Behind the Slice

The Heat is Up!

The weekend is here and this particular morning I was working the counter.  It seemed to be particularly hot in the restaurant today.  Though with our pizza ovens set at 500 I thought at first it was only my imagination as it is usually warm in the kitchen.  We have two separate thermostats set at 78 and there are two separate units. As I looked at the thermostat following was displayed.

We were up to 82 so we checked to see what the temperature was set for and if the battery was operating. From previous experience we knew that we just may need a new battery.  Now it was time to call for service.  Since it was a Saturday we were just hoping to get someone to arrive quickly.  Two hours passed by and we were at 97 on one thermostat and 85 on the other.  At this point I was warning guests about the heat prior to them ordering.  Most of the orders were togo and a few tables decided to leave which I completely understand.  Luckily, Maricopa AC arrived about three hours after we called. It was already 99 in the restaurant.  At this point now we just hoped it would be quick and not costly.  A few years ago we had used someone who was highly recommended.  Well a few visits later with close to $2,000 in repairs we realized we were mislead.  The way we found out was that a friend of ours went up to check the unit for us when we it stopped working. He fixed it quickly and noticed that the bills we had with receipts were not actually done on the unit and it also did not need to be replaced within a year as we were advised.  We were surprised that someone would do that and we learned to carefully supervise all repairs. 

Within an hour we found out it was a dirty coil and there would be $92 charge. The temperature would be back to normal within a few hours. We were so relieved.  Finally we started to cool down and it turned out to be a great Saturday evening at the restaurant. Hopefully we will go through the Arizona summer with no more problems. 

Your in the Restaurant Business, Be Prepared for Schedule Changes

It was early in the morning and I had the morning and afternoon off. I was getting my twin boys ready to go to the public library. We were already in the car when I got a phone call that one of my staff members was running late. At this point I needed to quickly find someone to cover the shift. We would be opening soon and it was a bit late so I went straight to our pizzeria.  I felt bad for my sons since now we had a change of plans.  They have gone through this before and we try to make the best of it.

You will often hear how running a restaurant can have large time commitments. The days are long while arranging a schedule along everyone's hours can be very difficult. All of the weekends and holidays you are preoccupied since this is  your most  busiest time. So in all honesty you really do need to have your passion in this business to flourish. I quickly learned how to cover every shift from cooking to making pizzas. We are fortunate enough that we do not have many emergencies but some do happen. This time it was not that long that we stayed at the restaurant though my twins were getting a little impatient.

 

Overall, they been good with me and seem to understand. I would take them in with me sometimes for emergencies when they were younger as you can see in the pictures below. The positive part is that we try to make a fun day of it by making our own individual pizzas.  That is the nice part about a pizzeria, children do love making their own pizza. 

 

 

Giving Back to Those Who Donate Blood

We recently participated in our local blood drive sponsored by the Noon Kiwanis here in Fountain Hills. Margaret Davis and Liz Smith do an excellent job in coordinating the event and having large amounts of participants. For the two days that the blood drive takes place we provide small versions of our Roman Empire Spinach Salad. They are dropped off and prepackaged with dressing on the side. After someone has donated blood they are welcomed to have a salad to take with them.

 

We have done this a few times and really enjoy it. The original idea came from a customer who asked for a spinach salad after they had given blood. They mentioned that their doctor suggested to have some spinach after donating blood in order to obtain more iron. We thought why not provide salads for all of the people who donate blood in our community. So we coordinated it for the next blood drive and it was well received.

During the last blood drive,  Sara Goodnick was kind enough to make this video of  Fountain Hills Noon Kiwanis Blood Drive .  It was nice to see how a community gets together in providing for others. We are looking forward to the next blood drive.

The Small Details Get Noticed in a Restaurant

We took our kids to see the Disney movie Up in 3D. Later, they all wanted to eat at a restaurant called Cheeburger Cheeburger.  As we ordered hamburgers the server brought our drinks and they were all in given in canning jars that had the name of the restaurant. This brought about so much conversation from just getting our drinks. They were amazed by the jars and were asking questions about them.

During our meal, the server started to give us more of the jars for refills and for extra water.  At one point we counted eighteen jars on the table.

 

By just serving water and drinks in a glass that is unique from most water glasses this place has set a small detail to distinguish them from other places. The most memorable part of eating there was the canning jars.  The glasses probably do not cost much more from regular glasses but it does set them apart.  At times it is the small details that really count which do not necessarily have to be expensive to implement.

First Impressions; Here's Looking At The Outside

Our second restaurant location often gets the remarks of how people are so impressed by walking inside. They are often surprised by the interior. The outdoor exterior is plain but when you walk in you see the following.

Thinking it over we decided to add the same feel of the dining room to the exterior of the restaurant. First, we started to look at other patios from different restaurant and realized we needed to think of the theme and message that we wanted to convey. We thought why not add some more of the 1940's look. Next, we needed to decide what where the items we needed and how would we arrange them so that they would work well together.  We started with a plain outdoor area with no furniture.  To keep the cost low we found items from a local antique mall and craigslist.  Here is what we added: two patio sets, two wooden stands, an old parking meter, an old cabinet, and vintage radios.  We went to Target and purchased an array of flowers and herbs to decorate the stands. On a final note we needed to adjust some of the items by adding wheels to the stand so that we could bring in the items at night. Due to the heat we also put together a schedule for taking care of the plants and to clean the vintage items. This is what we ended up with.

We have had such positive feedback from the change that it does seem like first impression do really count.  We realized that as much as we concentrated on the inside of our operation, some people make the final decision to enter our door by the appearance of the outside.