September will be the end

GreenGo Food is for sale. We started over a year ago in the farmer's markets. In February, we took over this little kitchen from our friend and mentor Devra of Patty Pan Grill. We have invested every ounce of our being, every cent we could scrounge up into this business. We have always refused to buy cheap food or just have the industrial feed truck drop off our supplies. We've slept well knowing we are doing the right thing. Unfortunately, neither of us have trust funds or family $$, or any savings from scraping by in the restaurant biz for many years. So while we have finally achieved sales goals, are getting a little recognition, and seem to be growing, it's so bittersweet......we have nothing left to give. We incurred too much debt during the first few lean months to recover from. Our family unit has been taxed to damn near broken. Our personal bank account has been empty for a while. (Because all money we pay ourselves goes to our debt. Dev always reminds us that if we're paying our debt, we ARE making it, even if it doesn't feel like it)
I had this conversation with Cypress
"Mama when are we going to camp in Jerry's orchard again?"
"I don't know"
"This summer?"
"Probably not"
"How about camping in the desert?"
"Probably not soon"
"Don't you love to camp"
"I do"
"Why can't we just go camping? Summer's gonna be over soon"
"Because our restaurant owns us, and we can't take the time or $$ away to go camping"
I don't want to be this parent. I do not want to live a life where making money is the primary objective or activity. It's so strange that wanting to support small local farms and artisianal food producers with our business has put us in this situation.
But we have learned many important lessons. We are willing to share those lessons with any buyer and set them up for success. I know that an evolution of GreenGo Food has huge potential. Every day, people come from up the street and as far away as Kirkland and even Sweden and tell us "This is really great. I'm so happy someone is doing this."
I really hope someone will recognize the value and potential of what we've tried to do. If not, there's a great little kitchen spot for sale. All set up and running. Turn key.

Helping hands

Time again to give some special thanks to a few people who have really been lifesavers. Jami, my stepfather chef from Michigan came and gave us help for 10 days. Joe is driving on Wednesdays so we can put some personal things in order. A few great community people who really put the word out for us. Our farmers who give us good deals. Dustin for being a good low-paid intern. Cooklocal for too much. Bean Fairbanks for making me blog. Dev always. Laura for being a reliable babysitter. Janet Tu for a fair review.

"For whom the bell tolls"

Here we are approaching the peak of "summer season" and these are strange times. Lately, we have witnessed with shock and sadness the demise of many small businesses. A few months ago, Culinary Communion went under. (But I've heard they have a new plan) The corner of our street in Ballard has soon to be 3 empty storefronts. A corner near our home used to be home to 2 large auto dealers which have now closed. A very dear market vendor is reportedly done. A couple more market people are reportedly barely hanging on.
Yes, our sales are growing, we have a great group of regular customers, public awareness seems to be growing about food sourcing, but we are still not quite making what we need. If we would just order the cheap stuff from the truck, we would probably be doing just fine, but we refuse...refuse to be a part of the wasteful inhumane unsustainable industrial food system. So, by not conforming, we've made our own business unsustainable. Not sustainable in that we can't pay ourselves, we are completely burnt out from working so hard for such a long stretch of time. Our home and gardens are terribly neglected. Our bodies and souls are aching.
There must be a more effective way.

Solstice and the Light

HAPPY SOLSTICE!!! This is our favorite time of the year. We were married in a beautiful park in Skagit County on the Solstice 6 years ago. For the past 5 years, we've always enjoyed the Fremont Solstice Parade. This will be the first year we miss it since we will be working. I'm baking some special Solstice Strawberry (from our Victory garden) Scones. I also made Gazpacho. Cypress will be going with his Grandpa from Michigan.
As we celebrate these longest days of the year, we give thanks to the "Light". Yes, the abundant sunlight, but also to the people who bring light to our life. There have been many days over the past few months where we have wanted to just lock up, pack the van and head to Mexico. But the good people in our community have sustained us and given us the strength to continue. This week, we are stunned by the generosity of our friends at Cooklocal . When they heard about our window being smashed, they started a fund to replace it. It looks like we may have a new window by next week. I am running out of time, we must get to U-District market, but I want to say the biggest THANK YOU TO THE PEOPLE WHO BRING THE LIGHT!

Random acts of unkindness

Being in the heart of it all certainly has had its disadvantages lately. This month, we have experienced about $1200 of property damage which we can not afford to fix. (Yes, we have insurance, but high deductibles mean we would basically pay 90% of the damage anyway, and we don't have a spare $1000) Last week, someone hit and run the front bumper of our van. Sat night someone smashed in the art window of our shop shown here behind Cypress. They didn't come in the building, (we have an alarm) but they ruined art and smashed a large window which would be very expensive to replace. For now it will get ugly plywood and shut out the natural light. Thanks Crack-heads. And I sincerely mean thanks, this is just one more not-so-gentle reminder that we belong on a farm, not in the concrete jungle.

Systems stable. Prepare for reincarnation sequence...

For the past 8 years, we have been gardening, farm visiting, slaving in kitchens, scheming and dreaming how we could get to our own farm.
Very well paid cooks make about $15-20 per hour. Not quite enough to feed the family and save for a land purchase. We started GreenGo just over a year ago with the intention of supporting what we care about while paving the way for a farm life. The past 6 months starting the Ballard storefront have been the most intense and challenging times of our lives. Establishing systems and pars from scratch, without the "normal" templates or procedures of a traditional restaurant. Now we finally feel like we have the systems in place, we're meeting goals and steadily growing. We're receiving validation from the community. We know we're on the leading edge of the curve with our concept.
We would really like to find some people who share our values and would continue our mission. We'd like to find the right people to work the remainder of the summer, learn the process, then take over.

Sundays

Sundays are often referred to as "freak day" in the industry for several reasons. One of those reasons is the fact that Sundays can be freakishly busy or dead in a restaurant. They're a total wild card. When we began opening on Sundays, we were generally very busy. Since Broadway Farmer's market, and probably a few others have opened, our Sundays in the shop have slowed down. This is a problem because in order to have both locations operating, we pay out about $200 in labor. If we only do $185 in sales at the shop, we're losing money. The farmer's Market has been consistently good, so it makes sense to focus our energy there.
Currently it seems the best thing for the business and the family would be to just work at the market and close the shop. The whole family spending the day doing what we love....being at a great Farmer's Market and selling great food from our surrounding farmers. This way we save our sanity, labor expenses, and utilities.