Scrapbook
Thursday, March 30, 2006 (25 days!)
At
left is a picture of a wall that divides the ordering line and what
will be the dining room. It was originally painted off-white like
the rest of the restaurant. Tim and Jason installed the wood paneling
and, as you can see, it looks really good. We are about to put tables
with coverings into place. We stayed until after 10 pm tonight trying
different ways to keep napkins or paper towels at the tables. Barbecue
can get messy! I also wanted to thank those folks from out of state
that have been sending EMails in support of the restaurant opening.
It seems we have fans in Michigan, Pennsylvania and even Florida.
I also continue to hear from North Carolina transplants that can't
wait for a good barbecue sandwich and some home cooked hush puppies.
We will try not to disappoint.
Tuesday, March 28, 2006 (27 days!)
Today we went to Cleveland to attend a food show hosted by one our food purveyors. We had the opportunity to sample hundreds of side items, meats, drinks, and sauces. It was like eating at the world's longest buffet table! We are trying to find the best ingredients for dishes at the restaurant, catering and our downtown Massillon lunch counter, The Lincoln Highway Cafe. We found a great sweet potato breaded chicken tender. There was a hint of vanilla in it. We also tried a fried catfish that we really liked, but are not certain if we want to have it on our menu at opening or down the road. Now that the dining room is in pretty good shape, Tim and Jason are working on getting the kitchen ready for us to test all of our recipes. Also, the Massillon Independent article about us was published today. I'll try to get it posted to our site in case you missed it.
Monday, March 27, 2006 (28 days!)
Another busy day. Tim started by purchasing an almost new commercial chest freezer for $150. We had budget $600. (Way to go Tim!) Then we checked out the auction for Caffe Milano in the Belden Village Tower. There were close to 300 lots of miscellaneous items. It took 15 minutes to auction off the first twenty lots and the first one we had any interest in was lot #55. We decided it wasn't worth our time to wait around on the off chance we got a deal. I later had the opportunity to meet with the Specialty Products Buyer for Fisher Foods. She is an old friend (I mean longtime, friend Joan!) that can assist us in getting our bottled products on the shelves. Fishers is a unique opportunity for us because of the promotions we can do with food demos or even cooking schools. We'll keep you posted. Late in the day a photographer for The Massillon Independent came by the restaurant to shoot a photo for a story they are writing on us. Look for that in the coming weeks.
Sunday, March 26, 2006 (29 days!)
We
are lucky to have good people on our team. My brother Steve is one
of the invaluable members of the Old Carolina Barbecue Company Competition
Crew. If you don't recognize him at the right modeling paneling at
Home Depot, roll your mouse over the image to see him as Steve the
Butcher, the Master rib cutter at all of our summer events. Barbecue
is such an all-round art form. Steve helped us learn how different
knives give us different cuts of the individual rib bones. We learned
how important the actual cut is for the presentation of each slab.
This is especially important for judged events.
Saturday March 25, 2006 (30 days!)
Tim
got involved on menu development today as he cooked a family recipe
for applesauce. It is a hot side item we will serve at the restaurant.
Starting with sliced apples, Tim cooked them on the stove until softened.
We are trying to use only the natural sweetness in the apples, but
experimented with added brown sugar. To get an interesting taste
profile we played around with cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. This is
one of a dozen or more items we have to perfect in the next thirty
days. We know our barbecue is outstanding and we have the trophies
to prove it. Our baked beans are so well liked we have dubbed them "Simply
the World's Greatest Baked Beans!" Ideally, every item on our
menu could carry the "world's greatest" moniker. We won't
stop tinkering until they do.
Thursday, March 23, 2006 (32 days!)
Flooring has taken a few days to finish, but it is finally finished. Jason stayed until midnight to wax it all. We hope to have the tables and chairs in place soon so we can concentrate on the menu and the staffing. A "Help Wanted" sign will be going up in the window within a few days. Here's another shot of the dining room on our interior photos page.
Wednesday, March 22, 2006 (33 days!)
The
day started with a meeting with the folks at Adventure Harley-Davidson
in Dover, Ohio. We needed to work out some details for a "Hog
Wild Party" they will be hosting on April 22nd (Saturday, 11
am - 4 pm). About 2,000 riders are expected for the day's festivities.
We will set-up mobile smokers, grills and tents and will sell chicken,
ribs and pork sandwiches to the masses. This event is 2 days before
we open the restaurant and will be a good opportunity to show our
new staff what a busy outdoor festival is like for us. The Hog Wild
Party is open to the public, so come down to see the good folks at
Adventure Harley-Davidson and have lunch with us. Back at the restaurant,
the tile flooring looks great! Tim and Jason could have a new career
if this barbecue thing doesn't work out! They are about 80% finished.
I will add new photos later today.
Tuesday, March 21, 2006 (34 days!)
In addition to our new restaurant, we operate a successful competition barbecue team. Last summer we competed in BBQ Rib cook-offs on about 14 different weekends. It takes a team of up 8-10 people to work our large events. We are concerned about staffing the restaurant and the traveling team, so we have limited our schedule this year. The summer promoters are calling asking us to compete in more events and the lure of the extra business is tempting. But, we don't want to sacrifice our quality or service at events or the restaurant, so we are trying to make smart choices. Meanwhile, Tim and Jason took short breaks from tiling the floor to discuss our front sign with the sign manufacturer. An order today gets us the sign in 4 - 6 weeks. As you know, we only have five weeks until we plan to open. We are hoping they can rush it.
Monday, March 20, 2006 (35 days!)
Yesterday's mention in Diana Rossetti's Boldface column of The Canton Repository brought more than five times the regular traffic to our website. It also brought a lot of Emails, telephone calls, and restaurant visits by old friends and well-wishers. (Thanks for thinking of us!) There were a few sales people to call on us, too, but by and large, they were very helpful. Tim and Jason eventually locked the door to the restaurant so they could get some work done. Our flooring tiles arrived at Home Depot late today. We should be able to post some pictures by Wednesday night.
Sunday, March 19, 2006 (36 days!)
Kevin and I have the responsibility of fine tuning our recipes for the restaurant. So it is a good time to be a member of the family or a neighbor. Today I cooked a big batch of my famous Brunswick stew for my wife's family. Brunswick stew is basically a vegetable soup with pork, chicken, beef or a combination of meats. It is very popular from Georgia through the Carolinas and into Virginia. I simmered tomatoes, corn, lima beans and potatoes for about 2 hours before I added hand-pulled pieces of our smoked chicken and pork shoulder. The meats need to stew with the vegetables long enough to impart their smoky flavor, but not so long that they toughen. You'll have to come to the restaurant to taste how it turned out, or ask Mark, Sue, Mark II, Lisa, my mom or Meredith. I bet they are still smiling!
Saturday, March 18, 2006 (37 days!)
A key to opening a successful restaurant is not to overpay for the equipment you need. When we opened The Lincoln Highway Cafe in April 2004, Tim found us a 1 year old sandwich prep table and a commercial oven valued new at over $3000. We paid a bankrupt sushi operator just $350. We then sold the oven for $350 and essentially got our prep table for nothing. Today we met with a former restaurant owner with a warehouse full of equipment. We are interested in his booths - if the blue seats match our decor. He also had a small pizza oven that retails new for $1400. He paid only $1100 but would sell it to us for $450. I didn't have the heart to tell him we had one exactly like it that Tim purchased at auction for for just $175!
Thursday, March 16, 2006 (39 days!)
One
of the distinguishing features of our barbecue is the five different
sauces that we serve. Four of the sauces represent
different regions of the Carolinas. (The fifth sauce is our Screamin'
Beaver hot sauce. Check out this draft of the bottle
label! At our competition events, we use clear bottles and pumps
to allow our customers the choice of flavors. We've been trying to
find a way to display the sauces in the restaurant. Tim and Jason
devised a method today using a chrome shelf and stainless steel pumps.
It actually looks pretty good, but it does not allow the customer
to see the color and spices in the sauce. We'd like to tap into the
visual sense. We'll keep working at it.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006 (41 days!)
This was a better day than yesterday. Tim went to an auction at What-a-Dog in Alliance and got a great deal on some cooking pans, holding tubs, cleaning supplies and a two compartment warmer for our competition team. All told, he spent only $150. A lot of the other equipment he was looking at (including a freezer and some chairs) went for more than he was willing to pay. At the shop, Tim and Hector selected a dark gray floor and ordered all of the tile we need. Tim and Jason will install it next week. We have received some feedback on Pepsi vs. Coke. Right now, the survey is split right down the middle. Send me an Email with your thoughts!
Monday, March 13, 2006 (42 days!)
Some of you may have driven past the restaurant today and seen Tim on the roof ready to jump off! It was one of those frustrating days. Tim has had the kitchen configuration laid out for weeks, but a contractor told him that we could not install the unit where we planned because there is no roof access for the ventilation at that point. Plus, all of the quotes for installation have been coming in much higher than we anticipated. He was starting to wonder about if we had selected the right machine when he came up with a workable spot right in the middle of the kitchen. It will have it's challenges, but we think we can work around it. As a team, we keep trying to support each other on days like this.
Sunday, March 12, 2006 (43 days!)
We looked at flooring samples at Home Depot. Going off of Hector's suggestions, we were trying to find something dark like a brown. There were a few different shades and we couldn't make the decision on our own. Hector will meet Tim on Monday and hopefully they can agree on something so that we can order the tiles. Lead time is one week. It would have been nice to lay the floor this week to see the dining area all come together. But, Tim and Jason can certainly find a few other projects for this week. One area Tim has yet to nail down is our POS, or Point of Sale system. There are many different systems at many different price points. More on that some other time.
Saturday, March 11, 2006 (44 days!)
Amazing
what a little paint will do to change the look of a place! We received
mock-ups on Friday morning and really liked the designs. Hector chose
some earth tones for us and we started painting the walls Somerset
Moss (green) and Cilia (charcoal gray). Tim created a faux finish
called "suede" with a three inch brush and a few thousand
overlapping "X"'s. Jason worked with a style called "River
Rock" that has a rough texture to the paint. It wasn't easy
to even out the coverage but in the end it looked great. Take a look
at these interior shots. Next is the floor!
Thursday, March 9, 2006 (46 days!)
We find ourselves still waiting for our designer to deliver mock-ups of the dining room so that we can decide on a color scheme. Tim and Jason had planned on painting today and tonight. We are not sure if they can even get started tomorrow. Small delays like this threaten our opening schedule. We can't order our tables, chairs and booths yet and the supplier typically has a 4-6 week lead time. If we don't get the support from the designer by morning, we will be forced to go our own route.
Wednesday, March 8, 2006 (47 days!)
Pepsi or Coke? Mountain Dew or Mellow Yellow? Mr. Pibb or Dr. Pepper? We had to meet with representatives from the soda companies to discuss our drink options. Both companies offer good products and also have good offerings for our business. We'd like to survey our family and friends to see if their cola preferences ever direct where they eat lunch or dinner. If you have any thoughts, send me an email.
Tuesday, March 7, 2006 (48 days!)
I am amazed at how many people are planning ahead for graduation parties, family reunions, rehearsal dinners, first communions, company picnics, etc. We have booked at least 5 or 6 events this week for summer catering. Keep calling. We would love to do everyone of them!
Monday, March 6, 2006 (49 days!)
The
walls are ready for painting. We need to decide on a color scheme.
Hector, the creative director from our design firm, Bamba Design,
came in to shoot some photos. He'll mock-up some images so that we
can see what the place will look like with the colors he is recommending.
We also discussed several other marketing projects, including a complete
revamp of this website. Bamba Design has done some amazing work for
other companies and a new Old Carolina site will be nice to have.
Our fans will finally have a way to order sauce on line. We have
averaged nearly 150 hits per day to the website this month!
Sunday, March 5, 2006 (50 days!)
Tim
and Jason worked on the walls some more. I told them not get burned
out working too much. We still have a long way to go. Also got copies
of the sauce bottle designs that our designer was working on. They
look great! The bottles will look as good, if not better than anything
I have seen on the shelves. Of course, they will taste better, too!
Saturday, March 4, 2006 (51 days!)
Home Depot is a great resource to have in the plaza! Tim and Jason have made several shopping trips for tools and supplies. Today they prepared the walls for paint. We picked up some sample paint swatches, but still need to decide on the floor before we commit.
Friday, March 3, 2006 (52 days!)
Jason
and Tim installed the grill and the ice machine. Tim also had meetings
with Pepsi to discuss fountain service. Next week we will meet with
Coke.
Thursday, March 2, 2006 (53 days!)
Tim and Jason went to Columbus to purchase a few of our kitchen items. They took some old equipment for possible trade, but the dealers didn't offer enough. They will sell the items with an ad in the local papers and hope to raise some additional cash. They did get a good deal on a grill, an ice machine, cambros (mobile warmers for catering), a scale and a few other odds and ends.
Wednesday, March 1, 2006 (54 days!)
We had a meeting (Tim, Kevin, Jason and I) to discuss a plan of action. Every conversation gets off track because there is so much to do! The major items we need to address are the layout of the dining area, colors of the walls and what to do about the floor. The old floor is a little dirty and has a "pinkish" color in it. We are considering a wood laminate.
Tuesday, February 28, 2006 (55 days!)
Tim has started meeting with food vendors to line up our purchasing. Kevin worked with the chef that is re-creating our sauces from scratch. Since we began three years ago, our sauces started with a restaurant supplier's base that we enhanced with our own spices and added flavors. Now that we are working on bottling, we need to start from the basic tomato paste and corn syrup. It has been a great learning experience as we have worked with the chef to hone in on exactly what we want. Today was the fifth iteration and we think we have it. The next step is for the bottling company to manufacture five gallons of each sauce.
Monday, February 27, 2006 (56 days!)
It's ours! We met the property manager and accepted the keys to the place. Tim and Jason moved in a few pieces of office equipment. We had a pizza party for the families so they could see the restaurant in its raw state. The kids were running around having a good time. The littlest ones enjoyed the walk-in refrigerator. We hung a clip board with numbered sheets of paper. At the end of every day, we tear off a sheet. After the party, we were down to 55 days! April 24th is the date we have targeted for a "soft opening". No advertising for that day. Just turn on the lights and serve to whoever shows up. We'd like a slow start to get our systems in place. Later in May we will have some sort of "Grand Opening" celebration.
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Finally got the changes. The Leasing Director blamed her legal department and sent us the final copy that she updated herself. We signed the lease and submitted the deposit check. We should take possession next week.
Friday, February 10, 2006
Our frustration level just hit an all time high! The "final" lease came back with 17 differences to the one we accepted. Plus, the Leasing Director referred to us as Old Country BBQ. I hope it was one big mistake, but even so we need to Email all of these differences back to Inland. Tim is looking at other options. I think he is fed-up with the corporate nature of Inland. I think we will still get this worked out, but we just want to get into a place of our own.
Wednesday, February 1, 2006
We conceded the five objections Inland had and asked the realtor to prepare signature copies of the lease. We can't wait to get in the space and start making it our own.
Friday, January 27, 2006
I told the Realtor to give us the final list of what they will accept and what they will not. Inland had only five objections to our submission. We will review, but it looks like items we can live with.
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
We submitted our lease changes to Inland. Will wait for their comments.
Wednesday, January 4, 2006
Received a revised copy of the lease from Inland. We will forward to our attorney for review.
Thursday, December 22, 2005
We had a conference call with the Leasing Director from Inland. She seems easy enough to work with. There were a several items that our attorney suggested we have changed in the lease. She will have her lawyers make some initial changes and send us a revision next week. After we review that, it will be up to us to forward any other changes for them to review.
Tuesday, December 6th, 2005
We finally got a copy of the official lease. It is 65 pages long! In a first glance I noted that there is a clause that states we can't run a restaurant from this location. That could be a problem. We will forward the lease to our attorneys and maybe have it signed before Christmas. If we take possession before the end of the year, we could open early March.
Friday - Saturday, December 2-3, 2005
RezzyFest was a blast. It felt good to be out selling food from a tent again. Jason is in his element in front of a grill. We created signs announcing a Massillon restaurant coming sometime after the first of the year. It was encouraging to hear the positive response of the Massillon public. I hope they remember to come visit when we open.
Tuesday, November 29th , 2005
Tim put together an equipment list for the Massillon location. So far, he is at $26,000. This includes a price for the smoker that he negotiated down to $18k. There are more costs that we may run into, so a budget may end up around $40,000 before we are done.
Monday, November 21, 2005
We have been trying to determine if our existing mobile smoker will have enough capacity to support the restaurant and our summertime weekend competitions. We will most likely need an additional unit that stays at the restaurant. One exactly like our Southern Pride SPK-500 won't fit in the kitchen. There is a large capacity XLR-600 that is narrow and would fit nicely. It will cost about $25,000. Big concern will be to ensure that we can get consistent quality on this unit like we can on Peaches. (Peaches is the name of our mobile unit. She was purchased in Georgia.)
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Today
we submitted a revised letter of intent and an application for the
Massillon location. The Plaza is owned by a corporation out of Chicago
called Inland US Management. Hope to hear back soon. If we can get
the kitchen licensed quick enough, we could cater some holiday parties
out of our new kitchen.
Monday, November 7, 2005
We really like the Massillon space. It includes a lot of kitchen equipment that we can use and the hood system is up to code. Today was our second time seeing it and we took over 100 photos. We've already signed a letter of intent and we've told the property managers at the downtown Akron spot that we are no longer interested in pursing that space. The Realtor said the last spot he rented in the plaza took less than two weeks for the new renters to take possession. We'd love to be in by the end of the month and maybe open sometime in January.
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Yesterday, I had dinner with my family at El Rodeo restaurant in the Home Depot Plaza. The space next door, formerly occupied by White House Chicken, is for lease. I called Tim as we walked in the door telling him I may have found a new place for us. It's good timing because the costs at the First Merit building in downtown Akron appear to be escalating. It will cost around $40,000 alone to update the hood system. Plus, the building managers now seem to want us to run our soup and sandwich concept instead of barbecue. Tim and Kevin both think barbecue is the way to go for us right now because that is where we have the most passion. We hope to see the Massillon space this week.
