Empty Space...needs filling!!

Well, it's been some time since I've written - my bad.  It seems that for the moment, I'm working three different jobs...and I thought working two was bad enough.  I'm still working my normal full-time job - I work for a software company and do, well, a little bit of everything and it keeps my busy throughout the day...and then some.  My second job - umping High School Fastpitch Softball.  It's fun and I enjoy it but it does take up some time.  My third job? - that's getting my restaurant going.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, there's a lot to do - more than what I had initially thought.  It's not anything too overwhelming, but there is a lot to be done.  In fact, I just met today with an interior designer about color scheme and such.  Floor plan, colors, decor, equipment, menu...the list goes on and on and on.  Right now, the most pressing item is finalizing the floor plans and getting them to the city for approval. 

Now, it would seem that finalizing plans wouldn't be too big of a problem...only it's more than 'just' a floor plan.  If that's all it was, I'd have had that turned into the city for approval and we'd have started building already.  However, since my square footage is over 3,000 SF, I have to have the floor plans done up by an architect along with mechanical plans, plumbing, electrical, and hoods.  I'm hoping that we'll get that completed sometime this week and turned into the city.

As for the space? - that's all it is at the moment - just empty space.

I'm hoping that we'll start filling this space as soon as possible - I'll take pictures along the way so you can see the progression.

This is the front of my location.  If you take the first set of windows directly in front of the parked van on the right, my space is from that set of windows and over four more sets (to the left) for a total of five sets of windows.  Though the doors are shown in the 2nd and 3rd set (going from right to left), we're moving the doors to the 4th and 5th set (with the 4th being the main entrance to the restaurant itself and the 5th being the entrance to the bakery).

Anyway, it's taking a bit to get all the plans ready to submit to the city, but as I've always told my kids..."patience is a virtue".

Learning to Juggle...again

I learned to juggle as a teenager, and got to be pretty good, well, with three balls anyway.  I always found it difficult to add in that fourth ball - it always through me off.  However, with the three balls, I could do more than just the 'standard' juggling.  I even took a dare and juggled three eggs - whew, even with an audience looking on, I didn't drop any of the eggs.

Now, even though I thought I was pretty good at being able to juggle decently with three balls, I look at some of the more 'professionals' that can juggle more than three balls (four, five, six...), or varying items including an apple or two and taking a bite out of apples - now that's some good juggling...something that I have not tried to attempt.

Well, what does juggling have to do with opening a restaurant?  It's me trying to learn how to juggle multiple items at the same time!

I just recently signed my lease for my space....that in itself was a GREAT DAY!! - something to which I'll post on later.  Since signing, my first 'juggling' list went as follows:

1) Call Coke to get that ball rolling - they require at least a 3 week lead time.  Also, I can get a banner through them to put up...saying something like "Nellie's Diner - Comming Soon".
2) POS system - call my contact that I have and keep evaluating systems - will need to determine what type of system I'll need.
3) Logo - nail down my logo as a 'Vector' file - having my logo in this type of format means that I can take my logo to my sign guy, to my screen-printing needs, to my menu, to...whatever else I want my logo on.  The vector files keeps the proportion the same regardless of how big/small it gets, and the logo gets treated as a single object instead of the individual components that make up the logo.
4) Work out my various loans I am seeking after.
5) Get additional bids on my equipment lease.
6) Find out additional pricing on my grease hoods.
7) Talk with Provo City
8) ...

As you can see, I think I'm already past the three balls.  The good news is, I'm learning to juggle again.  Today's task list has 6 items on it...so far.  Tomorrow's list? - well, I'm sure there will be a number of things for me to do as well.  Oops - as I'm writing this, I just thought of another item I need to take care of today...let's see, that's 7 now?

While I may drop a few balls here and there, as long as I keep most of everything going and never drop ALL of them, I should be fine.  Besides, I've got a GREAT support staff, from my realtor, to my contractor, to my friends, and most importantly, my family and wife!!  So my thanks to all of you who support me in my efforts, as I continue to learn how to juggle more than just those three simple balls.

Nilsen
Nellie's Diner