New Records today...
117 customers, $550 in sales for the day, 15 people had a meeting in our conference room/photography studio, booked two more corporate meetings and a catered coffee service, sold almost 40 sandwiches, sold out of breakfast burritos by 8:30am.
I just finished making another 18 breakfast burritos for tomorrow and now I have to go make another batch of pico de gallo...
Everybody have a great Friday!
JD
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
New Records!
Today we set new records for the most in sales, the most # of customers in a day, the most customers between 5:30am and 8:00am, the most customers between 5:00pm and 8:00pm, and our first business meeting in the conference room! We had a planned event for Saturday, but some individuals from the Pikes Peak Work Force Center came over and asked if they could use our studio for a team meeting. I had to run to Sam's club and get tables and chairs on two hours notice! They had 10 people in their meeting and they bought product before the meeting and during a break! Woo Hoo! We have another event in there tomorrow, and they want us to cater lunch for it. That will be about 10 sandwiches, chips, and drinks!
It is 7:00pm and we are open until 8:00pm. We have had 96 sales so far today. I'm keeping my fingers crossed to reach our first 100 customer day. The guys down at the Intellitec vocational school said they would come by just before 8:00. If they do, then we should reach that goal. They have class until 11:00pm and need a final dose of caffeine to get them through...
Just want to drop a few lines for a quick update...
All is good. Nothing earth shattering, but steady increases, and new records pretty much daily! Today's sales have reached 67% of the way to profitability (shop overhead paid, but no money for Tracy and I).
Gotta run...
JD
It is 7:00pm and we are open until 8:00pm. We have had 96 sales so far today. I'm keeping my fingers crossed to reach our first 100 customer day. The guys down at the Intellitec vocational school said they would come by just before 8:00. If they do, then we should reach that goal. They have class until 11:00pm and need a final dose of caffeine to get them through...
Just want to drop a few lines for a quick update...
All is good. Nothing earth shattering, but steady increases, and new records pretty much daily! Today's sales have reached 67% of the way to profitability (shop overhead paid, but no money for Tracy and I).
Gotta run...
JD
Friday, May 11, 2007
What a Great Friday!
This has been a really great Friday...
First of all, Tracy and I were on the local Mike Boyle Show. He is the leading restaurant critic for the Denver and Colorado Springs Metropolitan area. He has a television show, as well as numerous radio shows throughout Colorado. We went to the studio today and filmed a segment for Nemo's Coffee, which will be shown on TV in two weeks. Mike was a very charismatic, charming person, if not a little bit ornery! Filming the show was a lot of fun and we look forward to seeing it when it airs. This is the first time Mike has ever done a show for a coffee shop, and he has been doing this for 14 years. We feel very honored and blessed to get this kind of free promotional advertising. We could not afford to do a television commercial, let alone a 20 minute feature on a local television program!
We also have set a new record today for the most customers in a day, and we are still seeing significant growth from day to day. I have been basing our % Sustaining Revenue performance on our total needs and we are averaging about 30% over the first two weeks of operations. I negotiated free rent from November through August when we signed our lease, and I also included $1000 per month in our expenses for AFC (Allowance for Change - in other words, unknowns). If I take out the rent and AFC line items, we are actually achieving about 45% of our needed revenues. That looks much better, but we begin paying rent in September. I don't want to feel like we are doing better than we really are when the rent payments hit...
Our average ticket yesterday was $4.31 and is $4.24 so far today. Our goal is anything over $4.00, so we are very happy with the results. We expected it to not exceed $3.50 until we develop some whole bean coffee regular buyers. We are over $4 without much bulk coffee sales! Woo Hoo!!!
I went to High Rise Coffee Roasters here in town today to pick up some more Chai concentrate. We don't get our coffee there, but he is a distributor for other products we use. The owner's name is Andrew Anderson!! That was interesting (my family in Indiana call me Andy, and my name was supposed to be Andrew Dean Anderson instead of James Dean Anderson II). He has a really cool looking shop, with burlap bags of coffee from all over the world surrounding his coffee roasting equipment. I want to hang some 'coffee' art in the store, meaning I want to get some really cool photos of coffee industry related products and equipment. Andrew agreed to have me come back with studio lights and take some shots in his shop, both of the decor/product and of him operating the roaster. I'm not sure when I will have time to do it, but I'm looking forward to it. I get some cool photos, and he gets free professional promotional photography.
Gotta run... Hope you are all doing well!
JD
First of all, Tracy and I were on the local Mike Boyle Show. He is the leading restaurant critic for the Denver and Colorado Springs Metropolitan area. He has a television show, as well as numerous radio shows throughout Colorado. We went to the studio today and filmed a segment for Nemo's Coffee, which will be shown on TV in two weeks. Mike was a very charismatic, charming person, if not a little bit ornery! Filming the show was a lot of fun and we look forward to seeing it when it airs. This is the first time Mike has ever done a show for a coffee shop, and he has been doing this for 14 years. We feel very honored and blessed to get this kind of free promotional advertising. We could not afford to do a television commercial, let alone a 20 minute feature on a local television program!
We also have set a new record today for the most customers in a day, and we are still seeing significant growth from day to day. I have been basing our % Sustaining Revenue performance on our total needs and we are averaging about 30% over the first two weeks of operations. I negotiated free rent from November through August when we signed our lease, and I also included $1000 per month in our expenses for AFC (Allowance for Change - in other words, unknowns). If I take out the rent and AFC line items, we are actually achieving about 45% of our needed revenues. That looks much better, but we begin paying rent in September. I don't want to feel like we are doing better than we really are when the rent payments hit...
Our average ticket yesterday was $4.31 and is $4.24 so far today. Our goal is anything over $4.00, so we are very happy with the results. We expected it to not exceed $3.50 until we develop some whole bean coffee regular buyers. We are over $4 without much bulk coffee sales! Woo Hoo!!!
I went to High Rise Coffee Roasters here in town today to pick up some more Chai concentrate. We don't get our coffee there, but he is a distributor for other products we use. The owner's name is Andrew Anderson!! That was interesting (my family in Indiana call me Andy, and my name was supposed to be Andrew Dean Anderson instead of James Dean Anderson II). He has a really cool looking shop, with burlap bags of coffee from all over the world surrounding his coffee roasting equipment. I want to hang some 'coffee' art in the store, meaning I want to get some really cool photos of coffee industry related products and equipment. Andrew agreed to have me come back with studio lights and take some shots in his shop, both of the decor/product and of him operating the roaster. I'm not sure when I will have time to do it, but I'm looking forward to it. I get some cool photos, and he gets free professional promotional photography.
Gotta run... Hope you are all doing well!
JD
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
TV on Friday!
One of our new 'regulars' is friends with the local restaurant reviewer. She arranged for Tracy and I to be on his TV show, discussing Nemo's Coffee, our story of how it came to be, and what we have to offer! How awesome is that??? They are going to tape the segment on Friday morning, and I'll find out when it is going to be on television...
Today's sales growth over last Wednesday: 23.2% Average sales ticket $4.02 (we are aiming for anything over $4, so that is good!).
Gotta run...
JD
Today's sales growth over last Wednesday: 23.2% Average sales ticket $4.02 (we are aiming for anything over $4, so that is good!).
Gotta run...
JD
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Growth Figures
Well, we are pushing two weeks of operations and we are starting to see growth from the surrounding buildings. We will have a person come in, and more people from their building/department/office will show up a couple of hours later. We have averaged 125% day to day growth for the last week. If we continue to average 20% growth per week, we will be profitable in four weeks and we will reach a sustainable revenue (enough to pay all of our personal bills) in seven weeks! I don't expect it to happen that quickly, though. I'm sure our growth rate will taper off as business builds. I am thrilled, though, anyway you look at it. Many businesses take a year or more to become profitable. Just keep us in your prayers, as so many people have to this point. A quick little prayer may seem insignificant at times, but there is nothing that will help our business more so than God's blessing!
We have had more time to devote to marketing now that construction is complete and we are up and running. We have been distributing fliers to some of the surrounding buildings. I'm guessing that we have distributed fliers to only 5% or so of the 18,000 daytime employees within a one mile radius. As people learn about us by word of mouth and by the fliers, I'm sure we will continue to see significant sales growth. We are also going to be in the Entertainment and Gold C coupon books, and we are putting an ad in the Independent, a local newspaper that stays on top of local events, music, art, restaurants, etc. Their next issue is the Summer Guide, which is one of the most popular guides to Colorado Springs 'things to do'. We also have our lighted sign up and operational, and I will have large 10' banners up soon. We are also donating product to some upcoming local charity events, and have begun marketing to the Olympic Training Center.
Well, it is time for me to start closing up shop and getting EVERYTHING clean for Tracy in the morning.
By the way, if you are local, our free WIFI internet service is set up and working. I also put a computer in the cafe for you to use for free... Stop in and see us!
Take care,
JD
We have had more time to devote to marketing now that construction is complete and we are up and running. We have been distributing fliers to some of the surrounding buildings. I'm guessing that we have distributed fliers to only 5% or so of the 18,000 daytime employees within a one mile radius. As people learn about us by word of mouth and by the fliers, I'm sure we will continue to see significant sales growth. We are also going to be in the Entertainment and Gold C coupon books, and we are putting an ad in the Independent, a local newspaper that stays on top of local events, music, art, restaurants, etc. Their next issue is the Summer Guide, which is one of the most popular guides to Colorado Springs 'things to do'. We also have our lighted sign up and operational, and I will have large 10' banners up soon. We are also donating product to some upcoming local charity events, and have begun marketing to the Olympic Training Center.
Well, it is time for me to start closing up shop and getting EVERYTHING clean for Tracy in the morning.
By the way, if you are local, our free WIFI internet service is set up and working. I also put a computer in the cafe for you to use for free... Stop in and see us!
Take care,
JD
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Judo Tournament
So... you may be wondering what a judo tournament has to do with our coffee shop. Well, our boys are in judo at the Olympic Training Center, which is just two blocks from Nemo's. It is our desire to do some heavy marketing to the Olympic Training Center. The OTC sponsored a tournament today and I did some photography for Ed and Tammie Liddie (Ed: US Olympic Coach and 1984 Olympic medalist; Tammie: USA Judo Project Manager). I passed out some Nemo's fliers at the tournament, and spoke to some of the Olympic athletes and offered to do some free studio photo sessions for them.
Here are a couple of shots of Jeff Sato... He won the men's senior division:
...and a shot of Jeff throwing one of his competitors:
I edited these on my laptop, which is not accurate. Please forgive any color shifts or contrast/brightness issues...
Gotta run, Tracy and I are teaching Sunday School tonight.
JD
Here are a couple of shots of Jeff Sato... He won the men's senior division:
...and a shot of Jeff throwing one of his competitors:
I edited these on my laptop, which is not accurate. Please forgive any color shifts or contrast/brightness issues...
Gotta run, Tracy and I are teaching Sunday School tonight.
JD
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Sales Growth
OK, so we have only been open for five days. It is a little early to be crunching numbers and talking about sales growth. I have built a budget and determined how much money we need to make in order to cover our overhead and provide ourselves with a modest income. I am very happy to say that we have achieved 22% of our budgeted needs on just our fifth day of operation! We still do not have any signage and have not distributed any fliers or had any advertising. We have reached 22% of our sustaining income on just word of mouth referrals. I am amazed at the response we have had already, and I'm looking forward to more growth as we get some advertising out there!
I have to run, but I just wanted to make a quick entry and thank God for His blessings!
Later,
JD
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