So…about that target opening date of January 7. It’s NOT happening exactly as we planned.
We are hurtling to the finish the line, but unfortunately, we’ve run into a few things that have delayed our progress. The biggest issue is our liquor license and permits from the city.
Shocker, right?
Since our permanent liquor license will not be here in time, we applied for a temporary license in early December. We were told it usually takes just a few weeks. We found out yesterday that somehow they received the check for $640 and the photos of the room, but not the actual application we sent along with those items. How does that happen?!? I scrambled another form together and sent that out, only to get an update today saying that they don’t think they have our check.
The one they DID have earlier in the week.
Also, our permits from the city have all been approved but I have been unable to get them in my hands. I’m hoping to make some progress on that front now that the holidays are over.
As for the room itself, we decided to add overhead glass racks for our wine glasses and Irish coffee mugs.
Space behind our bar is more valuable than Manhattan real estate, and we were getting a little panicky about having everything we need at our fingertips.
We have dropped ceilings in this room, so mounting anything up there is a tricky proposition. As expected, it was a beast of a project, but it needed to be tackled before we could do the copper and epoxy bar top.
We have someone wrapping copper around the skeleton of our drink rail. As soon as we get that back and installed we can tackle the copper and epoxy. Finally!
We’ve been trying to get our soda gun set up with Coca-Cola since early December, but for some reason, it’s super difficult to do business with them, which I didn’t anticipate. It’s Coca-Cola…they do this kind of stuff in their sleep, right? After calling and emailing several times with no response, I eventually tracked down a local rep through a restauranteur friend of mine and we made arrangements to have the install done this week. I could probably write an entire post on this batshit crazy fiasco, but I’ll spare you the details. We haven’t totally resolved it yet – they installed the soda gun directly over the ice bin, which will not fly with the health department. I never would have guessed that getting a soda hook up would consume this much time and energy, but here we are. Hopefully, we’ll have a solution by next week.
Thankfully, everything else is moving at warp speed.
We have acquired our business insurance and workers comp policies and I sent in our ASCAP and BMI applications. In case you’re wondering, last week we pretty much just shoveled money out the door.
Our wine list is done and we’re trying to wrap up liquor decisions this week. We’ve run our first test batches of coffee through the coffee machines, figured out coffee pricing and I’m working on our food menu and prep list.
A friend of ours who is a former bartender at the Dinosaur BBQ has agreed to help us out with setting the bar up and training our staff. It’s a massive weight off my shoulders and will allow me to focus my attention on the 1000 other things on our To Do list. Staff training starts Monday!
The boys finally came up with a good plan to mount the speakers. As I mentioned, we have a dropped ceiling, so it’s nearly impossible to hang anything from it – there just isn’t anything to attach to. We were only able to mount the glass racks over the bar because there happens to be an access panel in that area. Also, we have 3 tray ceilings in the room, including a large one directly over and in front of the stage. They are an attractive focal point in the room and we didn’t want to ruin that with equipment hanging in them. On the other hand, we didn’t want to cop out and just use tripod speaker stands.
They ended up mounting heavy black iron pipe onto the wooden wainscotting with pipe hangers and sliding the speaker stands into them. The weight is securely supported, and we aren’t taking up valuable real estate with a big tripod base.
They can actually be taken down completely, but I suspect it will be easier to just leave them up.
I added a few more funky finds to our decor, and our generous next door neighbor Matt donated the wicked cool orange swivel MCM chair to the room. Isn’t it awesome?
So when ARE we opening, you ask?
Well, our best guess at this point is sometime between January 16-21. We have a couple shows scheduled that week, so come hell or high water we’ve got to be open by then. Stay tuned for details as they develop!
