The last few weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind for my family and me. I found myself having to make some tough decisions for my coffee shop which has seen a fall in trade this year, partly I believe due to increased competition and partly due to the dreaded Brexit. My biggest outgoing was staff wages so I had to make the tough call to reduce staff in the shop to just little old me, cutting back the opening hours to allow me to work alone and still have time for my family. I was worried I'd find this stressful but actually it was like a huge weight was lifted, not having to worry about keeping staff happy and closing weekends has meant I can truly relax on days off without having to worry about whats going on at the shop. And of course its a big saving which I hope will infact save the business.
The shop has had a few exciting visitors recently. The first was a surprise, a mystery shopper from the South Devon Tourist Awards who came to try our coffee and lunch, before revealling who he was. I think I did ok, especially considering he came in right before closing time and stayed until after close and I didn't throw him out! It 'll be a few months now before I hear anything more now, but fingers are crossed he enjoyed his visit!
I also had the pleasure of hosting the team from Channel 5's The Gadget Show. The producer had got in touch as they were looking for an eco friendly location to film and had come across The Kind Grind and our eco credentials made it the perfect location. At 7am on a Saturday morning after dragging myself out of bed I welcomed the presenters Georgie, Jon and Otis along with all of their crew who filmed the presenters introducing me to various eco friendly gadgets with me picking my favourite at the end. I'd brought Brody along as I thought seeing a TV show be filmed would be a great home ed experience but sadly his shyness kicked in with the amount of people here and it didn't take long before he sloped off upstairs. One pretty cool thing is though that many years ago when his dad was in a band they were on The Gadget Show, so now he can say both of his parents have been on it. Filming was great fun and the team were all so nice. It will be aired sometime on the new series which I believe starts next month.
Last weekend saw me close the shop to head to our favourite festival which I get invited to review each year especially for this blog. Beautiful Days was fabulous and I'll be posting a separate blog about it, but I'm sad its over as it was just the best weekend. We had so much fun in our camper that I've decided we're off again this weekend so will be heading to Cornwall after work Friday for a couple of days. I have a tattoo appointment in Newquay on Saturday afternoon so open to any wild camping suggestions around that area if you know of any?
Yesterday was my first day back to work after our little festival break and it unfortunately turned into a bit of a stress, as a customer and good friend sent a photo of a new vegan cafe that has opened using an almost exact copy of our logo, name and a budget version of my shops look. I simply can't understand why people would want to open a business that is anything other than unique but I guess maybe somme lack their own ideas or want to ride off the back of others success. Whatever the reason I came back to find myself phoning my solicitor yet again to make a plan to deal with this. Huuuuuuph really something I could have done without!
Anyway just today and tomorrow to work then off in the camper to enjoy the long weekend. Hope you get to enjoy it too whatever you do!
Steffi x
The shop has had a few exciting visitors recently. The first was a surprise, a mystery shopper from the South Devon Tourist Awards who came to try our coffee and lunch, before revealling who he was. I think I did ok, especially considering he came in right before closing time and stayed until after close and I didn't throw him out! It 'll be a few months now before I hear anything more now, but fingers are crossed he enjoyed his visit!
I also had the pleasure of hosting the team from Channel 5's The Gadget Show. The producer had got in touch as they were looking for an eco friendly location to film and had come across The Kind Grind and our eco credentials made it the perfect location. At 7am on a Saturday morning after dragging myself out of bed I welcomed the presenters Georgie, Jon and Otis along with all of their crew who filmed the presenters introducing me to various eco friendly gadgets with me picking my favourite at the end. I'd brought Brody along as I thought seeing a TV show be filmed would be a great home ed experience but sadly his shyness kicked in with the amount of people here and it didn't take long before he sloped off upstairs. One pretty cool thing is though that many years ago when his dad was in a band they were on The Gadget Show, so now he can say both of his parents have been on it. Filming was great fun and the team were all so nice. It will be aired sometime on the new series which I believe starts next month.
Last weekend saw me close the shop to head to our favourite festival which I get invited to review each year especially for this blog. Beautiful Days was fabulous and I'll be posting a separate blog about it, but I'm sad its over as it was just the best weekend. We had so much fun in our camper that I've decided we're off again this weekend so will be heading to Cornwall after work Friday for a couple of days. I have a tattoo appointment in Newquay on Saturday afternoon so open to any wild camping suggestions around that area if you know of any?
Yesterday was my first day back to work after our little festival break and it unfortunately turned into a bit of a stress, as a customer and good friend sent a photo of a new vegan cafe that has opened using an almost exact copy of our logo, name and a budget version of my shops look. I simply can't understand why people would want to open a business that is anything other than unique but I guess maybe somme lack their own ideas or want to ride off the back of others success. Whatever the reason I came back to find myself phoning my solicitor yet again to make a plan to deal with this. Huuuuuuph really something I could have done without!
Anyway just today and tomorrow to work then off in the camper to enjoy the long weekend. Hope you get to enjoy it too whatever you do!
Steffi x
