Worked on Saturday and Sunday. Nearly have the kitchen ready to go. Still moving things out of it and moving my stuff into it. It didn't take very long to get most of it out. We will have to sort thru it for a couple of months now, but that won't be a problem. I think most of it was silk flowers (for my wife's business) and garage sale stuff. It is hard to take that space over because it was really setup perfect for my wife's floral items. I had built shelves there a couple years ago and now have to take them down since I can't use them. Not taking them all down, but have to take some down. Will hopefully get a chance to move those to her side, so she has twice the storage. I am leery of installing them again because the last time resulted in me having knee surgery (fell off the ladder....but had also closed my knee in a car door and had a dining room table dropped on it...all within a month.....yes, I am injury prone!).
Got my free refrigerator and freezer last night. Both of them work fine, so they will come in handy. Nearly lost a finger moving the refrigerator, but all is good today. I had the front end on the door side and my finger got caught between the two door handles. It hurt and I had a hard time getting it out....until I opened the bottom door. We then moved it into the building and I nearly dropped my end. I hate moving heavy things and obviously I suck at it. Last time we moved something heavy, my finger got trapped beneath it and was drug thru broken glass....the broken glass was beneath the cabinet we moved. That hurt for a long time, but luckily it wasn't broken. Oh and I had hit my hand with a mallet back in May....that was an accident, but the first time I cried from being hurt since I was a kid...it really hurt!
Opening on Saturday the 25th, is still a possibility. We decided to stay home instead of going to my cousin's wedding in the hopes that I will be ready. I only have a few weeks left of summer and need to get open. I am not saying that after summer my business will be dead, but feel like summer time will make me more money. I really wanted to go to the wedding, but getting this business opened in priority one. Even if Saturday comes and we aren't ready, we will be by Monday. I plan to have all my food items purchased and ready to go by then. The only major thing I will have to do is test my cart...still haven't done that, but know it will work fine.
Still planning my grand opening. We are going to try and operate for a couple of weeks before we do the actual "Grand Opening". This will give me a chance to invite people and plan a little party. Was going to make it an open party, but will make it private and then extend the grand opening to the next day for the general public. I am going to try to find some things to give away for the kids and adults. Not sure what that will be, but I think we are giving the kids activity books and Vienna Beef paper hats. Trying to find something that adults would like that won't cost me an arm and a leg! Any ideas?
Still working on plans for the hot dog eating contest in November. I just need to find the time to write it all up and then send it over to the food pantry. I am working with them on this since all proceeds will go to them. I am excited about the prospects of the contest and how it will help my business. I think that the winter time will be our slowest and any kind of advertising I can get will help. I am also excited because this could really help the food pantry with their holiday rush. I know that they start to run low during that time and this will hopefully help them and everyone they help.
I had found a smaller cart for sale back in June and we had decided not to buy it. At the time, we didn't have the money and needed to get the floral cooler fixed. The guy still has it. I am going to try and go see it this week and maybe work a deal. I have a family member that is willing to put up some of the money, but hoping that the seller will come down a little. He already came down $200, but would like him to come down another $100 so that I am not out of pocket (the relative has agreed to pay $500 and the cart is $600). Can't spend an extra $100 on it when I still have to buy my pans and other items for the cart I have now! And this cart needs some work so I wouldn't be able to use it until it is fixed...but it would make a perfect catering cart!
Got some marketing materials, but should be getting more. I received a 2nd umbrella, 3 Vienna Beef hats, 4 Vienna Beef cardboard signs, a Chicago Dog banner, and a box of 100 paper hats. I am hoping that we can get a couple metal signs for the cart and a lighted sign. I really wanted a neon sign, but was told that they do not travel very well. They have also ordered my menu board, but it takes a month or two for those to be completed. Trying also to get a couple of shirts since we do not have our logo created yet. The other option to that is to pay for the use of the Vienna logo and build my own shirts. That would cost me money, but I could advertise Vienna and Frank's Franks at the same time.
The floral cooler is working again. Finally got a new compressor. It is holding temps and is so much quieter than before. I wasn't sure the compressor was working at first because you can hardly hear it! I think the fan inside is louder than the new compressor. Will still have to figure something out about a back room cooler, before Valentine's Day. If I could fix the old one, I would....but my refrigeration guy said it wouldn't be worth the money. He suggested we buy a beverage cooler. I found out that if you replace the thermostat and flip the fan blade over, then you can use those for flowers. Will have to see what we can do about that. I also have an option of building my own walk-in cooler, but the wife doesn't think that is a good idea. I agree because we won't know for sure if it does work and how long it would actually work.
Not much else going on. We are taking a break tomorrow (Tuesday) and going to Splash Way in Columbus, Texas. That will put us a little behind, but figured that this is the last time we will have an opportunity to go....plus we haven't taken our niece and nephew on a trip this year...this will have to be it! We are all nuts about swimming (even me) and this should be lots of fun! I used to hate swimming, but we go twice a week now and I have become a better swimmer. Still can't tred water, but I can swim the length of our friends pool 3 times without taking a breath!
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