pass them out. We have also met a few people who know people who know people (you know how the chain works) in this area and I thank the people who have given us names and numbers and made the initial call for us. We are going to give these contacts a call and see if we can drop off some of our information sheets to them for their neighbors as well. The idea has come up several times (and you can read Blair's comment on Friday's post) about informal newspaper polls. I think this is a great idea and I have set this aside for tier 2 of our market research plan. I want to get our word out with these information sheets first so people can put faces with this business that will be entering their community. I will be honest here. I did not think I was going to have to do all of this. After hearing what the building owner told us (and I'm very glad she brought it up as she lives in that area, too), however, I feel that the community deserves to be heard. That is what we are all about remember. We want this place to fit right in with these people -- not bring about anger and frustration. I respect everyone that lives there and will do what I have to in order for it to be "their" art and coffee house. ...be bold

We have to know the community...

I got final news today from 1 of our 3 options and it is not out. I'm disappointed because this probably was my favorite of the buildings. We still have 2 great options left, however, and we feel good about them. This building owners main concerns were: 1. Amount of space we needed 2. Our hours I talked about this earlier today but I have talked with her since then. She said that she would not be willing to even consider Cafe Evoke if we wanted to stay opened later than 9:00 pm. Maybe midnight is to late for a week night but I really believe in these hours for the weekend. I explained to her that.. Our hours are important to us as the goal is to provide a place for artist to come (besides smoke filled bars) to create and be together. She replied with I understand and applaud your desire to have someplace for people to go and just get together late at night. I just don't think the neighborhood is going to let you do this since this is also a place lots of families and elderly live in Have we been going about this all wrong? Have we been so focused on finding the right neighborhood for us that we have forgotten to really find out what they want..need..hate? It is time to head back to the drawing board and back to some ground roots market research. We need to meet the people in this community. We have been looking for a house in this area to move into so we can be a part of their lives -- even more -- but we need to do more. In the next several days, we are going to draw out our plan for getting to know people and asking them what they think about our model, our hours, and our vision. This will probably take the form of going down there and trying to talk with people walking the streets and maybe even knocking on some doors. We also know some people that live down in this area and I hope I can get hooked up with some of them and just talk. I think we will find that people will want lighter traffic at later hours as to keep it quiet. People are misunderstanding us, I think, when we talk about music. We are not a huge venue. We will have some bands but they will be acoustic, jazz, and other bands -- not heavy metal (not that we would not welcome that if we had the space and power to do so). I will post about my plans. I have not asked for much since starting this blog but if you could comment below and let me know what you think would be great ways to get to know this community, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you! ...be bold

Planning

I received floor plans for one of our top options yesterday and will spend the weekend tearing through them and finding what would work best for us -- layout wise. The entire space is 4,500 square feet and we need about 1,800. I will be laying out the cafe and seeing where I feel the divide should occur. The great thing about doing it this way is that the owner has not yet decided how she wants to split it -- only that she is willing to do so. Our goal by doing this is to take the upper hand and get the exact space that we want. This will be going into the proposal that I send out. I am still watching the timeline as I talked about yesterday. I want to make sure the 8-9 months for re-zoning is accurate and that people feel it will still actually happen. It would not be good to get a lease agreement signed and do a bunch of work to find out that the zoning is not going to go through. I feel very comfortable that it will, however. We also want to be a part of the town meetings and discussion concerning the development that is going on in this area. It will be very important for the community to see us sitting right beside them in these meetings and showing that we are not there to over run their neighborhood but to serve them the best Fair Trade and organic coffees, teas, and other items -- not only helping this community thrive but also helping the communities in coffee producing countries. I think there will be synergy between us and this community. We just have to go find them, meet them, and begin a friendship with them -- one step at a time. ...be bold

News

I heard back from one of the building owners yesterday with news. I was a bit disappointed when I read the email as the tone was not at all what it was when we first met with her. It seems that now they are not sure about having someone take as much space as we wanted and talked about and they also are not sure they want someone that will be opened later than about 9:00 pm. They really like the idea of having a coffee place in their building but want it to be for the local neighborhood only and not really for people that would be traveling in. The other set back is that she spoke with the city regarding the progress to change the area from M-1 zoning (mixed use) to allow for a coffee house or other food type business. As it stands now, you can open a food business as long as 45% of your space is used for a wholesale operation -- which we are not. Over all I think one of our other two options will work great. I understand this building owners concerns and I do not want to upset the neighborhood in any way as we are here to serve the local and global communities. We are going to put something together that conveys our vision and what we believe for people to look so they do not feel in the dark about our business. She then told me that the city expects the process of changing the zoning to take between 8-9 months. That means 8-9 months if everything goes to plan. That means 8-9 months before we can open Cafe Evoke. I'll be honest -- I was really hoping to be opened before then. My goal is to get some straight answers from the guy that is developing the new area of town and try to put some of this guessing to bed. We have been riding this wave of uncertainty for a few months and I want concrete answers -- which I will get. ...be bold

"Bitter Brew" (?)

I found this article (thanks to Oscar) over at Slate.com in the Whine and Dine section. It was titled Bitter Brew fittingly enough for the guy that writes it I would say. You know that charming little cafe on New York's Lower East Side that just closed after a mere six months in business where coffee was served on silver trays with a glass of water and a little chocolate cookie? The one that, as you calmly and correctly observed, was doomed from its inception because it was too precious and too offbeat? The one you still kind of fell for, the way one falls for a tubercular maiden? Yeah, that one was mine. The scary part is that you think you can do better. I never realized how ubiquitous the dream of opening a small coffeehouse was until I fell under its spell myself. Friends' eyes misted over when my wife and I would excitedly recite our concept ("Vienna roast from Vienna! It's lighter and sweeter than bitter Italian espresso no need to drown it in milk!"). It seemed that just about every boho-professional couple had indulged in this fantasy at some point or another. What does this sound like to me? A person (or couple in this case) that did not plan and prepare for what they were getting into. Anyone that enters this industry as a "get rich quick" strategy is crazy. This is money to be made here but not in a short amount of time. This person needed to work the numbers, do a self evaluation, map out thresponsibilitieses for himself and his wife. This is a dream for many people but it is a good one if thpreparationon is done correctly. Had this person done his planning, he would have know that it is not a good idea to catepastrieses (markup reasons), rent factors and payroll need to fit in with what you have as working capital, and you have to spend money (marketing) to get people in the door. The dream of running a small cafe has nothing to do with the excitement of entrepreneurship or the joys of being one's own boss none of us would ever consider opening a Laundromat or a stationery store, and even the most delusional can see that an independent bookshop is a bad idea these days. The small cafe connects to the fantasy of throwing a perpetual dinner party, and it cuts deeper all the way to Barbie tea sets than any other capitalist urge. To a couple in the throes of the cafe dream, money is almost an afterthought. Which is good, because they're going to lose a lot of it. Small business is not for everyone (as it seems here). I would disagree fully with the astatementtment that the dream of running a cafe has nothing to do with entrepreneurship. I know several people that have been working on trucking companies, babysitting companies, lawn care companies, and yes, I have heard of a few people throwing the laudromat idea arouEntrepreneurshiprship is about taking calculated risk and going for it. I would agree that it is not about being your own boss but it does have to do with finding a need in the market place and going out to meet it. This article proves that owning a business is not for everyone and that it is not an easy ballgame. It does nothing to turn me away from opening Cafe Evoke and I hope it does not slow you down from going after your ideas either. Plan, ask questions from people that have "been there and done that", and be prepared for what you are getting into. Do all of this BEFORE you open your business and save yourself from months of misery and pain. ...be bold

Another Follow Up

Today will be another day of follow ups with building owners in town. We are going to get answers and I will be riding the line of consistent and friendly emails to these building owners until I get some information. This is all in an effort to get a lease signed this month (if possible as we are not going to rush into everything). In the meantime, I will also be working on our budgets and the current issue of our business plan. That should keep me busy enough. When we make contact with the buildings, we will need to get floor plans so we know if the layout will work. I will also meet with our general contractor and go over the estimates for building out costs, etc. This will help me put together the LOI. Here in Bozeman, you have to keep on people. I feel a bit like a pest but you have to do what you have to do. I hope to hear back from at least one of the owners today. Maybe one a day should be my goal. ...be bold.

Update...

Things are about to get very busy for us and Cafe Evoke. I had some great meetings with our financial planner and board member (my father) over the holiday and had a chance to create a game plan for January. Our goal? To have a lease (or some form of formal agreement by the end of the month. This will be a big step and will allow us to really start looking at numbers and getting things planned for the coming months. The buildings we are looking at will not be ready and available this month but we still want to have something on paper for both parties to sign. We are take the lead on these deals so they will happen in a timely manner. It also gives us the image of a business that is not joking around. We are serious about getting opened and we do not want to get the short hand with the lease -- again. I am also working on budgets and making notes where we have gone over and where we have stayed on schedule. This will help me adjust and stay on track as we begin putting proposals (letters of intent) together for the building owners. I hope to have these letters sent out by the end of the week. This is a new year and I am putting myself on the line to get this done. We are not in a hurry -- just on a dedicated path for start up. I will have much more as we go forward about this. I am very excited for the opportunities that we have and think -- now looking back on it -- that the lease falling through this last time was a blessing for us. ...be bold