Cafe Luwak Blog

After three years of being in business, we have had a number of awards and positive reviews that I am very proud of. Winning the best sandwich shop in the Detroit Area last year was a real feather in our cap, and you would think it would be hard to beat that. Last weekend I saw post on one of the local neighborhood association blogs that gave us a 5 out of 5 water tower rating. The review was really positive with the only complaint being that the Connect Four game was broken (I have since replaced that with a new one). It really made me feel good to read the review. I thought about it, and it is nice to have a TV station in Detroit say you are doing a good job, but it is a lot more important to have the people in your neighborhood think you are doing well. I don’t think there are many people, who come from Detroit specifically to visit my café, but the neighbors down the street do, and it is really cool that they would take the time to let other people in the neighborhood know what they think of us.

I often get asked from customers if they can buy a loaf of bread, and I will usually sell a loaf when asked, but we have never really had a good process for it. I don’t really expect to sell too much of the Italian or the wheat because they are pretty basic breads, but I am sure there are a number of people who would like to buy the Challah or the Rye for home. I personally think the Challah makes really good French toast. If you would like some of our great bread to take home, just come in and ask for a loaf.

Challah (2lb) $5.50
Corn Rye (2lb) $5.25
Italian (2lb) $5.25
Wheat (1lb) $2.95

Every year I try to come up with some type of special for St. Patrick’s Day, and nothing ever seems to work. A couple of years ago, I sent Forrest up and down the street giving away free Reuben’s because we had so much corned beef left over, there was no way we were going to sell it all. This year we cooked some extra corned beef, but not as much as in the past, and we didn’t do anything special. I just figured it was a bar holiday, and it would be just a regular day for us. Well as usual I was wrong this year, before 11:00 am we had sold over a dozen Reuben sandwiches, and people were already calling in for deliveries for the afternoon. By early afternoon we were cooking more corned beef to get us through the evening. I have to wonder if I am ever going to figure this business out. It really seems like all my marketing and trying new things are just a roll of the dice. Would I have been busier this year if we tried some of the things from the past? Or is it because of all the things we have done over the past three years that people thought of us this year when they wanted to have a corned beef sandwich. I have said it before, but one of these days I will figure all these things out, then I will give up the restaurant and become consultant.

I know we still have a week until the first day of spring, and in Michigan that doesn’t mean much, but it sure was nice to have a sunny day in the fifties. It has been a long winter, and a day like today brings out our ice cream regulars who we haven’t sent since last fall. It is also the beginning of the upward swing of our business. February was a long brutal month for us this year. Not only was it an extra day longer, but for the first time in three years our business was slower than the previous year. The main reason for the downslide in business was the lack of catering orders. With the state of the economy right now it isn’t a big surprise that businesses aren’t spending as much on catering. On the bright side, our in house business did actually go up by a couple of percent, so I am pleased overall with the performance, and I am really looking forward to sunny days, ice cream cones, and long boarding in the back ally with Forrest.

Earlier in the week a saw an article in the Ann Arbor news about Downtown Ypsi having a late night Friday every second Friday of the month. The downtown merchants have banded together to try to increase retail business in the area, and they are giving out punch cards that you can get punched by the local merchants. When you get your card completely punched you can turn it in and get entered to win a $250 gift basket made up of items from all the local merchants.

After seeing the article I sent an email off to Paul at the Rocket and asked if there was anything I could do to help out. I got a stack of punch cards from him and we have them sitting on the counter at the cafe. If you get a chance, stop in and get a punch card and check out what the downtown shops have to offer. In these tough economic times, it takes creativity and working together to make business districts survive. It is really nice to see our downtown merchants pulling together to make the area a pleasant shopping destination.

We recently linked up with Wireless Ypsi (Steve Pierce and Brian Robb's project) to share our bandwidth throughout Depot Town. Being that we already had a dedicated internet connection, and we were providing free internet access to our customers, it only made sense to participate in the Wireless Ypsi project. Also since I work in the technology field and love anything that is techy and cool, I was a pretty easy sell for the idea. This is another one of those things where a couple of people get together with a great idea, the community gets behind it, and it gets done. This is what I really love about Ypsilanti. There has been talk about a wireless Washtenaw for several years now, but it is a long way from getting completed. Here in Ypsi, we work together and get things done. By summer you will be able to sit in Riverside Park with your laptop (hopefully with an Ice Cream from Café Luwak) and connect to the internet while enjoying the outdoors.

We still don’t have a formal board game night, but it really has been cool seeing how many people come in and use the new games. I heard a customer the other talking to their children saying lets get a seat in the back so we can play Jenga. The funny thing is that I was expecting most of the older students to be playing scrabble and chess, but so far the most popular game amongst the older crowd would be either Sorry or Connect Four. I had to chuckle to myself one day as I passed a group of 4 college students playing Sorry and cheering like they were watching a football game while right around the corner were two kids, who weren’t even teenagers yet, playing Scrabble. I have to admit, the game of sorry looked and sounded like a lot more fun. Overall having people relaxing and playing games really adds to the ambiance of the place. I like having a place where customers are happy and relaxed.

It seems like it was just last week we were celebrating our first anniversary. I guess that it makes sense that it feels that way to me, I have only had two days off since then, but here we are at our third anniversary. And what would an anniversary be without an anniversary party? Well at the café it has become a tradition to make it a cupping party, and this year will be no exception. We will be bringing in another pound of the worlds most expensive coffee and our namesake, Kopi Luwak. So come down and join us on February 17th between 1 and 4 pm for a taste of this one of a kind coffee and help us celebrate.

Sunday January 27th from 5-9 pm
Local independent author, Alison Mackie, will be hosting Gypsy Night at the café this Sunday in celebration of the release of her book “The Gypsy Chronicles”. The evening will include samples of Gypsy music and Film from all over the world. So come down to the café and meet the author between 5 and 9 pm.

I guess one of the nice things about still being a young business is that we are still in our growth phase. In 2007 we showed steady growth every month over 2006, and ended up with a 13.5% increase in business over last year. Our goal was 15%, but given the economy in Michigan and how the restaurant industry in general is doing, I am very happy with the growth we had. Our winning the award for Best Sandwich Shop in Southeast Michigan really helped out third quarter sales and really was the highlight of the year. It was really nice to go from being Ypsilanti’s best kept secret in 2006 to becoming a well known establishment in 2007. I think one of our biggest achievements for 2007 was our green initiative. We are constantly working on ways of reducing our carbon footprint, and we have made great strides by converting to all low energy lights and converting to all biodegradable cups, bags, and salad containers. We still have more to do, but we have made a big start.

I am keeping my 15% goal for 2008, and though I don’t expect much to improve with the economy, I think there are opportunities for areas to expand our business. Our retail coffee bean sales really started to take off in the third quarter, and our Padilla mugs as well as other retail items have really added to the look and feel of the business. We plan to keep expanding the retail side of the business with more types of coffees and other coffee related items. In 2008 we are working on hosting more events and specialty evenings, and once we have completed some remodeling in our kitchen, we are going to work on some additions to our menu. I really think this year is going to be very exciting, and I am looking forward to seeing how things evolve.

I figured there had to be something with this being the 100th article I have written for the café blog/newsletter and the fact that we just past being open for 1000 days. I am not sure if there is any real significance other than the fact that we shifted decimal places, but it feels like there should be some. It is amazing how much ones life can change in a thousand days. Before owning a restaurant I would never have thought of writing an article or blog post for anything. I am always surprised when someone comments on how they like my newsletter and my writing style. I have always been a geek, and would not have considered my writing to have any style at all. My goal when I started sending out my newsletter was to be different from everyone else. I didn’t want to be one of those businesses sending out sales pitches over and over with a lot of coupons and crazy fonts. I hate those kinds of email, and I don’t want to be that kind of business. When I send out an email I want to remind my customers that I am here, tell them about interesting things going on, offer a special or two, and always keep it real. This is my way of communicating personally with my customers. If people like my style, it is truly my style grammatical errors and all.

If you have a true coffee connoisseur on your list this season, then we have the perfect gift for you. We are running a special on either the Hawaiian Kona or Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee for $35 / pound. These coffees are commonly referred to as the best coffee in the world. My personal favorite is the blue mountain, but many will argue that the Kona is superior. Either way you can’t go wrong with either of these coffee’s for Christmas if you have a true coffee lover on your list.

Don’t be fooled by coffee you see in grocery stores and warehouse clubs that call themselves Kona or Blue Mountain. If you look closely you will see the word blend after the name. What this means is that they may not have any actual Kona or Blue mountain beans in them at all and if they do they definitely aren’t the pure coffees. The Kona and Blue Mountain we sell are the real deal, and they are roasted fresh by our roaster in Plymouth, Mi.

If you are interested in either of these coffees, either stop in, give us a call, or send us an email, and we will add you to our list. We will be filling orders the week before Christmas, so the coffee will be as fresh as possible for Christmas morning.

If you are looking for a really unique Christmas gift for a coffee lover, you will want to check out our selection of MugTrees by artist Rodolfo Padilla. These artistic coffee mugs are crafted so they stack on a wooden base and look like a tree of coffee mugs. They come in several styles and several different color glazes. We don't have them in stock yet, but they are scheduled for delivery on Friday 11/30 just in time for Moonlight Madness in Depot Town.

I almost didn't get the opportunity to sell these mugs as the email asking me to be a reseller got flagged in my junk mail. I just happened to see the email as I was getting ready to empty my junk folder. When I saw the mugs I couldn't believe it. I had seen these mugs several years ago when I was on a family trip out west while we were shopping in Sedona. I thought they were the coolest thing, and I planned to buy some. I thought I would wait till we were near the end of our shopping excursion so I wouldn't have to carry them around with me all day, but by the time we were finished shopping, none of the stores were carrying them. We were running late so I didn't have time to go back to the original stores where I had seen them. Ever since then, every time I am in an artsy shop I would look for these mugs, but I haven't ever found them. Now I am going to be selling them.

Hopefully I wont find out that I have the worst taste in the world, and I am the only one who thinks these are cool. I doubt it. If you get a chance to stop by during your holiday shopping, check out these mugs. I am sure they would be great gifts for anyone who drinks coffee.

Having never put together a gift basket in my life, this seemed like a really great idea when I started. I still think it is a great idea, but it isn't one that is going to payoff overnight or even this holiday season. If you have someone on your list who loves good quality coffee, we have several options to choose from. All of our baskets come with Fresh roasted coffee, a variety of syrups, Chocolate covered Kona Beans, Assorted Biscotti, Chocolate covered cookie spoons, and best of all a Cafe Luwak coffee mug either ceramic or travel or both depending on the basket.

I have been wanting to offer Cafe Luwak coffee travel mugs since I opened the restaurant, but the quantity requirement was always too much to consider doing. I also didn't to go the cheap route either. If I am going to put my name on a travel mug, I want it to be a quality mug. Well we just got these mugs in and are they cool. They may not be as cool as the Corner Breweries hand made beer mugs, but I would say they come in a close second. They are stainless steal lined, so you don't have to worry about petroleum leaching into your coffee. They also have nice rubber strips on the outside, so they will fit snugly in a car holder. They are a nice 16oz mug, and as with all travel mugs, each time you come into Cafe Luwak for a coffee refill, you will only be charged for a small.

A couple of weeks ago a group of local community members got together to discuss the continuation of the buy local campaign that started last year. Last year a local woman named Karen created a really nice tri-fold flyer and distributed it around town to various businesses. The flyer listed about 30 local businesses from the Downtown and Depot town areas that had unique items for Christmas. Karen has since moved away from Ypsi, but a number of us wanted to continue what she started. When we met, we discussed a new flyer for this year that would be professionally printed, and I volunteered to build and host a website for the campaign. It seems like I have spent every waking hour of free time I could come up with to build this site, but it was released today and the bulk of my work is finished. I really like how the site turned out, and I hope we get some good use out of it. The printed version of the flyer will be ready next week, and Forrest will be helping out by distributing them to local merchants.

Being a local business owner I have a vested interest in buying local. It not only helps my business, but it helps my neighbors business. The more people we can get to buy locally, the more money stays in our community. This makes the area more attractive to new businesses which improves our shopping areas and creates more of a reason to shop locally. Making our downtown and depot town areas shopping destinations helps all the local businesses and helps define our community. I really like the fact that our town is full of friendly store owners instead of big box chains who could care less who your. If you get a chance stop by our site and join your neighbors in taking the pledge to shop locally this holiday season.

http://ypsi.buylocalmichigan.com