Session 2: Last Day of Cafeazy

What can we say we did it!

Session 2: Day 9 of Cafeazy

Patrick M. Celebrates the grand opening

Day 9 of Cafeazy, and we finally open our doors to the public! It has been pretty hard to believe that some of the ideas that we put down on paper have now been turned into a reality and that we are now serving customers. It's been pretty slow the whole day, but we had many customers and even a couple of big orders! The big orders let us get the feel of what it would be like if we were a big business and had a very busy day. As everyone ended up discovering, doing promotion outside of the shop was horrible. The heat was horrendous and no one wanted to do promotion, but it had to be done if we wanted to bring in more customers and more money. We ended up working in 15 minute shifts, patrolling the front of the shop trying to bring in people with the incentive of free cupcakes and chocolate truffles.

It was a good first day, and we had some tips that are going to be split between everyone. One problem we had was that it got very confusing at times, with people switching jobs every 20 minutes. The milk and sugar area was sometimes forgotten, and had to be cleaned up often. We even ran out of espresso near closing, and had to buy espresso from Starbucks to get us through to the end! However, at the end of the day, we worked very well as a team at conquering every single order, and we expect to do just as well tomorrow!

Session 2: Day 8 of Cafeazy

The team talking to Daryl Dunbar

Today, we started by writing out our business plan with Daryl Dunbar. We spent a lot of time talking about what we would do if we ran the espresso business for more than a year, including taxes and things like that. We then put up the awning and set it up so it would stay upright. The colors are blue and light blue. Thanks a lot to Andy Kettler for moving the wires for us (the wires that are holding the awning up in place)! After setting up the awning and making sure all the furniture was in the right place, we needed to buy milk. Running to Associated in the pouring rain, Brian, Patrick, and Siena went and bought enough milk to last us for the next two days while the business is open.

Patrick M. Sarah B. on the computer

Almost everything was set up to perfection, except for one last thing. All of the walls were blank slates, with nothing on them. They were boring, so to fix them, we went back to Tower Art and looked for paintings. Tower Art kindly agreed to donate 6 pieces of art: four big pieces and two smaller pieces. Now that everything was set up and ready to go, all we had to do was wait one more day until we opened our doors!

Session 2: Day 7 of Cafeazy

Patrick M. And Brian B. messing around

Today we created the menu for Cafeazy. We also sewed together the backdrop for the awning. We bought pillows from Century 21 for our window seat. The bench was also freshly painted white. In addition to working on the internal design of Cafeazy, we also began working on the banner and flag to hang outside of the espresso bar. The cushions were also covered with fabric according to the official Cafeazy color scheme.

Later in the day, we figured out our annual costs via our special entrepreneurial worksheets given to us by Emily yesterday. We found out that we would be in debt for quite some time and have to have over five hundred customers per month to upkeep the café. We also placed our order with the paper goods provider. Our sugar, cups, java sleeves, and more will arrive tomorrow!

We ended the day by trying to find a company that would make our t-shirts and get them here by opening! One more day till Cafeazy is open to the public!

Session 2: Day 6 of Cafeazy

After a relaxing weekend, we swung back into our business mode. Everyone started working on the many different things we still had to accomplish. It was great to hear that Patrick and Julia were able to get Godiva Chocolates to donate 200 of their new ice cream truffles. We will offer the truffles for free if we run out of cupcakes.

We also finalized our order form for the catering equipment and furniture. The total came out to be $355, but it's still a lot cheaper than buying the equipment. We went to the fabric store and chose the colors and designs we are going to use. We want to start making our awning tomorrow.

We had Emily come visit us and talk to us about start up costs and recurring costs. Emily works as a free lance accountant, who is in charge for bookkeeping for several major clients. We figured out the costs needed if we wanted to start a permanent business. After doing all the math, the money we would have needed at hand was around $160,000.

Our quarter page ad for the Downtown Express.

We finalized the ad and sent it to the Downtown Express so that it would be printed in the Friday newspaper. Along with the ad, we also ordered postcards that we could hand out to promote Cafeazy.

Siena finished decorating the sandwich board we are going to display outside our store to advertise our opening. A bunch of us went out to different coffee shops to see what the prices of various goods were and based our menu on these findings. And to end the day, Julia sent out our press release to NY1 and ABC.

Session 2: Day 5 of Cafeazy

Today, we found more out about employment from our guest speaker, Sabrina Espinal. She told us about the Do's and Don'ts of teen employment in particular, such as how nose and tongue piercings are usually frowned upon. Then, we split up to learn about different aspects of business, pertaining more to the legal stuff. We learned about licensing, permits we needed, taxes we had to pay, insurances we needed, and the New York City Health Department regulations we had to follow to stay open.

Sarah B. and Patrick M. in line at the Health Department.

After lunch, it was time to make more phone calls to our PR contacts. Most of them had us redirected to an email address, but it was still very productive seeing as we had over 40 contacts. We finished up a lot of our projects like finalizing our press release and finishing our ad. We also looked up some of our equipment that we needed and found out the prices. We also picked up our freezer that we had ordered from Craigslist.

Session 2: Day 4 of Cafeazy

Today we started to finalize everything we had worked on yesterday. This included completing a press list, contacting/visiting potential sponsors, our final logo painted on our front window, finding a supplier (and freezer) for our special drink, the Vanilla Espress, and brainstorming furniture and café set up (interior designing) with the assistance of special guest David Meinhart.

We searched the web for different potential PR opportunities and successfully completed our list. Among those on the list were some of our guest speakers from previous sessions and days. We can’t wait to get on the phone tomorrow and let the world know about Cafeazy and Teen Entrepreneur Boot Camp! We also went out on the streets to Chase Bank, Bank of America, Godiva, Carvel, Häagen Dazs, and Associated Groceries where we had our fair share of hits and misses. In the end we managed to make a deal with Associated Groceries, who kindly agreed to donate 5 gallons of vanilla ice cream to us! As for the other businesses we visited, everybody is now well informed about our upcoming opening and about the Teen Entrepreneur Boot Camp (although some of these companies were more gracious than others). At Bank of America we talked to Pam’s banker, Mahwish and will be in further contact with her later this week about a possible business deal (as well as with Chase Bank and Godiva).

This morning we all came into the shop with the pleasant surprise of seeing our name on one of the front windows! Michael did a great job of painting, drawing, and finishing the logo on the window!

Michael working on the logo!

Later in the day, David Meinhart came in and gave us a few lessons on interior designing and then we came up with our own interior layout of Cafeazy! We figured out what kind of furniture we want along with where we want to place everything. Besides the constant disagreement of different floor plans, we managed to come up with a blueprint that we all agreed on! Thanks David!

David teaching us about interior design

Cafeazy's future floor plan!

Our next steps for tomorrow and next week are to follow up with Chase, Associated, Bank of America and all of our other future participants. In the next few days, we will also be picking out our furniture. One week till opening!

Session 2: Day 3 of Cafeazy

We finally decided on our new logo!

Dani and Francesco showing us different ways to advertise.

Today Dani and Francesco from Community Media LLC visited and talked to us. Their company prints newspapers that are circulated around New York City, which include Downtown Express, The Villager, Gay City News, Chelsea Now, and Thrive NYC. Their presentation showed us many different ways advertise and attract more customers. They even gave us a free quarter page ad for the Downtown Express! This is really great news since these ads usually cost around $600 for one day. We also started to make our flyers and the ads. We want to have a promotional event so people would have an incentive to keep the flyers and come to our coffee house. We really liked the idea of having Chase Bank or Bank of America sponsor us and buy 200 cupcakes from Tribeca Treats, so we could give them away for free with our coffee.

Finding the cost of the equipment and furniture needed for our shop.

We researched and found out how much money we needed to start up a coffee business. Although we are going to be renting most of the equipment and furniture, it was interesting to see how much it cost to buy things like coffee brewers, display cases, under-counter refrigerators and panini grills. Many of these things cost way more than we had expected; coffee brewers and small refrigerators were priced over $1,000. Renting the equipment would be more cost effective for Cafeazy. We also tried to find some furniture, but many of the sofas were too extravagant for the shop. Hopefully we can find something that fits our needs soon.

Speaking to the owner of Tower Art Gallery and negotiating with him.

Our group also visited a local framer and art gallery, Tower Art Gallery, and after speaking to the owner, Jon, it turns out that the gallery was more than willing to donate some of their artwork for us to hang up when Cafeazy opens next Thursday and Friday. We want art that is colorful and relaxing, and they had many compositions that fit job.

Two of the many great works of art available for us to use at Cafeazy.

We finished up the day by writing our press release and compiling a list of people to mail it to. On our press release we detailed what the Teen Entrepreneur Boot Camp does and what Cafeazy is offering to the general public that other coffee shops aren't, the relaxed atmosphere, the escape from the hustle and bustle of the financial district and our signature drink: the Vanilla Espress, a shot of expresso drizzled over a scoop of vanilla ice cream. We are looking forward to each and every day.

Session 2: Day 2 of Cafeazy

Rachel from Tribeca Treats

Rachel came in today, and she told us about opening a business. She owns a bakery in Lower Manhattan called Tribeca Treats, which she's owned for over two and a half years. She brought in delicious treats for us, including cupcakes and small cookies. They were amazing, thank you!!!

Learning how to make coffee with Pam!

We learned to make coffee with Pam. It didn't turn out very good though most of the time. It was fun, but very confusing and we still have a long way to go before we become experts!

Anita talking to us about PR

We learned about the differences between Public Relations and advertising. Anita told us that PR could generate a lot of hype, which we need to get Cafeazy going, but could be hit or miss. She also told us that advertising could get expensive quickly, but was more of a sure thing. We will use all of this valuable and helpful information to get Cafeazy on its feet.

Session 2: Day 1

All of the campers in front of the building on day one!

Today, we learned about networking and its importance in business. We had a hands-on experience when we introduced ourselves to each other, and learned about each other. Michelle came in and gave us an idea on customer importance, such as relevant facts about their coffee habits. She explained marketing to us, and how vital it is when it comes to starting a business. We also discussed how we would match up to and beat the competition.

We split up into 3 groups, with each group tackling a different aspect of what we learned. The first group worked with customer relations, the second group investigated the competition, and the final group explored the businesses and corporations surrounding the area. We regrouped and discussed our findings back at our soon-to-be coffee shop. The first group discovered that customers don't like to travel far to buy a cup of coffee. The second group found that our biggest competition would be Starbucks, due to its immense popularity. The third group was able to make a relationship with a nearby doorman, who would gladly pass out flyers advertising our shop.

After a refreshing lunch, it was time to come up with a name for our shop. A wide variety of names was brainstormed, ranging from Koffee Khan to Battery Acid. It was decided that the new name would be Cafeazy, a combination of the words Café and Easy. Pieces of paper were passed out to get a wide range of possible logo ideas, which will be put to a vote tomorrow!!!

Day 10: Espresso Yourself Finale

Hard at Work!



Even with the sidewalk blocked off have customers!


customers "table tagging!"





TEBC teens at their best






Disassembling the set up

An Ode to Alistair

Hard at work! making our shop clean
So Strong!!



Working hard......
working the register with Omari



Alistair and Yoela sending out press releases!

haha. ok so, we thought about how much Alistair's happy vibe ment to us, and now that he left... well, the vibe isn't so happy as much as it is tired. So this post is just for Alistair, with all these cool pictures! (even if he hates being in them)!

Goofing around with Omari

Alistair, if you're reading this, we all just want to say that you were a valued member, totally cool, and really fun to be with. Even though you never got a random as some of us, you still knew how to light up a room. ( or a whole coffee house, in our case :D) Thank you for just being alive!!!! ahahahahahahahaha lol. (of course by now you can probably tell that i (yoela) wrote this while still really tired and deliusional.) We had fun even if it was just having lunch all together, or staying after to look at embarrasing pictures/videos of us. None of us live close to you, and we dont know how ofter you come into the city, but we hope to see you around!!!!!!!!
Love- The Espresso Yourself Team!
(Yoela, Omari, Zoe, Mina, Alexi, Sabrina, Shireen, Michael, Billy, and Pam)

Day 9: Espresso Yourself

The always happy Alexi at manning the fort


At the start of yesterday we had some difficulty with our coordination...PROBLEM: no coordination but as time went on we learned how to work together and found a system that worked for all of us. We had trouble grasping the concept of espresso drinks but in the end we all mastered the cappuccino. On Tuesday, Zoe worked hard on creating a schedule for our business days, with some people on drinks, some on cashier and food, and some on samples/fliers. But once again, difficulties struck. We ran out of fliers first thing in the morning, so that made 3 people without jobs, construction closed off portions of the street, decreasing the flow of traffic, and many people would look at the store front, but would just walk by. Even with our series of unfortunate coincident, we still managed to see a light side. With the customers that we DID have was a good amount for the first day. In total, we made $400 over profit on the FIRST DAY!!!!! I think that's pretty good, if you ask me. We ran out of Blueberry Lemonade during the "lunch rush", so I guess it was really popular!! The coffee stencils were a hit. They looked AMAZING!
Shireen's Stencil Success!
We all had a lot of fun, and did really well! The kids were allowed to keep the tips that they got. we made $56 in tips, so each kid got $8.
With all the joy in opening up, there was a hint of sadness among all of us. For Alistair, it was his last day with us. He would be leaving for Japan later that night. But he was a valued and awesome member of the TEBC community!!!!!
Alistair working the register

Day 8

Alistair, Yoela, and Omari helping the delivery guys unload the catering.

Today we got our furniture and our coffee, and we were able to set everything up from the bar to the tagging tables! It looks really cool!


setting up!

Today, the final speaker came in to talk to us. His name is Daryl Dunbar and he's a business consultant. He helped us write our business plan. We sat around a table and went over what we did in the last two weeks, including our finances, marketing research, and advertising. We came to realize that setting up a business isn't as easy as just setting up a lemonade stand on the corner, it takes a lot of hard work. In reality, we realized that we would be more than $68,000 over our budget. Yikes! So once again, we are thankful for al the things we had graciously donated to us! Thanks Everybody! So far, we're all ready, except for our final touch, graffiti-inspired paintings!!!!!!

yay! Andy's plumber was conveniently in the area and hooked up our water line for our handwashing sinks!

Shireen and Alexi picked up our custom-made stencils for the coffee graffiti!



while they were away we got our T-shirts shipped from Alyssa SanValentin!

We are excited about tomorrow, and are well prepared .We learned how to make coffee, espresso, americano, and mochas. We'll get our treats later, and our milk will be fresh tomorrow! I hope all of you will come down and visit us between 8am and 5pm!

day 7

Today was a good day. Lawyers named David Helbraun Esq. and Joseph Levey came in and taught us about leasing information such as acquiring licenses and permits. These were some of our favorite speakers because they really made sure to interact with us and include us in their presentation. After lunch we received our equipment delivery. Yay! We now have our espresso bar and materials. Mina finished the press release and sent out more emails than we thought. Michael did the drink menu and put it up (it's very pretty.) Shireen, Sabrina and Alexi went to get the order of the flyers and stickers. There were a few typos, however they still came out beautifully!! Pam today showed us how to make espresso drinks. Zoe finished the schedule and assigned the team their jobs. Today was a very productive and fast moving day.


making use of the new equipment!


step 2....


step 3...


and done!

Yoela making an espresso

Day 6

Our new curtains!

Today, Emily, an accountant and friend of Teen Entrepreneur Bootcamp, visited us and helped us get an estimate for our day to day costs, as well as any and all start up costs. Her advice was much appreciated and we were very suprised and grateful when she offered to contact her brother, a graffiti artist, and ask him if he would contribute to our cause.



Today was mostly a day of great news. A few days ago, we bought large sheets of black and blue cloth that today we made into curtains (see above). These curtains are going to work as barriers when the coffee shop is open. We placed all of our orders today, including paper goods, which Omari managed to negotiate the price down nearly $70. off the paper good order. Also, we made the drink menu and managed, thanks largely to Shireen and Michael, to put our logo on the window of our coffee shop.


Our mentors Shireen and Michael painting the logo on the window





P.S. This is our teacher/mentor/designer/counselor/everything! Shireen and Michael who came out to help!