4.14.2008

Refer Madness, a LIVE Update

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We are currently experiencing technical difficulties

We were certainly hoping that by this time we would have a lot more figured out in regard to our refrigeration tribulations. We were hoping to get good news from both our insurance agency as well as our refrigeration repairman. We were hoping to be blogging about more exciting happenings than broken down equipment, such as our recent meeting with a very cool lady who happens to have a very cool blog. But it seems as though all of that stuff will have to wait. For now. But rest assured folks, we have not lost hope.

Our day off:

Ali and I went to the cafe early this morning and cleared the cafe floors of anything and everything so that our friend Elmer could give said floors a much needed waxing. Elmer arrived at the cafe around 8:15 am, and we returned home to do some light yoga; an attempt to simultaneously relax our bodies and clear our minds of any stress caused by recent unforeseen events. After we finished stretching Ali made a large pitcher of fresh plum, strawberry, and rice milk smoothie (very tasty). I proceeded to call Joel, our refrigerator repairman, who is scheduled to come to the cafe tomorrow morning in order to assess what options we might have in terms of fixing the refer. After scheduling an appointment with Joel, I put a call into our insurance broker to see whether or not it is going to be worthwhile for us to place a claim with our insurance agency. It turns out that we have a "72 hour deductible" for revenue lost as a result of failed equipment. Feeling eager to reopen our doors tomorrow it seems as though we are simply going to have to take this one on the chin, though we still might be able to file a claim if the refrigerator's compressor does in fact turn out to be broken. Time/Joel can only tell.

The rest of the day was more similar to a 'normal' day off. Elmer finished waxing the floors around 10:30 am, and after moving everything back inside the cafe we returned home for a little mid-day rest. This afternoon we ventured into the city and met our good friend Tim at Coffeehouse Northwest, where between the three of us we proceeded to consume an espresso, four macchiatos, and their sinfully delicious hot chocolate. It was really special having an opportunity to catch up with our friend who we have not seen in too long, and as always, such a treat being able to enjoy the wonderful beverages procured by the shop's rock star baristas.

After our outing we did a little grocery shopping for tomorrow's special menu. As of now our plan is keep the cafe closed during the early morning hours, but offer free coffee outside beginning at 7:00am. We hope to be able to reopen the cafe around 11:00am, however given that we are still going to be without our prep fridge we will be serving a limited menu which will consist entirely of special panini sammies which do not appear on our regular menu. For now, this is the best we can offer.

Stay tuned to the blog for news of any new developments. We will do our best to keep y'all updated, though we are hoping that this drama will soon have a happy ending, as we are very eager to return to business as usual. Thanks to everyone who has offered their kindness and support. It really means a lot.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Goddamn you LRBC. You $·%&in %$·hole. Everything´s a $%&!in travesty with you, man.

zak rotello said...

I remember a few years ago at my family's restaurant in the midwest, there was a huge windstorm that knocked out the city's power for about 3 days. We lost over 6k in food, and the insurance co. tried to wiggle out of paying for it (of course.)

Culinary schools need to implement a course in Compressor Repair as part of the basic curriculum.

Ali and Evan said...

Todd,
That's just like...your opinion, man.

Zak,
$800.00 dollars later (compressor + labor, etc.) we've put a claim in to the insurance. We'll see how they handle it. Cross your fingers our premium won't double. Thanks for writing!

Anonymous said...

Are things back to normal?