OK, enough Patriotism for now. How about some Nemo's Coffee stuff?

I've been buried with working two jobs and have not spent very much time at the shop. That may explain why my posts have not been very regular...

We expected the Holiday season to be slow, and boy did it ever live up to (or down to) those expectations. New Year's week had approximately $1300 in sales, down from an average $3000 in sales before the Holidays hit. Numbers like that could really get under your skin if you didn't expect it...

We had to let one of our employees go for repeatedly violating our internet usage policy. We have had one Point of Sale computer crash due to a virus because of personal internet use (against store policy). After replacing the computer, we had a staff meeting and trained all of our employees that unauthorized internet use will result in immediate termination. We can not afford to have our Point of Sale go down, and it is also a productivity issue.

After several additional verbal warnings, we finally had to let someone go due to personal internet use on the Point of Sale computer. As a result, I am picking up some extra closing shifts at the shop, on top of the Ft Carson Project Engineer work and the Intel Water Chemistry Control Scope.

I was very encouraged to see our sales at nearly $700 today! I am very much looking forward to getting back to our pre-Holiday averages. Tracy is working on new schedules with the goal to limit labor $$, but still provide excellent customer service. Our Assistant Manager has taken another full time job (as an events coordinator manager) and is going to go back to part time with us. Tracy recently hired Sarah and Megan, and they are currently being trained.
With our new labor scenario, our break even budget requires daily sales of $590, instead of up in the $700 range. I believe we will achieve that break even point pretty quickly, bouncing back from the Holiday crash.

I completed work on a tri-fold, double sided brochure in full color that includes a full drink and food menus, as well as general information about Nemo's. I will save them as PDF's and upload them here the next time I am home for more than a few minutes. Tracy and I planned to have 500 copies printed, but I ordered 5000 instead. 500 would have cost just under $200, and 5000 copies cost $380. Sounds like a no-brainer to me. We are going to begin distribution of those brochures to surrounding buildings as soon as we get them. I am ready to start marketing and growing our daily regulars...

My Jeep overheated the other day on the way to work. I had the pleasure of causing a major traffic backup on Union Blvd right next to the Olympic Training Center during rush hour. It looks like it needs a new water pump and thermostat, as well as a new overflow reservoir. Since we share a center with Intellitec's automotive campus, we talked to them about using it as a project car for their instruction (ie, gets worked on for cost of parts only, no labor). They just started a new semester, so they can't look at it for a couple of weeks. That means I'm driving "Sanford" to work instead! I have a '69 Chevy pickup that I love, but my friends nicknamed it the Sanford and Son pickup when I worked for a consulting group. I was remodeling a rental house at the time, so my truck always seemed to be full of remodeling debris. Pick on me all you want... I love old trucks!

Well, I need to get started on my water testing here at Intel. It is going to take me until 1:30am. That means I only get to sleep from 2:00am to 6:00am tonight.
Gotta run...
JD