Better Day Time

We had a pretty good day time traffic today. We've been having better evenings for the past few weeks and we've been hoping that we can generate more day time traffic and it happened today! We've also notice the increasing numbers of bubble tea orders in the days.

One of our only two employees didn't show up to work today. We were a little surprised but sort of sensed it coming. She called and left a message Friday and said she couldn't come in because she was too tired. She got another job at a local bakery and was feeling overwhelmed and tired. John has been strict about espresso making and milk steaming techniques and so do I. We don't allow flawed drinks to go to the customers. She might have misunderstood us when we corrected her drink making techniques. We understand her situation with the bakery but was not happy with the fact that she decided to not show up and did not call to inform us. We have to let her go and hope she can focus on her other work well.

A lot of Taiwanese students came this evening. They gathered and talked, and played Chinese checker. It was fun to watch people enjoy our drinks and have fun!

Bulletin Board

Many people have been coming to the caffe wanting to post information about their bands, new concerts, etc.. We used to have them leave their flyers or coupons on the chrome rack where we put newspapers and magazines. It was getting a little bit cluttered with all the flyers, so John decided to put up a bulletin board right above the chrome racks.

The bulletin board has a silver metal rim around it and we think it looks wonderful in the caffe. We'll see when people will start using it.

Premier Passes for "Vanity Fair"

Burke from CityWeekly dropped by yesterday to give us movie premier passes for the Reese Witherspoon new movie, "Vanity Fair". "People will come and line up for these passes," he said. Indeed people started coming around 9 a.m. Most of the first people were older ladies and gentlemen. We felt bad they had to wait until 10 to pick up the passes, but when they sat around the store for an hour and talked loud without even looking at us it scared me a little. We didn't want to be rude and chase them out the store (even though Burke said sometimes you just have to tell the non-customer people to line up outside), but they were all gathered at the "loungy area" at the store and didn't seem to notice us. :(

One guy came in and had an Americano. He then saw that we had bubble tea and asked if our bubble tea is "Taiwanese style" bubble tea. Of course it is! He said he taught English in Tainan, Taiwan for a couple of months and he loved it there. He was fun to talk to!

The passes were gone pretty quickly. Many people asked for more than one pass, but according to the paper and Burke, each person can only have one pass. I was surprised when people seemed to be mad when we told them that they could only get one pass (and each pass admits 2.) Those are free passes, but people do get personal about them. We will know more about how to handle these sort of situations next time we have passes again!

It's been a pretty steady day, and we got to meet some new and fun people. It's been great!

Gift Certificate

Today a boy came by the caffe and redeemed his $15 gift certificate from us. We gave X96 some gift certificate to give to their audience during their programmings last week as a way to promote our caffe's grand opening event to help the pets. The boy and his friends got a hot chocolate, 2 bubble teas, and 2 caramel lattes. They loved the drinks and said they would be back!

This was the first gift certificate redemption! We are glad more people are noticing we are here!

Deseret News took this picture of Mocha, a St. Bernard mix, enjoying a special panini during our grand opening event to benefit No More Homeless Pets in Utah.

This was in Deseret News on the front page of "Utah" section on August 22nd. Mocha is the sweetest puppy! He is mellow yet playful, and he is really smart! Someone will adopt him very soon.

Helping the Homeless Pets

After counting the money we made this past weekend, we had about $460 to give to help the dogs and cats. A lady from No More Homelss Pets in Utah came and picked up the check and the donations in the doggie jar. She said, "Wow, you ARE donating everything you made this past weekend!" We are very glad that we got to contribute to the community and to help the animals.

We want to keep being involved with the organization as well as continue helping the pets.

Our Official Grand Opening Day!

It is our official grand opening! We got up early this morning to prepare for the event that was scheduled for 1 p.m. this afternoon. I made two giant cookie bones for the dogs that were coming to the caffe today. Both John and No More Homelss Pets in Utah sent out our press release to the media and we were both hoping some media people will show up and help us get more people to come to the caffe so we can raise more money for the animals.

The Deseret News photographer came with his little girls. He got an Americano for himself and a hot chocolate for his daughters. I steamed the milk with the chocolate so everything blended very well, and I shaked some ground chocolate on top of the drink as well. The girls' eyes brightened up when they saw the ceremic cup and of course, the giant red saucer. They were all smiling.

Fox 13 came and filmed John. They asked why he wanted to donate all proceeds to the animals. John said the two organizations that cannot help themselves are the children and the pets, and we want to help them and do things for them both. Pets are the first ones we can help. The camera guy then came into the store where I was helping several customers. I was making bubble teas. He was really interested and I think he filmed the sealer machine, yeah that cool sealer machine, while I explained what bubble teas were.

People have been very generous. They came and they wanted to help the homeless pets as well. In Utah alone, about 90 healthy and adoptable cats and dogs are euthanized everyday because the shelters cannot afford keeping them all. People need to be responsible and neuter/spay their pets so there won't be as many innocent little lives being killed daily. No More Homeless Pets in Utah's goal is to end pet euthanization within a 5- year program period. We really appreciate what No More Homeless Pets is doing and we want to continue working with them.

A few people called later today and asked John about the caffe and the charity event because they saw him on the news! We're so glad people are caring about the community and the homeless pets!

We had a good day at work. People were kind and the pets were special. Hopefully tomorrow we can do as well or better for the animals.

Two Days Before Our Grand Opening!

It's two days before our grand opening! We're all really excited here at the caffe! No More Homeless Pets in Utah sent us a draft of the press release they are sending out to the media. It looks great! We're all thinking of ways to bring more people to the caffe so we can raise more money for the animals. We are going to donate all proceeds during this weekend to them.

We've been thinking about adding a couple of food items. Many people suggested bagels. We like bagels so we think it's a pretty good idea to have bagels on the menu. Oh, and someone brought us the best baklava. It is the most amazing baklava ever! The company make them fresh to order, unlike the others who make a bunch and then freeze them for later. We can really taste the difference!

People start to notice the ad John put out in City Weekly. They bring in the coupons and want tasty bubble teas! Yay! We're glad that people like the Chewy Pearls. I've been busy cooking them constantly. It's good to cook those chewy stuff in smaller amount and frequently, I believe. The Chewy Pearls' texture and flavor are so much better when they are fresh.