Aldo Coffee Company

Grand Opening or Not?

Today was Melanie's last day at her job.  She'll now be in the store full time.  Which means we'll no longer have to keep calling her to figure out where she put things.

We'd been waiting for her to be here full time before we launched our Grand Opening.  Which was supposed to start tomorrow.  Yet we still don't have a sign, any marketing and not even simple printed menus that people ask for every day.  The email we're promoting on the web site doesn't even work (although you can still reach us at [email protected] and [email protected], just not at [email protected].)

So we're discussing whether we should hold off on any kind of a Grand Opening until we have these fairly basic requirements taken care of.  Meantime, we're still decorating just in case.

Elvis Lives

Our Aldo Presley is finally catching on.  It's one of the four Brunch Panini we've been offering the last couple of Sundays.  We sold out of them for the first time. 

We learned that at 10:30am on Sunday, we're the only place on the road with anything remotely resembling a sandwich.  Even if it is peanut butter, chocolate and banana.  Apparently skiiers like them, since we sold out to a couple of groups headed out for a day on the slopes.

Forgot to mention on Friday that we've added a white mocha latte and a couple of new teas, including 1st Flush Darjeeling, which we're happy to get since there's only a limited supply.

Tango Anyone?

By day, Ernesto manages a medical records service up the street. By night, he's part of an Argentine tango band. He came in today and talked with Rich about bringing the band by to play occasionally once the weather gets warmer.

We've always thought we'd be doing some evening entertaining here, although we're still figuring out when and how. But a tango band seems right up our alley.

The cold spell broke and we benefitted. Today was our best day so far. Constantly busy. Unfortunately we're still looking for Saturday staff, so Rich, who came in to make the panini and then do some painting and prep work for next week's grand opening, ended up spending the entire day behind the counter helping Melanie.

We're still hiring... especially for Saturdays!

Early Close Today

Had to close at 4pm today because Melanie had other obligations and Cara, our neighbor and usual Friday afternoon barista, sprained her ankle and is laid up for a couple of days. 

Our apologies for the inconvenience and get well soon, Cara.

Meetings at Aldo

We've noticed more and more meetings being held here. Our big table seems to be in use daily, with different groups spreading out architectural plans or business briefs and staying for a couple of hours or more.

If you've got a small meeting, we've got the coffee, food and a very comfortable atmosphere for business discussions.

Rich had a meeting in the store today with one of the media reps he's using for the lubrication conference he's promoting (Rich is a marketing consultant/speaker/columnist/blogger in the trade show industry in addition to making panini and cannoli). Obviously the media rep wanted to make a good impression on Rich. He bought coffee, desserts, lunch and giftware, resulting in the largest single customer purchase to date. And all to get a couple of third-page ad placements.

If only we could get more of Rich's suppliers to come to Pittsburgh and have meetings over here!

Our Panini Are Too Big?

We've had a few people come in who wanted a sandwich and have either said, “That's too much bread,” or “These things are HUGE. I can't eat all that!”.

While some places around town would wear those complaints like a badge of honor, we can't. We made a mistaken assumption that you had to offer belly-buster sandwiches to make it in this town. Not so apparently. So we're going to change our menu starting next week. We'll be using thinner breads – farm bread, sesame semolina and ciabattinas (small ciabattas) and offering a half panino in addition to whole panino.

But we won't skimp on the fillings.

Photo Fun

With all the talk about the Iraqi elections, we came across this photo during an internet search. For purposes of this blog and store promotion, we're apolitical, but the photo speaks for itself.

Yes, we know it's been Photoshopped. But it's still funny.

We're debating whether to add a card for translating Starbuckese to English so that our customers who are SBUX regulars know what to order. And so our staff knows that a “tall” is a “small”.

Maybe Next Year

So much for the Fanecannoli idea.

Steelers lost. Too bad because we had plans to ship a bunch of cannoli to Alan Faneca down in Jacksonville. Can't really name a cannoli after Chevy Troutman, who's now the toast of the town (did we mention Rich is also a UConn alumna?). Although we wouldn't be surprised if some place like Benkovitz offers a Chevy Trout sandwich after seeing the success of the Roethlisburger.

We'd still like to ask Alan to come down and read children's stories some Saturday during the offseason. Assuming his agent will accept payment in cannoli.

Amy Unleashes Hidden Tea Knowledge and Steelers Cannoli Introduced.

Amy knows tea. During a slow period a customer walked in and asked about “white tea” vs. “green tea.” Amy expounded for several minutes on the differences, as authoritatively as Robert Parker might discuss the difference between a Sangiovese and Zinfadel.

Needless to say, Melanie and I were very impressed.  We thought we hired her because of her bartending and customer relations skills.  And there was a tea expert hiding inside.

We introduced our Steelers cannoli late in the day. We made a dozen and sold almost all of them.

Even though the filling is almost banana yellow, there's no banana, lemon or other “yellow” flavoring. It's only food color. We dress them with chocolate chips and a sprinkle of crushed pistachio. And we suit them up in home (chocolate) and away (regular) cannoli shells.

Since there's the “Roethlisburger”, maybe we should call these the (Alan) Fanecannolis.

Snow Day

The threat of a huge snowstorm gave us some brisk morning business. As the snow turned to freezing rain, everything stopped; outside traffic – both car and foot - was nil.

After the freezing rain changed back to snow, a few hardy souls came back out on the streets. As we were the only shop open on our end of the street, we were happy to provide some shelter. Many of our customers today spent an hour or more here, which we like as it gives us a chance to talk with them and get to know them.

A mother and her daughter, Bulgarians, came in late in the afternoon. As Rich had spent several weeks in Sofia last year, he went over with a hearty, “Dobre dan,” (good day) and spent the next hour talking about Bulgarian culture, economic development, Bulgarian Merlots (they're amazing and she later sent us a link for ordering since the LCB doesn't carry anything but jug wine from the region), and Dunkin Donuts, which has an outlet on Vitosha Blvd., the main drag in downtown Sofia.

A nice bit of warmth on a cold, snowy day.