Cafe Luwak Blog

Taco Tuesdays Take Off

nospam@example.com (Jim Karnopp) — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 01:08:27 -0400

It is always hard to tell what is going to work and what isn’t when we introduce something new at the café. When we started doing our breakfast buffet it became successful very quickly, but when we started doing breakfast everyday it took months before we started seeing any breakfast business. A couple of my cooks suggested that we give up on the daily breakfast. The turnaround for our breakfast menu occurred when we introduced our grilled burgers and chicken, we expanded our breakfast times to all day and that is when our breakfast items started really selling.

We have had our taco bar running through the month of August, and it is already doing really well, and we are already starting to think about what other types of buffets we could do. I don’t want to be known as the buffet place, but I think it makes sense if we can do things well and serve a quality product in that format. It has always been hard for us to compete in the evenings since we don’t have alcohol, but the café is a nice casual place for families to come, and having quality food in a buffet style makes it a perfect place to take the whole family for dinner. And thanks to the Taco bar, we are also selling more grilled items when groups come in where not everyone wants tacos. Keep an eye out for new items and we are always interested in suggestions from our customers.

Monday Madness from the Grill - 1/2 Off 2pm - 7pm

nospam@example.com (Jim Karnopp) — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 17:03:47 -0400

Since adding our new grill menu, we haven’t had much luck getting customers to try our new items. So many people who come in are set on getting their favorite sandwich that it is hard to get them to try something new. The customers who have tried our burgers, veggie burgers, and chicken sandwiches have quickly become grill regulars. For those of you who are reluctant to try something new, we have introduced a new special on Mondays. Every Monday till the end of September we will be selling all of the items on our From the Grill menu for Half Off from 2pm - 7pm. This is your chance to try our new items at an unbelievable price.

Tuesday Night Taco Bar

nospam@example.com (Jim Karnopp) — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 02:31:45 -0400

So my new cook Richie came up to me today and suggested that we do a Taco Bar at night. He said that the breakfast buffet was doing so well, and we have all the stuff for it, so why not setup the buffet table on Tuesday night with all the fixings for people to make their own taco’s. I thought that was a great idea. I remember back when Cross Street Station was still around how much I loved going down there on Tuesday Taco Night. So starting next Tuesday, August 10th, we will have a taco buffet at the café. We are still working out the details, but it will run from 5pm – 9pm with a cost of 6.95 for adults, and 3.95 for kids under 12. If you have any suggestions for what you would like to see on the bar, let us know.

Keeping it all up to date.

nospam@example.com (Jim Karnopp) — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 10:02:00 -0400

One of the hardest things to keep up with in this business is marketing specials and soups. They change all the time and remembering to update the web site, the display board, Facebook, and Twitter, is really difficult. The past few weeks I have really fallen behind on keeping everything up to date, but I have a good excuse. I have been working on tying it all together automatically. I built a web interface that the employees can use to update the soups on the Web site that now automatically updates the display board (TV) at the front of the café, and sends a feed to Facebook and Twitter. I will probably have to tweak it a bit, but if you follow us through any of these mediums, you will be able to keep up to date with what we are serving on a daily basis.

Make A Wish WAM Special

nospam@example.com (Jim Karnopp) — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 01:57:44 -0400

Forrest and I have been planning on doing the Make A Wish WAM 300 and WAM 50 bike ride this summer, and part of doing the ride is that we are supposed to be raising funds for Make A Wish Foundation. With everything going on with our new menu and our other projects time kind of got away from us, and now we only have a few days left to meet the July 1st deadline. Forrest needs to raise $750 minimum and I need $300, so I thought we would offer a special to anyone who donates through our pages at Make a Wish. Just donate $20 or more by July 1st at either of the links below, and you will receive a free breakfast buffet. Just print out a copy of your confirmation and bring it in and recieve your buffet breakfast. Even if you forget your confirmation we will have a list of people from the website.

www.wishmich.org/forrest

or

www.wishmich.org/jim

Forrest rode in this event last year and it was an amazing event. The Make A Wish Foundation really does a lot of great things for kids with critical illnesses. By donating to this event you can help make a sick childs life a little brighter and receive a great breakfast thanks to our procrastination.

Find Us on Facebook

nospam@example.com (Jim Karnopp) — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 02:51:12 -0400

If you havent been to our facebook page yet, you really should stop by and become a fan. We have been really trying to keep our page up to date with the latest specials and when we change our soups. So click the link below to become a fan and keep up with all the exciting things going on at Cafe Luwak

AnnArbor.com Reviews our New Menu

nospam@example.com (Jim Karnopp) — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 23:29:00 -0400

When I get the call that someone is going to write a review about my place it always sends a chill down my spine. I never know when they are coming or when they came, so the paranoid thoughts start going through my mind. Did they get good service? Did they come when it was too busy or when the cook was having a bad day? A positive review can mean a nice increase in business or it can be devastating. I think overall this was a pretty good review. She did comment that the outdoor seating in the back didn’t have a very nice view, but there isn’t much I can do to improve that. The things that were important was the quality of service and the quality of the food, and in those regards we did really well. You can see the article at the link below, and be sure to share it with your friends.

http://www.annarbor.com/entertainment/cafe-luwak-review/

Another Memorial Day Success

nospam@example.com (Jim Karnopp) — Mon, 31 May 2010 22:20:00 -0400

When I look back on the five years of owning the café, there are a number of things that I had to learn through painful experiences. Handling the memorial day rush is one of those things. The first year we had a bit of an excuse because we had no idea what to expect, but I think it took three years before we finally started doing things right. With the parade going all the way through Depot Town, it makes sense that we would have a lot of customers coming in first thing to get a cup of coffee, latte, cappuccino, or other beverage and maybe something quick to eat. In the first three years it seemed like no matter what we did, we always ran out of coffee, and once we ran out, there was just no way the coffee maker could ever catch up. There is nothing worse than looking at a line full of people needing coffee and having to wait 5 minutes for the pot to brew which still wouldn’t be enough.

The past few years we have had a system that has worked pretty well. I have a bigger coffee maker now and much larger containers to brew coffee into. I have also made sure that I am the one working the espresso machine, and Forrest is right next to me prepping the cups for the next drinks in line, so all I need to do is pour shots of espresso and steam the milk. This year I got in before anyone else and started brewing coffee. By the time we opened at 8:00 am, I had over 10 gallons brewed and was ready to start on espresso drinks. When we started getting busy, things almost fell apart when we got a couple of lattes crossed up and had to remake a couple of drinks, but Forrest and I recovered and made it through the rest of the rush without incident. I wouldn’t say customers got their orders in record speed, but I would say everyone got their order in a reasonable amount of time. It really is nice when things come together the way you want them to.

Cool Article in the Examiner

nospam@example.com (Jim Karnopp) — Mon, 31 May 2010 20:26:00 -0400

Sandee Rodriguez, a regular customer, has written an article about us and Kopi Luwak coffee for the examiner.com publication. It is a pretty cool article so if you get a chance check it out at the following link.

That Bean Comes from Where Article

VW Festival Weekend was a real hit

nospam@example.com (Jim Karnopp) — Wed, 26 May 2010 16:51:00 -0400

It is always fun when a car show comes to town looking at all the different vehicles, but there is something extra fun about seeing a bunch of old VW's coming through. Maybe it has something to do with growing up watching Herbie movies that personify the bugs or maybe it is just that they are such unique vehicles. Whatever it is, it is always a fun weekend, and it is also a great weekend for business. All the car shows help our business, but for some reason we get more foot traffic from the VW show than any of the others. This weekend we had incredible sales on our buffet and new grilled items as well as our sandwiches. I had several customers that were from out of town tell me how much they had been looking forward to this show and coming to my place to get one of our reubens. I suggested that they try some of our new grilled items, but they had their hearts set on our sandwiches. It really is too bad we can't have VW fest every weekend.

New Menu

nospam@example.com (Jim Karnopp) — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 18:12:00 -0400

Well we have picked some of our top grilled specials and combined them with our sandwich menu, breakfast menu, and added an ice cream page to create a beutiful new six page menu. Five if you dont count the cover. I am personally very proud of the menu because I did it all myself. I took the photos, created the layout, printed the pages, and stuffed them into the menu jackets. I think they came out really nice especially with the photo's. Right now we only have the grill open during the day till 4pm, but we are working on expanding our staff so we can have the grilled items in the evening also. We are also going to continue trying out new specials so we can revise the menu and keep it fresh with new items.
Click here to see new menu

5th Anniversery Kopi Luwak Cupping

nospam@example.com (Jim Karnopp) — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 19:46:00 -0400

Our actual anniversery was back in February, but my vendor was out of Kopi Luwak coffee, so I had to put off our celebration for a couple of months. Five years is quite a milestone for any business, and it seems to have come very quickly. We have had a lot of good times and a few bad times over the years, but most of them have been good. I have met so many great customers as well as wonderful employees. Cafe Luwak has always been more than just a business to me. It is a part of the community and a place to meet where you can feel comfortable bringing the entire family. It was nice to have so many people come in today to taste the Kopi Luwak or enjoy the breakfast buffet and wish us happy birthday. With all the changes we have made over the years and even more so recently, I think we are right on the verge of really growing this business into something great. Hopefully we will still be here to celebrate our 10th anniversary. I do hope by then to have more than two days off a year.

New Management

nospam@example.com (Jim Karnopp) — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 16:59:00 -0400

Over the years I have had a couple of managers to help run the cafe, and they have all brought something new to the place. We recently lost a manager we had for over three years, and I decided that we needed to really have a team of working managers. Now we have three team leaders who each have responsibility over different parts of the business. As we expand our menu and how the business operates, having one manager wouldnt work anymore. We are incorporating a lot of changes into the restaurant and we are really focussing on a team approach to everything now. There is always adjustment when a long term employee leaves, but in this case I think when the dust settles, we will have a much stronger staff and improved customer service.

Tales from the Ypsilanti Archives

nospam@example.com (Jim Karnopp) — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 10:52:00 -0400

If you havent had a chance to pick up a copy of Tales from the Ypsilanti Archives, we have them, and we are offering a free latte with the purchase. I have known the author, Laura Bien, since I opened the cafe over five years ago, so I was really excited when the publisher asked me if I would be willing to sell her book in my shop. I have read a number of her blogs over the years, and I really think she is an incredible writer. So if you havent had a chance to read any of her work, pick up a book and check out her articles on YpsiCiti.com and the Ypsilanti Historical Museum Blog.

New cooks and new soups

nospam@example.com (Jim Karnopp) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:17:00 -0400

Over the past few years our soups have really gotten kind of boring. We used to have a cook who was really into making soup and we always had cool new soups on the menu. When she left, she had only a fraction of her soups written down, so we have made those and a few different ones, but we havent had enough variety to really be thought of as a cool soup place. Well now that we have multiple cooks with a variety of styles, we are working on putting together an updated list of recipies. If you havent tried our soups in a while, I would really suggest you give them a try. So far the customer feedback on the new soups has been just outstanding.