Thoughts on Leadership and Management

I found the below quote online and it started to make me think a bit about leadership and management in small business: Employees do not quit companies, they quit bosses." So you left your old job to start something for your self, to get out on your own and away from the mundane day to day actions of working for a large corporation. You went on your own so that you could be the leader of your company, not to take anything from anyone -- ever again. I have news for you. You are now the leader, the manager, the one in charge. You are now the person you ran away from. How are you going change? How are you going to lead your employees so as not to loose those great people you have spent days, weeks, months, or years training. I feel that many new businesses start because employees of a similar firm thought they could do it better. Here are some things that I have learned about leading employees in your new business. 1. Empowerment It is your business but you are small. You cannot afford to hire all the employees that you need so it is important to empower them to get the job done. Some of this goes into your training programs that you have for each employee but after they have been trained, begin letting them take on responsibilities so that you are not stuck doing everything. That is why you have employees. Use them and let them make decisions. 2. Encouragement While this sounds pretty obvious, it is not. I think that many times, the "manager" or "leader" of the business forgets that the rest are there. Notice everything that your employees are doing. Yes, you hired them to do they job they are doing but if they created a new system or operation that helps the bottom line, give them some credit. It is ok if it is an employee that creates something new and great and it is ok to give them all the credit. I think the main thing here is to notice the good things and not always the bad. Give them some reason to have a sense of ownership in your business. You will find that if you keep moral high, the business will do much better. 3. Share the Vision I think this is a big one. How are your employees supposed to be on board and believe in the business if they have no idea where the business is going. What are the goals and the mission of the company? It is important to share this with everyone and keep them updated. 4. Get Your Hands Dirty A friend was telling me of an old job he had at a very large window company. He was talking about how the CEO and other "upper management" people would come down to assembly and help put windows together on the line with everyone else. Are you will to do this as a leader? Just because you have a title does not take away your responsibility. This same company has a rule that if you have not been on the assembly line, you will not be a manager or leader of the company. You have to be willing, as the leader or manager, to get your hands dirty. Help out when needed and know what your employees are going through. 5. Don't Just Talk, Act When you say you are going to do something, do it. Nothing is worse than creating timelines, systems, and ideas and then not following through with them. When you decide that something needs to get done, put the people in charge to get it done, give them a benchmark or milestone to report on, and make sure that it happens. Report to the entire company as progress is made and act on everything While there are many things that come with the title of "leader" the ones I mention are things that I have seen in different companies that I have worked for. If leaders and managers will listen to their employees and treat them like people, it will make a lot of difference in the success of the business. I fully believe in the flat formation of business and feel that when people work together to get things done, success is unavoidable. When you as an employee for opinions and suggestions, be willing to listen and act on what they are saying. They are the front lines in many situations and know how the day to day is going. Be approachable and do what you can do lead and manage your employees on their level. ..be bold Tagged: leadership, management, small business, entrepreneurship, cafe evoke, catering, bozeman, montana

Award in Sustainability

The SCAA (Specialty Coffee Association of America) hands out a Sustainability Award each year. The SCAA is the trade association for the specialty coffee industry, one of the fastest-growing food industries in the world. Specialty coffee — sometimes called "gourmet" or "premium" coffee — is grown in the world's most ideal coffee-producing climates and prepared according to exacting standards. One of the SCAA's primary functions is to set the industry's standards for growing, roasting and brewing. Members of the SCAA include coffee retailers, roasters, producers, exporters and importers, as well as manufacturers of coffee equipment and related products. This award recognizess specialty coffee companies that have created innovative projects to expand sustainability within the coffee world while inspiring others to initiate similiar endeavors. The award was handed out at the SCAA show in Charlotte, NC in early April. The winner? Sustainable Harvest Coffee Importers Sustainable Harvest Coffee Importers are green coffee importers of specialty coffees from the top organic and fair trade farms from around the world. Our customers are the most successful and quality-conscious roasters and retailers in North America. We created the Relationship Coffee importing model as a way to help small farmers of exemplary coffee survive the current coffee crisis. Our business model is based upon the foundation of transparency, sustainable prices based on quality, and facilitating direct contact between roasters and growers. Sustainable Harvest has alot going on to try and bring better lives to people in coffee growing regions. If you have not visited their site before, go check it out and see how you can get involved in the great stuff they are doing. ..be bold (Award information via Specialty Coffee Retailer Magazine) Tagged: Sustainable Harvest Coffee Importers, SCAA, Cafe Evoke, catering, coffee, espresso, tea, specialty coffee

Bogert Farmers Market Recap

As I talked about yesterday, last night was a first time at the Bogert Farmers Market in Bozeman. We met many great people and had a good time serving coffee. Was this a success? We are trying to figure out the best way to assess this opportunity. For coffee sales? For advertising and marketing? For practice? It is clear that we are not going to make big money in coffee sales at an outdoor summer event in Bozeman. We are trying to add some warm weather items to our menu which should lead to better sales but not enough to really make the event worth the 7 hours of work this event calls for (including set up and tear down time). We are looking at these events as a way to get visibility. People might not be interested one night but very interested the next week. You have to be there to show that you are consistent and ready to serve. What I like about it is that it is a community event that helps raise support for Bogert Park -- a park that is great for the area. We are going to try to get a spot at the Gallatin Valley Farmers Market that takes place on Saturday mornings starting July 9th and see how that one works as well. This is a morning event and should prove to be a better sales time for us. As it stands today, we will be at the July 4th Bogert Market but the rest of the summer is still up in the air until we decide what the pros and cons of doing this event are. We will be pushing our whole bean sales at the next event and also try some different marketing approaches. This is all part of our attempt to break into the market in Bozeman. You win some and you loose some. This is all part of the marketing game we are playing. More to come later... ..be bold. Tagged: cafe evoke, catering, coffee, tea, espresso, bozeman, montana, bogert farmers market

A Big Night

Tonight is the night that Cafe Evoke Catering will be at the Bogert Farmers Market. This event is in Bozeman and begins at 5:00 pm. If you are around and in the area, come see us! It has been a slow week with no emails or phone calls about our services. I am hoping that tonight's event sparks some calls. Next week begins my new work schedule which allows me to work on my own business from 2:00 pm on every day. While I will be taking a blow financially by not having a full time pay check, I will be able to build the catering business and get information about what we do to people. I heard of a realtors event that happens each Thursday where 800 people are invited. This would be a great time to service coffee and show people what we do. I am trying to get in touch with the people that are in charge to see if they would be interested in having Cafe Evoke Catering come and serve this meeting. We are coming on up our 7th weekend of business. Although we have not had a chance to serve in that many events yet, I still feel that we are doing things right and that if we continue to push our marketing materials and make phone calls, business will come. We are scheduled for a big event in February at the Museum of the Rockies called the Black Tie Ball. This will be really fun for us -- when it gets here. We also have at least one wedding for next summer already. You have to keep pushing. Business will not just come. The more we can get out there and push our name and service, the better it will turn out for us. ..be bold Tagged: cafe evoke, catering, coffee, tea, espresso, bozeman, montana, bogert farmers market, museum of the rockies

The Coffee and Tea Festival (#6)

Hello and welcome to the 6th edition of the Coffee and Tea Festival. I had several posts submitted this week and I added a few that I have come across. Enjoy! For our first post, Sara Goldstein presents The Bargain Queen: Coffee: an affordable luxury posted at The Bargain Queen. Whats a fair price for a cup of coffee? Well, if it's International Roast at the church fete, then 3.5 cents is about right. But if it's hotel room-service after a 20 hour flight without a decent cup, then $2000 is probably quite reasonable. But seriously, for those of us who enjoy the caffeinated bliss that is coffee, it can become an expensive habit. Even a moderate two cappucinos a day from the coffee shop will burn through $25 per week easy - that's $1250 a year! And if your habit stretches to several cups a day, well, the sky's the limit. Sara then goes on to give some tips for how to save some money. Just remember, you get what you pay for! Ever tried a super automatic machine? (if you have been to Starbucks -- please answer yes). Joe Kissell presents Superautomatic Coffee Machines: Interesting Thing of the Day posted at Interesting Thing of the Day. There are those who believe half the pleasure of a great cup of coffee comes from the ritual of making it. The details of the ritual vary from person to person and place to place, but the desired effect is the same: a perfect cup of hot, rich, fresh coffee. Perfect, of course, is quite subjective. Among people who take coffee very seriously, there is a great deal of disagreement as to what types of bean, roast, and grind make the best coffee, how concentrated the grounds should be, whether the coffee should be infused into the water by dripping, steeping, or steaming, and many other details. Regardless of the precise outcome, however, coffee purists will insist that if you want coffee done right, you must make it by hand, with a great deal of care and attention to detail. I like the last line alot. Super Automatic machines are great for people who do not love to make coffee. I love the process and will never switch to one of these guys. Joe also goes into some nice detail on brewing, pricing, etc. They start them early these days it seems -- or maybe it is that the young ones are learning the passion of coffee (and tea) at an earlier age. Whatever it is, Lisa presents Our mutual love for Starbucks posted at Lil Duck Duck in which she talks about a trip to her local shop with her kid. Are you a coffee and tea drinker that is interested in Fair Trade certified products? It might be good to have the low down on how this process works. Jason Cangialosi writes Java Justice: Fair Trade Coffee and Cutting Out the Coyotes. For people that read this blog, A Thought Over Coffee, often that this next post will be a re-run. I posted about it a few days ago but felt that it needed to be included in this festival as well. Chris over at Arizona Coffee has this post aboutcoffee terminology. Great article that gives us a clue as to what we are ordering and what it all means. That concludes this week's edition of the Coffee and Tea Festival. Thank you very much to all that sent in their posts. The next festival will be on July 10th, right here at A Thought Over Coffee. As always, you can submit your posts with this fantastic little form. I want to feature coffee shops/tea rooms in this edition. Please send in a review of your favorite coffee place and include -- location, website, a simple review, best feature, and anything else you can think of. If we do not get any submissions like this, we will continue the way we have been going. Thanks for reading! ..be bold Tagged: coffee and tea festival, blog carnival, espresso, coffee, tea

Cafe Evoke and the Bogert Farmers Market

Are you in the Bozeman, Montana area? If so, come see Cafe Evoke at the Bogert Farmers Market every Tuesday from 5:00 pm until 8:00 pm. This market is located at Bogert Park on South Church in Bozeman. From the website: Join Us with local growers, artisans, crafters, musicians, non-profits, restaurants and food purveyors! It's a great place for families and friends to gather, socialize and share in a fun-filled community environment! With your help we will achieve a goal of maintaining a Market in a much-loved location and in turn rejuvenate a cherished, but in need of repair Bogert Park! We look forward to see you on Tuesday! ..be bold Tagged: bogert park farmers market, cafe evoke, catering, coffee, tea, espresso, bozeman, montana, farmers, produce, market, park

Coffee and Tea Festival -- This Monday!

The next edition of the Coffee and Tea Festival is going to be here on Monday, June 26th. I have had some great submissions already so it should be interesting. This will be out 6th edition so far and I have had fun gathering posts about coffee, tea, and their industries. Do you have a post you would like to submit to this festival? It is not to late! You can submit your work with this handy form. You do not have to be a blogger to submit an article. If you find one that you think will fit, submit it (just make sure that you give credit where credit is due). Have a great weekend! ..be bold Tagged: coffee and tea festival, blog carnival, espresso, coffee, tea

Thoughts on Networking

My wife and I headed to the Bozeman Area Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours event last night. The new First Security Bank hosted this months event. This event is monthly and is a great way to meet other businesses in town. There is always a company catering the event with food and another with drinks. A jazz band was also playing. This was my first time to be at this event (Jenni has been before) so I was not sure what to expect. The parking lot was packed and the room was even more full -- a great turnout in my opinion. I was very interested in getting our business cards out to people and talking about Cafe Evoke Catering. We walked around a bit and talked with some people that we knew and then began to just mingle around. I began to think of networking tactics that I had learned while at Belmont University. We only talked about it twice while I was there which -- at the time -- I thought was plenty. I think I was wrong. I had my name tag on the right hand side so that when shaking hands, people would be looking directly at my name. I had my business cards in my shirt pocket in order to get to them easily. The thing I was missing was a conversation starter -- something that makes people ask questions. I was once in a seminar with a lady that specializes in networking. She explained that she always wears a fancy brooch or something that will catch the eye of the person she is trying to talk with. That instantly starts a conversation she says. While I did meet a few new people, I did not feel that I made any business relationships. We are going to see what we can work out for name tags or shirts for events like this as I think it would help. What other techniques are there that we should be doing at these events? I am really enjoying them but feel I need to work on my networking skills a bit more. Any books out there that would help? Any advice on the subject? Leave a comment and let me know. ..be bold Tagged: bozeman area chamber of commerce, business after hours, networking, cafe evoke, catering, bozeman, montana, first security bank, coffee, tea, espresso

What's Happening Today

I was "sick" today at my full time job in order to get a few things done. We are in the midst of a storm of marketing. We are in our 5th or 6th week of Cafe Evoke Catering and we are finally beginning to see a bit of interest from several groups around town. While we have created much of this interest with mailers and phone calls, it is good for us to be able to send pricing and packages out to people. Today will be very busy for me as I try to cram about a week's worth of work into a day. Here is what is on my list: 1. Complete last week's financial reports 2. Update our bank account registers 3. Head to City Hall to complete business license application 4. Finalize application for Farmers Market 5. Set up order with our roaster 6. Purchase price boards for cash bar situations 7. Complete ad application for Montana Bride 8. Work on a location for a photo shoot (or our set up for ads and "press kit" 9. Call director of the Sweet Pea Festival about serving the Ball All of these things should be done by the end of the day today. Most are phone calls which can be done from our office at home. Some of this marketing is taking me out of my comfort zone. I have never really been good at making cold calls and selling myself to anyone. I have learned a lot in the past several weeks and am gaining knowledge and confidence each time I make one of these calls. I think the main thing that helps me is confidence in our service. If you are having problems marketing your self -- this is really what you are doing with a small business -- take a look back at what you are offering. Work on building confidence and security in knowing that you have something important, something that is filling a niche in the market, and something that people can use. The more I realize that, the better I feel about making these calls. This has not been an easy road -- harder than I really expected really. We are pushing on and we will see results soon! ..be bold. Tagged: cafe evoke, catering, sweet pea festival, art, bozeman, montana, coffee, tea, espresso

Say What?

Do you feel as though you are standing in the middle of a foreign country each time you step up to the counter to order your favorite coffee drink? (enter group "yeah" here) Only get Mochas because you know they have chocolate in them? (enter group "yeah" here) Well, Arizona Coffee offers a nice post that explains all of this jargon for you. (for those that have no idea why some shops call them "tall", "grande", and "venti" -- you will still be in the dark.) The post is called Industry Jargon and the Coffee Terminology Guide and was written by Jason Haegar. It has some nice information for all coffee drinkers out there. I am glad he took the time to put that all together because I am sure it was not a quick and easy task. ...be bold Tagged: cafe evoke, catering, bozeman, montana, coffee, espresso, tea, coffee shop menu

Opportunity and Compromise

By compromise, I mean changing the model, location needs, and/or vision just to get opened. We have been through so many seasons with the planning of Cafe Evoke and with each new idea, possibility, and decision we make, I begin to categorize it as a opportunity or a compromise. I do not like to use the term compromise in business as it sounds like you are giving something up. Compromise means that the two sides in dispute reached a settlement by both sides making concessions. In business, I prefer "win-win" situations -- where both parties get what they want and work together. How does this all boil down to Cafe Evoke? We have looked at many buildings, many areas of town, and many different types of locations. Warehouses, strip malls, new constructions, old houses -- you name it and we have probably looked into it. I have said all along that Cafe Evoke's growth plan is not to open 1,000 stores a month or even 1 store a year. Our goal is to commit that money to our local community and also communities around the world. We did have a few trailers and the catering business in our growth plan that we hoped to launch between year 3 and year 5 so we are still filling opportunities we have already planned for by staring Cafe Evoke Catering. There is a new possibility for a Cafe Evoke location inside one of the new hospital buildings here in Bozeman. Is this a deviation from our model? If we were to jump on this "opportunity", are we compromising our vision just to be opened? We are in the middle of thinking all of this through. Nothing is set as of now and we are not even sure how real the chances are for us to be at that spot. What we have to think about is how it would work with the coffee house location when it opens. I have seen these "coffee shops" in other hospitals and they make great money but is that all that needs to be considered here? Over the next several weeks, we will be exploring this possibility and talking with our board of advisors to get their opinions. We will also be looking at the budgets and forecasts of such a location and hopefully be meeting with the hospital people to see what their plans are and how Cafe Evoke would fit in. I want to be very sure that we are making informed decisions. ...be bold Tags: cafe evoke, catering, bozeman, montana, coffee, tea, espresso

World Refugee Day

Today is World Refugee Day as designated by the United Nations General Assembly. World Refugee Day has become an annual commemoration marked by a variety of events in over a hundred countries. This year, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will commemorate World Refugee Day for the sixth time with the inspirational theme: "Hope,” in order to draw the public’s attention to the millions of refugees world-wide who are forced to flee their homes. Building upon last year's resounding success, UNHCR has again partnered with well-respected institutions in Washington, DC, to broaden our outreach and encourage even greater public participation in the celebration of World Refugee Day. Together with the National Geographic Museum at Explorers Hall, UNHCR will sponsor refugee performances, exhibits, discussion panels, Congressional activities and a film screening. UNHCR will also continue working with Congressional partners to highlight key refugee issues on World Refugee Day. There are not any events in the Bozeman area, or Montana for that matter, and I was not able to get any of the materials together in time to have an event. If there is one in your area, take the time to go. You can donate to World Refugee Day here if you are not able to go to one of the events. ..be bold ***Updates*** (CNN and Anderson Cooper cover the story. There is an interview with Angelina Jolie here) Tagged: UNHCR, World Refugee Day, cafe evoke, bozeman, montana, cnn, anderson cooper

Cafe Locations and an Update

I bet many were wondering if Cafe Evoke: a coffee house was still alive. Well, to put all your minds at ease, it is. After reading this post, you can sleep better I assure you. We are in the middle of a re-definition of Cafe Evoke. Nothing will change about our mission, values, and goals for the coffee house but we are changing the model just a bit. We think it will be for the better and also let us accomplish our goals easier. The new idea is to focus more on the (modern) arts -- painting, sculpture, music, poetry, writing, etc -- and try to tie that in to the art of the barista. While Cafe Evoke always had the arts in mind, the newest idea is to expand on this a bit. Think of it as sitting with coffee, friends, and conversation in the midst of a modern art gallery. We are looking for a place that would allow wine and micro brew beer -- assuming we can afford the $750,000 price tag for the license someday -- and provide a place for Fair Trade seminars, "how-to" sessions, and other events. So, as you can see, this is not a huge change to the model. We will be doing some research on galleries in town to see what that has to offer and how pricing and the business aspect works in order to have a better idea of what we are getting into. Since we now have Cafe Evoke Catering as well, we will use Cafe Evoke (the coffee house) as a showroom and office space which would provide a spot to give demos to interested customers. We met with our realtor yesterday to discuss what building options are out on the market at this point. Right now, the Bozeman Mill District is still an option but is a very long way from being zoned correctly and parking is an issue as well. As that putters along we thought it would be good to look at any other possible locations. We did find some space over in the Baxter Meadows side of town. While this area is brand new to Bozeman, much of the modern building and urban living is going up there. We are still not sure that it is the perfect spot for us but we feel it is worth a shot. We are hopefully meeting with the people that own the commercial building that is there now and also the people with a new building that is going up very soon. Both have spaces that we think would look and feel great for Cafe Evoke. In the mean time, Cafe Evoke Catering is getting full attention. We are heading into week 4 (maybe 5) and have made some marketing progress this week. We should begin to see some of the fruit of this labor in the next week or so -- I think. I see now why once you have your business going, you begin the mountain stages in which you must pedal even faster than before. ..be bold Tags: cafe evoke, catering, bozeman, montana, bozeman mill district, baxter meadows, real estate, coffee, tea, espresso

Carnival of Entrepreneurship

This weeks edition of the Carnival of Entrepreneurship is up at Matt Inglot's Thoughts on Entrepreneurship, Business, and Success. He has provided some great posts for this week. if you have a second, it is worth checking out. ..be bold Tagged: carnival of entrepreneurship, small business, entrepreneurship, start-up

Back to the Business Plan

I am about to sit down with our business plan and begin to write -- again. Because the catering aspect was never really expanded in the first edition of the plan, it will be important for me to write a new plan that focuses on the catering business and how it will eventually fit into Cafe Evoke: a coffee house. Business plans are one of those things that seem fun to write at first but the details will get you. The Entrepreneurial Mind offers a nice post today about the danger of short-cuts in writing business plans. I have seen many of the template programs out there and I get several emails per month from people that want to sell them to me. I do not feel that it is needed. The business plan has several main components: 1. Executive Summary 2. The Business Concept 3. Market Analysis 4. Marketing Plan -- which includes Product, Promotion, Pricing, Place 5. Operating Plan 6. Staffing Plan (in some cases - especially business that will have high payroll) 7. Growth Plan 8. Funding Plan 9. Capital Budget Report (at least I added that in mine) 10. Assumptions Not all businesses are going to have or need to have the exact same sections in their plan. This plan has to be a working guide to your business. While you do not have to have a put together and stapled business plan for your personal use, it is important to have the documents around that cover what I talked about above. The part I find difficult is that there are many different version of the plan that you need to have around if you are in the process of finding money and getting started. I had to re-write mine 3 times since we moved to Bozeman. Banks, landlords, friends/family investors, and my use are all different. My copy is nearly 70 pages long. My banker only wants to read about 10 or so (on a good day) and the rest probably are not as concerned but will not want to read the whole thing. You have to know your audience and include what is important to the reader. The plan should be summarized in the Executive Summary so you should be fine on content. I read on blogs all over the place that business plans are not needed and that it is a waste of the entrepreneurs time. The process of writing a business plan is important because it makes you think through all aspects of your business. Remember, you do not have to have a binder that has the words "business plan" and a date written on it that is collecting dust on the back shelf of your office. It is about setting benchmarks and reaching them. It is about knowing what you are getting into and how you will run the business. It is about knowing when you can say you have succeeded. It is also about knowing how you will exit the business and what values you are bringing into it. This plan should define your budgets, forecasts, and all issues related. It is worth taking the time to write these plans. Dr. C used to tell me that this was my chance to fail on paper with Monopoly money before going after it with real money -- and someone else's money. You have to know what you are getting into. In my case, I will not be making $1,000,000 per year with Cafe Evoke -- wrong business. My measure of success is my customers, our impact on the local and global communities, and happiness. Yes, I have goals of making decent money but I know what I feel are the ceilings of a coffee and art house. Remember our friend who let his coffee house ruin his life? With a business plan, you will know that before you even try. Take the time to draft a plan for your business. You will not regret it. ..be bold Tagged: cafe evoke catering, business plan, coffee, tea, espresso, bozeman, montana, belmont university

Cafe Evoke Menu/Brochure

Have a look.. (if you click on them, they will get bigger so you can actually read them) ..be bold Tagged: cafe evoke catering, coffee, tea, espresso, bozeman, montana, coffee house menu, catering

More Letters and a Marketing Update

Last night we prepared another 140 letters to be sent out to brokers in town. Today is the day that many will begin seeing their letters show up so I am anxious, excited, and nervous all at the same time. We are now done with sending letters to real estate offices for now and will begin working on our next group. The next five groups that we will be sending things to are: 1. Downtown Bozeman Business Association (for several community events that we would like to be a part of) 2. Event Planners 3. Wedding and Reception Halls 4. The Parade of Homes 5. Hotels We think we have ordered these events correctly as some have cut off dates for vendors that we will need to meet. I also talked with the sales and marketing director for Montana Bride yesterday and am waiting for her to send some advertising information to us. The next edition of the magazine will come out in November. She has sent this magazine (over 7,000 copies) out to almost every state and 9 countries so it has very nice circulation. The ad space seems reasonable and will give us a very good in for event planners and people coming to Mantana to get married. I hope to know more by the end of the week. We are also attending several parties in the next couple of weeks (not sure if we will be able to bring our coffee bar or not) that should be great and provide a chance to network with other caterers and event planners. We are trying to do everything we can to get our word out and meet people. The more events like this we can go to, the better. ..be bold Tagged: cafe evoke catering, coffee, tea, espresso, bozeman, montana, marketing plan

Farmers Market (Bogert and The Fair Grounds)

We hung out at the Bogert Farmers Market last night and had a good time. It was a bit smaller than I had hoped it would be but fun all the same. It was very windy and the task of keeping the goods on the table was a bit of a challenge for the vendors. It seems they were all light hearted about it however. There were a few fair trade stores at this event which was nice to see but less produce than I had expected. I did find out that they have space for about 100 vendors and only had about 75. Hopefully this will pick up. I have sent emails and printed the application to join this farmers market and the Gallatin Valley Farmers Market that takes place on Saturdays. What I like about these markets is the fact that they want locally made items. If your good are not made in Montana, you have to have signs that say so. This pushes community and brings people together from all different vending backgrounds. We meet a family that created great looking jewelry out of glass, silver, wire, and other goods and many other vendors who create small batch stuff. I hope to see Cafe Evoke Catering at the next farmers market. ..be bold Tagged: bogert farmers market, gallatin valley farmers market, cafe evoke catering, bozeman, montana, fair trade, organic

Spreading The Word

Last night I spent about 5 hours preparing a lettering to send out to all the real estate brokers in town. We ended up stuffing 121 envolopes with a letter, sticker, business card, and our menu/brochure. Here is the letter that was sent: Dear Broker: It is our pleasure to inform you that we now offer a unique service in the Bozeman area. It will wow realtors at a broker’s open and make your coworkers eager to attend weekly meetings and office functions. Café Evoke Catering is a full service coffee and espresso catering company. With our wheeled cart that can fit through any standard doorway, a commercial grade espresso machine operated by trained baristas, and our selection of syrups and sauces, Café Evoke Catering brings all the amenities of a coffeehouse to your location. We have provided a brochure, which includes a menu for your review. Please feel free to contact us for additional information, fees and booking. We look forward to working with you to make your next event memorable. Sincerely, Jason Duncan Cafe Evoke Catering p. 406.586.0467 w. www.cafeevoke.com I probably only got about half way through my list of realtors in the area so tonight will be another night of stuffing envolopes. We also spent some time thinking of different groups of people that should have our information in their hands. Here is the list that we came up with: 1. TV/Radio Stations 2. Banks 3. Corporation (we have 3 "large" ones in Bozeman) 4. Wedding/Reception locations 5. Hotels 6. Parade of Homes Builders 7. Community Events -- City of Bozeman 8. Pharacuticle Reps 9. Constructions Companies 10. Event Planners 11. Caterers I have never been a huge fan of sending out bulk mail like this but I think it will be a good marketing thing. Even if we can convert 2 or 3 in to paying customers, we will have paid ourselves back for postages so it should be a nice return on investment. We are also marking our calenders for events that have many caterers scheduled to be in attendence. There is one such event at the Museum of the Rockies. We had actually tried to get on the schedule and cater coffee but they already had talked with another shop in town who will be bringing brewed coffee only. Thy lady was great and told me she was trying to see if we could fit us in somewhere but that she was not sure if she could work it out. So, we are planning on going and trying to meet people. The Wine Classic is an annual summer gala that blends the sophistication of wine tasting with the approachable, casual, and adventurous ways of the West. Each year the area’s top chefs prepare delicious finger foods, while wine stations offer tastings of over 100 fine wines. The evening takes place on the museum’s lawn under a white tent, where participants delight in breathtaking decorations, shop for unique items in the live and silent auction, and dance the night away to a live band. I now know why you see so many businesses with the framed "first dollar". I am not the biggest fan of the "framed dollar" but now know how good it will feel to have that. Yes, we have already served coffee and had some checks written to us but I am very anxious to see some fruit to this marking labor that we have done so far. Letters, letters, and more letters. That is what we are working on this week. ..be bold Tagged: cafe evoke catering, coffee, tea, espresso, bozeman, montana, museum of the rockies, wine classic, auction

The Coffee and Tea Festival (#5)

Hello and welcome to the 5th edition of the Coffee and Tea Festival. This is a festival that happens every 2 weeks (or so) featuring posts about anying coffee and tea. Sit back, pour a hot one, and lets get started. Our first post comes from Isreal (yes, this festival is a worldwide hit! - ok, not quite but we are trying). Muse presents bad way to start the day posted at me-ander. Now, if nothing else, it shows that people will go through a lot for their morning coffee. So, when I got up, a bit later than usual, but not by much, I started wash #2, the first washed overnight, made my coffee, took lots of water to drink, started answering my email, and then I went to finally take the coffee off the stove and pour it out of the perculator. I thought the problem was my stuffed nose. But the gas had been turned off. Our gas supply is in cannisters. We have two, one supplying the gas for cooking and the other as a spare. Yesterday, we had a delivery, since they must be replaced after one empties and you're using the spare. As a safety mechanism, they turn off, close the knob, on the open one. Otherwise if someone is cooking during the delivery, the gas supply is interrupted and resumes, unlit, which has caused gas poisening and death. I hope this coffee was Fair Trade Certified. For the tea drinkers out there, NerdMom presents Nerd Family: My Love Affair with Jasmine Tea posted at Nerd Family. That was the first time I had Jasmine tea and it was divine. Later that year a friend of mine gave me a couple boxes of Jasmine Tea she had received as a freebie with all her Chinese Takeout. Well since then when I am really stressed or sick I will have a nice hot cup of Jasmine tea. Does anyone have any organic and fairly traded tea that they could pass along to this lady -- or any other suggestions for a tea she might like to try? Joe Kissell presents Interesting Thing of the Day posted at Interesting Thing of the Day. This post is about a type coffee they call Kopi Luwak. My fondness for good coffee, and the lengths to which I’m willing to go to indulge it, are well known. As someone who loves coffee and craves interesting things, it is only natural that I should be intrigued by stories of a rare, exotic, and obscenely expensive type of coffee bean. Several years ago, I was fortunate enough to sample this coffee, but most of the people I’ve told about the experience—even confirmed coffee snobs—grimace, then raise their eyebrows in that “you’ve got to be kidding me” look. The story you’re about to read is, I assure you, true, though I myself became convinced only after extensive research and personal experience. He takes some time to explain why it is expensive and also gives a bit of a review. All I can say is that is expensive coffee. Kenyan AA is also expensive but I have to admit -- it is good. On a bit of a different note for this week, Starling David Hunter presents The Sickle, The Hammer, and the (Star)Bucks posted at The Business of America is Business. This post is about trademark squating and piracy in Russia. The article use one Sergei A. Zukyov as Exhibit A in explaining how people like him first register trademarks of well-known global brands in Russia and then hide behind Russian law to sell the names back to the companies who pioneered and own them- for a hefy fee of course. One of the hundreds of brand names that Zukyov controls in Russia is Starbucks. His asking price is $600,000. Starbucks, it seems, is giving their answer in court. Others, we are told, pay up. Given the fees that copyright, trademark, and intellectual property owners command, the vagaries of foreign patent law, and lax enforcement all make such decisions easier to understand though no less unpalatable. I know a bit about piracy in Russia and about how things like this are happening there. I studied the music business in college for two years (should have graduated with at least a minor in the subject) and really took an interest in copyright law and piracy issues. Stealing music without paying off the net has similar effects on the people doing the grunt work in the music business as big companies not paying fair prices for coffee farmers. That's a different day and different carnival. While I feel that at least Starbucks cannot take over Russia, it seems that $600,000 US dollars to use your own business name is crazy. We will have to keep an eye on that one. Speaking of Starbucks, Green LA Girl had an interested set of numbers posted today that she took from an LA Times story. Largest coffeehouse chains in the United States by number of stores, first quarter 2006 (Source: Datamonitor) Starbucks: 8,000 Caribou Coffee: 322 Tim Horton’s: 292 Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf : 213 Coffee Beanery: 200 Seattle’s Best: 160 (Starbucks’ subsidiary) Peet’s Coffee: 112 Tully’s: 100 Dunn Bros. Coffee: 85 Port City Java: 55 Of the 10 biggest coffee chains in the US, Starbucks (plus Seattle’s Best) owns 8,160 stores out of a total 9,439. That’s 86% No wonder they could push us and Cafe Evoke around. That will do it for this edition of the festival. Thank you to everyone who submitted. I will keep this going every two weeks so keep the posts coming. If you see a post that you think is something worth sharing, let me know. As long as it is coffee and/or tea related, it is great for this festival. You can submit other peoples work or yours -- right here -- and it will be included in the next edition. Thank you again and be ready for the next Coffee and Tea Festival -- right here at A Thought Over Coffee -- on June 26th, 2006. ..be bold Tagged: coffee and tea festival, blog carnival, espresso, coffee, tea

Quote of the Day

"Passion is what epitomizes this niche of our industry. Passion for the coffee. Passion for the community. And passion for the customers." ~~Jay Caragay (quote via Fresh Cup)

A Few Quick Things Before The Weekend

Here are a few odds and ends before the weekend. The new splash page is up at CafeEvoke.com. Our friends at Kemso Design did a great job and we are excited to see what they have planned for the full site which will probably not be live for several months as we are waiting for budget approval, etc. Let me know what you think about the site so far. The Coffee and Tea Festival is happening on Monday. There is still plenty of time to submit your post or your favorite post that someone else wrote. Send them in. You can use this handy little form to get me your submissions or you can email them to me at blog[at]cafeevoke[dot]com. Those of you who submitted several weeks ago, your posts will be included this week. For those of you who were getting email updates each day and were getting very pointless emails, they have now been fixed. If you go to the bottom of the right sidebar, you can enter your email address and get each new post emailed to you each day. I apologize to those that were signed up and were getting blank emails. I did not even notice it until yesterday. I also have the feedburner buttom going at the bottom of the right sidebar if you would like to subscribe to that. For that matter, all feeds have been updated so each feed reader should be working fine. Have a great weekend. More to come in the next couple of days. ..be bold Tagged: coffee and tea festival, cafe evoke, coffee, tea, espresso, bozeman, montana

Prefix Dinner Studio -- Bozeman, Montana

A few nights ago, my wife and I headed down to Prefix Dinner Studio in Bozeman, Montana. This is one of those fix and freeze places that allow you to created great meals and freeze them for later. We had our first meal last night and it was amazing. We had a chance to sit and talk with the owners for a bit and they are doing some great things over there. The place looks great and they are already having steady traffic -- even during their first several weeks. We had a small "class" so it only took us about 30-45 minutes to prepare enough meals to last us for two or so weeks -- maybe longer. It was a lot of fun preparing the meals and with the Prefix crew doing the clean up, giving us pointers, and fixing us great meals to eat while we were there, the night was very enjoyable. About the time I decided to post about Prefix, I came across this post from Business Opportunities Weblog. It was a post from Springwise and it was talking about other fix and freeze concepts. It looks like they first posted about this a year ago. I have not even heard about this concept until last week! Though they vary in style, all of the dinner assembly companies offer essentially the same service: customers schedule a session online, picking meals from a monthly menu. The store, a large commercial-grade kitchen, organizes freshly chopped and prepared ingredients in practical stations. Customers move around the store, assembling a meal at each station by scooping ingredients into freezer bags or disposable baking pans. Meals are easily customized to accommodate personal tastes or diets– the customer just adds more or less fresh garlic or ginger, or substitutes pork for beef. Finally, the packaged meals are clearly labeled with cooking instruct Business is booming for a reason: the meal assembly concept offers time-starved consumers (especially working moms) an innovative and convenient way to provide their families with nutritious, tasty, home-cooked meals, with more variety, healthier options and at a lower cost than take-out or frozen supermarket meals. If you have a chance to go to one of these stores, take it. You will have a great time and have great meals with hardly any work. Here is a list of meals that we prepared: 1. Flank Steak with a sort of mango sauce 2. Chicken Cobbler 3. Steak Enchiladas 4. Mojo Chicken 5. Bacon Wrapped Salmon 6. Malaysian Pizza Great concepts and it seems that they are filling a niche that has not been fully tapped yet. ..be bold Tagged: prefix dinner studio, bozema, montana, fix and freeze, dinner assembly

Welcome to the Carnival of Entrepreneurship!

Hello and welcome to this week's edition of the Carnival of Entrepreneurship. This carnival is a weekly roadshow featuring tips and inspiration for starting and running your own business. The format is such that the host -- myself in this case -- picks their favorite seven posts for the week. Thank you to all who submitted. There were many great ones. Lets get started. A post from David Maister starts us out this week. He presents The Power of Principles at David Maister's Passion, People and Principles. In this post, David talks about the "challenges facing businesses today and the principles that define successful business and managers." One of the key messages I passed on was that the elements of good management often sound like “moral” points – you “should” care about clients and customers and you “should” act as if you cared about whether your employees are engaged and enthused. In the past, I used to apologize for this and say “it’s not a moral point, it just works in business!” I think alot of what he is saying also plays a part in the culture of the company. It is also defined in the mission and values of the company. If you can latch on to that mission and those values, it should help create a successful environment. Our next post is from David Lorenzo. He presents The Eight-Step Process to Manage Your Emotions posted at The Career Intensity Blog. This post is all about the balance a business leader needs to have between emotions and intellect. The most sound strategic thinkers make decisions based upon a harmonious blend of emotional and intellectual drives. Their passions incite them to act, and their minds guide them in navigating and making solid choices. Neither force overwhelms the other. They exist in peaceful synergy. As the business leader goes through the day to day -- ups, downs, good times and bad ones -- it is important to keep a balanced head on his/her shoulders. The business is counting on them to make the right decision and not let emotion take the upper hand. It is also important for the leader to believe in the decision that is being made. So maybe this is a emotionally calculated and balanced decision maker? It is also important for this leader to use his/her team while making these decisions. Pawel at Software Project Management presents How to Make Decision with a Team. Despite the last word belongs to the leader, the team should feel they’re important. They should feel their opinions matter. They should feel the leader wants to listen to them. To be honest, more important is what they feel, not what’s the truth. Even if the leader doesn’t really listen to the team he should try to create impression that he does. That’s better than nothing. I can again tie these all back to setting up your company culture. Employees will respond better if they feel they are actually needed. In a small business, this is important as they reflect your brand image and the over all success of your venture. So far I have focused on leadership in small business but what about the innovation of the product or service? David Daniels presents Innovation Brain Freeze posted at Business & Technology Reinvention. You have your team in place and the leaders trained and ready to lead but how much can your team handle? So here is the most scuccessful company in the world, a multi-billion dollar enterprise saying they have 70 things that tally $7 Billion. Can it be done? I tend to agree with Ballmer that Microsoft can because of their vast resource pool. But what do you do if you're a smaller business without the funding to do whatever you want from an R&D perspective? How many innovation areas should you set for your organization before it gets "brain freeze"? I'm a believer in doing 4 things incredibly well vs. spreading myself thin over 15 things that end up being done poorly. So one answer is to get more done with less. But that's too simple an answer. Make sure that your team can handle the load and that you are producing the best products/services that you can. David goes into a list that can act as a guideline of sorts to make sure that you are not going after to much of the apple. If you are going to dive into entrepreneurship and owning your own business you have to remember that it is hard to jump in part of the way. It is going to change your life. Emmanuel Oluwatosin presents Emmanuel Oluwatosin: Inspiring Excellence, Realising Ambitions » Entrepreneurship is Not for the Faint of Heart… It is a Vocation & a Lifestyle posted at Emmanuel Oluwatosin: Inspiring Excellence, Realising Ambition. It’s a scary world out there and you are definitely going to take some hard knocks along the way. And the one you just survived is not going to be as difficult as the next. The good news is, when all has gone to the bottom of the barrel, there is only one direction to go and that’s up. Our business has found many of these "hard knocks" but that is part of what we get for signing up for this game. You kick back and learn from it. I like what this post has to say about getting with others in the same place and those that have gotten through it. Find a mentor and be willing to take the advice humbly and learn from it. Dr. Jeffrey Cornwal presents a guide for first time angel investing in our next post. In today's world of high growth venture investing, angels most often provide the seed or early stage money. Know the likelihood that the deal will need future rounds of financing, and if there is even a remote chance that it will, structure the deal in a way that will make in attractive to future investments by VCs. Some angels try to protect their investment from possible future dilution only to block any VC interest in providing needed Series A financing later. That can actually limit possible returns for the angel by limiting the upside potential of the deal. Angel investing seems to be a major source of funding these days for many start-ups so it is important for the entrepreneur to also know how this works as it will better their chances of gaining this type of capital and start-up money. For those of you that are first time visitors to this blog, A Thought Over Coffee, I write quite a bit about environmental issues. I love seeing businesses that are offering "green" services and practice "green" habits. This next post fits right in. Trent presents Plantronics Offers Green Headsets posted at Stock Market Beat. If oil rises to $100 (42 percent from current levels) and solar power costs are cut in half over the next five years (both of which seem to us to be within the range of reasonable expectations) the payback on solar power systems will be 7 years without subsidies. At least in places like Santa Cruz. And that kind of potential is what keeps venture capital dollars flowing. Although there are more than financial reasons for doing a project like this, it is great to see businesses that are giving back to the environment. We are entering an age were customers are becoming more environmentally friendly and -- in many areas -- appreciate a company that is doing what they can to help. This post also gives a nice list of interesting things about the alternative energy market and how businesses can jump on the chances to get involved. That will do it for this week's edition of the Carnival of Entrepreneurship. Thank you to everyone who submitted a post for this week. We had 15 submissions and they could have all been featured. Rules are rules, however. Please check out the past editions of this festival at it's home page over at About.com's Entrepreneur Guide. You can submit your posts for the next edition of the carnival here. Matt Inglot is slated to host the next carnival so stay tuned.. ..be bold Tagged: carnival of entrepreneurship, small business, entrepreneurship, start-up