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.

We Surrender! Wine tasting is being moved back to Friday night.

When we asked our customers how they felt about moving the wine tastings from Fridays to Thursday night we got about a 50/50 response. Since we made the move to Thursday a much higher percentage of our customers have voted with their feet. We have had a couple of great Thursday tastings, usually when attendance is augmented by a large group. But attendance overall has been pretty meager.  Our Friday tastings were filling up the house.

You can't have a drunk wife and a full case of wine – Italian proverb

Here we typically say "You can't have your cake and eat it too"…  but you know those Italians. We will attempt to defy these axioms. We will hold the wine tastings on Friday and still be available for drop in dining. To accomplish this we will limit the number of participants to 16. This will fill our main table and leave the remainder of the restaurant available for dining. And there are always the outside tables.

Guinea Pig Tasting

The Guinea Pig Tastings have been a great success. We have discovered some great wine that, based on our customers' input, now resides on our list. The theme continues. Next we are tasting a great Italian Rosé (Librandi Ciro Rosato 2008), a German  2006 Silvaner from Villa Wolf, comparing two super-value Argentine Malbecs… and, as the finale, maybe the best Cabernet we've tasted this year by Janvik from the Columbia Valley.

Date:  Friday, May 28th and June 5th.
Time: Meet and Greet 6:30 – 7:00 pm. Seating at 7. You are not late until after 7.
Cost: $20 per person

Feedback? Want to make a reservation? Please feel free to comment below.

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.

The restaurant business continues to improve. Brunch is taking off, Mothers Day was a smash success, although the Hollandaise sauce broke… Weeknights are steady and getting busier.  Friday and Saturday are busy. With Friday night taking off it feels on the one hand like we did the right thing moving the wine tastings to Thursday night. But, on the other hand, the Thursday wine tastings are much less robust than they were when we held them on Friday.  Perhaps when the weather improves and the outside tables are more appealing we can have a wine tasting on Friday and still be open for dining.

As the days lengthen our approach to the evening business changes. We are going to take some steps to energize the wine bar. We have had live music on a few occasions and people have really enjoyed these evenings. There is a Small Plate & Smackeral Menu that is currently handed out in the wine bar. We think we will grow this menu for the light and late night dining crowd.

We have some great beers and some of the local beer aficionados have discovered us. In fact, we are beginning the work to put together a beer tasting involving local, private brewers. We may even host a juried competition. Some of our customers who are also brewers will be helping us put these events together. Yahoo.

The patisserie part of the business has been weak. This is our fault. Janet has just not been working hard enough. Sometimes she leaves before 11 pm and then we don’t see her again until 8 in the morning. What kind of way is this to run a business?  Anyway, we have to play the hand we are dealt.  So we have a plan in the works to add a super-star baker to our staff. We’ll keep you posted.

Would you like to comment? Feel free! In the words of David Ogilvy, the famous copywriter, “If you have something to say: Say It!” By the way, he then said, “If you don’t: Sing It.”