A birthday, a proposal, we do it all at Le Bon Marché. Blog #32.

Hello everyone. I’m officially a restaurateur. How does it feel? I’m not sure. I really don’t feel any different. I feel like the Chef of a restaurant. It’s really a weird feeling. Knowing I’m the boss but not really believing it.

We opened the doors last Tuesday, a silent opening. We did 4 for lunch and 0 for dinner.  We still had no liquor licence but ppl didn’t seem to mind. We got through the first couple of days with increasing numbers for lunch and dinner. On Thursday I got my liquor license. I sent my contractor to get some beer so a least someone could have a beer with lunch. Friday Grace went out a picked up our house wine and we got through the weekend.

The weekend was great, with covers growing exponentially.  We had a birthday party and I, of course, got to make the cake. That was fun. (It’s so funny.  I love playing with food and creating. But in the back of my mind, I can always hear my mother telling me as a young boy, “Don’t play with your food!!!”) Sat. we had a good pre-symphony crowd and a few came back after the symphony for coffee and dessert. I really liked that. It made me feel proud that ppl would enter my Resto twice in one day. And just to top it all off, Sat. night a gentleman proposed to his fiancée. She said yes and the romance of Le bon Marché was born.  

So Sunday and Monday off right? Time to relax? No!!!!! Simply no time to rest. The weekend fell on the end of the month and we had to do inventory. It was easy enough for Grace, only having to count beer and Wine, but doing first inventory is always a pain.  I’m glad we got it out of the way and now we can start with the routine of the profit and loss statements.  Jake stopped by on Monday with a bucket of KFC and we sat at the bar eating greasy chicken and just basking in what is slowly evolving into a restaurant. Monday night I went out and did another liquor run (just our well brands) and had a conversation with the gentlemen at the LCBO. Are you ready for this???? There is no Absinthe in the province of ON! Hmmm I say. So we’re searching for Absinthe. I may even have to do private ordering.  I’ll keep you posted on that. I may even write a letter to our MPP to see if she can help out anywhere.

So like I said above, LBM is an evaluation more than a creation. And it can’t be all a bed of roses. A few employees have already departed us. Some have decided it’s not for them and others, it was decided, weren’t right for us. Its early days, very early days. I have and do like everyone whom worked or works here but building a team IS tough. We have to build the right team and Balance is the key.

We also got two of our three signs up. I am just having some encroaching difficulties on the third one.  We’ve made a few changes inside the Resto to make it more functional and that’s about it. I’m getting very little sleep now working around 15+hrs per day. I’ve been cooking and teaching my staff in the kitchen and then, at 9 or so, going out front and learning the till and front of the house duties. My weight is dropping off as well (Woo Hoo) Pants I could barely do up before are now falling off my hips. I read Anthony Bourdain’s book “Medium Raw”.  He says in the book that if your 5’10” 250lbs there’s no way you can work in a restaurant.  Well, when I read that I was 5’8” and 260. Not sure what I weigh now but he was right because I’m no longer that heavy. Ha ha ha ha. I got a ways to go before I’m as skinny as Anthony though.

So there we are folks. I stayed up an extra hour just for you. I’m off to crash now and back at it in the morning. Blog at you soon.

Cheers Le Commis Glenn chemise