One year ago today: September 14, 2017, happy BD, unit 31.
Five years ago today: September 14, 2013, all mileage claims = bogus.
Nine years ago today: September 14, 2009, I meant cranberries . . .
Random years ago today: September 14, 2012, I leave Denver by sidecar.
[Author’s note: It was not the most auspicious of openings, nor would this be my most successful week. Okay, already, it was the worst week since I got to town. Let’s just not let that get us down. You get a lot of the unpleasant facts, because they were the most important events of the day. About the best outcome of this is I will pump in more capital to take this to the next level. There are no bad businesses, just bad management, and it is about to get worse, you might say. Little joke, there, son. Laugh, it’s the only chance you’ll get.]
[Photo delayed]
It’s the trysting day for hotdogs, and most of my fears have been realized. This comes with the territory of business startups. The dismaying thing is that all of it was avoidable. I had little choice but to spend the morning fixing my scooter headlight. I recognized this evening may require driving after dark and all I had working was the emergency bulb. I found the open, but as shown here it involved tearing open the entire front end of the scooter and the headlamp assembly. Just a broken wire, the hardest one go get to so it took five hours. But I could not put it off, the food cart has been taking up all my time.
This means I did not get over to check on preparations until past noon. And when I got there, it was as I expected. Things that should have been taken care of a week ago now in a mad last minute rush. The water jug was not full, and my pal has a bucket of boiled peanuts and a bucket of chili. He does not yet know the logistics to sell one simple hotdog yet, but he’s already diversifying. Then I discover he has not been advertising this for the past three weeks. He talked about word of mouth, but I don’t think that works well when you keep the location and opening date a secret.
The entire operation at that end is symptomatic of utter lack of experience. That much I recognize. And worse, it is a steep learning curve. There would be problems even if he had stuck to hotdogs as we had planned and agreed. None of the instructions I’d given about checking on various aspects of paperwork, research, preparations, and scheduling had been followed at all. Nothing was ready, but I left it be. I connected the LED lighting system, which another two hours and I know to those who don’t do electrical work that that seems dreadfully slow. Yeah, but why is it nothing ever works right until I’m called in to get it finally done right? Where have we seen this before?
It was now around 4:30PM, and I left to emphasize that if something was not done, it was not by doing that it was left until now. Around 7:30PM, I checked again, but the lights were out and nobody answered the phone. Was he taking a break? This is impossible! The cart was still in the driveway and not ready to roll. Myself, I would have had it hitched up, checked, and available for duty the evening previous at the latest. Again, I just let it go.
Nor did I ever buy the nonsense that setup is one man and twenty minutes. We shall see. Agt. R does not recognize the reasoning behind proper business meetings. I use the coffee shop because it is away from home and away from distractions. You are there for one purpose. But it turns out he seriously does think we are going to continue holding meetings when I can catch him watering his lawn, which is about what it amounts to. Meeting, in the 95° heat, swatting mosquitoes, dogs barking, the neighbor lady yelling across the pavements, and him taking a phone call every two minutes while I wait. And wait. As usual, these types always presume that nothing happens when he isn’t looking, so it means from here on, the important decisions get made in his absence. And that is to nobody’s liking.
So, as I said, I just waited.
Pelicans.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.
And wait I did. Startup time was 10:00PM. He’s worked the bar around the corner and says that is when people want to eat. Hmmm, I’ve been in there late a few times and I see that if they are going to eat, they order in and are usually finished before that hour. Soon enough 9:15PM rolls around and no sign of the wagon, no answer on the phone. Nobody in the place is aware that they can buy food. And when I walked down the alley, there was an aroma from the pizza joint that was not there before.
[Photo delayed]
By 9:30PM, something is wrong, I got in my car and drove over to his place. The cart and his truck are gone, but I did not see him on the single path that he would have to take or drive the long way around. No phone either. At 9:45PM, I see him driving up the wrong road with a passenger in the cab. Inquiring, I discover even though he is running an hour late, he dropped over at a friend’s place to give her son a ride downtown. With my food wagon in tow. I’d say we are dealing with one very strange set of priorities here. Wait, there’s more.
[Author’s note: this photo shows the switch where I located the open on the scooter headlamp. The relevance is that while the repair took maybe five minutes, the entire process occupied the morning and the first hour of the afternoon. To the casual (or thoughtless) viewer, of course it looks like I only did five minutes work. This is what I was afraid of with the hotdog cart. It is partially the reason I got out of computer work as well, and also my theory as to why most automobile mechanics don’t like electrical repairs.
The time consuming part is troubleshooting and there is a misconception out there that if you are competent, you go directly and automatically to the right spot and fix it. So they only want to pay you for the five minutes. Unlike a computer, I can’t take the unit in and keep it overnight to prevent idiots from arguing the point.]
The menus are not made up, he forgot the garbage container and now there was no time to drive back home to get it. And the water jug was leaking, so he could not bring any water. He had to go into the commissary with a small pail and make several trips. Nothing was rehearsed, much of the food was still in the store packaging, and he decided not to bring the umbrella despite the extreme likelihood of rain. So, I’m helping out, but only with the cart, not the peanut boiler or the other things he’s setting up. My cart is the main concern and it was just sitting there. Setup time turned out to be two men, one hour and twenty-five minutes. Finally, at 11:05PM, we are ready for business.
This was quickly followed by our first field argument. He told me he could run the show by himself, which may be true at some point in the future. It further means he has not been listening to me for the past two months saying that is practically impossible. If I had not been there, he would not have been set up before midnight. And by 11:40, the band was finished and wrapping up, people were starting to go home. I asked around a bit to discover nobody had any clue he was back there.
Finally, a boyfriend of one of the barmaids went over and bought five packages of chips. That was the entire sales, $5.00. Actually, four bags and a $1 tip. I’ll frame it. Ten minutes later the bar was emptying and the band was packing up. I brought up the subject and all he had to say was that it didn’t matter that he was hours late because nobody was there. My god, I thought, what am I dealing with here? Isn’t that like saying it’s not important if you run the stop sign if it turns out there was not traffic?
When I suggested that opening at 10:00PM means set up and ready by 9:40PM at the latest he blew up. Even that timing is probably cutting it, but I based that on what I know best, which is setting up band equipment. So you can take a quick breather before you get on stage.
It’s disturbingly frequent in business operations, but I also picked up that he has no comprehension or appreciation for the hours of overhead that occur behind the scenes. He squawked about how he had to work all day first, and I reminded him that I asked him a month before I bought the cart if that was going to be a problem. He said no, so I don’t accept it as an excuse. I’ve got work to do here that’s gotten behind, but that’s another thing he doesn’t value. Despite the evidence of the massive amounts of preparation and cash involved, he remains convinced that everybody else just bought a card one day and was in business the next, making fistfuls of money. In other words, after all he told me, he actually really has less experience at this than I do.
All of this was predictable, and I predicted it. That’s why I kept everything in my name, I’ve seen this before. I doubt anything will come of it but people can react bizarrely to anything. I would also put it on record that once he did some of the shopping (I planned that) his menu prices were identical to what I had proposed a month ago which he objected to as “too expensive”. There is learning going on and it is happening at my expense. The nonsense persists that if I’m not working the cart, I’m slacking off, yet it was a fact since day one that I would not be working the cart. Just maintaining it in working order, at business expense. The weirdness over this point always stems from people who have less business experience than they’ve been letting on.
Nonetheless, we are on the map. We had sales. And other than time, our costs were around $7 in direct materials. I’ll go do some of the chasing around he was supposed to and get things over with on my time and dime. And Wednesday I’ll be at the Farmer’s market to see how the other operation is faring, since he has not gotten over there as promised. He also lacks a fear of what the authorities can do if they decide they don’t like him operating under the other lady’s license or on her private property. She has never been a commissary before and it appears she is unaware of some of the liabilities that ensues. If a customer gets scaled by the steam from his flimsy boiled peanut assembly, she could be held liable. I insured only the cart, and only hotdogs can be sold from the cart.
ADDENDUM
The eye-opener was that terribly drawn out setup time. It is clear he had rehearsed none of it in over in the three months. The two short cook events were when I was there (as recorded in this work) and at my insistence and expense. I will make it clear that the hotdog stand is my priority and I will see to it that is up and running first. I will not, at least initially, help with peanuts and chili, they are not a priority. I wisely kept all key elements of the operation in my ownership and have other people willing to do the work if anything fails. We will continue to search for a better location. The cart remains the main element and the big draw, which seems to be so easily forgotten.
I agree the other items for sale may be great in the long run. But right now, they are a pain in the ass.
So once again, I wait and see.
PS: tonight I officially passed the total number of views this blog set out to accomplish. The number is not stated, or if I have time to time said a number, it was in a different context. I was just seven visitors short of the goal, which I wanted to witness, but I had to go help this guy set up a hotdog cart. My biggest number of visitors in one month was around 13,000. That only happened once, back in 2012.
Return Home
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
