That’ll Be 25¢

In the beginning, we truly believed we would win customers by providing good food at reasonable prices and by being kind. Our food tasted good. We had healthy choices. And we gave people anything they wanted.

It was heartbreaking to see people come in with food from other restaurants. Then to have them want free stuff from us, was like a stab directly into the heart. People didn’t seem shy or embarrassed at all to come over and ask for free ketchup, free plasticware, free cups of water, free plates, free napkins, or free sugar and cream because they forgot to get these at the restaurant where they bought their food. And we gave it to them because we thought it would encourage them to buy from us next time.

When we first opened, we put all the condiments on a table in the lobby so people could help themselves. We quickly learned that was a horrible idea. Kids were left in the arena for hours. Some kids would open all the packages and mix them together on the table just to have something to do while their siblings skated. (Have I said some parents don’t watch their kids very well?) Some kids would flat out eat the sugar and cream or use the lemon packets to make lemonade. Either way, they would leave huge messes everywhere. This is a big expense when you’re a small business, but everyone assumed it was ok because the condiments were free. If I brought the mess to the parents attention, some of them would clean up the mess, but not one of them ever offered to reimburse us for the condiments wasted.

So we moved everything behind the counter and forced people to ask for such things. It didn’t deter them from asking when they brought outside food, but it did save us a ton of money in waste. We continued to hand out condiments to non-customers for several months, but it was obvious it was still affecting our bottom line and needed to stop. We just couldn’t afford to be that kind, so condiments and plasticware became customer-only provisions. I can’t tell you how many people chewed me out in anger. Especially people who brought in 10 pizzas and then wanted free setups for their birthday party. We charged $5 for about 20 plates, cups, and plasticware when the food was not purchased from us and people were mad.

The biggest anger issue though, was the cups. The styrofoam cups cost us about 16¢ each. We had to pay the State of Texas 2¢ tax on a 25¢ sale, so we made a whopping 7¢ when we sold a cup for 25¢. So many people went absolutely ballistic when they asked for a cup of water and we said, “That’ll be 25¢, please.” Some even told me to go ‘f’ myself. Really??? But I have to tell you, it saved us a ton of money. Like I said kids were in the arena for hours and they would come get a cup of water. 30 minutes later the same kids would ask for another. When asked where their cup was, they would answer they threw it away. And it wasn’t just the kids, parents would grab 10 or so cups right off the counter without even asking, because they forgot to bring toys for the little ones to play with while their siblings skated. That’s why cups went from free to 25¢. There were 2 water fountains, free cold water, right next to the restrooms. Stop costing us money. The side effects from this, some parents would want to charge 25¢ to their credit card. That would be a ‘NO’, use the water fountain. I don’t remember what the credit card fees are on 25¢, but I’m not going there.

What was my mistake here? Can you be too nice to people? I think you can. If you don’t respect your bottom line, they certainly won’t. Like I said before, we had some hockey dad’s who really respected that we were a struggling new small business and did everything they could to help us, but many, many people did not.

Cease and Desist

Fall is the busy season for hockey. We were anxiously awaiting our liquor license. The paperwork was done and turned in. Waiting for approval is hard, especially when the rink is busy. So we decided to give away beer. Two beer limit, but most people just asked for one. Some of the regular customers were really good about tipping well, even when they didn’t have a beer. But I got the impression they were tipping more than usual – maybe I was imagining it, but that’s how it felt. There were many families who really appreciated our effort in trying to take care of them and they rewarded us for it.

The next thing I knew, I got a Cease and Desist letter from our landlord. The letter stated that they heard we were selling beer without a license which is illegal. They never asked us if the rumors were true or if we had received our license, they just had their lawyers send us a letter. I couldn’t see where any good would come from fighting it, so I immediately packed up all the beer and took it home. Then I sent them an email saying I had complied but that I wished they had talked to us before believing some rumor and taking such drastic action. Later, we found out we had a liquor license during that time. We never received our approval letter; a wine salesman showed us our license on the website. Either way, we weren’t breaking the law and some very lucky customers got free beer.

The question here is, what happened to our liquor license letter? Did it get lost in the mail? Was it sent to our rink address and the rink employees thought it was junk mail? I don’t know. I do know we had to pay a penalty for not reporting liquor sales during the time we didn’t know we had a license. You have to file a report even if your sales are zero. This incident, along with previous encounters with our landlord, made me feel like our landlord would do anything possible to hinder our success.

The Best Thing We Never Did

At the risk of being repetitive, good food was important to me. We added salads, sandwiches, chicken breasts, smoothies, and fresh-baked brownies and cookies. Anything that had to be heated was put through the oven. We had to experiment a little but it was worth it to avoid the fryers.

Opening a restaurant is expensive, so we didn’t buy any equipment until we found we needed it. Which is definitely a good plan as many vendors will supply equipment if you buy their product. Again, I thank our Sysco rep, Mike, for helping us with all of that.

So we never bought a microwave. As we added new menu items, we were able to make them with the equipment we had and just never found a need to purchase a microwave. I liked it better that way, as we had no plans to reheat food and sell it. You’d think that would make our customers happy, too.

To this day, I’m so glad we didn’t have a need for a microwave. You would not believe how many people have the guts to bring their own food and coffee to a restaurant and ask us to warm it up for them. One woman even brought a fried egg in a baggie and wanted us to warm it for her. First of all, we’re in business to make money and how dare they even ask. Second of all, taking outside food into our sanitized kitchen is a major health code violation and how dare they even ask. Third of all, if our microwave rendered their food inedible they would expect us to replace it free of charge. How dare they! People don’t care about any of that so it was great to be able to say we didn’t have a microwave and therefore couldn’t help them. Still, many people got very angry. Go figure.

We also had a lot of people bring in outside food and expect us to supply all the ketchup, plasticware, sugar, creamer, and cups they forgot to grab where they purchased the food. Really? How many restaurants do you go to and ask for a table to eat food you purchased somewhere else? My mistake here was that I seriously underestimated other people’s actions.

Worst Managed Rink in the World

Pierre taught lessons in this building at least once a week, so I trusted him when he said opening the cafe was a good opportunity and this was the best facility in the chain. He also reminded me regularly that Todd was never around and certainly not trustworthy. Like I have said before, I had no idea how bad it could really be.

It’s true Todd wasn’t around much. I was there all day everyday and I hardly ever saw him. On one side, that’s a good thing because he was very disrespectful of me, his tenant. However, there was also a downside to his absence. During the day, he had some women running the show. They may not have smiled a lot, but they were very professional and knew their jobs. Evenings and weekends, the kids took over. They may have looked like adults, late teens and early 20s, but calamity reigned. These guys sat with their backs to the front desk and chatted most of their shift. This band of miscreants wasn’t welcoming or helpful. They didn’t enforce the rules or take care of business – and many of them stole from our cafe.

Max, the ringleader, would call me names and tell parents not to buy from us because I was such a bitch. I don’t think he ever stole from us, but not sure about that. (Your landlord should never campaign against your business.) I brought this to corporate’s attention, but Max was not punished and later he was promoted, and the harassment continued. One night someone vomited in the lobby and there was a trail leading into the bathroom. People had to step over it all evening because the employees didn’t feel like cleaning it up and there was no adult working to teach them to do the right thing. I brought this up with corporate, but it continued to happen. Who wants to buy food when there’s vomit on the floor? And some of the boys stole from us after we closed for the evening.

It’s truly heartbreaking when you give people free leftovers almost everyday and a discount on everything they buy, just to be treated like dirt. My mistake here was not hanging out in the lobby at various times of day and talking to people who were there regularly. At this point I felt trapped in hell. How can your landlord be so dedicated to your failure?

What is Marketing?

The dictionary says marketing involves promoting and selling goods and/or services. Pierre told me over and over that he was Marketing. When we first opened, Pierre spent some time taking free pizza to the businesses around us to let them know we were open for lunch and dinner. Since we were in a relatively undeveloped area, that didn’t take much time. Pierre gave free coffee to coaches and parents to let them know our coffee was good and encourage them to buy from us. That was definitely a good start. After that, we saw little evidence of him doing anything.

Our building was right next to a bunch of baseball diamonds. I took pizza to the owner one day and told him we would like to advertise to their teams. He invited Pierre and me over for a tour and gave us 3 options – give him flyers to put in the tournament packets, pay to put up banners, or take over their food stands. Pierre never did any of these. We did get a little business eventually but not much. I also researched online and found a list of local clubs with their phone numbers. I gave it to Pierre and asked him if he would call one a day to let them know we could do club meetings and parties. He said he would call at least 2 a day, but I don’t think he ever called any. He did bring in 1 private party in 2.5 years and he paid for a bunch of his friends to come watch a football game once.

We finally got our liquor license in October, 2015. Kyle was all gung-ho to get the bar hopping, but not much happened. Kyle got Pierre to spend about $200 on some signs, but Pierre never got the city permits to hang them. It was clear Pierre’s idea of marketing meant to doing nothing. I got the sign permits in less than 2 weeks. Kyle and I partnered with the Allen Americans so our name would be on the banner during their games. Kyle and I started finding places to list our bar online. Kyle and I started contacting groups to let them know we could hold meetings and parties. But it’s hard to do all the day-to-day business and marketing too. Pierre could have done all of this from the comfort of his own home at times convenient for him and yet he did almost nothing.

Every once in a while, Pierre would man the cafe so I could do something else. If I came in that day, I would find him sitting in the bar talking to students and parents. He didn’t set up for business by turning on all the machines and prepping the stations. I guess he made a few sales because people would come to me later and say they needed to pay for some food because the cash register wasn’t working when Pierre was there. Who knows how many people didn’t come back and pay, as Pierre made no list or notes. Nothing was broken, Pierre just didn’t want to remember his training on the equipment.

Pierre told me over and over, that we just didn’t understand his role. He was Marketing. Obviously, that didn’t involve sales. And if you ask me, it didn’t involve promoting either. I partnered with a guy who didn’t put in his seed money, didn’t work in the cafe or bar, and didn’t promote our business. Mistake, mistake, mistake. I’m an idiot.