Sorry things on this digital space have been dark for a few days now. We’ve been getting things ready for you to come visit.
In a long-term plan to revamp the place a bit, the time has come for the sunday classroom/community meeting room to receive some juice. Floors, paint, decor (on the way). We think you’ll dig.
How many baristas does it take to lay new flooring and paint the walls? Well…
I don’t even like Jimmy Buffet, but I think of what will be different on Monday morning at Everyday Joe’s and the song just enters my head.
At Everyday Joe’s, we constantly look for ways to increase opportunities to talk to you, improve quality, and be a better business. A few things coming up will breach all three of these fronts, so let’s chat about them.
TALKING TO YOU
For 7.5 years now, we’ve brewed the majority of our coffee using the french press. This is not changing. What is changing is how we serve that coffee to you.
The brew has always resided in an airpot, and we’ve always handed you a cup so you can go and serve yourself. A bit ago, we thought “Hang on here! Why are we sending our dear friends away from us when we could see them more??!!!??!?!?”
Enter these slick things:
That is a picture of our new thermal carafes. The carafes we will SERVE you your french press coffee from. It is more time with you. It also eliminates the disappointing “bottom of the airpot” experience we all dread and loathe. This, then brings us to our next topic…
QUALITY
Airpots are convenient. A nice invention, even. But, that initial burst of air it takes to get the coffee from the pot, out the spout, and into your cup can really kill the brew’s most wonderful tastes. Now, we just pour it into your mug and you enjoy.
This change in process accompanies some changes in our menu layout & offerings as well. We hope the new layout will make it easier to find what you want to drink, and we hope the change in offerings will do the same. You’ll have to come in and say hi to see those changes, though (wink wink nudge nudge).
Continuing on the quality front. Check this out with thine eyeballs:
That’s our new syrup selection…and our new syrups!
We made the decision a while ago to switch brands to our new friends at Sweetbird. We believe the quality of these syrups better matches up with the quality of coffee and milk we use. And -- for those who are into it -- they are vegan. And the raspberry tastes like raspberries. And the schnozberries taste like schnozberries. And in the cup, they look like syrup instead of sugar water.
“But wait! There are so few! Why! Why! WHHHHYYYYYYYYYY!?!?!???!”
Glad you asked.
BUSINESS TIME
We have the desire to be good stewards of our resources: this building, our volunteers, our community, and our funds. Having 10 bottles of syrup sitting out in case someone might want that flavor sometime is not good stewardship. It is money sitting on the shelves. The syrups go bad and have to be thrown away. We thought long and hard about this and surveyed folks. This step reduces costs and waste….and they taste so good I want to try a flavored latte for the first time in 2 years.
The Sweetbird syrups do cost a tiny bit more, though. That -- along with a rise in our milk prices -- have necessitated a price increase. It isn’t much (about 20 cents), but it should help around here. We also believe the new prices reflect the quality of beverages we are making, without gouging your pocketbook. We worked hard on this as well: checking out the nationwide coffee house prices as well as local ones, talking with folks who have been in this business for a LOOOOOOOONG time, and straining our eyes and brains while obsessing over spreadsheets of costs and percentages.
Everyday Joe’s is about serving you and creating a place where we can be a benefit to the community. Thank you for being with us through the journey. It is a fun one, even when it involves spreadsheets. Everyday Joe’s loves you very, very much.
It was a few months ago. We sat with our landlord and gave her one of those Moustache/Lightning Bolt travel mugs:
When she saw the lightning bolts, she literally yelled “Operation Electric!” That yell referenced the company that was in this building before we were. The company our landlord’s father owned. This company:
The new Everyday Joe’s Lightning Bolts logo was designed with inspiration from this mug:
Everyday Joe’s always reminded me of public radio. Or maybe the essence of public radio. Not sure, but we first used the lightning bolts on a poster last January with the phrase “support your local non-profit coffee house.” That phrase has now made it’s way to our diner mugs. The official Everyday Joe’s version of the lightning bolts has made it’s way to a new place:
That’s our front door. Change is good, but so is tribute to what was here before us and the owners of the building who love Everyday Joe’s as much as anyone. While the design was inspired by something else, the day our landlord yelled with glee about it was the day we realized why we loved it so much…and why it should stick around.
UPDATE 7.26.10 | REMEMBER THAT TIME WE HAD CARPET?
It is so good to be back. Despite the break-in on Sunday morning at 4 a.m. , we are all in good spirits. Nothing was taken or damaged or even touched. A man had a good night on the town. Walking home, the pew in our foyer looked comfortable. To get to that pew, a glass door needed to be smashed. The door was smashed, the pew was slept on, a witness called the authorities, a man was escorted out of the building, and now we have wood on our door while we we wait for some glass.
new door & EDJ signage coming soon.
That wake-up call from the police was a weird twist to an otherwise productive weekend cleaning up things made beautiful. Thanks to everyone who helped in all areas: prep, feeding the crew, clean-up, and financial. Remember that time we had carpet?
scrub scrub.
the windows love the new floors more.
cleaning fuel.
'tis ready for the ball.
first gathering on the concrete.
UPDATE 7.24.10 | 8:02 A.M. : ‘TIS COMPLETE-ISH
The MVPs worked until midnight on Thursday as well. They arrived again at 6 am on Friday morning and worked until the completion of what they started arrived…right around 3:30 pm.
The floors are the hotness. Everyday Joe’s…so hot right now.
We’re working hard to clean the place up, replace some baseboard, and generally get things back in order. Pictures as the day progresses. Below: one from yesterday nighttime to get your anticipatory senses ready for Monday morning.
we still can't believe it happened.
UPDATE 7.22.10 | 7:22 A.M : LATE NIGHTS & EARLY MORNS
We hired the MVPs of concrete design, apparently. It’s like the Miami Heat.
The crew got their machine up and running yesterday morning. Then they worked until midnight last night. Then they returned at 6 a.m. this morning. Much sleep? Negatory. Ankle-breaking ridge that bisected the coffee house? Gone-zo. Plus, they plan on finishing the heavy work today, leaving just a bit of clean-up to do tomorrow. If you ask me, they never need to pay for coffee at Everyday Joe’s again.
burning zee oil.
the crew transport at 6 a.m.
ORIGINAL POST:
love.
We miss you.
It’s been two days now. We don’t miss the carpet, though. It was a joy to rip it to shreds. It was hard work getting the concrete underneath ready for the crew that came in on Monday, but it was worth it. Then the crew’s main grinder’s engine broke. A new part will be in tomorrow morning. Things are at a standstill until then, but there was something good about standing in the building today before the rest of the change happens.
Enjoy the photos thus far. More as things progress. Thanks to Max Jensen and Doug Blocksma for capturing them.
No new “bar” pictures for today. New tile was put down. Plumbing and electrical going in. It looks beautiful.
The question most often asked so far is, “Are you leaving the outside of the bar like that?” The answer is, “Yes, yes we are. And yes, it is stained & lacquered OSB. So hot right now.” (if that just confused you, see “Day 2.”)
I will leave you with this lovely image, a hint at something waiting for you Tuesday:
Day 2
nearly there
the end of the now huge bar
it's large
the carpet must go
End Day One
night night
the beginnings of new counters and walls
Welcome To Progress
...and so it begins
goodbye counters and walls
goodbye bar
goodbye tile
Things Are Showing Up
Tools, counter tops, etc. It feels like we’re about to embark on something unbeknown to us.
It’s Been Five Years & Coming
Tonight at 5 pm, a hammer will make a hole in some drywall. Drywall currently connected to our coffee bar. Then more holes will be made and crowbars will pry and saws will whir and the bar will be no more…until the new bar is erected in its place shortly thereafter. It’s going to be quite a weekend.
You can follow all the action right here. We’ll update this post with pictures and maybe some vids as the rebuild progresses…all the way until we reopen on Tuesday morning. We should be on HGtv.
Starting this evening, we will be holding special hours through Wednesday night to encourage studying or feeding the studious with the snacks you will bring down. Observe:
Part of working at Everyday Joe’s is talking to people…whether you feel like it or not. It usually seems the most fruitful conversations are the ones you didn’t want to start or actually tried to avoid. Communication with others is important.
Recently, our friends at Beet Street were kind enough to feature Everyday Joe’s in their weekly re:Beet e-news letter as the subject of “Beet Street Burning Questions.” Chris sat down with a microphone in front of his face to talk of things Everyday Joe’s & otherwise. He almost cries, which is par for the course. Listen below and check out what the rest of re:Beet has to offer here.
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8 years ago, Timberline Church bought into the idea of a church in Oldtown Fort Collins. Timberline Oldtown (formerly Joshua’s Crossing) was planted.
6 years ago, Timberline Oldtown bought into the idea of a non-profit coffee house as a form of non-traditional outreach to the community…focusing on Love & relationship rather than forceful theology. Everyday Joe’s was planted.
This past weekend, we were invited over to the Mothership (aka Timberline) to give an update about the going ons around here. This meant speaking 4 times to a total of around 3000 folks. Exhausting and fun.
To kick things off, we showed a video on several very large screens that made me look like I was 7 feet tall. Below is a timelapse of 24 hours in our building…spanning Sunday morning church, a special Sunday evening concert featuring David Bazan & Karli Fairbanks, and a monday morning at Everyday Joe’s. Enjoy and we love you.
This is the new home of Appendix E-J, the official companion to the Everyday Joe’s Communiqué. It will continue to operate the same…bringing you all the nice things that happen in the Everyday Joe’s universe that our weekly newsletter can’t possibly cover.
All the old posts are here, and the new awesome will be posted here. Make sure and subscribe to the feed, pals. You don’t want to miss the exciting things we have coming down the tubes…and there are some exciting things in the works. That is a promise from the bottom of my heart.
That is a picture of our new thermal carafes. The carafes we will SERVE you your french press coffee from. It is more time with you. It also eliminates the disappointing “bottom of the airpot” experience we all dread and loathe. This, then brings us to our next topic…
