Update..

It has been several weeks since the last update and things have moved along. I had a chance to spend some time with my family in Williamsburg VA which was great. I also had a chance to step away from this blog for a bit in order to regroup and rethink the focus of A Thought Over Coffee. I will, again, be posting with progress and thoughts from this journey from planning to opening Cafe Evoke. I wanted to update you on the progress with the catering portion of our business. We have purchased everything we need to do our first event. The equipment will be installed on Tuesday and we will begin testing the equipment and our set up. Our trailer has been fitted to our equipment and a shelving unit has been installed. We are working on installing the tie downs tomorrow and we will load up the cart and tables as well. I am working on getting a vinyl sticker printed with our logo on the back and side door to make it look official. We are working on getting the menu/marketing material printed to hand out at each event and that should be done in the next several days. We will be getting a phone line set up at our house -- we currently do not have anything but cell phones -- which we will use for our business line. Once that is all in place, we will begin getting our word out to more than just the few caterers we have already talked to. Things are looking good and we are ready to hit the ground running with this. The set up looks incredible and better than I ever thought it would. Thank you for being patient with me as I get focused and ready for our future. Keep coming back as I will be posting on our progress towards the first cup of coffee served by Cafe Evoke. ..be bold

The time has come..

I have been writing this blog since January, 2005. Although young in comparison to some of my friends from around the net, it feels like it has gone on for some time. We have had some great press and have been included, undeserved in my opinion, in US News and World Report, and on 3 of the top five small business and entrepreneurship blogs. It has been great. For now, however, I am going to take a break. I have come to the conclusion that this blog has lost its focus and mission. It is taking time away that I need to refocus my efforts on the main goal of opening Cafe Evoke and serving this community and the community abroad. I am not sure how long this will last but when you no longer have the words to write, it is time to put it aside. I will re-evaluate my goals and vision for this blog on May 1st when I return from vacation. Until that time, this blog will come to a full stop. It will remain at this address and you can surf around if you would like. Thank you to everyone that has taken the time to following this journey. It has taken some crazy twists and turns and we have learned a lot -- even on this beginning leg. I really appreciate all the people that have left comments, sent emails, and linked this site. I have learned more from your insights than I ever thought was possible. Until we meet again. always...be bold Jason Duncan Cafe Evoke and A Thought Over Coffee

Catering Update...

Yesterday was a day to catch up and take some personal time as we get ready to begin and 'open' the catering business. I have been putting close to 5 hours a day at my desk and on the phone trying to get the budgets sorted out and equipment ordered. I have priced out every product and boiled down milk, espresso, syrups, and sauces to price per ounce, gram, etc. Here is the questions we have to answer. How do we want to price our service? There are a few ways to answer this questions. We can charge an hourly rate plus a set up fee or we could charge per person similar to the pricing model of a food catering business. Both are possible but which would be the easiest for us to manage? The best for the customer? The best for us? I have quite a bit of work to do as I figure this out and I plan to have the answer by the end of this week. I also hope to have the rest of the materials purchased in the next week and a half. I talked with the manufactures of the cart we purchased and found that it is being built right now. They hope to get it out the door to us on Monday. The espresso machines and grinder are packed and ready for the cart to arrive so I will let them know tomorrow when they can arrive to install these machines. We are going to purchase disposable, for now, at CostCo as they have nice prices for small quantities. This will allow us to buy items as we need them and not tie large amounts of money in inventory. We are very excited for this to kick off and think it is going to be a great way to serve this community and also get our word out and prepare the way for Cafe Evoke. Here is the updated list that I have been posting: 1. Meet with kitchen planner to figure out what our equipment needs are. 2. Get budget put together and approved 3. Find and purchase 110v commercial espresso machine 4.Find and purchase a 6x10 trailer 5. Find and purchase a cart 6. Get paper work completed for catering license 7. Find and purchase misc equipment 8. Finalize pricing strategy 9. Create list of packages that we will offer in the future 10. Talk with area catering about using us (The first steps have been completed but this will continue throughout the life of this business) 11. Get quotes for printed coffee sleeves 12. Set up accounts at our roaster and tea distributors 13. Get Health Department paperwork filled out with the help of our kitchen designer. 14. Finalize catering logo -- a variation of the coffeehouse logo (in final stages. ..be bold Tagged: Cafe Evoke Catering, coffee, bozeman, montana

Quote of the Day

"The specialty coffee industry attracts some of the most amazing, wonderful, engaging, smart, passionate, interesting and just plain cool people. Being around this people is, truly, addictive." ~~ Chris of God Shot in his post "The Good, the Bad...the Ugly (Pt1)"

Its about Life

I was meeting with a friend/roaster/cafe owner in Nashville over a year ago and he told me story of a trip to a coffee growing country. The group that went soon formed Cooperative Coffees. They went with Habitat for Humanity to build homes in coffee growing regions. The part I remember most about this story was when the told me of a particular coffee farmer and his family. We went to the job site that day to find a family of coffee growers with a house that resembled a tent if anything else. It was sad to see the living conditions. The site manager got the plans out and begin looking at the plot to see how the house could fit and was marking trees that just had to go. He turned around to find the father of the family running toward them with his arms raised and waving. He told the contractor that he could not cut down this group of 4 trees. This was his coffee "plantation" and if they were to cut this down, their entire revenue stream, the one thing that brings in money for the family, would be ruined. The farmer says that he would rather have the trees than a the brand new house that this group was there to build for them -- for free. This is why fairly traded coffee is as important to my wife and me and Cafe Evoke as anything else. Yes, we are an independent and might not be able to make as big of an impact as some of the large chains if they dedicated their time, effort, and money to the cause but we will do what we can. By working together, we can help make a difference in the global coffee industry. Request Fair Trade certified coffees and teas at your local coffee place. Ask your grocery stores to stock more Fair Trade foods on their shelves. A few extra cents per pound does not seem like a lot of money to us but for the small coffee growers, it can be life or death. Think about it, would you be willing to cut 3 or 4 trees down for a brand new house at no cost to you? For these farmers, 3 trees is to many and could cause the family to run out of money before the year end. ...be bold Tagged: Fair Trade, coffee, Cafe Evoke, Bozeman

Update..

Well, this week has been a fairly productive one. My wife has been in CO for this week and will be gone all of next week as well but work has to continue here! I dropped off the brochures on Monday to print and I am going to follow up with them today as I believe they should be done today or Monday. Once I have them back, I will drop some off with the head of the North East Neighborhood Association and have him take a look and also discuss with him the meeting and what type of presentation they will be expecting. It will also be good for us to figure out how the question and answer time goes because I feel we will see the questions about the following: 1. Hours 2. Parking 3. Types of Events 4. Lighting It seems that these will be fairly loaded questions so I need to figure out how to organize the talk to leave enough time. I also hope the postcards that we include with the brochures help with question and answer time as well. As far as the catering business goes, our espresso machine and grinder are in -- early! We ended up going with a Simonelli MAC 2000 1 Group and a MDX grinder for the catering gig. I have some worries about power and the amount of steam this machine will be able to produce at one time but I think it will be fine. I was very excited to get the call from Susan at Nuova Distribution a few days ago but the cart is not ready yet so we will have to wait. I am hoping the equipment will get here before I leave for VA but I am not counting on it. I will have to have someone stop by and load things in the trailer when they come. I have been working on the pricing for each package that we are going to provide and it is close to being complete. Once this is done, we will begin the design of the menus/pricing/booking information sheet that we will have printed to pass out to people and have available at each event. I am also working on the budgets to make sure we are aligned with them and to enter any new or updated expenses. My goal is to have all of this completed by mid week next week. ...be bold Tagged: Cafe Evoke,Cafe Evoke Catering, coffee, bozeman, montana

More on the Missoula Starbucks

I posted here and here about the Missoula Starbucks situation. Well, this saga continues and Starbucks Gossip has another link to another writer that has weighed in on the subject. Rose Habib wrote this response to an earlier editorial that was printed in the Missoulian a week or so ago. Contrary to the Missoulian editor'’s opinion, the angst surrounding the opening of a downtown Starbucks is more than just a fashion statement amongst the "local intelligentsia." It is a very real threat to the local coffee shops AND the loyal customers who frequent them. Many of these stores opened in the tight downtown market under the mistaken assumption that the Missoula Downtown Association, or MDA, was shielding them from the bottomless pockets of national chain stores. The goal of the MDA was to create a uniquely Missoulian business district. What happened? While I agree that many small, independently owned espresso shops in America may owe their origin to Starbucks; I would argue that Starbucks, like many corporations, sold its soul on the route to ubiquity. Starbucks coffee has become a symbol of consistent mediocrity. No longer educating the public about coffee, they actually brew mass misconceptions about coffee and espresso (i.e. the caramel ‘macchiato’). This writer is worried about the local business not because she thinks Starbucks is going to run them out or that Starbucks is so much better. It is because the local businesses depend on the tourist dollar. Many people -- other than locals -- will not explore local coffee houses restaurantsnts if they see something that they know is all over the place -- Starbucks in this case. This is not all about Starbucks, however. This happens with any retail outlet. People are more likely to stop by a Walgreens than a mom and pop drug store while on vacation or traveling, you will eat at Applebee's and not the local burger place, and you will shop at Walmart and not the local hardware store. This is how we work. It is like going to Europe and eating at McDonalds. The nice thing about local business is the culture. Why would you want to shop at a place that is the exact same no matter the location? The great thing about traveling is exploring a different people. When you have a big chain, it is very rare to see anything but corporate culture. The location in Santa Fe will be the same as in Aspen as in Nashville as in Stowe. If the large chains could created local culture with each location, I think we would see this 'debate' fade away. That is why I shop local, buy local, and support local. I enourage you to do the same. Again, this debate is not about how Starbucks brews their coffee or creates fluffy drinks. This is about being local. Starbucks has done great things and they can do even more. They have created a coffee culture in the US and are going strong. They are not going to go away so it is time to just work side by side. ..be bold Tagged: Cafe Evoke, Bozeman, Montana, Starbucks, Coffee

Coffee in the Rain

Well, If the rain increases coffee sales , Cafe Evoke would be doing great today. We are getting hit very hard with rain and possibly a huge snow in the vally. It is great. I was thinking about that article that I found at Arizona Coffee and it must be true. Nothing feels better than sitting at a window table with a cup of organic and fairly traded coffee, listening to some Karl Denson or MMW. Does this seem to be the case at your local coffee place? Let me know as we might need to create a program around rainy days! ..be bold Tagged: Cafe Evoke, bozeman, montana, coffee, startup

SCAA 2006

The SCAA Trade Show is happening this weekend in Charlotte. In keeping with our theme –"Quality Tools for the Specialty Trade" –we're confident that this year's event will provide comprehensive training for new members, as well as advanced learning for industry veterans. Our keynote speaker is Wade Davis, an Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society, whose lifelong work has given him a unique perspective on the social and environmental aspects of agricultural development in coffee producing countries. If you are in the coffee business and have never been to a trade show, this is the one to attend as it is the biggest and most comprehensive trade show in the industry. I was really hoping to get there for this show but could not get everything in order here to get away as we are heading to VA at the end of the month for our "no work" vacation. I have been reading the reviews of the show, however, and I am going to wish I was there. The SCAA Annual Conference & Exhibition is the country's premier coffee event, attracting over 8,000 coffee professionals from more than 40 countries. Attendees include coffee producers, exporters and importers, roasters, manufacturers, brew masters, and consumer enthusiasts. For those of you who are going, have a great time. If you are not going, I would sign up. ..be bold Tagged: SCAA, cafe evoke, bozeman, montana

Update...

This week should be fairly busy as we continue getting things in order for the catering business and continue work on the coffee house. There is not much we can do at this point for the coffee house but there are phone calls to make and we need to get prepared for the NENA meeting on the 18th. I wanted to make a few updates to the below list that I first posted last week. 1. Meet with kitchen planner to figure out what our equipment needs are. 2. Get budget put together and approved 3. Find and purchase 110v commercial espresso machine 4.Find and purchase a 6x10 trailer 5. Find and purchase a cart 6. Get paper work completed for catering license 7. Find and purchase misc equipment 8. Finalize pricing strategy 9. Create list of packages that we will offer in the future 10. Talk with area catering about using us (The first steps have been completed but this will continue throughout the life of this business) 11. Get quotes for printed coffee sleeves 12. Set up accounts at our roaster and tea distributors 13. Get Health Department paperwork filled out with the help of our kitchen designer. 14.Finalize catering logo -- a variation of the coffeehouse logo The paperwork for the Health Department and Catering License was completed last Friday at a meeting with our kitchen designer. We also purchased the rest of the equipment we need. All that is left to purchase are the cup sleeves, coffee and tea, and misc tools. I will be taking the brochures to print today and I hope to get a jpeg version up on this blog in the next several days. I will be focusing my time this week and next week on getting the pricing model completed, amending the business plan with the catering aspect, and working with our web designer to get the new CafeEvoke.com up and going. All of this should be completed before we head to Virginia with family on April 21st. ...be bold Tagged: Cafe Evoke,Cafe Evoke Catering, coffee, bozeman, montana

House Hunting -- yet again.

We received a call at the beginning of last week from the Rental Professionals -- the company who manages the town home we just moved into -- telling us that the owner is selling the condo and that we had three options. 1. We can look for a new place and they would not charge us to break contract 2. We can go ahead and tell them we are keeping our lease the way it is and staying for the rest of our 12 month lease (which is about 10 more months. 3. We can buy the town home. Now, if the past several months of working with the City of Bozeman has taught me anything, it is to wheel and deal. So, I gave them a few terms that -- if they accepted fully -- would get us out of this house. It looks like they are accepting them although for more than they hoped we would want. So, we spent the day today combing the city for new a new place to live. To make things easy, NO rental management company is open on the weekends which means that I will be looking at houses at nights after work and in the middle of getting Cafe Evoke Catering up and going. We found a few today that look promising and one that we really think we will like. My wife will be out of town for the next two weeks so I will be on my own looking for a new place for us to call home. Crazy times but what else would you expect from us? We do not do anything easy or smoothly you know. ..be bold PS: Go George Mason!