Why has it been so quiet?

I have now decided the sound that red tape makes is silence followed by some very detailed questions.

The reason it has been so quiet for the previous weeks is that we have been firmly embroiled in obtaining all the official department approvals so we can commence work on the premises. This takes time and patience, questions are asked and my good friend Paul finds the answers. However, the light at the end of the tunnel has been burning brighter and brighter. Now it's a full blown sunrise with a hint of green about it. Today we have answered the last comment about the circuit boards and their labeling.

Tomorrow we should have the full blown permit and and a massive bright green light!

We have been busy talking to the bank, buying ovens, trying to find that perfect solution to the pasty display case issue. Btw I have found something very close, but as you might guess its looking very expensive. So I might be having a collection so I can afford it.

The ovens and the freezer arrived. They are now safely stored onsite ready for the work to take place. Tomorrow we move the mixer and the fridges in from storage unit, so all the important ducks are being brought into line.

I've met with the people who run payroll for small businesses. Making me prepared and ready on that front. So, who wants to come and make/sell pasties then?

Tomorrows meeting with the landlord and the builder will be the milestone I have been waiting for. So then there will be some excited postings as we will have a schedule to work to.

Let's start building things.

Dishwashers, Freezers and a goal achieved.

Well as you can see from the picture we have put posters up in the windows announcing our intent on what is coming. Heidi the marketing lady did most of the wording for me and design, except for the wonderful logo from my ever useful daughter.

The big goal achieved was that the plans submitted to the health dept were passed. BIG cheer! Now they have to go through the other Fairfax county depts before we get the green light. So at this point Paul (Architect), Nick (Landlord) and myself got together over a NY omelette breakfast to get our ducks in line. I reckon I'm quite lucky to have these guys on board, we seem to connect well. So, we're putting our contractor on warning for a May start of the necessary construction work. Brilliant.

One fly in the ointment for me was the dishwasher. The health dept threw out the one I had purchased due to its hot water requirement exceeding the planned hot water system. The equation is too complex for here. As I said at the time, probably more complex than the story line in 'Lost'. The bottom line is I can't use it. So, I'm reverting to plan B of get my mum in and give her some rubber gloves.

More good news though, the guys I bought the freezer from in Maryland delivered it yesterday, and it all looks good. Plus I bought the Oven, a stonking big Vulcan SG44D, can bake enough pasties to feed an army. That should be arriving next week.

I saw Paul at the site, when we were dealing with the freezer, and he was smiling. That's always a good sign.

Saving the best news for last, I've been taking finance with my old company HSBC. These guys are really great. John Villar and Tucker Snyder, it's good to see the processes from the customer perspective. I was always in the back room jobs, but these front line people do the company proud.

Let's see where we are next week. Most or the equipment is now done. Maybe time for some golf with Steve (English Butcher) and get the sausage roll project rolling.

Washington Business Journal

Well I've made it into a second publication. This time it's the prestigious Washington Business Journal. See the link below:

http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2010/04/05/newscolumn2.html

I actually gave the interview while driving the truck down I95 in the pouring to pick up my cold goods merchandiser from Richmond. I'm starting to like being interviewed, so if any of the other local publications want to talk to me, bring them on. Anybody that knows me of old, knows it's actually more difficult to shut me up :-) especially about food.

Display Case - Hrumph

I like the sound of Hrumph, it expresses exactly how one feels at that time. I had couple of those moments this week.

From where we left off before, it was all about ensuring The Health people had the spec sheets on every item of equipment I would be using.

Oh yes, and arranging consequent purchases and deliveries. Well the coffee grinder has arrived, I must do some really fantastic organic coffee for the American tastes. Coffee maker, model and make has been decided upon. The dishwasher is in transit as I write, possibly not moving it is Sunday morning. However, there is always a BUT....

The Display Case.

What I want to do is really simple. This item is centre of attention in the shop. It contain the main star of the show, the glorious Pasty. The problem is that off the shelf warming cabinets are quite ugly. I want to replicate the beautiful cases that West Cornwall Pasties use (pictured above). They are just front, top, and sides glass, with chrome steel posts holding all together. Yes, they have them in the States, and I can get all the parts, a manufacturer in California makes them. I can have a local glass company order the parts and fit the glass.

However, the health people say I've got to buy a unit with a NSF, UL or ETL code compliance rating. I've asked how other larger outlets get use ones like the one above, and they do, to find its because the big players can NSF rate them themselves :-(

Hrumph.

Anyway quitting has never been part of my strategy, and neither is settling for second best. Actually that goes for most things really. So next week I'm going to try and find somebody who can build this and the NSF rate it for me.

For now we have an off the shelf model in the plans and that is being submitted. So the approval process can keep on going.

A bump in the road.

I wasn't long before the first bump in the road of 'planning application'!

Previously all 'food to go' and bakery planning apps went to the USDA, only being rubber stamped at The Dept of Health. I'd been told that by the Dept of Health and the architect had many previous projects that all had gone down that route. However not this time! The problem is that the detail level required by each organization is different, so the plans have to me amended. That means involving the engineers again, more time added to the timeline and of course more money.

The other part is that I need to have the full detailed spec sheets on every piece of equipment we will be using in the space, so i've been busy busy on the equipment front. Ebay Ebay Ebay!!!

On the marketing front, we made it into Viva Tysons mag. You can see it online, use the following link and its on page 20. Sometime further down the bumpy road it will be headlines!

Anyway, the bump in the road didn't make any wheels fall off. So the Pasty cart is still rolling.

Another small landmark. My architect (Paul) and I walked over the very detailed build out plans to the officials in the Vienna Planning Office. So that concludes getting a whole raft of ideas down on to paper and its all in black white drawings now. I suppose this is really a very visual statement of 'this is what we are going to do'.

Now we wait with bated breath on what the people who say Yes and No think of the whole venture.

Fingers crossed.

Eventually the dough divider arrived today. A piece of kit for splitting the dough in lovely equal sized pieces for the dough roller. Then we can have lovely consistent sized rounds of pastry for the pasty crusts.

This was the first piece of kit to be put directly in the new premises. Well at least stored there, the storage unit is full and Yas have moved out. So the landlord is letting me use the space ahead of time :-)

So unloaded it from the pick-up truck into its new home.

Now seeing the space empty really brings it home, that is going to be my work and life for some time to come.

That's a happy thought to end the evening.