Aldo Coffee Company

If It Weren't for Bad Luck...

Between alternating bouts of the Linea going down and the air conditioning and refrigeration in a constant state of repair, it's been a rough summer.  Not to mention pretty much all of Mt. Lebanon stayed indoors the past two weeks - even our usually busy Saturday mornings took a big hit.

But we can deal with that stuff.

The news we got today has us pretty worried about the whole La Verdad business model.

Remember the Guatemala Trapichitos we launched with last fall?  Everyone who drank any loved it.  It was a wonderful coffee and gave us the confidence to move ahead.

We've been looking forward to this year's crop.

Except we're not getting any.

Early Closing Wednesday July 21

We'll be serving espresso and anything needing steamed milk until 11am.  From 11-noon, drip/tea/cold beverages only.  Figure on us closing at noon.

We have to do some urgent plumbing fixes.  Yesterday we had two huge spikes in incoming water line pressure that blew apart the hoses leading to the pump for our espresso machine.  Water, water everywhere!  We're still trying to indentify the source of the problem - usually it's water main work happening nearby - but meantime we need to get new hoses and install a pressure regulator between the filter and machine.  We'll be taking this opportunity to also install a new filtration system.

We'll be back up and running on everything Thursday morning at 6:30.  Apologies for any inconvenience.

Aldo 2.0 - Part 1b

This one will be shorter, promise.

First off, we're getting a bit of a chuckle how so many bloggers are putting their own spin on Part 1, particularly on how the points we made are some indicator on the entire state of small business in Pittsburgh (or Mt. Lebo, if you wish).

We don't see it.

Our perspective is simply that of an independent coffeehouse with a different philosophy on product sourcing and standards - and how do we get this across and accepted by a wider audience.  This isn't a Pittsburgh thing as much as it is a coffee thing.  We've received thoughtful emails from coffeeshop owners trying to pursue the same goals from Connecticut to California.

We're just one of the few businesses openly talking about the challenge of doing so.  And perhaps talking openly about it is one of the solutions.

Aldo 2.0 - Part 1

We've always been unconventionally transparent and honest with this blog's readers.  Even so were a bit nervous about how to approach some upcoming decisions regarding the shop and whether we should talk about it publicly.  

At the risk of having the our intended message completely misconstrued and alienating a portion of our customer base, we've decided to just plow ahead and be ourselves.  So here goes...

We signed a six year lease on this space in September, 2004.  That lease is expiring in a few weeks.

To be perfectly honest, we have given serious consideration to just walking away and moving. 

But we're not.

However, we do believe that the current format of Aldo Coffee Co. has reached its peak. And maybe even passed its peak.  We've stopped growing.  The number of daily customers dropping by has leveled off - and on some days, and particularly afternoons, decreased.  While we understand the economy is part of the problem, we believe that the main culprits are our location, and our own compromises of important visions and ideals in order to fit community expectations.

We know we're going to hear comments like, "Location? You're right in the middle of our biggest business district on the street with the highest traffic in Mt. Lebanon.  How could you want more?" 

To which we say, take a look around.  Lots of businesses have up and left.  Others aren't doing very well.  Some storefronts have been vacant for months.  It's not a panacea here, nor is foot traffic very strong - perhaps 1/10th of Squirrel Hill or Shadyside or Oakland.  But the rent doesn't reflect that - it's still a premium rate (not the fault of our wonderful landlord who's simply charging market rate).

The store is profitable and has been for a couple of years now.  But in addition to providing Melanie and I with basic living expenses, it now has to start returning money we sunk into it the first three years, which was a pretty good chunk of our entire retirement savings.

At the end of the day, we're businesspeople and this is a business.  If it's not sustainable, it's time to leave.  Or to change.

Change is good.

In making any decision as to continue, we have to look at cold hard facts and not just our emotional attachments or naive hopes that suddenly everything will fall into place.  We have to make things happen.