Final Inspection Passed

We open tonight if we can figure out how to use the cash register. 

Opening Menu

We just completed our first training session with our employees.  The input from our employees have been very helpful and we've adjusted the opening menu based on their suggestions.  

Each drink is 24oz.  Most drinks contain 8oz. of ice, 8 oz. of fruit(s), 4 oz. of liquid (soy, carrot juice, orange juice), and a banana.  That's 3-4 servings of fruit/vegetables in each smoothie.  (To employees: remember 8-8-4 and a banana). 

Strawberry-Mango: 1 cup strawberry and mango, 1 cup ice, 1 banana, half cup orange juice
Strawberry-Mango tart: 1 cup strawberry, mango, and lemon, 1 cup ice, 1 banana, half cup orange juice
Mango-Pineapple: 1 cup mango and pineapple, 1 cup ice, 1 banana, half cup carrot juice
Mango-Azuki: 1 cup azuki, half cup mango, 1 cup ice, 1 banana, half cup soy
Strawberry-blueberry tart: 1 cup strawberry, mango, and lemon, 1 cup ice, 1 banana, half cup orange juice
Strawberry-Kale: 1 cup strawberry and lemon, 1 kale leaf, 1 cup ice, 1 banana, half cup carrot juice

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Sin Menu

Bacon Milkshake: 5 scoops vanilla ice cream, touch of heavy cream, half cup soy, 1 bacon (or 2?). 
Mango Milkshake: 1 cup mango and lemon, 3 scoops of ice cream, half cup soy

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We think 8 menu items will be manageable to start.  We'll increase menu offerings to twelve. 

Menu - Week 1

Strawberry-Mango Smoothie: half cup strawberry, half cup mango, half cup vanilla soy, one cup ice, one banana

Blueberry-Mango Smoothie: half cup blueberry, half cup mango, half cup vanilla soy or milk, one cup ice, one banana

Watermelon-Mango Smoothie: One cup watermelon, half cup mango, half cup carrot juice, one cup ice, one banana

Mango-Carrot Smoothie: One cup mango, half cup carrot juice, one cup ice, one banana

Strawberry-Kale Smoothie: One cup strawberry, two kale leaves, one cup ice, half cup carrot juice, one banana 

Jalapano-Yam (or Sweet Potato) Smoothie: One jalapeno, one cup yam, slice of lemon, one cup carrot juice or soy

Mango-Azuki Smoothie (protein shake): 1 cup azuki bean, 1/2 cup mango, 1 cup soy, 1 banana, 1 cup ice

A slice of lemon can be added to any of these to add tartness.


Sin Menu
Bacon Milkshake: Two slices of bacon, one cup vanilla ice-cream, 1/2 cup heavy cream, one cup soy or milk

Mango-Lemon Milkshake: Half cup mango, slice of lemon, 1/2 cup heavy cream, one cup soy or milk
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We'll update this post with nutrition data (ahem, Wan).  We'll explain the "sin menu" in another post.

Note: Banana is used not only for its potassium, but also as a way to make the smoothie creamier.
Note: Matrix Whey Protein and Creatine can be added for $1, each.
Note: We're trying to add Odwalla Orange Juice to the menu for those who prefer sweet smoothies.  

Dress Code

The purpose of our dress code is to ensure that our employees express our brand -- affordable and convenient nutrition and healthy living -- while maximizing employee efficiency and safety. 

* Wear clothes that maximize efficiency.  For instance, if it's more difficult to climb a ladder to reach something while wearing dress shoes than while wearing sneakers, then wear sneakers.

* Wear clothes that maximize safety.  Don't wear flip-flops or sandals if you're concerned about getting your toes stepped on.  When it's busy, toes will likely be stepped on.  Do your best to minimize injuries. 

*Wear clothes that express simplicity.  Our goal is to get people to believe -- vis-a-vis our products --  that nutrition and healthy living can be had by living simply, and not by living extravagantly. 

* Look at how Asians dress.  Do the opposite of whatever they do.  Avoid the high maintenance look. 
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Specific Recommendations:

* Wear form-fitting clothing.  Avoid baggy and tight/revealing clothing.
* Wear little or no make-up and jewelry.
*  Wear clothes that won't offend customers.  Don't wear anything that expresses a political view-point or attacks/promotes an organization. 
* Avoid clothes that display a brand.
* Don't look sloppy (avoid baggy clothing). 
* Keep hair tied back, kept out of face and eyes (this could be a health code requirement)
* Keep fingernails well groomed - short and clean.  Avoid using nail polish on fingernails.

We may add to this post in the future.

Plumbing Inspection Passed

We learned that we don't need a backflow system for an air-cooled ice-maker (required for a water cooled ice-maker).  The backflow system cost us $600 to purchase, install, and test.

The inspection took 5 minutes.

We're frustrated because we wish our plumber would know more about backflow systems and ice-makers to build an argument to the city against having a backflow system.  Most construction contractors don't think it's worth challenging a city's requirements.  They're afraid to piss-off city inspectors .  

Based on our experience with building a house, city requirements can be successfully challenged without damaging anyone's reputations.

This experience is a reminder that we need to ask contractors why something needs to be done in a certain way.

Final inspection on Tuesday.  If we pass that inspection, we'll open Tuesday afternoon.

Application Question - Round 2

Write a play featuring the following -- Bacon, Yam, Jalapeno, and Mango.  (Inspired by Cooper Union School of Architecture). 



  

Fun Interview and Essay Questions

From Google:
Q: "You are shrunk to the height of a nickel and your mass is proportionally reduced so as to maintain your original density. You are then thrown into an empty glass blender. The blades will start moving in 60 seconds. What do you do?"

Q: "Explain a database in three sentences to your eight-year-old nephew."



From Steve Jobs, CEO and founder of Apple
Q: "Have you ever tried LSD?" 

From the University of Chicago, college application essay question:
The Cartesian coordinate system is a popular method of representing real numbers and is the bane of eighth graders everywhere. Since its introduction by Descartes in 1637, this means of visually characterizing mathematical values has swept the globe, earning a significant role in branches of mathematics such as algebra, geometry, and calculus. Describe yourself as a point or series of points on this axial arrangement. If you are a function, what are you? In which quadrants do you lie? Are x and y enough for you, or do you warrant some love from the z-axis? Be sure to include your domain, range, derivative, and asymptotes, should any apply. Your possibilities are positively and negatively unbounded.

(Inspired by Joshua Nalven, a graduate of West Orange High School, West Orange, NJ (2006–2007))


An Interview at Microsoft (not experienced by Wandrew)
I walked into my first technical interview at Microsoft, and before I could say anything, the woman says, "You're in an 8x8 stone corridor." I blink and sit down.

Interviewer: "The prince of darkness appears before you."
Me: "You mean, like, the devil?"
Interviewer: "Any prince of darkness will do."
Me: "Ok."
Interviewer: "What do you do?"
Me: "Can I run?"
Interviewer: "Do you want to run?"
Me: "Hmm, I guess not Do I have a weapon?"
Interviewer: "What kind of weapon do you want?"
Me: "Um, something with range?"
Interviewer: "Like what?"
Me: "Uh, a crossbow?"
Interviewer: "What kind of ammo do you have?"
Me: "Ice arrows?"
Interviewer: "Why?"
Me: (floundering) "Because the prince of darkness is a creature made of fire???"
Interviewer: "Fine, so what do you do next?"
Me: "I shoot him?"
Interviewer: "No, what do you do?"
Me: (blank stare) 
Interviewer: "You WASTE him! YOU FUCKING WASTE the PRINCE OF DARKNESS!!"
Me: (Me completely freaked out and off my game thinking, Holy shit, what have I gotten myself into).

She then tells me that she asks that question for two reasons. 1) Because she wants to know if the candidate is a gamer and 2) because she wants her question to show up on some website. I hate to accommodate her, but this is definitely the weirdest interview question I've ever heard of.



From Wieden Kennedy, to apply for a job with no description:
Write something for us. The content is up to you, but here’s our guideline for format: 
a pdf document, 20 pages or less, formatted 11×17 landscape, no larger than
6MB. It will be viewed on screen and not printed, so design with this in mind.

From Cooper Union School of Architecture
Write a play featuring the following shapes as characters: Triangle, Square, and Circle

Interview Questions Explained (High Level)

Link to Questions:

We posted these questions on our storefront window in hopes of accomplishing the following:

1. Reduce number of job applicants.  Based on the experiences of business owners, a "conventional" craiglist help-wanted ad for an entry-level position will generate at least 500 applicants, possibly more than 1000 because students are looking for summer jobs.  We wanted no more than ten, as it takes three hours to properly interview and review each applicant.

We had considered posting these questions on craigslist but decided against doing so for the following reasons:

a. We wanted "locals" (within 5 miles of our store) working at our store because they attract more customers (friends) to our store than someone who lives, say, 20 miles away.  Ideally, we'd have an employee from each of the area high schools and community colleges.  Thus far, we have Shorecrest, Shorewood, and Mountlake Terrace high schools, and Shoreline and Edmonds community colleges.  We'd like to add someone from Edmonds-Woodway high school, and perhaps representatives from UW-Seattle, North Seattle Community College, Lynnwood High School, and Bastyr University.  We're aiming to provide sports drinks to school athletic teams and to provide students with a public space to hang-out at. 

b.   We projected that posting these questions on craigslist would net 60-80 responses, still too many for us to handle.  (A restaurant in Seattle that used a similar approach to screen applicants generated twice as many responses). 

c.  Posting on craigslist is sure to generate some interesting egghead responses.  But we're not looking for eggheads.  We don't want eggheads because we already have one in Andrew.  We're just looking for people who are prepared to deal with and understand an egghead.  Some of these questions show how Andrew analyzes the world.  He sees metaphors everywhere and every social situation to him is a microcosm of some greater ideological struggle. 

Show a smoothie to a chemist, and she may see a kaleidescope of molecular activity; an economist may understand it in terms of its marginal utility.  We don't want employees who think this way because most of our customers don't think this way. They just want an affordable, tasty, and nutritious product and friendly, efficient service.  We want employees who keep things simple, who can translate what some egghead says about the impact of lutein on metabolic...in clear, plain, language.  Don't intimidate the customer and be knowledgeable enough to not be easily intimidated by egghead customers. 

2. Filter applicants who lack intellectual curiosity.  We're not measuring intellectual depth or maturity.  We're seeking those sincerely interested in learning the whys and wherefores of life. 

3. Learn more about an applicant's thought process and how they work to understand terms and ideas they're unfamiliar with.  We don't care about "correct" answers, we just want a sense of how someone works.  We're filtering (non-egghead) applicants who aren't willing to struggle with a problem they're unfamiliar with.

4. Force applicants to avoid using cliches like "I'm an honest, punctual, hard-working worker" when describing themselves to an employer.  We prefer a more indirect approach to learning about someone's skills, personality, and character.

5. Reduce impact of our prejudices when reviewing applicants.  They say first impressions count but nearly all people aren't good at assessing those they've only meet once.  It takes a long time and many different situations to get to know someone well.  Someone who seems confident may turn out cowardly when the boat flips and Jaws approaches; the fidgety and nervous may prove his courage when it matters the most.  That said, we don't want to be distracted by charisma, charm, and good-looks.  We don't want to turn someone away just because they seem "awkward," or, as is with most high school and college students, don't know how to write (or copy) a good resume and cover letter.  These questions give applicants another avenue to express and sell themselves.  Their answers, written on paper, allow us to see them without being distracted by noise like body-language. 

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Anyone who makes an attempt to answer these questinos and can make it through an interview with the two-headed monster receives an offer.  If we haven't scared them away by the end of the interview, then they're probably a good fit.

The filters haven't worked as well as expected.  You get a few who are like rocks.  No matter what you say to them, they take it.  We're starting to think that they block us out and focus on getting a job, any job, instead of figuring out ways to catch up so that they'll be qualified for a job at Fresh Fruit Smoothies once it begins.     

But overall, we're happy with our approach to hiring. 

We'll discuss our hiring philosophy in another post.

Random Pics

Our store sign on a chalkboard cabinet door.  It's small and subtle but still visible from 20 feet.  For reasons we don't understand, we're reluctant to use a louder, more colorful sign.  Hours are posted on the sign on the right. 

The scrap wood wall and bookshelves.  Basic nutritional information is located within the frames.  This info helps us, and our employees and customers learn about what we sell. 

Church pew and games -- Monopoly, Scrabble, Pictionary, Twister, and Chess (Chinese and Arabic).  We look forward to spending our Friday evenings at the shop playing board games and sharing Reuben sandwiches. 

We may end us using kale as a staple item.  It's affordable and seems to keep better and is more nutritionally dense than leafy greens like spinach. 

We completed plumbing work today.  Plumbing inspection tomorrow.

Our Lack of Preparation

We think we've done a lot to prepare to open a food service business.  We've operated our home kitchen as we would a restaurant, in an effort to reduce costs in our home and future business.  We've watched food shows like Iron Chef and Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares to learn more about food, customer taste sensibilities, proper operations, and our personal insecurities (Kitchen Nightmares is often a show about how personal insecurities must be overcome to build a successful restaurant business).  We built a house to learn more about construction and the impact of design.  We've hosted dinners to test ideas and to prepare us to handle large crowds.  We participated in informal cooking competitions to see if we can produce, and win, under pressure.  We invested in a restaurant in hopes to gain deeper insight into food service operations.  Price-points, margins, gross revenues, projections, we had it all down.  We've always looked for an opportunity to improve our ability to handle a food service business.  We've seen these opportunities everywhere -- in a baseball game, at the opera, while setting concrete.  All we've seen are metaphors of food and its production.  

And yet, we're not fully prepared to open a food service business.

We didn't research basic restaurant equipment and services, like cash registers, refrigerators, and payroll and credit card systems.  Not being prepared has resulted in some moderately costly mistakes and we hope we've chosen the right payroll and credit card systems.  It's important to know the cost of equipment and services.  That way, you don't purchase a used cash register with a missing key for $100 while its updated version costs $85 new at Costco.  Doh! 

We should've spent more time window shopping for restaurant equipment and services.  We spent too much time thinking about work-flow processes and vision, but not enough about what makes them possible.

Interview Questions Explained

Link to the questions

We'll provide a high-level explanation of these questions in another post.  For now, we'll explain the purpose of each question. 

* Use "discriminating" in a sentence. Use "picky" in a sentence.

This isn't just a vocab question, it's used to introduce applicants to a way of thinking about food and customer taste sensibilities.  Our employees will be expected to aim to have a discriminating palate and to know how to work with picky customers.  We also want our employees to have a nuanced vocabulary when discussing our products with customers. 

* "Economics isn't a zero-sum game, where there's a loser for every winner." Provide an example of this dictum. If you don't agree with it, explain why.

This is a business ethics question.  We use it to introduce our worldview, which is significantly influenced by the idea that economic life isn't a zero-sum game, where there's a loser for every winner.  This question begins a discussion about how we can develop products that benefits the consumer and the seller.  We don't screw over a customer for profit.  We create win-win situations.  We make a profit because we provide our customers value that exceeds the price of our products.  Also, we don't want to work with anyone who thinks that economic life is necessarily a zero-sum game.  We'll discuss this question more in (yet) another post. 

* Sell this dish...
Useless question that goes against some of our other questions.  We're not looking for those who can sell anything to anyone.  We used this question because we wanted to assess creativity and sales ability.  We're not sure if it does. 
 
* Do you carry a trade deficit with a business? Are you concerned about it?

This has been an effective question.  We use it to introduce the idea of value.  Everyone who has purchased something has a trade deficit with someone.  Most of us carry a trade deficit with a grocer.  To make smoothies, we have to purchase produce from a grocer.  If the grocer doesn't spend the same amount on smoothies as we do on her produce, then we carry a trade deficit with her.  But that's okay, because her produce allows us to create value.  Without this trade deficit, we wouldn't have a smoothie shop. 
Not all trade deficits are good.  If we purchase *only* doritos, beer, and cigarettes for our consumption from our grocer, then we'd have a bad trade deficit because this exchange will make us unhealthy and thus unproductive. 

* A restaurant receives a party of 20. Each party member decides to pay with a credit card. How does this impact restaurant operations (ie customer service) and labor costs? (Answer this question in fewer than 5 sentences).

This question gets applicants to think about the cost of food service operations. 

* From your last grocery bill, estimate the amount of protein, calories, and carbs you purchased per dollar.

Employees will be asked to develop smoothies that meet specific nutritional and budget needs.  They're required to not just think of our products in terms of taste, but also how we can pack as much nutrition per dollar into each smoothie.  If the world's greatest smoothie costs $20 to make, we're not going to sell it.  We're trying to get our employees to think about cost-effective nutrition, and not about guilt-tripping customers into purchasing ideal nutrition that they may not be able to afford.

Summary: we're using these questions to let applicants know that we want them to figure out ways to develop and sell value.

Equipment

After a month and a half, we've finally purchased all our equipment.  The equipment list:

60" sandwich prep with 2 door refrigeration
Single door refrigerator
10 feet of prep tables
2 Blendtec blenders
Single door undercounter refrigerator
3 compartment dishwashing sink
2 compartment handsink
1 compartment prep sink
20 feet of shelves
2 cash registers (one with barcode scanner)
1 ice-maker, 400 lb/day, 200lb capacity
1 ice-container
1 freezer

Except for the blenders and the freezer, all equipment are used. 

We purchased most of the used items off craigslist.  We found some good deals but working with sellers on craigslist can be time-consuming.  Consider the following e-mail exchange we had with someone selling an ice-maker:

Andrew: Hi, I'm interested in the ice-maker.  How many pounds of ice does it produce per day and how much ice does it hold? 
Seller: I don't know how much it holds.  But it was enough for my store. 
Andrew: But I'm not running your store.  My store is a smoothie shop and thus, I need at least 300 lbs of ice per day.
Seller: I don't know how much it holds.  I just want it out of storage because I don't want to keep paying storage fees.  And I'm too old to have the stamina to start over again.
Andrew: I understand, but can you at least provide me the make and model information so I can research its capabilities?
Seller: Look, I paid $3500 for this ice-maker.  I'm selling it for $100.  You're getting a good deal. 
Andrew: But I'm not sure if I'm getting a good deal.  I'm not a restaurant equipment broker and my store is 40 miles from you.  I'm not interested in travelling a long distance to purchase something that I can't use and have to resell. 

Most sellers on craigslist understand that different stores have different needs.  But there were enough time-consuming exchanges and costly, useless trips that we've decided that it's most cost-efficient to use a reliable restaurant equipment broker who understands our needs and lives within 25 miles of our store.  We pay more but we save a lot of time and frustration.  And we reduce our risk, as restaurant brokers are more knowledgeable about and can better assess the quality of restaurant equipment than we can.  Best of all, they deliver for free and offer warranties. 

We made the mistake of using a restaurant broker who lives closer to Portland than Seattle.  One of our fridges isn't working properly and he still hasn't fixed it.  So we've been using a broker referred by a diner.  He's based 8 miles from us and has thus far provided good service. 

If we had the budget, we'd purchase a new ice-maker because it's a necessity.   If the ice-maker breaks down, we have to close the store.  We tried to lease (with option to buy) an ice-maker online, but the leasing agent wanted us to purchase a minimum of $10,000 worth of equipment.  So we decided to go with a used ice-maker and purchase a new one once we have the funds.  The current ice-maker would then be used as backup. 

We'll likely (and hopefully) have to purchase more equipment.  We purchased what we considered the minimum because we're not sure what will sell.  We don't want to purchase a big freezer and refrigerator and not use them. 


We're close to opening.  If we pass our plumbing and health inspections next week, we should be open by next weekend.

Payroll Systems and Online Timeclocks

We're (frantically) searching for a payroll system and an online timeclock. 

We want employees to check-in and out by logging into a computer.  The information would then be sent to a spreadsheet that calculates number of hours worked and pay.  The calculations sent to a third-party vendor who deposits checks into employee accounts. 

If you have advice, please leave it on the blog instead of e-mailing it to us.  We want to hear what others have to say about each advice.  

Updated Pics of Front Area

Fruits painted in frames.  Nutritional information will soon be added. 

Thanks to Carey and his mother, Alberta, for donating a green couch in perfect condition (on right).  The color of the sofa is ideal for the shop. 

Menu board and wall slats up.  We're leaning toward replacing the orange with a light green. 

Another wall slat (thanks Reuben!) and a church pew we purchased from now defunct Chez Gaudy.

Beginnings of our bar seating area. 

We're exhausted so not much commentary on any of these pictures.  We'll add more to this employee training manual tomorrow.

The Smoothie Lab

All our smoothies are developed in-house.  Our goal is to pack as much nutrition per dollar into each smoothie.  Each smoothie will target specific needs. There'll be smoothies made for those who want a lot of protein and few calories.  Other smoothies will be heavy on complex carbs.  There'll be smoothies made for those who want to lose weight, and for those who want to gain weight. 

Since we're neither chemists nor physiologists, we don't have a high-level understanding of how to develop a smoothie that meets the taste requirements of our customers.  But we have a basic understanding of the scientific method.  We research and use trial-and-error to figure out how to build the nutritious smoothies that meet customer taste expectations. 

Today, we learned that mango kept in cool (40-55 degree) temperatures take a long time (more than 2 weeks) to ripen.  Mangos that aren't ripe are tart.  Since most customers want smoothies that taste sweet, we have to figure out a way to ripen our produce so that we can predict when they're ready to be prepared.  Customers will expect consistency in the taste of our products so we can't just use any fruit when making a smoothie.  We have to know when a fruit is ready to be used.  Our employees are expected to have an eye and nose for the ideal fruit.  They need to develop a *discriminating* palate. 

It's risky to use only fresh fruit and high-quality juices to make smoothies.  The only way we can make this work is if we develop an efficient work-flow process that reduces waste and have employees who have discriminating taste when it comes to fruit and vegetables.  Furthermore, we expect customers to purchase our products primarily because of the expertise of our employees.  If we don't understand fruit and vegetables better than the average customer, then they might as well make their own smoothies.  Our expertise is as much as a value add as the convenience we provide to customers. 

(To Alaska Airline employees - we apologize for the tart smoothies.  We'll send over sweet (not sugary) tasting smoothies that'll meet your taste and nutrition expectations. In exchange, you'll have to taste our Jalapeno-Yam smoothie).

The purpose of the smoothie lab isn't to develop the ideal smoothie, just as automobile manufacturers don't try to engineer the perfect car for average customers.  The ideal, the perfect isn't cost-effective.  Our purpose is to create smoothies that add enough value to our customers so that they'll purchase our products.  We try to improve lives, not to make people live the ideal life.  We don't make porn.  We provide practical nutrition. Someone else can make pornographic smoothies.

Scrap Wood Wall

We've completed the scrap wood wall.  Building a scrap wood wall was a risky decision not so much because it's unusual for our area (more on that in another post), but because it's difficult for amateur interior designers and construction workers like us to make what's typically found in garbage look inviting. 

We based our design on scrap wood walls found in Seattle's Frank's Champagne and Oyster House and some of the ramen and izakaya shops in Vancouver BC.  The ones we've seen look dramatic, sophisticated, cozy, and inviting.  We realize that such a design may not be appropriate for a smoothie shop, as drama and sophistication may turn out ridiculous in a setting that sells smoothies in take-out plastic cups.  But we decided it was worth the risk. We want to redefine the smoothie experience (a blog post on this later) and create a shop that's a public meeting space.  In other words, we're trying to build a design that's a mix of Starbucks and Jamba Juice. 

After consultation with gym members and our architect, we decided it was best to paint over the wood with fruit colors.  Most thought that stained wood doesn't mix well with smoothies.  The bright colors remind people of fruit and smoothies, the wall texture makes for interesting design, and the use of scrap wood fits well with Seattle ethos of "recycle, re-use." 

Andrew nearly tore out the scrap wood wall.  Andrew built the wall, so it became a reflection of himself.  For him, looking at the wall was like looking at himself, and he soon only saw zits and other imperfects.  He saw ugly and insecurity.  He hated it and had a breakdown. 

Wan reassured him that the wall wasn't as bad as he thought.  She dragged gym users into the shop and asked them to share their opinion about the wall.  Andrew pestered his architects for their opinion.  Not everyone liked the wall, but all thought that it could work.  All it needed was some make-up to hide the imperfections and to properly express our ideas. 

Now that the wall is painted, Andrew is much happier with it.  Wan, not as much.  She did much of the painting so at one point, she felt that the wall was a reflection of herself and all she saw was ugliness and insecurity.  But that's another story. 

Anyway, some pics. 

We'll paint pictures of fruits and vegetables and their nutrition information about their content within the frames.  Updated pics this weekend. 

We probably should've been more deliberate in how we set the wood scrap pieces.  The good news is that it's very easy to change the texture of the wall.  We may do so in the future.  For now, we're happy with it. 

On the left is a more traditional scrap wood wall that we've seen in some Japanese restaurants (without the paint).  Simple and clean yet distinctive and textured. 

Here we built faces.  The mouth will be used as bookshelves.  We'll also put something in the noses.  It's hard to make out the faces from the photos.  The facial contours are clearer when you see this wall in person.  
Andrew was against using a shade of green that he hasn't seen in nature.  He didn't want colors that seem artificial because we're avoiding use of artificial ingredients.  In the end, we decided it was okay to add some artificiality to our color scheme, especially since this color feels so refreshing. 

Despite its imperfections, we're happy with this wall.  It's generated much more talk than we expected and most people find it interesting but not offensive, and some love it, even if it doesn't look refined.  We think it'll become an effective marketing piece.

Update: fruits are in the frames.  We just need to add information about them.  Pics coming soon.

To Prospective Employees

Those interested in a position with Fresh Fruit Smoothies need to send their contact information to us by Saturday noon, which is when we'll stop advertising for employees.   

If you don't have our e-mail, send your contact information over the blog by including your e-mail on a comment.  Since comments on this blog are moderated, we'll write down your contact info and delete your comment. 

Customer Loyalty Programs

Worth it or not? 

Some considerations:
* We're located next to a gym. 
* Next nearest smoothie shop is 2 miles away. 
* Our products cost 10 percent less than those at Emerald City Smoothie; our margins are probably smaller.  Our products are also unique for the area. 
*  Loyalty program costs

Insights and advice appreciated. 

Our Preparation Tactics

We've been preparing to open a food service business for nearly 5 years.  During that time, we learned as much as we could about restaurant operations and we used our home kitchen as a practice space for running a restaurant business.  We invested in a restaurant to gain deeper insight into restaurant operations and budget systems.  We discussed how the lessons learned from our professional work lives could be helpful in operating a restaurant.  (These discussions made our dining experiences much more pleasurable). 

We were always trying to learn about and emulate our favorite restaurants (though not all restaurants we like have been successful).  When we dined at restaurants, we would ask each other about what we thought made the restaurant work, or not work.  We discussed and analyzed the decor, service, food, work-flow processes, leadership, marketing, and overall ambiance of the restaurants we visited.

At home, the first issue we dealt with was wastage.  About 20 percent of what we purchased would end up unused and discarded.  Most restaurants that waste that much don't survive.  We determined the wastage was due to our lack of discipline and poor planning when grocery shopping.  That is, we would purchase what we wanted to eat at the time we were shopping instead of what we needed and could reasonably manage for the week.  For instance, we'd purchase oxtails because we thought we wanted oxtail consomme sometime during the week, but we never considered if we would ever have the time or the motivation to make oxtail consomme.  We didn't consider whether a meal we wanted was possible.  We just wanted it, so we bought the *idea* of it.  We felt entitled to what we wanted.  We thought we deserved it, even though we couldn't make it. 

Our concern with wastage also brought attention to our (lack of) food preparation work-flow process.  We had to figure out a system that would make cooking our ideal meal more efficient and thus, more feasible.  We realized that we could reduce waste by preparing, in one sitting, all the food we purchased.  So we'd set aside a time to prepare food -- chop the garnishes, slice the fruits and vegetables, prepare the marinades and dressing, etc. -- and put them in containers, just as done in restaurants.  We discovered that we could save time and increase motivation to cook-in by doing all our prep work once a week instead of spreading the work over the week.  This made cooking much less daunting after a difficult day at work.  We became more motivated to cook-in instead of eating-out when we didn't have to worry about having to prepare this or that.  Cooking on a daily basis became a simple activity instead of a hassle. Not having to worry about the hassle of cooking reduced our wastage down to 5 percent, still too much for most restaurants to be successful.

So we redefined our ideal home-cooked meals.  We began to read food magazines as pornography, offering perfect meals in perfect settings, prepared by perfect chefs.  We decided that while pornography may offer a model of life, we can only use it as inspiration or fantasy and not as a practical way to meet our nutritional needs.  And if we want to experience food pornography, we'll just go to a fancy restaurant that offers food that we, the flawed, can never emulate. At home, we'd make do with our imperfections.  Our goal became to make meals that fulfill our dietary requirements instead of satisfying our desire for the impossible.  We were surprised to find that this approach made our meals more diverse and better tasting.  Thinking of food magazines as pornography helped reduce our wastage down to 2 percent because we stopped trying to be perfect and started to have fun with cooking. 

We also budgeted as restaurants with seasonal menus would.  Instead of purchasing groceries off a list, we would set an absolute amount of what we could spend on food.  This approach forced us to consider ingredients unfamiliar to us when planning and preparing our meals.  We began think in terms of maximizing nutrition per dollar. 

And we continue to work-out.  Now that we have a health centered smoothie shop, we don't just work-out to look good and to increase our productivity, but also to advertise to customers that what we sell -- not just our smoothies but also our approach to healthy living -- works.

Advice Needed - Using Barcodes

Someone recently mentioned that many gym users don't carry cash or credit card with them when they use the gym.  He's probably right and we're concerned about this issue.  We want to make our products as convenient as possible for our customers. 

He suggested we add barcodes to the gym cards.  That's the most convenient way for gym users who don't carry cash or credit card to purchase our products.  Customers don't have to deal with the hassle of carrying an extra card and risk losing it at the gym.  They can purchase say, 10 smoothies, and each scan of the barcode will ring up a purchase. 

Does anyone know how we can best make this work? 

We won't have a Point of Sales system for a few months.  Our cash register, however, does have a built-in scanner.  We think that an effective barcode system will significantly impact our profitability.