So I talked about Tea Exotics a while ago. I have visited several local tea and coffee places over the last year and found that my vision is at least somewhat unique. That's good right?
We have Boulevard Coffee which is probably the closest to me if you discount Starbucks and Dutch Bros which are both within a mile of me in any direction. Boulevard is run by a guy named Cliff and his wife. Lisa, my partner in recon, and I went over there one day and she, being a lot more brave than I am, asked the guy to come talk with us. He did at length and I got a really great story about how they had a location, decided to move and expand, and how they built their place from a shell, just like I am planning on. I encourage you to go say hi to him and even ask about how he found and built the place. He's gruff, but really nice. I also got some good advice from him. Let me say that I get advice from everyone, and you know what they say about advice, that it's often worth about what you pay for it...well, he gave me some that I had never heard before: don't just define who you want your customers to be, but also define who you don't want. This was interesting to hear, because I always figured you might define your target demographic, but be happy with anyone who came in. His example is that he does not provide WiFi. He doesn't want people sitting on their phones or computers. He wants his place to be a social place where people talk to each other rather than stare at a computer screen. And he also said he would kick someone out if they were sitting too long and not buying anything. I can see him doing that. I have made the decision to have WiFi at my place, but I now know that maybe I should look carefully at who I want...and who I don't.
The two men in my life...
From Halloween...N gave up on the costume early!
