First day of the blog...

Tracy and I are well underway to opening our coffee shop. This research actually started several years ago, and an incredible amount of work has been done just in recent months. We did not capture any of those events, but we are just now beginning construction, ordering equipment, choosing decor items, etc.

Here is where we stand:
We are leasing a space near Pikes Peak and Printer's Parkway in Colorado Springs. It is currently two spaces, separated by a firewall. We will be removing the firewall to make the space one large, 2000 sq foot space. We are currently in the final stages of reviewing the lease (28 pages!). We will sign the lease early next week and be free and clear to continue construction!

Tracy did a great job working on our layout. We will have the coffee retail line, a large area for tables, a kid's room (to allow a place for our kids when they have to be there with us), and a photo studio. We had a completely different layout, but we went and did as-builts of the existing walls and modified our layout to match. We want to do as little construction as possible, for time and $$ reasons. Here is a link to a scan of our rough layout:



We are meeting with a tax accountant this afternoon to determine if we are going to be an LLC, an S Corporation, or a C Corporation. We will also be setting up our books with Quickbooks Pro, establishing our Sales Tax information, etc...

I ordered our sound system from Crutchfield.com, and it was delivered today! We are using an XM ready Yamaha receiver, Yamaha CD player, four Bose 301 speakers, and a Sony powered subwoofer. That should work...

We also ordered our decaf grinder (Mazzer mini-P), our back up espresso maching (Pasquini Livia 90 Auto) and they are going to arrive on Monday.












We narrowed our primary espresso machine search down to a La Marzocco Linea 2 Group automatic, or a Synesso Cyncra 2 Group. We wanted the Cyncra, but chose the La Marzocco due to a lack of service technician's in the area for Synesso. I was an electronic's technician and nuclear reactor operator for 12 years, operating, maintaining, calibrating and troubleshooting reactor instrumentation and controls equipment (US Naval submarine service). I was also a field service engineer for Tokyo Electron diffusion furnace systems, as well as a certified weld inspector and quality assurance inspector in the semiconductor industry (I am currently a project manager at Intel).



I contacted Synesso and spoke to them about the idea of training me to be a service technician for them, and to also become a local sales rep and retailer of Synesso espresso machines! We still need to work out the details, but I'm planning to travel to Seattle in December to receive my training! This will allow us to purchase a Cyncra at a wholesale rate, be our own technician, as well as be an advocate and sales rep for Synesso here in Colorado Springs!

Well, that is enough for now...
I will try to make updates several times a week, if not daily!
JD