Mötley Brüe: Day 7

It's the beginning of the end, and the end of the beginning. Tomorrow will be the last day before we open our doors, and the last day of our long hours of preparation.
The penultimate day before opening was possibly one the hardest yet, as we push ourselves even harder.
In the morning, a lawyer who specializes in working for bars and restaurants came to speak to us about the various legal aspects involved in running a coffee bar. He taught us about all the legal ramifications of our decisions and the many choices any coffee bar owner has to make in order to be successful.
In the afternoon, we resumed our preparations for opening day. We started drawing the menu on our gigantic blackboard, worked on the decor, and ordered our supplies. We are still quite behind where we wanted to be today, but we are working twice as hard to finish in time. At times like these, it's hard not be pessimistic, not to give up in front of the overwhelming amount of work we still have to do. But I still believe that if we work as hard as we did today and yesterday, we can still finish this race against time.

Mötley Brüe: Day 6

Three days from the opening. Three days. Just three days. Today your humble blogger sees great progress, things are falling into place, and we are nearing the end of a long journey.

In the morning we had a guest accountant come over and show us the tremendous amount of money and funds needed to open a business. The staggering amount of money required just to open a small coffee shop was awe-inspiring.

Later, after a refreshing lunch break, our work resumed. Contacts were gathered, excel spreadsheets were filled in, giant press releases were reverently taped to the window. The intensity was apparent in all these tasks. The difference between today and previous days was like night and day. Suddenly our motley crew of teens became a professional team of well trained soldiers. Tomorrow it will two days, and two days after tomorrow, the public will be able to judge how professional we truly are.

Mötley Brüe: Day 5

Today, I have good news and bad news to report. The bad news is that we are really, really behind on our work. The good news is that today, we got quite a bit done. In the morning we had an HR specialist talk to us about getting a job and being an effective worker. After that informative session, we studied the various forms and permits which would be needed to open a real restaurant or coffee bar. The vast amount of permits and rules which one would have to complete in order to open a real restaurant was staggering. After lunch we went into a working frenzy. We finally did what was long overdue and gathered the remaining press contact info we needed and sent out the press release. We also worked on our floor plan, assembled an inventory of paper utensils, painted our sandwich board, created a flyer, and finished a draft of the menu. The sheer amount of tasks we completed was amazing, and so much better than yesterday. However with only three working days left before the public opening of our coffee bar, we are all worried that we won't complete our restaurant in time. But today's events showed that we really could get a lot done, and If we work this hard all the time, we will surely be able to open this shop in time.

Mötley Brüe: Day 4

Today, after hours of arduous and painstaking work, we finally finished our press release. JC really improved what was a lackluster at best press report. Now we actually have to finish our contact list (which we are really, really behind on) before we can send it out.

We also assembled our list of the required items to run the coffee bar. (fridge, dishwasher, microwave, etc) Several of us also painted our logo on the window (and it looks awesome!) and started working on our sandwich board.

In the afternoon we had an architect come in and help us out with our floor plan. We measured the various furniture items, like chairs and table and drew 2d scale models of each to place on a diagram of our cafe space. This helped us visualize what our shop would look and feel like with various furniture configurations.

We got quite a bit done today but we are still way behind what we wanted to achieve by today. We're really going to have to focus and push ourselves to finish the enormous amount of work we still have to accomplish before opening day.

Mötley Brüe: Day 3

Today was brainstorming day for our team. In the morning we discussed the state of the coffee industry. We emailed the companies J&R music world and Harley Davidson motorcycles for cross marketing opportunities. We asked the Harley Davidson company if they would allow us to exhibit one of their motorcycles to add to our ambiance.

Later on in the day we brainstormed a list of media outlets to send our press releases to. The list included various newspapers and T.V stations ranging from the New York times to the South Bay newspaper in Long Island. We acquired the contact information for the various media outlets and business we wish to cross market with.

A small group of us jotted down ideas we thought would be best form our menu and our sandwich board which helps us promote our business. We decided on promotions and specials for our menu and we also came up with ideas for our window display. Overall it was a very productive day and we hope tomorrow will be equally successful.

Mötley Brüe: Day 2

Today we learned three different ways to draw attention to our coffee business. We split up into three groups of three and each had a different task. One group had the task of writing the press release. In the press release, we had to describe the concept of our coffee bar business and why it would interest people. This press release will be sent out to magazines, newspapers, and other media outlets in the hope that they would cover us, which would give us more publicity. The second group had the task of blogging about the days work. This would spread the word about our business throughout the internet. The third group had to write a letter to potential cross marketing partners in order to increase business profits. One such partner was J & R, which is a music and electronics store which could potentially put on a musical event for our coffee business.

All of these tasks are helping us with one main goal right now. Publicity! We learned the value of networking and marketing to spread the word about our business. We will be able to get more customers into the door and increase our profits. Everyone is working hard and a great business is coming.

Mötley Brüe: Day 1

Today we began our first day at camp. The nine of us formed a circle where we learned each other's names and discovered a few traits about one another. While some of us are from Manhattan, some of us are from Brooklyn, Long Island, and even Chicago. Pam explained general ideas on how to begin a business and how even introducing ourselves to each other is a form of networking. We learned that networking is an ideal skill when publicity and customers are needed to start a business. With networking comes cross marketing, when two businesses exchange services to help promote one another.

Our team separated into three groups. Team one's task was to walk around the neighborhood and observe the surrounding buildings to further get an idea of cross marketing possibilities. Team two was assigned to locate our potential competition. Team three interviewed possible customers about their beverage preferences and the various genres of music they listen to, to further get an idea of the type of espresso bar people in the neighborhood would be drawn to.

Later on in the day we met together as a team and decided on a name for our business, a logo, and an ambiance to match. We brainstormed and came up with a variety of ideas from "The Dashing Bean", a club scene, to "Bean It", a play on words based on Michael Jackson's song "Beat It". Eventually our team decided on the Mötley Brüe, a rock and roll themed cafe.