Business Cards Pt. 2

Here are the final versions of the business cards. The first is my personal business card, and the one below is the generic card that will double as a "frequent flier" card. For every sandwich you buy, you'll get a stamp on the back of the card. Once you have purchased 10 sandwiches, and thus have 10 stamps, you get a free sandwich. Pretty good deal I think.

Storefront Sign

Here's what the sign will look like. 85 is the street address. I have to credit my father-in-law, Leo Marino, for designing it. This will sort of (this is using an older version of the sign design) look like this:

Sheet Rock

The sheet rock that will make up the walls and ceiling has been ordered and is ready for installation - as soon as the HVAC stuff is completed. Should be done no later than a week from today. Then its on the to painting, putting up the lighting fixtures and then ripping up/installing new flooring. New doors will follow soon after or around that time as well. Nice.

Passed Two Inspections

Great news. The building and plumbing inspections passed with no issues whatsoever. Now we can get the HVAC in next week as well as put up the sheet rock. Things will really start to move now.

Inspection Update

The town's building inspector will be stopping by on Friday to check out the building/construction and plumbing work that's been done so far.

If all of that gets approved, the sheet rock can go up. That's a big deal, and my shop will then enter "vanilla box" mode.

After the walls go up (the HVAC duct work will go up before then), we'll paint them. Then we'll install the lighting fixtures. Then, once that's done...it's onto the floors.

Things are looking okay. Hopefully we'll stay on target. My only concern, and the only thing we are behind on, is the HVAC stuff. And that hasn't been my fault...

Verizon

So, the phone number is secured, and I have Verizon to thank for that. But that's about it.

I'll put it out there - I don't like Verizon.

I've gone ahead with them for the shop because, honestly, I don't want to have to deal with two different phone service companies -- we use Verizon at home as well and have had terrible service from them since day one.

Here's the latest cause for dismay: I ordered the phone and internet service. Verizon then said that I would need to be at the shop on Friday to be there for the technicians between 8:30 and 11:30. No one shows up, so I call - get bounced around 2 departments and am then told that they have until 12:30 to show up. I say forget it (I had to pick up Sue Ann, Doug, Molly and Danna in the city) and reschedule for Tuesday - same window of time. Again, no one is showing up so I call the Hotline number they gave me to see where the technicians are on their route.

The nice (finally!) Customer Service rep apologizes and says that there was no need for me to be at the shop because the "turning on of the service" could be done from the central command center. You've got to be kidding me!

So there we have it. Jerked around by Verizon yet again. Let's hope the Internet connection setup they've just confirmed with me on June 4th actually happens.

Phone Number Secured

I now have a phone number for the shop.

Plug it into your cell phones if you'd like:

201-825-0185

I like the phone number much more than I probably should, for several reasons:

1. It's fairly easy to remember
2. It's an "825" number - which to me is old-school Allendale and gives it a little bit of street cred/legitimacy
3. The numbers have a lot of curves (2, 0, 8, 5) which goes really well with the shop's curvy logo
4. The last two digits (85) is the address of the shop, helping further with the branding, perhaps, of the shop.

Like I said, maybe I'm reading into more than I should, but there you have it.

BusinessWeek TV Interview

Here's the video that ran today, Sunday, May 25. I think it turned out well.

Archaelogical Dig Pt. 2

Sure enough, there was brick underneath that mess. Doug and I went to town on the walls, ripping out all of the plaster and quickcrete, exposing some really attractive, rustic masonry. Our friend Mike also stopped by to swing a hammer for a little bit. Thanks guys.

Here are some photos of our day.

Welcome

Later this morning - if all goes as planned - I'll be on BusinessWeek TV as part of a greater story about how new businesses are using blogs to pre-market their business. Fingers crossed that I come across as competent and that they edit me in a positive way.

Anyhow, for those who are visiting for the first time as a result of this television appearance, welcome.

If you have any questions specific to the project or shop, please feel free to email me at allendalecheeseshop@gmail.com.

If you are a business who'd like to either suggest a product or somehow get involved in my business, please feel free to use the above mentioned email as well.

Thank you for visiting, and be sure to bookmark the shop's official website: www.bondgard.com.

Looking forward to seeing you all when the shop finally opens - hopefully by the last week in June or early July.

Michael

Thanks!

I'd just like to take a moment to throw out the names and contact information of several people or businesses that have really helped me out so far. If you are looking for dependable, efficient and overall pleasant people to work with on the development of your business, I highly recommend getting in touch with the following people.

J.C. Electric - contact: Jerry Crean - 201-512-0352

Drewes' Plumbing - contact: Brian or Pat Drewes - 201-934-6449

Plan B Consulting - contact: Brian Buckley - 212-772-6861

J.E.G. Designs (website dev.) - contact: John Gicewicz - www.jegdesign.com

Peter Hachey Construction - contact: Peter Hachey - 201-264-2261

Apple Store (Tice's Corner) - contact: Andrew Sommerfeld - Business Partner - 201-782-1750

Ashbahian Architecture - contact: Tom Ashbahian - 201-825-1220

Honig & Honig (lawyer) - contact: Steve Honig, Esq. - 201 - 652-5100

Home Depot (Mahwah, NJ) - 201-818-9754
Kitchen Department - Ruth Allen
Kitchen Appliances - Vinnie
Flooring Department - Joyce

Commerce Bank - (Small Business Administration Loans) - contact: Rahbar Ameri - 201-574-3998

Archaelogical Dig

As you can see, there are two awfully wallpapered walls perpendicular to the front window. At the bottom, you can see that there's brick. If you look at the top, you can also see brick. So it's logical to assume that there is brick covered underneath all of that cheap plaster, quickcrete and ugly wallpaper. At least that's my hope. I'll be spending Memorial Day chipping away at that wall with some tools Peter Hachey lent me in hopes of uncovering a little brick treasure. I think it will add the right look to the shop. We'll see.

Bathroom Pt. 2

Peter Hachey (201-264-2261) got some work done on the bathroom on Friday. The new window is in place, a drop ceiling was installed and the floor was put in place. We've got ourselves a bathroom! Almost. Just a bit more to do there - one of which is getting the rough plumbing approved
which will hopefully happen this upcoming week.

Here's a pic of the latest improvements.

Another change has to do with the vanity. The one I purchased previously was very nice but it was a) too expensive, b) wouldn't be to code. Or rather, the space needed for the toilet bowl would be compromised and therefore not to code and c) was a bit too big. So we went simpler with a Glacier Bay 2-piece unit plus faucet set. The result - 100 bucks at Home Depot and a remarkable savings for my budget.

BusinessWeek TV

Great news!!!

The interview I had with Alex Cohen, producer of BusinessWeek TV, is going to air this Sunday, May 25, at 11:30am on Channel 7 (ABC).

According to BusinessWeek TV's website, it is...

A weekly personal finance television program about money. Earning it. Investing it. Spending it. Broadcast from the NASDAQ MarketSite in Times Square.

It goes on to say about itself...

Our nationally syndicated TV program, BusinessWeek TV, is an extension of BusinessWeek's award-winning editorial coverage. Each season broadcasts 52 original episodes (30 minutes per show), delivering actionable insight into personal finance and lifestyle topics - from real estate and investing to tech trends and travel. It's about Money. Earning it. Investing it. Spending it.

The program is cleared in 86% of the U.S. on powerhouse stations such as WABC/New York, KABC/LA, WLS/Chicago, and WPVI/Philadelphia, and airs in 158 markets. Now in its seventh season, BusinessWeek TV continues to draw a loyal audience, including BusinessWeek magazine readers, BusinessWeek.com users, and other consumers seeking to make smarter decisions in their personal and financial lives.


Fantastic. I hope you'll tune it.

Vendors: Balthazar Bakery

What's not to love about Balthazar, the restaurant or bakery. Okay, besides waiting to get a table for brunch. Keith McNally is a genius and so it was a no brainer to go with Balthazar Bakery as my bread source.

A lot of people have suggested Rockland Bakery, which is excellent, but for cost/ordering purposes as well as keeping with my concept, I've decided to stick with Balthazar.

My sales rep. Chris, met me and my father-in-law today with two large bags of samples to check out, taste and discuss. Foccacias, ciabattas, baguettes (oh my).

I've already determined a few haves and have nots, and am excited to see other samples. I don't want to give away any secrets just yet, so I'll keep the types of bread I plan on using for sandwiches and to sell retail to myself for now.

Above is a fraction of the types of bread she brought for us today.

Institute of Culinary Education

I had the distinct pleasure of being invited to talk about building a food-service related business at my Alma Mater, the Institute of Culinary Education (I.C.E).

My former professor, Brian Buckley, is greatly responsible for any success I will have with this business. His class really made this concept come to life and made the planning of it possible - and what was great was that he was serious and well-learned about he was telling us, but never lost sight of the fact that the restaurant/food-service industry is inherently fun - and so its no surprise that his classes were generally fun.

Brian is also a restaurant consultant via his business, Plan B Consulting. Aspiring restaurateurs, culinary students or those who need a "plan B" can reach Brian at buckley717@aol.com or by phone at 212-772-6861.

Anyway, Brian asked me to come in and talk to his Culinary Management class, of whom will be graduating in the next few weeks. I basically pointed out some of things that hit home with me from my I.C.E. experience, how it has played out in the real world, and then focused on SBA loans and budgeting as a priority.

The people in the class all had great concepts and I think some will really take off. I wish them all the luck in the world.

Here's a pic of the class


and here's a pic with me and Brian.

Plumbing

The plumbing is coming along nicely. Hats off again to Brian Drewes and John for doing a really great job so far in getting my plumbing both up to code and up to brand new status.

This is the back left wall. The white tubes are vents and the red (hot) and blue (cold) tubes are the water lines. Copper tubing is so prohibitively expensive these days that it is rarely used anymore - I suppose for projects such as this. I'm sure high-end homes and the like will still go for copper, but not here, which is fine by me. The set on the left is for the handwash sink. The set to the right of that is for one faucet connection for the 3-compartment sink (corner variety). The next one over is for the bathroom sink and the last one on the right is for the other faucet for the 3-compartment sink.


Here's the bathroom again. Still looks lousy, but it's a work in progress. As you can see, plumbing has been installed in here as well. It's neat to see the blue and red tubes - reminds me of the Bodies exhibit - or any health text book that shows the direction of blood to/from the heart. Cool.
I'm lucky to have the basement space because otherwise, I'd have no room to have a laundry/janitorial sink upstairs, which both the Health Department and common sense tell me I need. Fortunately there is a little nook in the back of the basement that's right below the bathroom and sinks upstairs. Brian put in the hot water heater (since the shop didn't have one) and gave me a good deal on it because he'd already had one in the shop. Same for the handwash sink. Which is ideal. Jerry Crean and his guys will have to come in to add some more outlets to power up the hot water heater. It's a 15 gallon one that is just the right size for the space and for my daily needs.Here's another angle:


Here's a shot looking back toward the front of the shop, in the basement.

Lastly, here's my water meter. It's important to have one of these - otherwise, you could get overcharged by your landlord for water that isn't being used by you if there are multiple tenants in the building. And, in some cases, its a benefit. If you look closely, one of the tenants is getting free water (no meter). There are three water lines and only two meters. Hmmmm...

American Express Plum Card

A while back I applied for the newest addition to the American Express card family, the Plum Card for small businesses. So far so good. I got an initial credit for more than $60K, which is interest-free as long as you pay within 2 months - which is a nice allotment of time because of the way my business is going to be structured. Alternatively, if I pay the balance within two weeks, I get 1% back on purchases made. Not bad I suppose, though my main benefit is the length of time I get to pay back the balance. If it offered a points-reward system, I'd be even happier. Because I'll need to travel on occasion to California for cheese festivals and stuff, I'll rely on points to help pay for the trips. So I've applied for another credit card that will help me in this regard. I suggest AMEX reconsider the points plan for their Plum card.

Electrical Inspection - We Passed!

Good news came on Friday, and it wasn't just the break in the weather. The town's building inspector came in to check out the rough electrical work done on the shop and we passed with flying colors. They only requested we put in one more outlet above the window. A simple enough fix that will get done this week.

Thanks Jerry Crean, Mark and the rest of the J.C. Electric team that got the job done right.

M.

Flooring Pt. 2

I just got done meeting with the flooring guy from Home Depot. He measured the space and is going to put together an estimate for the removal of the crappy linoleum/wood combo mess that partially covers the original wood flooring. After that's done (once the drywall is up), they'll put down a plywood base, give it a day to settle and then put the new wood flooring on top of that.

I'll order the wood today so that its ready to go for install (it can take a few weeks to get). I'll save about $65 by having the wood delivered to Home Depot, and then picking it up myself. That's a tank of gas!

May 14, 2008

Here's what the store looked like today. It's more of a mess now than it was on Friday, but that's simply because of the demo done on the bathroom, which is still on the floor. That will be cleaned up on Friday since Pete will be spending most of the day getting it done.

As you can see, the raw electrical work is in place. J.C. Electric did a fantastic job. I've even got my own brand new circuit board in the basement. They've also gone ahead and submitted an inspection request. I hope the inspectors will be free next week (wishful thinking!).

SBA Loans Pt. 4b - The Closing

It's official! I have secured a loan supported by the Small Business Administration. What seemed like half a year really only took about 2 months. It might have happened even quicker if I was working full-time during most of that time. Even the Commerce Bank, Rahbar Ameri, and the lawyer representing the Bank/SBA, Jane Paftnos, found it to be an exceptional turnaround. In the end, I think putting everything together in a book and labeled clearly helped the process move around. I need to credit my years of P.R. experience for that...its something that many P.R. people are put to task - in the form of clipping reports, event planning and the like. Anyway, I now have some money to make this shop a reality, which will no doubt speed the process along.

SBA Loans Pt. 4 - The Closing

The Closing is this morning and I'm running out the door now to sign my life (actually, my in-law's house) away.

Fortunately I got everything the Bank, SBA and lawyers needed on Monday to secure this closing date. Let's hope it all works out fine.

Air Conditioning

I have three bidders lined up for the install of my air conditioning unit. IronBo, Van Natta and another guy. Van Natta is the Bergen County industry standard, so to speak. But IronBo might be competitive in price, so we'll see. I'll be meeting with Matt from IronBo this afternoon, another guy named Mario from the place whose name I forget, and the guy from Van Natta on Thursday.

I might be looking at an internal air conditioning unit that won't need duct work. Apparently Mitsubishi puts out good ones that are relatively quiet. We'll see what they say...

Bathroom

I hired Pete Hatchey, the guy who is also doing the demolition and drywall installation to work on the bathroom. He demo'ed it on Monday and it looks pretty rough. He's going to put in a drop ceiling and install the new toilet and vanity and retile the floor.

In trying to stay "green", I paid a little more for a toilet, the Pegasus "Cottage" that meets the EPA's WaterSense standards. It's a one-piece toilet that has a flush rating of 5 (the nice Kohler that I wanted only had a flush rating of 2.5). I purchased all of this at Home Depot for a very reasonable price.

Here's what it looks like:

For the vanity and sink, I chose this little number:
That, and the white (with black "dot") tile should give it a nice, clean and simple look. Bathrooms are often an overlooked space in retail shops, but you never know who might need to use it someday. The return on this investment might not be that great, but if word gets out that I have a "clean, nice or otherwise inviting" bathroom, so much the better.

Flooring

I ordered hardwood floors on Friday. Home Depot had a sale on one of three wood floor options that I actually liked and thought would fit the concept of the shop. So I locked in the price and scheduled a measuring (free during the month of May - saving me $100). It's called Manchurian Walnut and has a bit of that rustic look to it. It will be a close match to the large wall mirror I'm putting up behind the counter. It looks like this:



I just got word that the Cabinets will be ready for delivery on June 6, which is pretty good timing.

Cabinets

I ordered the cabinets yesterday. I went with Home Depot as my source, and as a fan of Jimmy Johnson (sponsored by Lowe's) it was tough to do. But the reality is that the nearest Lowe's is a lot farther away than the nearest Home Depot, and I need this done conveniently.

I pre-planned the cabinetry several months ago with Home Depot Kitchen Designer, Ruth Allen, a very nice Caribbean lady who worked me through the process. I was thrilled when I saw her without a customer yesterday, and was able to change some specs (it was still saved on her computer) and subsequently order the cabinets - which might take up to five weeks to deliver/install. The good news is that I will have them after most of the major work has been done, the bad news is that I'd liked to have had them a little sooner. But in the grand scheme of things, I think it will work out just right.

I've decided to go with Home Depot for the flooring as well - for four reasons. 1. Convenience
2. Free measuring/estimates this month and 3. I qualified for a 12-month, no payments, no interest Home Depot credit card (with $7,500 credit line) which I signed up for. I also got $200 for signing up. This card will free up some cash for other essentials and possible uh-ohs that will likely come along the way. And lastly, 4. I saw a specific hardwood flooring that I really liked for a great price. Had to go for it.

Construction: Electrical

The initial electrical work is done including the set up for an alarm system and smoke detectors. J.C. Electric, specifically Mark and his crew, have done an outstanding job. I'm happy to have them on board with this.

SBA Loans Pt. 3

Yesterday I put together all of the documents needed to close the loan with the exception of Danna's Life Insurance Policy which State Farm is taking their sweet time underwriting. I must say - I'm a little disappointed in the turn around time.

I made three copies of everything I have and dropped one off to my lawyer and FedEx'ed another to the Bank's lawyer. She should have it this morning and will then review to see where we stand. The SBA rep of Commerce Bank already has a copy and I've been sending her stuff along the way. We're getting there. At this rate, I hope to close on Wednesday of next week. That would be perfect...but we'll see.

Messages in Unexpected Places

Opening up a business and essentially flying without a net can drain one's energy. So today I made a little time to meet up with Joyce and did a tour of Darwin's Garden at the New York Botanical Garden. Joyce, for those not in the know, is my birthmother - who I met almost exactly a year ago for the first time. Afterwards, I went to get my haircut at Blackstones in the East Village. As I was walking back to the car, a drunk guy approached me and asked if I knew who or where the owners of these pedicab-like bicycles might be because he wanted to take one of them for a spin. I had no idea, but chatted the guy up a bit. Or rather, he chatted me up a bit. Then I took notice of the writing on the bikes: Become Your Dream, Live Your Dream, and things of that nature. A helpful reminder. I needed that. And so I got a good shot of this guy sitting in the passenger seat. These photos are from my cell phone, so don't expect much.

Change of Scenery

I like my new office digs considerably better than what I had. Natural light via a dozen windows versus fluorescent bulbs, privacy versus an open bullpen of sorts and in general, more quiet.

I've also got some helpful distractions - namely my dog Roxy - who for some reason knows not to bother me when I'm in the office. Good dog.

Here's what I had:


Here's what I now have:

And as nice as it is regularly seeing woodpeckers, blue jays, orioles, cardinals, robins, the occasional goldfinch and the families of mallards and wood ducks - there are some downsides. I witnessed a nasty raven swoop down and pick up a baby rabbit today. Pretty graphic and, truth be told, unnerved me for the rest of the day.

Mac Convert

For a PR guy who is used to Windows, the idea of switching over to a Mac was a difficult one.

We have an iBook G4 at home - and frankly, I find it annoying to use. Or rather, I used to. Over the years, I've grown accustomed to their nuances and since most of my writing and such was done at the office, it really didn't affect my day-to-day chores.

So when I was looking for a new laptop to manage my business - I decided to check out both PCs and Macs in the interest of keeping my options open.

My choices came down to this:

Buy a PC laptop and then separately buy a customized PC-based POS system

or

Buy a MacBook Pro and use the laptop as my POS system by virtue of the Mac software called Checkout.

And the winner was...the MacBook Pro. It has pretty much everything I need and what it doesn't have (yet), like the cash drawer, bar code scanner, credit card slider, receipt printer - was easily gotten thanks to www.checkoutapp.com - the website that lists all of the recommended and compatible hardware to get your business up and running.

I had the Mac Geniuses put it all together for me and it is now installed with Microsoft Office, Checkout and Quickbooks among many other standard items and some other things I got for myself.

I downloaded Firefox today on the new rig - which I find to be much more user-friendly than Safari for web browsing.

Here's to hoping it works as smoothly as the ordering and development process has been so far. And the business consultant at the Mac store was great too. Really helpful in keeping me focused on what I need now and what I might need later. Great customer service - and the store is only a few minutes away in case I ever need anything.

I ordered the hardware today from a guy named Scott at (name of distributor) and can expect to receive it within the next few days.