Angels At Our Table

The stars once spoke to man. It is world destiny that they are silent now To become aware of this silence Can be pain for earth humanity. But in the deepening silence There grows and ripens What man speak to the stars. To become aware of this speaking Can become strength for Spirit Man.

Rudolph Steiner

At Harvard Business School they probably don't instruct students to discuss strategic business decisions with their customers, particularly in terms of the evolution of the consciousness soul and world destiny. Perhaps they are right. Confining such conversations to the realm of "what" engenders a certain sense of solidity. Embracing woo-woo and the murky realm of "why" does have its downside. I posit here however that the concepts of what and why are best understood when packaged together. It's all about Faith.

Faith is much misunderstood. The word "faith" typically refers to knowledge and convictions that are not supported by material evidence or proof. It would be more useful if folks would simply settle for believing something without invoking faith in order to recast their beliefs as knowledge. Using faith to transmogrify beliefs into facts provides a false sense of security and often forestalls additional reasonable inquiry. It becomes a means to shelve some of life's greatest riddles.

Properly understood, Faith is not a substitute from of knowledge; Faith is an actualizing force. Faith was not essential in earlier epochs of evolution when "the Stars once spoke to man" and the relationship between human beings and the hierarchies was ordered much differently. But that was then, and this is now. Now we are left with only our own volition and powers of divination. Our angels no longer actuate their will directly through us but instead are chained to our bumbling and dithering. It is only when we act, when we take the "right" next step, that these angels are set free to do their work and to fulfill their own destinies. This freeing of the hierarchies is called Faith. Faith occurs when we use accurate intuition, or divination, and combine that knowledge with our courage and, accordingly, our Will. Faith is an actualizing force that unleashes the hierarchies and sets all manner of events into motion. Now that's leverage!

The real trick is to do our work and take the necessary steps before the angels get fed up with waiting and attempt to force our hand, usually by inspiring events to beat the tar out us. We have all had experiences in our lives that seemed so upsetting at the time and now, looking back, we see perfect wisdom. We look around and see people we love that we wouldn't have met or find ourselves doing fulfilling work that we would never have discovered but for these upsetting events in our past. Yet wouldn't it have been nice if we could have found our way without the beatings?

Such is the perusing of ownership these days at Bethany's Table as we chart our next steps. It was seemingly serendipity that landed us in this business when the previous owner, David's sister Shelley, threw in the towel. In just a year we have danced and gyrated our way into an enterprise that bears very little resemblance to the business we acquired. We have been clinging to the original conception of our core business to be selling prepared meals. Since Janet is a trained chef, we distinguished our offerings as upgraded from the Dinners Ready menu by branding them as "restaurant quality meals". We started serving lunch to better use the space that was once filled with stainless steel carts and to get people through the door. We started hosting wine tastings in order to feature meals from our menu. One thing lead to another and we started the "What's For Dinner" program with nightly offerings of four to five entrees from our test kitchen. Now we have a full menu and serve dinner five nights per week. Wine tastings and group events are common occurrences.

The transaction volume from lunch and dinner has outpaced prepared meal sales by a significant factor. Yet we have continued to define ourselves as a prepared meal business that is also a restaurant. But this is no longer true. We have unwittingly become a restaurant that also sells prepared meals. We no longer need to brand the meals as "restaurant quality". Of course they are restaurant quality. We are a restaurant; and a good one. So we have decided to remake the meal business to into a more natural offshoot of the restaurant. This singleness of purpose will simplify our message and enhance creativity. The prepared meals menu will be pared down but more flexible with a greater emphasis on seasonality and fresh foods.

Let's hope this makes the angels happy. We could use the leverage.

Menu Changes

The restaurant menu and the prepared meals menu each boast a number of new items this month. The big change however is in the number of items that have been pruned from the prepared meals menu. We apologize to those of you who will mourn the removal of your favorites. Yet because you loved the Meatloaf, the Chicken Cordon Bleu, the Shrimp Ravioli, etc. we kept them on the menu month after month. Each month it grew tougher to make room for new items and maintaining inventory became more and more cumbersome. And the menu got a bit stale.

The work to manage the monster take-home meal menu has been clogging up our work. We will continue to emphasize the family friendly “Crowd Pleaser” meals. Specialty meals inspired by the current season will fill out the remainder of the menu. We still offer Kids Meals (you can use the Teen Burritos to bale you out all summer). Fresh vegetables and salads are always available.

Jim the Duke of Soup churns out new concoctions faster than we can keep track of him so we have decided to fill your soup orders directly from the specials board when you come into the store. At least one vegetarian soup will always be available. Recycle! Bring your own container and save 50 cents.

Click here to View Downloadable Menus.

Or click here to Order Online.

Let us know your opinion of these changes by commenting below.

The Duke of Soup

Jim "The Duke" Davis

Many of you know Jim. Jim is an actor, director, gardener, musician, handyman, truck driver and cook.

And Jim is the Duke of Soup.

Jim's penchant for making soup is unstoppable. He often doesn't follow a recipe. He just makes soup and it's always good.

Jim has developed quite a following. Lately he has been making some great summer soups such as Gazpacho and an Asparagus Vichyssoise. The only problem is, we can't seem to keep track of all the soups Jim has on hand and his freewheeling style makes it a real nuisance to maintain the online menu.

So we have taken the list of soups off of the prepared meals menu and instead now sell it more on an ad hoc basis. There will always be at least four soups available. They are always list on the chalkboard by the kitchen. These will be the soups we are selling to our lunch and dinner customers that day and we will happily fill pint and quart containers for folks to take home. The price remains the same, $6 per pint and $10 per quart. A number of our regulars have been bringing in their empty containers for us to refill and we think this is a great idea. To encourage and reward this highly efficient mode of recycling we will credit back 50 cents for every container we refill.

We absolutely promise that you will love Jim’s soup. Try some today.

Follow the Bouncing Ball

We have really had our eye on making the restaurant successful. And it works. Serving lunch and dinner, with brunch on the weekends. The thing we haven’t mastered is keeping our eye on two balls at the same time.  As the restaurant does better and grows, the take home meal business weakens and wanes.  This is a riddle because the dinner menu evolves around the take home meal menu. What you get for $14 in the restaurant you can take home to prepare at home in one step for less than $6.  It was always our imagination that showcasing the meals at our table would encourage folks to take them home to enjoy in their own dining room.

We asked for your feedback and we acted on it. The old ordering system was a pain – so we changed it.  Some of you said the meals were too fancy – so we created a Crowd Pleaser menu. Some of you said you only use us for special occasions – so we created the Fine Cuisine menu.  We are doing more. The new website design is almost done.  We will soon have nutritional information, caloric ratios, complete descriptions as well as cooking instructions posted for every meal.  We plan to add a budget-minder menu so families with children can pick up a higher volume, healthy meal on the cheap and feed the crew.  But we wonder, are we beating a dead horse here?  What gives?

What we do know is that there is not a viable business at this location for an affordable restaurant that seats only 30.  We have half-decided to create a lane change in the evening right around 8 PM and crank up the wine bar scene with special pours, a unique menu and live music.  Folks have shown us that they love having a place in the neighborhood to hang out.  At least then we could get a turn on the tables some evenings.  This has not proven to be a late dining neighborhood but, again, folks do crave a place to go out, meet, visit, party… whatever.

Your Input Is Needed

The question remains though, even as we continue to reincarnate, even with these enhancements, will the meal business pick back up? And can we make this a viable business if it doesn’t?  What is your opinion? Get off your hands and put in your two cents. Add your comments below.  Let’s have a conversation.  We’d sure appreciate your input.

Thanks to so many of you who have taken the time to provide us with feedback when we asked for it. Most of the changes you see here are direct results of suggestions we received from you. There are more changes in the works… Better clarity around cooking instructions, improved packaging and accessible nutritional data are all coming because you have asked for them. Janet is that rare artist who can blend her creative impulse with an innate understanding of how essential it is to ply her craft in ways that are meaningful and valuable to you.

Changes in the take-home meal business

Sometimes we wonder if there will ever be a month where we have the same business and do the same things as the month before. Change is our constant. Last month when we asked you for feedback we were honored by the response we received. It wasn't 100% positive. But it was 100% useful. So we have made some changes. Again.

It appears that we have two blocks of customers, with some overlap. Some of you use us to make meals for your family… families with children. You want us to keep it simple. We help you keep hearth and home together and you need healthy meals that the whole family will enjoy. The other block uses us for fine dining. Janet is your personal chef. You order the Beef Wellington or the Halibut & Ratatouille and toast the good life.

Reorganized Menus

In response to your suggestions we reorganized the entree menus into two primary groups: "Crowd Pleasers" and "Fine Cuisine". Inside each of these groups there are distinct categories arranged by preparation methods, such as Fully Cooked – Heat & Serve, Grilled or Broiled Entrees, Bake & Serve and Slow Cook Meals". You can easily view, download and print all of our menus from our web site. Click Here to View the New Menus

New Online Ordering System

We have been very unhappy with the meal assembly online ordering software we inherited with the business. This had been purchased at significant expense from a company that is now, and somewhat deservedly so, in the toilet. So we have implemented a new online ordering system that is more flexible and straightforward. Currently you will not be able to pay for your meals at the time of ordering online and we will deal with gift certificates and promotional discounts with you directly, either at the store or over the phone. Click Here to Check Out the New Online Ordering System

New Meal Pricing Structure

For most of our meals we have lowered our entrée prices and make it easier for you to choose side dishes that suit your preferences. Side dishes are discounted when they are paired with a meal order so the resulting cost is about the same. Some meals are designed for specific sides. For example, the Chicken Ragu comes with Polenta. However, the new online ordering system allows you to easily substitute and alternate side dish if polenta doesn't suit you.

A Special Treat for Our Regulars

More and more of you are coming into the store on your way home to pick up dinner for tonight's meal. Because of the growth of the restaurant we have more capacity to offer daily specials, fresh vegetables and various assorted goodies. So Janet ordered a chalkboard. She loves chalkboards. She will use the new board to let you walk-ins know about her latest and greatest concoctions.

More to Come

We will be adding nutritional information as well as cooking instructions and posting a page for each menu item on our website. You will be able to access that information as easy as pie. You will also be able to review any meal or make suggestions. You can see what other people have to say.

Please comment below if like what you see or if you think we've missed the mark.