Well, I knew there would be days like this.

tinknal · #1 02/14/10, 01:10 AM

Some old sage said the key to success when starting a business is to only work half days, and the nice thing about it is that it doesn't matter which 12 hours of the day you work......

It was a long day. It was a hard day. It was a good day.

I catered my first event tonight. The VFW post Commander and his longtime girlfriend are tying the knot tomorrow...Well, now it's today I guess LOL.
It was an open house type affair, buffet line. Still served the regular customers all day long too. Left home at 9:30 AM and just got home, almost 1:00 AM.

After the first couple of weeks business just sort of stagnated and hit the wall, but the last several days things really picked up. Had a good bingo crowd on Wednesday, great lunch rush on Friday, and was busy all day today. I got a couple of leads on 2 more weddings tonight too. My wife has been a trooper, busting her hump right beside me. We are friends of the couple so we got to drink a little and dance a little tonight too.

Backfourty,MI. · #2 02/14/10, 05:45 AM

Don't give up. Any buisness takes alot of time & work before it actually takes off. Someone once told me that as soon as your going to give up, well that's when it's going to take off so don't give up.
I don't know about Minnesota but in Michigan the 2 slowest months of the whole year are January & Febuary & then throw the economy in with that, tax season coming, etc.

Hopefully things will start picking up. Just keep plugging away at it. Best advertisement I think is still word of mouth but put some flyers on car's, etc. to make sure folks know your there too.

johnghagen · #3 02/14/10, 08:55 AM

Hang in there my Son in Law is in the food bussiness(Restaruant)And he says the same thing for Jan and Feb.Everyone is getting the credit card bills for all they spent on Christmas.Also here in Il. first week in June and first week in Aug will be slow as realstate taxs are due.Good Luck buddy

tinknal · #4 02/14/10, 10:16 AM

Oh, I'm not giving up. My first newspaper ad came out this weekend. I talked to a woman last night who works with the city and the chamber of commerce who told me that if I wrote up a little bio on the business that I could get it featured in the "new business" feature in a local publication.

I've gone from using 30 pounds of potatoes a week to using at least 20 pounds a day. I'm thinking that next time I buy ground beef I'll be able to get a whole case at Sam's club. That will save 30 cents a pound. At first I couldn't sell enough soup to justify keeping it on the menu, now I have it back on the menu. I've figured out how to make a stovetop smoker so now I'm smoking my pork shoulders that I make the pulled pork out of.

SheilaOH · #5 02/14/10, 10:48 AM

Well, its sounds like things are going pretty well. Never, never give up. Without hope there is nothing. Probably the slacking in business is weather related. It has been very hard to get out of your driveway throughout much of the country.... Hange in there. It will improve. Also, lots of people were planning about Valentine's Day. They'll get back to you, though....

Old Vet · #6 02/14/10, 10:57 AM

As far as the soup is concerned you can make a soup with most of the vegetables and meat you already have. I did this for 6 weeks and added most all the vegetables and meat that I had left over at the end of the day. It was different each day and went over good. I started out with a plain vegetable soup and added to it every day and let it simmer over night. A great way of using left overs.

tinknal · #7 02/14/10, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SheilaOH

Well, its sounds like things are going pretty well. Never, never give up. Without hope there is nothing. Probably the slacking in business is weather related. It has been very hard to get out of your driveway throughout much of the country.... Hange in there. It will improve. Also, lots of people were planning about Valentine's Day. They'll get back to you, though....

LOL, Thanks. This is Minnesota, a few feet of snow slows us down for about 10 minutes. I think it's more the economy and the fact that January is a lousy month for restaurants in any economy.

tinknal · #8 02/14/10, 11:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Old Vet

As far as the soup is concerned you can make a soup with most of the vegetables and meat you already have. I did this for 6 weeks and added most all the vegetables and meat that I had left over at the end of the day. It was different each day and went over good. I started out with a plain vegetable soup and added to it every day and let it simmer over night. A great way of using left overs.

I buy bone in spiral cut hams for ham sandwiches. I save the bones and oddball scraps of ham, and I had enough saved up to make a big batch of ham and split pea. As far as a 6 week pot of soup I've done this at home but the powers that be frown upon this in a restaurant.

tinknal · #9 02/14/10, 10:09 PM

Had a good Sunday finally. During the football season they have pot-lucks on Sundays so virtually no business. Today was good. Served a Big Al to a first time customer today. I asked her how it was and she said O_M_G! That's the kind of thing that keeps me going.

glazed · #10 02/14/10, 10:14 PM

Just what I wanted to hear .... soooo proud of y'all!

MN Gardener · #11 02/15/10, 11:01 AM

Wish you were closer, there aren't any good, homemade food restaurants around here. Winter is slow for most everybody. Just wait until the snow melts and all of us who hibernate in the winter will be coming out looking for a good meal!

Bonnie L · #12 02/15/10, 11:41 AM

If you haven't already, see if you can get the local paper to do a human interest story on your endeavor. I've done that for businesses here & have received heart-felt thank-yous from the business owners. Done well, those articles can bring in business. For restaurants, I like to get customer quotes. Those can be priceless!