Scrapbook
Wednesday, May 10, 2006 (NOW OPEN!)
The restaurant is ready. All we need is you. Come in and see us soon!
Tuesday, May 9, 2006 (1 day!)
We
routinely push ourselves beyond our limits. When we get into a time
crunch, we end up pushing our partners, too. That's not fair to them
and I hope that as we open more restaurants we have the opportunity
to pace ourselves. Today it was our designer, Bamba Design, and our
printer, Bates Printing, that we ran ragged. Without complaint they
were able to design and print our posters and menus with several
last minute changes. Here you see our take-home menus feeding into
the press for application of the last two colors and Mark, an experienced
pressman, checking the color of a final sheet. 
We
were appreciative of their efforts and invited the shop employees
to bring a guest to our new employee training session. We served
about 25 people and tested things like plate presentation, sandwich
size, ordering procedures, etc. We learned that people sit faster
than we prepare their order, so we have to figure out how to call
them back to pick up their food. (We are going to try calling out
ticket numbers.) We decided to place small sauce cups at the sauce
station so that our guests can choose their sauce while they wait
for their order. We saw that chicken wings were a popular item, so
we will try to be prepared for a demand if that continues. I also
want to thank Chuck and Judy for stopping by. They are fans of our
food and used to follow us on the road for our barbecue. Chuck is
heading out of town on Wednesday (to North Carolina of all places!)
and was disappointed that he was going to miss the opening. They
drove by just to see if we had opened early and were more than happy
to be a part of our training session. Thanks for supporting us and
we hope to see you often!
Monday, May 8, 2006 (2 days!)
Getting
closer... We finalized our menu boards before noon. But then we realized
we made a mistake in our measurements, so the posters would not fit
the frames. Rather than have the expense of redesigning the menus,
we decided to build new frames. My dad inspected the small frames
at the restaurant and helped us design replacements. We bought wood
at Home Depot and used power tools in his driveway to create new
custom frames. We assembled them on the floor of the restaurant dining
room and you can see them drying in this picture with Kevin. Tim,
Kevin, Jason and I stayed until after midnight working on the table
clothes, the point of sale system and trying to design new posters
for the south wall. Everyone wanted to keep going but, we reluctantly
left so we might have enough energy to get through the next few days.
Tuesday night will be a training night for the new staff. More later.
Wednesday, May 3, 2006 (7 days!)
One week from opening and we are starting to feel like we can actually get the doors open. Today, the health department approved our kitchen for a food service license. We are still waiting for the menus and some pictures for the south wall. We wanted everything to be perfect by opening day, but we have come to accept the fact that opening the doors is more important than waiting. We'll take what we learned from this store and apply it to store #2. Anyone have any ideas where we should locate our second store?
Tuesday, May 2, 2006 (8 days!)
We got the PC back with our own password and no, it is not hog-related. Tim has been working on our sweet tea recipe. The new equipment we have is different than what we used to use. He's done a very nice job with the new equipment. The key is to dissolve the sugar in the hot water. We've done it both before and after the tea is brewed and can't tell a difference. Another secret is to include a pinch of baking soda. This removes some of the bitterness from the tea and also darkens it. Of course, anyone from the south already knows these things.
Monday, May 1, 2006 (9 days!)
Password anyone? Jason has been installing printer drivers on our POS computer. After rebooting the PC, it started asking for a logon password. We didn't create a password and couldn't figure out what it could be. Since this used to be a White House Chicken restaurant, we tried every chicken related word we could think of. Finally, my brother-in-law took the computer away to boot it off of another PC. We should get it back Tuesday.
Thursday, April 27, 2006 (13 days!)
We have been working with our suppliers on packaging. With only one store, it does not make sense to order bags, boxes and cups imprinted with our logo. We'd like to do that, but will wait until it is cost effective. What we are going for is "Cheap Sheik" where everything is plain and simple by design. We are trying to decide how to wrap to-go sandwiches, rib orders and bulk food orders. Right now, it looks like a combination of paper bags, styrofoam and aluminum foil pans for bulk.
Monday, April 24, 2006 (16 days!)
The
new smoker arrived! By the end of the day it was installed and ready
for cooking. Tim gave her a hug (smokers are always "hers")
and said he was ready to open for business! Here are a few of the install photos. We also received the Pepsi machine today. This is one of the newer models of fountain dispensers that features a double chilling system to guarantee the
soda is dispensed precisely at 34 degrees. (I am sure Pepsi scientists
have determined that is the best temperature for the optimum drinking
experience.) But, until Tim gets the Sweet Iced Tea going, I am still
stocking Diet Coke in the fridge for my personal consumption! If
you have ever ordered Iced Tea at a restaurant in the south, you'll
love our tea! Sweet Tea is consumed by the gallons in the south.
It's kind of like how Jason drinks Mountain Dew.
Saturday, April 22, 2006 (18 days!)
We spent the day at Adventure Harley-Davidson as part of their Hog Wild Party. It was nice to be under our tent in familiar surroundings. The first event of the season is always a chance to shake the rust off. We called it our "Spring Training" and I thought it went pretty well. The threat of rain kept some bike riders away, but we were able to tell a lot of people about the restaurant. Pulled pork sandwiches were the big sellers an of course, people loved the baked beans! We also had a chance to smoke our chicken breasts. In the past we usually grilled them at the events. Smoking gives them a great flavor. We now think we will smoke them in the restaurant. We are going to experiment with a milder wood like apple or pecan.
Tuesday, April 18, 2006 (22 days!)
Tim and Kevin cooked a 7.75 lb beef brisket over the weekend and I didn't get to try it until today. It was really, really good. They were worried about it because coming straight out of the smoker it seemed a little dry. They cooked it for eight hours at 225 degrees and read the internal temperature at 175 - 180 degrees. After letting it rest for 20 minutes, they cut into it and felt the fat cap hadn't quite broken down. They wrapped it in foil and cooked it for another hour or so but were afraid it may have toughened up a little after that. Meat will often come back more tender after it has refrigerated and been reheated. I heated my sample in the microwave and that may have also broken down the fat tissues some more. We'll cook a few more briskets in the new new smoker next week and try them at different times and temperatures. I keep telling myself this extra weight I am putting on is for the benefit of our customers!
Friday, April 14, 2006 (26 days!)
Did you notice the date change for the opening? We've had to push it back about two weeks. Our new smoker won't be delivered and installed until Monday, April 24th. We want to have a week or so to cook on it. Last summer we borrowed a smoker from one of our friends on the competition circuit and we learned that every smoker cooks a little differently. We have also had some delays getting menus done and uniforms for the staff. We are quoting May 10th as the opening date, but I suspect we may open the doors a week earlier.
Thursday, April 13, 2006 (27 days!)
A lot of cooking took place in the Old Carolina kitchen today. Our food service provider brought by samples of potatoes, yams, chicken, beef brisket, vegetables, desserts, and so much more. We cooked batch after batch of french fires trying for the best balance of fresh potato tastes and crispiness. We baked three different pies and still have three more to try! Our smoked chicken turned out great. So many people love our pulled pork and ribs they may not try the chicken. I am telling you now, order one of our combos so you get the best of both worlds!
Tuesday, April 11, 2006 (13 days!)
Today was a little better day. We received a call from our sauce manufacturer and later this week they will deliver larger test samples that were scaled up from our previous small batches. (See February 28th entry.) Our label printer called not 10 mins later to say he could print some test labels for the retail bottles. I am starting to get a picture of our restaurant team (although we have not yet made any offers) and I think it will be a pretty strong crew. Plus, I have been getting some requests for our "Real Smoked Pork Ribs" recipe. (See April 2nd entry.) So if you are a friend of Don C., Nick F., Sonja V., or Matt M., and you see them spending a lot of time around their grill this weekend, be sure to ask for an invite to dinner. Or better yet, send me an Email and I'll give you the recipe.
Monday, April 10, 2006 (14 days!)
I haven't posted an update in five days. I think it's because lately, it seems we are spinning our wheels and not getting any major accomplishments checked off our list. Since the Help Wanted ads ran Wednesday and Sunday, Tim has been accepting applications every morning between 8am and 11am. We've found some good people to add to our team. We've ordered a few more small pieces of equipment, like our hush puppy machine, but we haven't cooked with it yet. We got a lead on a product called "Liquid Sew" to use on the hems of our tablecloths. We are waiting for the delivery of our smoker. We are waiting for revisions to our menu boards. We have been busy creating spreadsheets to track our catering and outdoor event business. We have been booking a lot of summer catering. Frankly, I think the thing that keeps us the busiest is creating lists of things we have yet to do! Hopefully, by week's end we will have shown a little more progress.
Wednesday, April 5, 2006 (19 days!)
Help Wanted Ads ran today in the Canton Repository and Massillon Independent. We are now accepting applications for all positions. We stated in the ad that we are looking for outgoing, high-energy individuals. This will be a fun, friendly place to dine and work. And believe me, our people will have to work hard to be a part of our team. More than a half dozen people stopped by today. The ads will run again on Sunday and I expect we should have a good pool of talent to choose from.
Tuesday, April 4, 2006 (20 days!)
A
vital key to a restaurant operator's success is a reliable food service
distributor. These partners help you choose quality ingredients,
negotiate the best possible prices and ensure availability of the
products you use. We have chosen Hillcrest Foods to be one of our
two major suppliers. Doug, Randy and Robin (shown here with Tim and
Jason) stopped by to review the complete list of products they will
be supplying our restaurant. They have many years of food service
experience both as suppliers and as operators. We have asked a lot
of questions and they have had a lot of answers. For example, we
debated the best way to fry potatoes. Fresh cut or frozen? What size
do we cut them? Should we blanch for extra crispiness? Still a lot
of testing to do in a short time, but at least we did make a decision
on a Non-Trans Fat Cooking Oil. (Heart-healthy folks can thank Tim's
wife, Shirley, for her influence!)
Monday, April 3, 2006 (21 days!)
Wow! Just three weeks to go until we open. We had an appointment with the building inspector and fire marshall today and they think things look great. We will have a final walk through after our smoker is installed, but an occupancy permit should be no problem. Tim found a deal on wooden chairs for the dining room. He bought one Sunday and I thought it looked O.K. He bought 29 more today and after they were put in place, I was less than thrilled with how they looked. I told my wife I thought we should return them and buy the more expensive chairs we saw in a catalog. I bribed her and the kids with a trip to Dairy Queen late tonight in order to get them to the restaurant for a second opinion. I thought for sure my wife would say we needed to re-order the chairs. But surprisingly, she liked them. So, I guess they stay!
Sunday, April 2, 2006 (22 days!)
"HAVE
YOU BEEN TO ‘Q’ SCHOOL?" It's a question
we asked this summer at our barbecue events. We set up a stage
and presented clinics with "Professional Barbecue Secrets
for the Home Grill." They lasted 15 minutes, and briefly covered
the entire spectrum from meat selection, preparation, indirect
cooking techniques, and finishing procedures. I hope people went
home and tried it on their backyard grills, because the results
really are amazing. You can have tender ribs with so much more
flavor than the standard oven baked or boiled ribs. (Send me an
EMail and I'll forward my backyard grill recipe for smoked spare
ribs!) Additionally, this year we are going to host clinics in
the restaurant where participants can learn our secrets, create
their own rubs, prepare their own ribs and cook them to eat at
the restaurant or at home. We hope everyone will learn to appreciate
the difference between the baked ribs the national restaurant chains
offer and the smoked ribs we prepare at Old Carolina. Keep watching
for dates for the classes.
