more course corrections

we're considering a fairly major change. the primary thrust of our business is coffee, but we've delved into the food end as we have a kitchen & the place has been known mainly as a cafe/restaurant.

as most in the biz know, however, the profit margins on food alone are very slim. we've done another hard look thru the books, and our coffee = food ratio is pretty good. so if we cut out the food menu all but entirely, our overall income would reduce but the margins would be greater. which might well work better for us.

another consideration is, we've been trying to develop a market west of the mountains to wholesale coffee to. but we're finding that there's a perception that as a 'cafe', they'd be buying from a competing business. so changing to a roasting house should alleviate that.

so at this point, we're exploring how best to turn the place into a gourmet coffee and tearoom, with cakes and a limited amount of snacks and pastries.

which means, we might just be able to survive a little longer.

random notes from mid-june

biz as usual. well, as 'usual' as we've come to expect. which is good for the sanity and stress levels, bad for the bank balance. and we don't expect much to change between now and end of july, when yulefest is in full swing.

can't believe all the hoo-hah that the gordon ramsay - tracy grimshaw feud kicked up. glad sarah palin wasn't in the country to add to the stupidity.

soups and stews are all the rage as winter's set in. wind chill dropped the temp down to -8c / 17f last week, and we've redesigned the dining room to take full advantage of the fireplace. the leather sofa, with coffee table directly in front of the fire is now the most-requested table.

the stripped-back menu is working much better, as far as the kitchen & aging equipment goes. but there were a few on the weekend who seemed a little disappointed with the menu.

mind you, you can never be everything to everybody. well, unless you buy-in everything and microwave portions, which we simply won't do. we've taken the tack that this place is what it is, and we'll make the most of what we can offer accordingly. at least it's fresh.

the g word

gordon ramsay's back in the country for the good food & wine show, and once again he's managed to rattle the ever-precious cages of aussie media.

you'd think by now, everyone would be hip to gord and his style. as bad as channel nine has been struggling for ratings, one would almost think the whole thing was a setup, anyway.

compare gord's histronics to, say, billy connolly. they're both mad scotsmen, intelligent and articulate. if billy unleashed on a tv presenter or journalist, everyone would think it hilarious. when gordon does it, he's in the bad books.

why? because one is an 'entertainer' and the other a 'chef'? I'd argue that gr's become more of a media personality than a pan rattler these days.

note to the aussie media pack: if you don't like what gordon's saying, stop asking for interview time.

great rain weekend

well, the big event came and went. only problem was, they couldn't get any antique trains to come up. some hiccup at the last minute meant the great train weekend became a clayton's train weekend.

we had quite a few in on saturday, familes seeking refuge from the cold.

then the rains set in around midafternoon and chased everyone away. sunday, the village looked like a ghost town as the rain and lack of trains kept the tourists away.

so we think we can expect a fairly steady but overall unremarkable trade for the next several weeks, at least until yulefest. then we'll see what happens.

steady on

gearing up for the coming weekend, an annual event here called the great train weekend. we're told that plenty of folks are in the village for it, anywhere from a hundred or two (local shops) or thousands (event organisers), depending of course on who you speak to. but we're expecting something along the lines of what we experienced over easter.

so we'll be staffed up, stocked up, and hopefully all the equipment will work. we've now moved to the new menu too. I'm sure our regulars will be sad to see the burgers go, but as stated in the last post, it's all about keeping the doors open.

luck o' the irish

the fabulous fergusson elliott performed on sunday:

if only there were a few more people here to see him and his amazing irish bouzouki prowess.

we're settling on what will be the new direction. for the past couple of weeks, we'd been considering whether it would be best to close shop, perhaps to relocate to somewhere more viable. we've got a couple of plan b alternatives on the table at present, but each will need plenty of time and money to implement.

meanwhile... we're both frustrated with the struggle to keep the place open. we've attracted plenty of great reviews, our regulars seem happy and everything's in place for a long, steady growth curve. except more customers. and it's not just us, everybody around seems to be feeling the massive downturn in regular trade.

so we're considering an option that will allow us to remain trading, but with much ramping back. we'll reduce the menu to soups, focaccias and other light meals only. this will mean we won't have to rely on (and spend big $$ repairing) the stoves, gas lines, fryer, walk-in refrigeration etc. readers who remember our first place up the coast will recall the menu there, this one may be very similar.

we'll save on gas, electricity, staff, stock and nerves. we can focus on our core profitable products such as coffee. and we can hang in for the winter season.

we'd also be cutting out our live music calendar, which saddens me. however, after six months we still haven't developed any kind of regular support. it's heartbreaking watching these incredibly talented artists like fergusson play to a half dozen people. or less. it's a sad state, everyone wants live music and sounds all excited, but when it's made available.... there's so many people around who supported the idea, but have never set foot in our place during a music session. guess they're all too busy watching football.

stay tuned, things are unfolding...

join the club

not much to blog about, just bizness as what appears to be usual. we haven't suffered any major equipment failures or other infrastructure related problems, and have just been coasting along.

from last week's specials board - chicken club sandwich, with avocado, cos lettuce, tomato on a triple decker organic spelt loaf:

we'll have a rather big announcement sometime next week.