Getting to the "grind"

Today is just one of those perfect days. I'm working the windows this morning, doing what I really love to do and that's making coffee for people in the mornings.

So, now that it is after the "rush" there is something I really want to talk about.  People who really love espresso drinks often come through our drive-thru and ask us how they can make espresso drinks at home.  Now I can't blame anyone for wanting to make a latte at home.  Sométimes you just don't feel like getting dressed to come by The Morning Jump for a coffee. I get it. There are some pretty reasonable home machines that make espresso, but one of the biggest and most over looked factors is the grinder. A good grinder can cost you as much or more as the espresso machine.  When it comes to coffee the grind is everything and it's also constantly changing.  For an espresso, it takes the right temperature water, at the right pressure, with the right bean, ground for optimum mixture.  If you don't have all the elements together the shot will probably not taste very good.  Now most machines can keep the water temp and the water pressure pretty reliable.  But the grind changes with the environment.  As it warms up outside the grind changes. If it rains in the afternoon the grind changes.  Checking and changing your grind is one of the most important jobs of the barista.  Here at The Morning Jump we are all trained and continue to practice pulling the perfect shot and adjusting our grind.  We set it in the morning and periodically check it all day long.  Some shops I've been in they don't even know where the grind adjustment knob is located... Not a good sign.  So keep in mind, when you want a great coffee, get the grind right.  And if you don't want to worry about it, just come by The Morning Jump, cause we get the grind right for you!

"The Jump Club"

One of the great things about The Morning Jump Coffee Company is having, and growing, a regular customer base.  It's really nice to see people come through and get their favorite drink or try one of our favorite drinks in the mornings.  Because we appreciate those that come by and see us on a regular basis we developed a loyalty program that rewards those regulars that come by often.

The Jump Club is The Morning Jump Coffee Company's customer loyalty program.  This program is free to join, and by simply asking to join we will give you our Jump Club card which keeps track of your Jump Club points which also act as a gift card.  We input your name and track your club membership with a mobile phone number. (We never use this number to contact you or to give out to anyone... except if you leave your credit card with us, then we will probably text or call you!) We will also ask for your birthday, because at The Morning Jump we are big believers in big birthday bashes and you get a free drink of your choice on that day.

Once you are enrolled every beverage purchase counts towards the loyalty points.  For every whole dollar spent on beverages, you earn 1 point.  So, for example, if your drink comes to $4.86 you would earn 4 points on your loyalty card.  After only earning 20 points you can redeem them for a free beverage.  You can choose from any one of our brewed fresh coffees, latte's, jump specials, frappe's or smoothies.  This is just one of our ways of saying thank you to our loyal customers at The Morning Jump Coffee Company.

One of our programs gets an extra bonus with The Jump Club.  As many of you know, The Morning Jump Coffee Company is a proud supporter of the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. If you're not familiar with this organization see http://www.specialops.org One way that we support the foundation is by selling 16oz travel thermoses with the SOWF emblem and The Morning Jump logo.  100% of the proceeds from these sales goes to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation.  One of the benefits of buying these thermoses is that you can refill them with fresh black brewed coffee for only $.75.  100% of the proceeds from these refills also go towards the foundation.  Since these refills are less than 1 whole dollar, they typically do not fall within the loyalty program, but as a special benefit to those who support this organization, customers using this thermos and getting it refilled will earn a loyalty point for every refill.  Again, 20 points earned are redeemable for any beverage of your choice.

We are really grateful for all of those regulars who come by and see us, we are also really grateful for all of those who have served in the military services.  We hope that we can  put a smile on everyone's face that comes through and "jump starts" their day at The Morning Jump Coffee Company.

Christmas Holiday and a new Business.

Anyone who has opened their own business knows it takes a tremendous amount of effort.  This is usually performed by the business owner and his family.  Sometimes this "labor of love" can be very consuming and sacrifices are made.  These sacrifices are usually time spent doing anything else, financial sacrifices and sometimes cheerful and happy mood sacrifices...  But for the most part, when that opening day comes, you can just sit back, relax and enjoy the fruits of all your labors...  Nawwwww.  Now the real work begins.  More sacrifices, financial, time, and sometimes, the happy cheerful moods...

This year as we opened our business in Spring Lake, NC- we had the Christmas Holidays fast approaching.  We opened with a bang, and expected a slow down as regular commuters, service members at FT Bragg and other business hours adjusted for the holiday season.  Well, we underestimated that everyone would still want to stop in for coffee, a latte or a chai on their way shopping.  While we are very grateful for this and love to give everyone who comes in a little "holiday in a cup" we realized that once again we, as a family, would be sacrificing a bit for the business.  So we found ourselves, December 25th, at the shop in our Christmas pajamas. (We ran a special, everyone who shows up in Christmas Jammies got 25% off- it worked great).  We brought with us a few board games, we played an epic game of Risk, and we took breaks, a lot of breaks, to serve coffee to those who came by to see us.  A new business can be demanding, the holidays can be demanding, but this year I wouldn't have traded Christmas at the shop for anything.  Happy Holidays everyone!

Now Open in Spring Lake

First and foremost I am pretty excited for our store opening in Spring Lake.  Located at 106 South Bragg Blvd it's only about 1/4 mile from the Spring Lake gate to Ft Bragg on Butner Road. We hope you take a few minutes and come by to try one of our delicious espresso drinks, brewed coffee, smoothies or frappe's.  I hope to see you there.
So, a quick word about coffee.  We have an amazingly roasted blend for our espresso.  The beans have a full rich aroma when you open the bag, all of the beans are uniformly roasted (which isn't always the case) and the pulled shots pour out like melted chocolate.  The creme is smooth and sweet, the shot holds a bold flavor that is great by itself but also mixes well with flavors and steamed milk.  Overall, I am very happy with the product that The Morning Jump produces.
Finally, I have another interesting perspective on something.  Customers.  I really haven't been in a customer oriented business before.  Just having retired from the Army (our customer service there gets... varied reviews...) I did work for a convenient store for a while when i was in High School, while we had plenty of customers i don't remember really doing anything special then to make them happy.  So considering my background I was curious to see how things would go as we opened our doors.  Here is what i have found- Everyone I interact with I share my passion for coffee and business with.  I love the chemistry of coffee, the emotion of coffee and I love business and all that is involved with running one.  So far the customers seem to like it, and fortunately, the coffee too.  See you there!

Finishing touches, equipment and paving.

It's a long journey to go from the draft of a business in your head, to putting it on paper, to building it and  finally opening it.  As we near the completion of our building and are preparing to open there isn't much time, or energy, to look back too much and ponder.  Construction is nearly complete, equipment has been picked out, purchased and installed, and preparations for our grand opening are being finalized.  As I type this we still don't have the exact date for opening.  We have found this is a very difficult day to predict.  The General Contractor has an estimation of when the parking lot will be complete, but those are just estimations, and things like that have a tendency to move around. Never earlier of course, they tend to move in one direction.

The Morning Jump Coffee Company- 106 S. Bragg Blvd, Spring Lake, NC

    Of course going through this process teaches you patience, even if you thought you had patience before, it re-indoctrinates you.  Perseverance is something you had better come with, or this process will win.  It can be very trying at times.  So- with all of that said, we are cautiously optimistic that we will be serving you hot delicious latte's soon!  And that really puts a smile on our face!

There are mistakes... then there are Mistakes!

Business plans are like a combat operations order- they never survive the first shot.  Well, at least completely intact. Which is why the military has frag orders, so I guess business plans do too.  Navigating through the business process is exactly that, a process.

I'm lucky- because of good planning things have continued to move forward and in a good way. Patience is key, getting inpatient is fatal, and here is why. Moving fast increases the chances of big mistakes. Mistakes are going to happen no matter what.  There are just too many variables, too many unknowns and risk management is an inherent part of the start up process.  Sometimes moving slowly, easily and patiently pays off.  If you can limit the damage of a mistake and go in the right direction it becomes a "gain".  You didn't lose so much in comparison to the experience gained and the elimination of a "bad direction".  In staying with the whole military concept example- think of a business mistake that is a a "gain" as going around a corner and having a near miss bounce off the wall above your head. Didn't get hurt and figured out where a bad guy is hanging out. But the thought goes through your head "lucky again".

Our concept is almost there- building is almost done, Baristas are almost hired (interview process is a whole other blog) and I am doing one last scour for information before we open.  Opening is just another phase line, not any bigger or smaller than any other, just as important as the first phase line, but... it feels bigger. Because now all of the theoreticals are going to be tested against the biggest variable of all. The public.

This morning I scoured the internet and read dozens of stories of coffee shop failures.  Learning from other people's mistakes is valuable too.  I read through story after story: bad location (a big culprit for failure) too high of overhead- rents that are astronomical.  Too many competitors, and rarely, not enough business (bad location again?)  I think my business has those covered, but we won't know until the public decides.  I have a lot of people that look at my plan, and our operation and say- "Wow- this is going to work" but they don't know, and they aren't the ones taking taking the risk.  The internet is littered with the bodies of dead coffee shops.  Reading and learning about why they failed provides me with a lot of ammunition to plan for unexpected and unpredictable events.  It helps to read about the failures, it really does.  It does get a little a little dreary though, reading about all these people that saw their dreams die.  But, here I am, drinking some amazing coffee- which I know people will love and looking at all of these death stories thinking "sucks to be you" because my mistakes won't be fatal.

Money isn't everything...It just makes everything happen

     As we went through the business plan process, money plays a huge role.  We plan on how to make it, how much it will take to get us going and how much it will help us grow.  Then we plan for what happens if it slows or stops coming in.  Money makes the world go around, but money isn't the mission. It is just a tool in the tool bag to help us make our mission! An important tool for sure, but just a tool. But, when it comes to measurement, the company will be measured by the almighty dollar.  Success is measured, not on the perfect cup of coffee but by how many units are sold at what profit.  Its business.  And with all that said, I am really glad it is the way it is. Because I like it.  I like the numbers, projections, the art and science of guessing, planning and preparing and money is the biggest part of that.  But to start it takes money to make money, so this is how we got our money so we could bring you a cup of espresso.

     Through my time with the military I have had the opportunity to make friends with a lot of people that are in the private sector; many that run their own businesses.  Many of these guys are retired military and their business is just private contracting.  Picking up a six month job overseas doing the same thing they had done when they were "green suiters".  That was not what my plan was, I intended to branch out of the comfort zone of doing what I know and try doing something new, food and beverage start up.  There were some good reason for this, some I have already talked about and many that I haven't hit on yet.  But this was what we wanted to do.  We wrote out the business plan, dug deep into our own pocket to show we were serious, and set out to pitch the banks.  WOW.  Talk about risk averse in so many ways.  So many bankers said to us "Looking at this plan I really think you guys are going to do well.  But come back and see us after you have been running for 18 months. we could maybe do something then."
Well, if I have been running for 18 months, I probably don't need them anymore anyway.  This was for a start-up;  not an existing, proven business.  It was going to take some calculated risk management on the part of the bank.
     We talked with some great bankers, settling on one who we really liked. He got our vision and understood who we were as a business.  This is important, because the best business plan still looks risky if the owners seem like they don't have the force of will needed to make it happen.  Another point is that some bankers believe they know more about business, YOUR business, than you do.  Well, they don't.  If you have done all the research, know every little detail and came up with all of your own financials, then you know way more than they do.  But sometimes it doesn't hurt to let them think they know it all.  Generally correcting this is pointless and ultimately you are going to do what you need to do anyway.  I mean, you are the only one that knows this business inside and out.  Or at least you should.
     We had another advantage when it came to financing.  That was our Veteran's status.  There are programs out there that the SBA provide backing for start-up businesses.  This provides bank with less risk and they like that.  The SBA has more information on this or your veterans admin counselor.  Or if you want my long and boring story on how to make elephants fly (that's what it seemed like we were trying to do when asking banks for start up capital), just ask me or email me.
     Here is one thing for sure, once we were approved and received our financing the fun really began.  I work out money issues every morning, look at the numbers, work through problems, spend hours on it. But I enjoy it and it is the heart of my business.  Oh, and did I mention CPAs?  Ya, I LOVE them.  And I think I have a great one too.  Well worth the money.