December '10 revisited

So you might be asking yourself, what was Grouchy John up to last month? I'm more than happy to tell you but more importantly if you are asking yourself that question you really need to get a life.

The month started off with another First Friday event. This was the second one we did and we were a little more prepared for all the in's and out's of what to do. For instance during our first outing we almost failed our Health Inspection but on this one we passed with flying colors. Also we added some new equipment to our inventory. We bought a Bunn pour over coffee brewer (instead of using a 15 year old Mr. Coffee). This required us to purchase a new generator to run it because last month we were barely able to run all the equipment we had on the single generator we had. So for that alone it is well worth it. We also added a new ice chest, more steam pitchers/spoons/shot glasses, a hand wash station, and expanded our drink menu. We now offer Chai Tea Lattes, Salted Caramel Lattes, and for the holiday season Eggnog Lattes.  All around it was a great night and I thank everyone who came out to support us.

The setup for First Friday

We also worked a the Berkley Bunker Holiday Extravaganza which was a total bust.  There was something like 50 vendors there but no one came to shop.  Ninety percent of the coffee we sold went to the other vendors.  I blame the organizer of the event as it was her responsibility to make sure that it was promoted correctly.  That will be the last time we do a craft fair unless it has some proven customer traffic.

Grouchy John at the Berkley Bunker Holiday Extravaganza 

I have also been serving coffee and espresso at the events my family has.  So I served at our Xmas dinner and also at a party we had for all the December birthdays.  I love getting together with my family and now with this coffee thing they keep me constantly busy making drinks.  I can't complain though because what they don't know is that I'm using them as my quality control and also experimenting on them with new any new drinks I want to try out.

Grouchy John being grouchy over Xmas

With almost 3 months into this gig and gaining experience and knowledge by the day I've decided that the best way to proceed is to become a mobile coffee vendor.  Originally I just wanted to travel to different events around town, setup, sell coffee and then leave.  Unfortunately there are just not enough events to make this profitable.  I figured I would need to do 3 or 4 events a week to be able to make money when in reality there are only maybe 3 or 4 events a month that come up to work.  So being mobile and having the ability to work out of a trailer or a truck will allow me to go to any business or event to sell my awesome drinks 7 days a week.  So the next few weeks are going to be filled with finding a vehicle or trailer that meets my needs and getting it approved to go out on the road.  In the meantime I'm still looking for events that we can work at.

Other things that happened:
- Meet with an accountant
- Bought a new espresso machine and grinder
- Opened business bank accounts
- Read a lot about health requirements, mobile vending, and the coffee business

Lessons learned:
- Pre-ground espresso does not extract the same 4 hours after it was ground.
- If you run extension cords on the sidewalk people will trip over them and you will lose power in the middle of a shot
- Only ice cream vendors can serve Hot Chocolate at First Friday
- My family rocks

Events coming up:
1/6/11 - Winterland Exhibition at SPACE studios 6-9pm
1/7/11 - First Friday on Casino Center between Colorado and California 6-10pm