This month has been like being stranded in quicksand. So much movement, work, activity was happening for a while there and now it's like I've hit a brick wall. Well, maybe not that dramatic, it just feels that way.
My loan officer strongly advised me to seek out an investor, and I'll be damned if I don't heed the advice of those who've watched this happen a hundred times. I'm a very independent thinker 99% of the time, but I know when to back off and do what I'm told when it comes to things that I'm fairly ignorant about, like, oh I dunno, starting a small business?? Luckily for me, my loan officer is really awesome, and very straightforward with me. According to him, I'd have about a 50/50 chance of getting exactly what I want as is, and if my application is rejected then I'll have to wait 3 months before re-applying. That will simply not do. So it's time to put on my dancing shoes and make someone else believe in this as much as I do, or at least $20,000 as much as I do. Lucky, seriously lucky me has no less than 2 people to approach right off the bat, and if they aren't interested they will surely be able to refer me to those who may. We will see.....
In the meantime I've been relishing some fantastic tomme style curdage from River Valley Cheese. We tried the Naughty Nellie, a lovely raw cow's milk bathed in Naughty Nellie beer from the Pike Brewery. Also tasted the Valley Girl and one not on the website that was wrapped in crushed Cabernet grapes. Mmmmmmmm......all fantastic.
I'm also playing with grilled cheese, so far ingredients involved have included: aged Gruyere, anchovies, rosemary boule, fresh pumpernickel, smoked onion mustard, roasted red peppers, black olives, carmelized onions, aged gouda, fresh buffalo mozarella, and garlic pickles. Not at all in that order.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Hiccups
I hate hiccups, both in literal and symbolic form. As for the latter, it looks like I still don't have enough money to qualify for the loan I want. I love that in order to procure a loan, I need to front so much cash that I could ostensibly take all the money I have and just ask for a loan about 1/3 of what I'm currently seeking. And then it sort of all stops making sense anyway. Suffice it to say that things are slightly on hold until I can find an investor to inject that last $20K or so necessary to see this cheese baby to fruition. So if you know anyone with far too much disposable income who might like to own 5% of a kick-ass cheese shop, please do send them my way.
In better, and for more entertaining news, I held my first official cheese tasting last night at Chez LaVigne. While Mr. LaVigne and I have held many a cheese session on our own, it's high time I get friends to come over for copious servings of dairy decadence. In return they eat the stuff I can't stand, and help me come up with witty and often terribly inappropriate descriptions of the cheese(s). See, back at in Brooklyn at The Bedford Cheese Shop, descriptions were half the fun of spending an afternoon tasting and spending far too much of a weekend allowance. For example, this is what they have to say about a goaty Crottin: "Can be enjoyed in the younger, fresh state or in the aged, hard-as-a-f%#king-rock-stage."
They are now slightly famous for their wacky descriptions, and I'm sure they won't mind if I take a page from their marketing book to that end. Last night a good helping of a dozen or do cheese-loving friends arriving avec various beers and wines to graze on a delicious selection of goat cheese. Among some of the descriptive hits were:
"This cheese reminds me of a Frenchman I once dated; he never bathed but was a great lover."
"Like making out with a gang of billy goats."
"This cheese could beat you at Rock Band." -- still not sure exactly what this means but hell, it sounds good!
"This cheese is the naughty that needs a nice."
And the list goes on, and yes, you will have to come to the shop to see, taste, and purchase the fantastic fromages that elicited such an outpouring of adjectives.
*Note to self: next time take a picture of the beautiful cheese board before letting everyone devour it. This morning I thought of it but our kitchen had been taken over by an army of empty wine glasses, bottles, and one hunk of wood with a few scraps of dried cheese on it.
*Note to self #2: disregard anything after cheese #4, because by that time we've all "tasted" far much booze to come up with anything beyond the intellectual level of Beavis and Butthead. Case in point - Pave de Jadis, an absolutely transcendent log of fluffy, lemon-infused paste covered in a layer of delicate ash. We ended the night with this and this is what I've got to show for it:
"Like a premature cheese ejaculation!"
"Like a quality hooker, it goes away right after you've enjoyed it but you'll always welcome it back for another round."
"Dude, this cheese is GOOD!"
Coming up in a few weeks for the next lucky selection of my peeps - an evening of blue's.
In better, and for more entertaining news, I held my first official cheese tasting last night at Chez LaVigne. While Mr. LaVigne and I have held many a cheese session on our own, it's high time I get friends to come over for copious servings of dairy decadence. In return they eat the stuff I can't stand, and help me come up with witty and often terribly inappropriate descriptions of the cheese(s). See, back at in Brooklyn at The Bedford Cheese Shop, descriptions were half the fun of spending an afternoon tasting and spending far too much of a weekend allowance. For example, this is what they have to say about a goaty Crottin: "Can be enjoyed in the younger, fresh state or in the aged, hard-as-a-f%#king-rock-stage."
They are now slightly famous for their wacky descriptions, and I'm sure they won't mind if I take a page from their marketing book to that end. Last night a good helping of a dozen or do cheese-loving friends arriving avec various beers and wines to graze on a delicious selection of goat cheese. Among some of the descriptive hits were:
"This cheese reminds me of a Frenchman I once dated; he never bathed but was a great lover."
"Like making out with a gang of billy goats."
"This cheese could beat you at Rock Band." -- still not sure exactly what this means but hell, it sounds good!
"This cheese is the naughty that needs a nice."
And the list goes on, and yes, you will have to come to the shop to see, taste, and purchase the fantastic fromages that elicited such an outpouring of adjectives.
*Note to self: next time take a picture of the beautiful cheese board before letting everyone devour it. This morning I thought of it but our kitchen had been taken over by an army of empty wine glasses, bottles, and one hunk of wood with a few scraps of dried cheese on it.
*Note to self #2: disregard anything after cheese #4, because by that time we've all "tasted" far much booze to come up with anything beyond the intellectual level of Beavis and Butthead. Case in point - Pave de Jadis, an absolutely transcendent log of fluffy, lemon-infused paste covered in a layer of delicate ash. We ended the night with this and this is what I've got to show for it:
"Like a premature cheese ejaculation!"
"Like a quality hooker, it goes away right after you've enjoyed it but you'll always welcome it back for another round."
"Dude, this cheese is GOOD!"
Coming up in a few weeks for the next lucky selection of my peeps - an evening of blue's.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Holding pattern
Last week just a bust on the cheese shop front. After applying for licenses and permits galore, I learned that, in a nutshell, I can't get a liquor license that will give me the freedom I want in the shop. I appears that in order to have public tastings, I would either need a liquor license that dictates more than 50% sales from alcohol, or I sell unopened bottles and have no ability to give people tastings. There is one other option I'm going to discuss with my lawyer tomorrow morning that will hopefully resolve this issue, but if it doesn't work then I'm back to spreadsheets and business plan drama, editing everything I've worked so hard on to create a different type of store. But I'm not going to count on anything yet.
This weekend we got away for a bit and shot down to Newport, OR for the Annual Newport Seafood and Wine Festival. We ate the best Penn Cove mussels I've ever had, downed many a Rogue ale, trooped through two tent's worth of drunken, post Mardi-Gras idiots to taste dozens of wine, and then stuffed ourselves silly with more yummy things from shells out of the ocean. I now have a very good selection of Oregon wines to add to the inventory list. Among the shining stars of the afternoon were a Willamette Valley Syrah and a Columbia Valley Merlot, both of which are absolutely toe-curlingly fantastic.
Then I took advantage of the drive home to shove my nose back into my library of cheese porn; books full of the most luxurious photos and descriptions of cheeses the world over. That, a relaxing Sunday evening back with the furry children, an ice cold Brutal Bitter from the Rogue warehouse sale, and a hunk of Seastack I'd forgotten about, and call me good.
This weekend we got away for a bit and shot down to Newport, OR for the Annual Newport Seafood and Wine Festival. We ate the best Penn Cove mussels I've ever had, downed many a Rogue ale, trooped through two tent's worth of drunken, post Mardi-Gras idiots to taste dozens of wine, and then stuffed ourselves silly with more yummy things from shells out of the ocean. I now have a very good selection of Oregon wines to add to the inventory list. Among the shining stars of the afternoon were a Willamette Valley Syrah and a Columbia Valley Merlot, both of which are absolutely toe-curlingly fantastic.
Then I took advantage of the drive home to shove my nose back into my library of cheese porn; books full of the most luxurious photos and descriptions of cheeses the world over. That, a relaxing Sunday evening back with the furry children, an ice cold Brutal Bitter from the Rogue warehouse sale, and a hunk of Seastack I'd forgotten about, and call me good.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
A few more steps towards Cheese Vixendom...
A LOT has been happening lately, hence the lack of posts because I've been out of my mind busy. Last week I checked out a potential space just 4 short blocks from my house - take that 20 mile commute! It was a teeny raw space on the ground floor of a new condo development. Yes, I know they are still popping up everywhere but dammit, if the location is this perfect who am I to judge? Turns out 573 sq. ft. feels like a lot less than you'd think, and the real estate agent and I hopped over to the space next door, a comfortable and spacious 900+ sq. ft. and still *just* in my budget.
Since then it's been conversations with just about everyone I know who's ever said the words "real estate", and scrambling to get the damned business plan finished so I can move on this baby. Maybe it's the 7 years of New York in me, maybe it's just dumb luck, but after only 3 years here in Seattle I'm amazed at how well networked I am to call in favors to help me along just about every step of this process. Derek Hermsen is the husband of a super awesome volunteer/intern at the shelter last year, and he is worth his weight in gold. Not only is he just plain nice and easy to talk to, but he knows his shit up, down, inside and out. He works as a tenant advocate so he's now going to work for me to negotiate terms for the lease on this fantabulous space.
In the meantime I'm making mock concept sketches for the landlord, getting the rest of my business plan strings tied up, and just today I got my LLC paperwork in the mail and my EIN, which was like magic, it was kind of scary how fast and easy it was. Tomorrow I open my business account, turn in my loan application, and hold my breath for 7-10 days. Luckily I have a whole lot of wine tasting to keep me busy.
Since then it's been conversations with just about everyone I know who's ever said the words "real estate", and scrambling to get the damned business plan finished so I can move on this baby. Maybe it's the 7 years of New York in me, maybe it's just dumb luck, but after only 3 years here in Seattle I'm amazed at how well networked I am to call in favors to help me along just about every step of this process. Derek Hermsen is the husband of a super awesome volunteer/intern at the shelter last year, and he is worth his weight in gold. Not only is he just plain nice and easy to talk to, but he knows his shit up, down, inside and out. He works as a tenant advocate so he's now going to work for me to negotiate terms for the lease on this fantabulous space.
In the meantime I'm making mock concept sketches for the landlord, getting the rest of my business plan strings tied up, and just today I got my LLC paperwork in the mail and my EIN, which was like magic, it was kind of scary how fast and easy it was. Tomorrow I open my business account, turn in my loan application, and hold my breath for 7-10 days. Luckily I have a whole lot of wine tasting to keep me busy.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Short and sweet
I haven't gotten nearly enough sleep lately, have been absolutely consumed with some other projects at the 'ole day job, and the pinched nerve or whatever it is in my left shoulder is surely going to take up the entire hour of my massage therapy this week, but it's all worth it because this Friday I am doing a walkthrough of the retail space I've been salivating over a mere 4 blocks from my abode. From there I'll be finally submitting my loan application and the real fun begins.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Voila, the logo!
This is only the first of many, many versions, but I'm already getting terribly excited, thanks again to Courtney Blazon and Bonnie Fink:
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Something real
Last night I got my first piece of mail for The Calf and Kid; my business license!
I know it doesn't seem like much, especially considering that it's only one of a long list of licenses and permits I need to acquire in a very short time period. But I still the happy dance all over the porch after I got it. It makes all the mental work of the past several months for something entirely theoretical feel like it's actually starting to happen!
Naturally a lot of other things are falling into place a little more quickly than I'd anticipated, but that's just how it happens sometimes. I contacted a real estate agent about a space I've had my eye on for a few months and learned that the price had just been reduced almost 12% and it comes with a very respectable TI allowance. So I figured I should get this ball rolling like a skeeball on amphetamines. I called my insurance broker and she whipped up a quote for me, and now rent and insurance are both far below my projected expenditures, yay!
I'm up to my eyeballs in meetings and appointments with the Fire Marshall, and inbetween I'm having dreams of floorplans and cabinets. It's totally insane but I'm loving every minute of it.
I'm also lucky enough to have many friends offering their varied talents to helping me and my new venture. Just this week my pal Courtney Blazon whipped up some fantastic Calf and Kid illustrations for the logo. They are exactly what I wanted and I can't wait for my other good gal pal Bonnie Fink to turn these works of art into a catchy logo, soon to come.
I know it doesn't seem like much, especially considering that it's only one of a long list of licenses and permits I need to acquire in a very short time period. But I still the happy dance all over the porch after I got it. It makes all the mental work of the past several months for something entirely theoretical feel like it's actually starting to happen!
Naturally a lot of other things are falling into place a little more quickly than I'd anticipated, but that's just how it happens sometimes. I contacted a real estate agent about a space I've had my eye on for a few months and learned that the price had just been reduced almost 12% and it comes with a very respectable TI allowance. So I figured I should get this ball rolling like a skeeball on amphetamines. I called my insurance broker and she whipped up a quote for me, and now rent and insurance are both far below my projected expenditures, yay!
I'm up to my eyeballs in meetings and appointments with the Fire Marshall, and inbetween I'm having dreams of floorplans and cabinets. It's totally insane but I'm loving every minute of it.
I'm also lucky enough to have many friends offering their varied talents to helping me and my new venture. Just this week my pal Courtney Blazon whipped up some fantastic Calf and Kid illustrations for the logo. They are exactly what I wanted and I can't wait for my other good gal pal Bonnie Fink to turn these works of art into a catchy logo, soon to come.
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