April 16, 2009 - This week, a roller coaster ride!
Monday and Tue were manageable days and smooth sailing with business more spread out and not all at once. We had worked out several process glitches, so all was looking good! But... then we had a pendulum swing on the interest factor on what happens in restaurants!!!... Read on...

On Wed, we had a plan for a new employee (Brice) to start, but it was touch and go for him because he was moving back to Gold Beach from Portland the night before. We had let Paul off that day knowing Brice would arrive... by 11:00 we hadn't heard anything and he wasn't here. Time to open, and we know at lunch, one person in the front taking orders, taking out food, and busing tables is not enough!! It was looking like impending disaster!

So... check this out... a woman had walked in right then asking for a job application form .. while she was waiting, we realized we might be short staffed and lunch time was eminent!! We asked her if she had restaurant experience... she said yes... I said... "Want a job for a few hours?" She said sure, I just gotta go walk my dog and then I'm ready"... she was wearing a hoodie, I gave her a Barnacle Bistro t-shirt... Evan showed her around for 15 minutes and then she proceeded to kick butt!! She was really good! We hired her that day!!! Her name is Terry. You all will like her! Brice showed up at 11:00 afterall, so we kept Terry and put Brice on the POS system as a result. It worked out very well. Many of you know Brice and know how great he is, too!!

Then there was today.... All is good, staff is good. Brice was off taking a breather because of his big move, I had Terry back and another new hire, Rheanne, who's first day was today. As many of you already know, Rheanne kicks butt, too, and with her and Terry there, all seems like the killer day!! Then at 12:30, right at the worst time, both fryers went out. We had several orders of fish 'n chips up... Oh... what a mess, going back to everyone and trying to get their orders re-done!! We had to give several re-funds out! Evan was ready to close the doors! I talked him out of it. But, the rest of the day, no fish or sweet potato fries!!! Most everyone was pretty understanding when we explained what was going on. In reality, most of our menu does not depend on the fryer... but the fish 'n chips are a big seller.

The equipment guy (Budwyn from Port Orford) pushed his schedule around and is coming tomorrow.

Suzanne & Evan

(See below for past news updates)