Eegads. In lease negotiations... freaking out!!

[Willy Lee]

We've been roasting coffee wholesale for 3 years now. I work full time at a local university and my partner roasts and markets. We are finally taking the plunge- opening up a retail store. Artisan bakery/cafe/roastery.

I am really freaked about:
Borrowing such a huge pile of money for startup
Hiring and managing employees
Giving up a regular paycheck
A radical lifestyle change

etc etc

But DAMN so excited also!!!

[Longhorn]

1. That IS exciting --

and scary. But it sounds like you did it right, starting with small and manageable. Good luck and let us know how it's going!

[Willy Lee]

2. Thanks Longhorn!

Being my naive self I little idea what startup costs would run. Actaully sitting down and mapping everything out made my jaw drop.

Supportive parents and good (Dem!) landlords are easing the brunt of the shock. Still, so much at risk.

Will post updates... hope to start buildout of Feb 1 and open doors on May 1. Yee ha!

[mongo]

4. good luck!

3 months of rent before the store opens is a long time. Will your landlord cut you a deal with a month or two of free rent?

We got our first month free, but we built our store in one month, working about 16 hours/day on it.

Nothing beats seeing your ideas come to life.

Also, do you have a cash reserve built in to your startup costs? We had a 10 grand reserve, and actually I wish that it was about 20k, as we lost money over the first summer we were opened. Drove up a huge credit card debt, which is really holding us back now.

If you are looking for fixtures and equiptment on the cheap, nothing beats auctions. Usually worth the drive and rent of a u-haul trailer.

[Willy Lee]

6. Yes- 3 months IS a long time.

We will pay 50% of rent until opening day, which helps, but damn- Feb 1 is sneaking up awful quick.

We also have about 10k in reserves, it will be a tight squeeze. Again, very generous parents have offered to help if any bind comes up. They are in their 80s and say, "We'd rather help you with our savings now than when we are gone". They are jsut awesome, my heroes, I love 'em to bits.

Our current landlord in our coffee roasting warehouse deals in used restaurant equipment. So we are getting awesome deals from him on things that WON'T BREAK- I say this because he is a TAD shifty and, well, I wouldn't trust our refridgeration to him! But sinks, smallwares etc are OK. And so very cheap.

[The empressof all]

3. Been there!

It's going to be ok. Are you still going to keep your job and just have partner work the business? That's what we did until a year ago. Now we have two locations and I left my job a year ago. We've been in our business now for about 4 years.

SO has always been self employed and I spent almost 15 years in management (not retail tho) and have lots of HR experience. If you have HR questions feel free to PM me.

It is exciting--I'm excited for you. You are opening the kind of business that I would like to have so I'm curious how it will do. I'm in Seattle area so Coffee places here are a dime a dozen so it's not something I will do as long as I live here.

[Willy Lee]

5. Thanks Empress!

Thanks for the calming words. I am feeling more relaxed than my partner who can't sleep or even sit still for more than 10 minutes.

I will keep working, probably 70% FT, then cut back to 50% once we get our legs under us. Mostly to keep health insurance. And pay the mortgage.

I would LOVE some HR help! We want to write up a handbook that lays everything out, ie employer/employee responsibilities and relationships. I have managed folks before but I am pretty crappy at it, I take things way too personally.

Cheers!

[Longhorn]

7. I'd be glad to send you a copy of our employee handbook.

It's for a small remodeling company but there might be some things in there to get you thinking of how to do it (or how NOT to do it ;).)

I'm looking forward to updates on how the business is going so I can live vicariously through your experiences. You're living the dream of a lot of people, you know! :D

[Willy Lee]

8. Funny you say that-

Our original name was "LTD Artisan Bakery", the LTD, of course, for Living The Dream!!

Of course I would be very appreciiative to see your handbook. We'll take all of the help we can get. I will pm you with our address... thank you so much!

[mourningdove92]

9. Wow! You wholesale coffee? I just posted that I am

considering opening a coffee shop. Want to PM me with your prices? Or your website?

[Willy Lee]

10. Lease is DONE! Demo is DONE! Here are some pics of our work so far...

This is what the space looked like when we took possesion. Blech!!



We have much of the *blech* removed but still a long way to go...


Some detail of the beautiful tin ceiling, which we'll be restoring.

Free time? What free time? Still working a full time job (until June 1st) and depending on the hard work of many otehrs on this project. Having a blast!!!

[Longhorn]

11. Way cool!

I love the ceiling! My husband is a remodeling contractor so I've learned to see the potential in spaces. Good luck with the renovation and thanks for sharing!