Issue II, September 2009

Posies Café News

A monthly newsletter featuring news & events at Posies Café andin the Kenton neighborhoodIssue II, September 2009

Letter from Jessie…

As summer comes to a close, and our first four months of being open are behind us, there are already so many good memories. From our first ten-dayheat wave to our Third Thursday art walks (turned Kenton neighborhoodfestival), and all of the people that came in for soft serve telling us that our soft serve machine has made their summer. We started having live musicduring those Third Thursday walks, which totally changed the vibe of Kenton’s downtown strip with the doors opened wide and hearing peopleapplaud for our wonderful musicians. The neighborhood businesses have been meeting to discuss how we can make our commercial district better for Kenton residents, and construction started on the new library (!). Of themany good things that happened this summer, even more were initiated, andthere is so much more that will be happening and accomplished in themonths to come. It’s an exciting time to be in Kenton, and we’re so anxiousto see all of these good things come to fruition. Let us know of other thingsyou’d like to see happen, and we’ll see what we can do, from events andactivities, to items on the menu – we love your ideas!~ Jessie

- Kenton Neighborhood Association Gets a New Website -

The Kenton Neighborhood Association is under new leadership, and one of the priorities of this new administration has been to update the KNA website. Check out the new website and see our strategic plan: www.historickenton.org

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Calendar

September 307:30pm-8:30pmConsult over Coffee:

Wardrobe stylist Sara Dahlquist offers free advice

Third Thursday Art Walk:

Posies and other Kenton businesses will feature a new

artist each

September 176pm – 9pmWednesdays10am – 11amStory time with Judi

Thursdays10am – 11amMusic for kids of all ages withBen Thompson

Morning Activities

Mondays10am – 11amMusic for kids of all ages withBen Thompson

Evening Activities

Study Hall: Show your studentid and get a bottomless cup of coffee

Wednesdays5pm – 9pm

Fridays6pm – 9pmGame Night: Bring your friends and family to play board games over cocoa.

Saturdays5pm – 9pmKnit Night: Come knit withfolks from The Naked SheepKnit Shop

Posies Café News Issue II, August 2009

So why did you decide to do it that way?

Every part of opening a new business required so much morethought than I ever would haveexpected prior to delving into thisnew venture. From building codeto product selection, menu creationand inventory maintenance, allhave required a very steep learningcurve. I am the first to admit that Ihave not conquered that learningcurve, but I will say that I study andresearch best practices late intomost nights learning as quickly aspossible so that hopefully no onenotices any glitches before we do.It doesn’t always work, but we’regetting there.Here are answers to the mostfrequently asked questions we’vereceived…

Q: Why is the children’s room thesize that it is?

A: There is actually only a longanswer to this question, so heregoes… Buildings built beforeseismic standards were created arerequired to do necessary seismicupgrades should they do any major renovations. These upgrades areextremely cost-prohibitive to small

Answering your most frequently asked questions about why we didthings the way we did.

businesses like mine; however, arestaurant/cafe is able to avoidhaving to do those upgrades if theseating available to patrons is lessthan 750 sq. ft (one person = 15 sq.ft), or a capacity of 50 people. It isfor that reason that our bar area isgigantic, and why we built in theadditional rooms as we did (to takeup floorspace). Our seating area isexactly 750 sq. ft. Of course Iwanted to make the children’s roomas big as possible while alsomaximizing the space available tosit, however, for inspectionpurposes, it must be clear to theinspector that any additional roomsthat are also public space are notintended to be used for moreseating that would exceed our allotted 750 sq. ft. That means thatadditional rooms must be of a sizethat it indicates their use – hence,why we have two rooms that are of standard “office size” and not oneoffice and one larger room… because had we made the children’sroom bigger, it would appear thatwe could fit more tables and chairs,thereby adding seating beyond our allocated 750 sq. ft.

Q: Why Ristretto Roasters andnot Stumptown?

A: Actually, we were going to gowith Stumptown originally. Theyhad great name recognition, andgreat support for their shops. Theyhelped us with a lot of questions Ihad early on because frankly I hadno idea what I was doing, and their technicians even helped me test theequipment prior to purchasing itfrom the old Trippin’ Billies shopon N. Lombard. As we got further along, though, it was suggested tome from several people in theneighborhood that I consider notdoing what everyone expected of me by going the Stumptown route.I thought long and hard about it,and also about the type of values Iwanted to support with my small business’s dollars. My sister and Istarted doing some tastings fromother area roasters while I thought.We met some wonderful roasters, but when we did our Ristrettotasting, there was something aboutit we just couldn’t forget. Weliterally had dreams about their coffee that night. Then the morethought I put into it, I realized that

Posies Café News Issue II, August 2009

Pizza Fino and North Star bothoffer Stumptown. Then I went back to the type of values I wantedto support with our dollars, andthat as a small business owner, Ireally wanted to support a fellowsmall business, preferably in NorthPortland. That Ristretto met thetaste, values and location criteriaput me over the top, and I had tomake the very difficult phone call toStumptown to break the news (theywere very understanding). A fewdays later I tracked down NancyRommelmann to get Din’s number,and the rest is history.

Q: Why are you ok with kids inthe shop?

A: Prior to having a child myself I was always annoyed with childrenin places where all I wanted waspeace and quiet. I wished thatparents would control their children; I wished parents wouldnotice how annoying their childrenwere to the likes of me. Then I hada child and left my job to stay homewith her. After going in public witha baby, being embarrassed by thenoise she was making, and beingannoyed with her for being…well,herself, I realized how one major demographic is almost completelyostracized from most public places – mothers. I could only realize thisafter being one of those mortifiedparents myself; but I wasn’t onlymortified, I was tired, and wanted atreat just like everyone else that getsto sit in a café. I didn’t want theonly comfortable place for me tohang out really just be a kids placewhere adults were forced to takerefuge. All I wanted was a placewhere everyone felt equallyentitled, and equally welcomed.Obviously these places are few and far between, so in preparation for the coffeeshop, I kept this as the focus for what weshould be striving towards. In the end, Ithink we’ve created a good communitycoffee shop, where everyone is allowedto be, and everyone is ok (or has becomeok) with all of their neighbors that alsowish to enjoy the shop. We still have afew kinks to work out with keeping therunning and the occasional screamingcontests under control, but we’re gettingthere. And for the very few who don’tlike the children, I always explain that if they wanted to go anywhere else becausethey were disturbed by the children, theywould be welcome everywhere. But if any of these parents were to leave, wherewould they go and be welcome?

Q: Why do you say that you havegluten-free items, but it’s never therewhen I come in?

A: Usually menu items run out becausewe’ve been busier than usual, and so our standard order will not have sufficed.Currently, Libby does all of our specialty baked goods in-house, and bakes gluten-free and vegan items on Monday nights,for sale starting Tuesdays. We don’tgenerally mark our gluten-free or veganitems so that they don’t scare anyoneaway, and because of that, and becausethey are so delicious, we’ve noticedwe’ve been selling out within 2-3 days of baking. Because Libby is a stay-at-homemother in addition to doing our specialty baking and taking on the role as our newmanager, she only has time to adjust our quantities during her Monday bake shifts(rather than baking mid-week to cover sold out items). Until we find the rightnumber, I encourage everyone to followus on Facebook and Twitter to see whenthe specialty items are baked and ready,and then get there early!

Continued

The Value of PositiveFeedback

Putting yourself in the publiceye attempting to do somethinggood can be tough, and gettingreviewed for your efforts can beeven tougher. Because of that, Iwant to encourage everyone totake a few minutes one day thismonth and write a positivereview or letter to a business or organization that you like.Many businesses andorganizations are just trying todo something for the greater good, but because it’s so mucheasier to remember to write badfeedback than good, it can become very disheartening. Leta business or organization knowwhen you think what they’redoing is right on.

Thursday ArtWalk in Kenton

Kenton’s business district has anew energy, and we wanted toadd an event that would bringneighbors out to enjoysomething together. So a few of us got together and started 3

Thursday in Kenton. Everymonth, from 5pm – 9pm youcan visit most of the shops inthe neighborhood (look for balloons on their a-frame sign),check out their newest artist andhear some great live music!