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