Boogity, Boogity, Boogity. Let’s go Chefing Boys. Blog #31

Hello everyone. So here we are on the eve of LBM opening its doors to the public. So when I left you last, we were just finishing with the Liquor inspector and I was going to meet with Grace to give her a key.  Monday I went in and cleaned and got organized. Jacques was back to finish up on a few things. The Pepsi guy was in too. Wed all the front of house staff came in and started cleaning and getting organized. At one point, I came out of the kitchen and there was a restaurant before my eyes.  I spent the day prepping. Thursday, the front of the house staff was off accept for Grace and the kitchen staff came in.  We finished prepping for the first trial night. Thursday afternoon the health inspector came in for a final inspection. I didn’t have my regular person. I had a different one and I was a little nervous as you get used to one. But he was great!

Friday was a trial night for the family only of the staff. We did 31 covers and everything was good. Sat was a trial for family and friend of staff. Both these nights were half price as it was a trial so I knew things wouldn’t be perfect. Other than waiting, I think it went pretty well. Sat was nuts!!! We did 93 covers. It was awesome!! A little more than I was hoping for but it was a good test for us. I wouldn’t say we passed with flying colours but we made it. There was even a massive argument in the kitchen. I’m usually in them, but this time I was the referee. Great welcome to being the chief cook and bottle washer Jimmy!!!

Things got intense there for a bit and Grace took it like a pro. She is really turning out to be a saving grace for me. Get it? saving GRACE ha ha ha. Sorry I’m on little sleep at the moment. The front of the house is awesome and I don’t see any problems there. I need to work on the back of house though. I do things differently and it is difficult for them to change over. But we’ll get there.

Yesterday I did another order as we ran out of food Sat.  Today, I went in and cleaned and organized.   My good friends the Bennett’s came in on Sat morning for Breakfast and again tonight for a dinner. They brought me Pizza so nice of them.  

So that’s it for now.  Still waiting on a liquor licence.   We don’t officially open till March 1^st, but I’ll let you all know here that we’re open tomorrow starting at 11:00am. Since I know there are millions of you that read this, we’ll get swamped tomorrow. Ha ha ha.

I’ll let you know how it goes. Cheers

Le Commis Glenn

For every adversity there’s an equivalency to benefit, if you just look for it. . Blog #30

Hello everyone. Hope you are well on this evening. The past week has been and an up and down week; actually a down and up week, as it started out not so good but than ended up great. Let me explain.

So Sunday we had our second staff meeting. Basically hired all the ppl we wanted and had a group meeting and got everyone acquainted with each other. Monday was back at the banks trying to get more money and sorting out the architect. Tuesday the architect came in and was there all about 5mins and then left to do his thing back at the office. My second last hope for money came and went when the final bank called me and told me that their answer was no. They would not be giving me anymore money. My heart sank. What was I going to do now? I thought about it for a bit and knew I had to do something drastic. I’ve been putting this off and hoping it wouldn’t come to this, but I had no choice. I’ve had something in my possession since I was 14, worth a lot of money.  This was the ultimate sacrifice for me. Either sell it and build my dream or keep it and go bankrupt and end up losing it anyway. So….I sold it! When I did I sat in my office and bald my eyes out for about 5 mins, and then moved on. I felt better almost instantly and got on with the project. I now have the money to pay off the contractors and open this Resto. Wed was a new day and I took full advantage of it. I got my drawings and faxed them off to the A.G.C.O. The Liquor inspector was booked for Fri. and I called my food rep to book an appointment to order food.  I also ordered my Terminal for debit.  I also stopped in to see Paul to order all my dishes and cooking stuff. On the way to my car I threw up for no bloody reason. Stress I guess, even though I felt good. Than I was off to see Paul and order the stuff then home to change into a suit and run off to another meeting.

Thursday was a good day since I got some things sorted. Throughout all this week, I have been having phone meetings with Grace. She even stopped in once on her morning off to go through some things with me. Friday I had the liquor inspection and was very nervous about it. I mean what could this guy check that hasn’t been checked already? Turns out he just needed to clarify what the Fire Marshal and Architect had said and then gave me a little training seminar.  It was a good meeting but I’m not out of the woods yet. He has to go to the police to do a back ground check on me. Then send that to Toronto to the A.G.C.O. Then, and only if I’m clean (which I am), I’ll get this allusive liquor licence.

 Jay Dee showed up and we did a preliminary food order.  Not to be ordered till next week. The first food order of course will be high. But it is what it is. My terminal showed up too and everything was going to plan and then we realized the terminal was for Sheridan Catering. Booooo… So we had to send it back and start again as a new company. (Le Bon Marché)

So that takes us up to tonight. Tomorrow I get my keg fridge back, painted!!! I’m looking forward to that and meeting up with Grace to give her a key. Sunday I’ll take the day off. Then Monday back at it. Only two and a bit weeks. Yikes!!!  Have a great weekend everyone and we’ll blog at you next week.

Le Commis Glenn Chemise

Word on the street is L.B.M. is going to open. Blog #29

Hello everyone. Hope this weekend finds you all well. I’m sure everyone is delighted at the fact that we’ll have an early spring.

As far as me goes, I’ve had a very interesting week. I spent Monday and Tuesday running around getting my signatures. And then went to City Hall to get my business licence. For everything I’ve ever heard about City Hall in every town I have to say that everyone I’ve dealt with at City Hall has been extremely co-operative and very helpful. Getting the business licence was relatively painless.

With a smile beaming ear to ear and a huge weight off my shoulders, I rushed back to the Resto to fax the signatures to the A.G.C.O.  in order to get the liquor licence moving.  As everything I’ve said about City Hall and their employees above; the exact opposite is for the A.G.C.O. These people are not helpful in the least. It’s almost like they’re out to make everything impossible. Maybe they’re trying to weed out the not so serious ppl. The woman I’m dealing with refuses to talk on the phone and only does email. And the problem with that is she gets back to me at her leisure. Anyway the signatures weren’t good enough! I had to get letters from the Fire, Health and Building inspectors.  So back to these inspectors I go. They were all very helpful and got me the letters very promptly. However, the Fire department charged me $70. I also had to get a municipal Clerk to sign off.  Another $30.  Then they (A.G.C.O.) told me I needed an occupancy load test. A.G.C.O. told me the Fire or Building inspector does this. Well guess what. They don’t. So she said that an Engineer or an architect does it. I called my engineer and they don’t do that. So that left me with no choice but to go to an architect.  I really don’t understand this. It was a Resto before with alcohol and we haven’t changed anything. I never had an architect and I haven’t changed anything. I have less seats then the previous restaurateur. I mentioned this to the AGCO and they didn’t care.

These ppl have power and aren’t afraid to exercise it.  So architect it is, and did I mention that for them to come into the Resto, measure up the Resto and fill out a document and  stamp it, will be anywhere from $800-$1500. Grrrrrrrrrr. Once I get this completed then I have to fax it in and then that only gets me to the next step.  So in lieu of all of this and quickly running out of money I made a decision to open with or without beverages. I believe in the statement “you can’t wait for your ship to come in. You got to jump in the water and swim out to get it”.

This is not how I wanted to open. I’ll be honest here, I’m not very happy about it and down right embarrassed! A fine dinning Resto with no wine, what a joke!  But I’m pushed into a corner and I have to act. I’ve had control of the Resto since Oct 18^th 2010.  That’s way too long to be building a Resto. Opening Day will be Tuesday March 1, 2011. It is still three weeks away so maybe I’ll get the licence before then and we’ll be ok, but I’m not holding my breath.

On to another issue. $$$; as in I have none. This will be a delicate paragraph so I’ll tread lightly. Bottom line is my hood cost 3.5 times what I thought and my kitchen equipment was really expensive too.  The hood is law so there’s no way around that. The equipment is my fault although I think things could have, and should be different. That’s all I’ll say about that. As a result, I’m short of money. I spent last week trying to get more money and things aren’t looking good for me in that department. I have no idea what I’m going to do.

I had a long chat with my good friend Amy and she said I was being negative. I strongly disagree. You can’t be a negative person to take on a project as big as this.  The simple fact of the matter is I’m a realist and at this point I’m very scared. Scratch that, I’m bloody terrified. I mean even if I had tons of money this would still be a scary undertaking. I still have to buy plates and kitchen cooking stuff. I have the money to do that. But just that. I was hoping to make enough of a profit in the first two weeks of opening to start paying the bills and income. But without my liquor license I can’t see how this can possibly happen. But in the style of my good friend Evel, “We’re going for it. And we’ll just see if we can do it”.

I’ve hired a front of house manager named Grace. She is great. She has called the front of house staff that we have selected and we’ll be doing a working interview tomorrow.  I’ve started to hire cooks as well, but I still need to get a few more.

So this is where I stand as of Feb 5^th, 2011. Scared out of my wits and not sure if I can make it. But I will put it into first gear and let go of the clutch. Now I just need to get it up to 120km per hour, hit the ramp and fly over the cars!  

Comments are highly sought after and will be thankfully received. If you wish comment privately email me at glenn@lebonmarche.ca. Thank you all faithful reader and I truly look forward to seeing you on the 1^st.

Lucky landings

Le Commis Glenn Chemise