Our Kitchen Evolution: Part 5 (Finally!!)

When Sandy mentioned their rental house in Tignall I was somewhat taken off guard.  She told us it had a kitchen in it that had been approved once for commercial use when Ben had his catering business,but it didn't really register with me.  I mean, the possibility of renting a little house complete with a commercial kitchen that was also great for entertaining in the next little town over was not in the hundreds of possibilities Reid and I had considered for where to expand our little business.  I mentioned it to Reid when he came home and we both just kind of shrugged and said it was something to think about.  It wasn't even until a few days later I decided I might as well look at it just in case.   I really didn't get my hopes up too much.  At the very least I'd get to see this house and maybe pick up a tip or two about arranging our basement kitchen better until we found our space.

I was picking up some vegetables from Lazy Willow Farm that week so I just jumped in the car with Sandy and we headed down toward Tignall to pick up some Tink's beef and then to see the house.  (She was probably just trying to butter me up first by showing me how close I could be to a Tink burger at any given moment.) Once in the booming metropolis of Tignall, GA we went through a little neighborhood and onto a dirt road.  All of a sudden we came up on this little house, with a tin roof, a nice front porch and a roundabout drive.  Even though we had just gone through a bunch of houses, it looked like we were in the middle of nowhere except for a bunch of trees and a little house. 

I kind of started to get excited and then we went inside.  I wish I had some kind of noisemaker for when you just feel like the floodgates of heaven open and angels are trumpeting.  That is how I felt when I walked inside the house.  It was perfect.  The most important thing that we needed (commercial kitchen) it had including an additional room that was certified as well so we could use it for dry storage or more fridge/freezer space down the road.  The main kitchen itself was fantastic-all the sinks were there (3 compartment for dishwashing, 2 compartment for prep and 1 bay handwashing sink); an oven (which will eventually be replaced with our baby from downstairs); and a great big work table. 

So even if the house just had the kitchen areas it would be well worth renting it.  For the market and the weekday meals we didn't need any kind of retail space anyway.  But incredibly, the house had way more than just the kitchen to offer. Two rooms (painted that "pool" color of our labels), two full bathrooms (painted the pink color of our labels), great closet space, a huge living area (painted that sage green color of our labels) with this really great wood burning stove/brickwork on one end and for the grand finale a timber frame screened in back porch with big ceiling fans and another oven for outside parties.  Oh, and a fenced in acre pasture as well as plenty of outdoors space to landscape just waiting to be landscaped all cute.

I could have a real grown up office, a bathroom for customers to use if they are over planning a catering event, and a little place for Reid and I to stay when we're baking for the market all hours of the night or have a big order.  (Or use it as our "guest house" when company comes!)  Since the living area was completely separate from the kitchen, we had a ton of possibilities.  So not only could it solve our kitchen problem, it also could solve our house problem. 

Well, I called Reid when I got back in my own car and told him how perfect the house was for Southern Scratch.  He warned "You didn't act this excited in front of Sandy did you?"  I replied, "Umm no...kind of...yes, Reid, of course you know I did!"  (I have never known how to "barter" and prefer to live in naiive bliss that everyone sets a fair price on what they sell based on the quality of the product and what they need to make a living.  So in my feeble mind bartering could be forcing someone to take less than what they really need to get by just so they could have some cash flow and stay afloat.  But I guess it is the whole perceived value angle that is a main determinant in deciding prices? I wasn't really worried that Sandy was waiting on my response to give me a lease amount so of course I told Sandy immediately about feeling like the angels were singing because the house was so perfect!  Later on anyway we let the men play hard ball with each other while Sandy and I were still jumping up and down excited!)

Like most things, my mind had already raced to planning how we could offer a really nice, cozy Valentine's dinner at The Tignall House (that's what I had started calling it...) rather than think of all the logistics and paperwork that may be involved.  So while I was ready to uncork a bottle of champagne and celebrate finding a kitchen, Reid of course wanted to see the house first for himself and you know, discuss, what all it would entail. 

Reid and I went and looked at the house together and he kept trying to keep me on track saying "Remember, only take the kitchen into consideration."  (Then he even scared me saying things like "this back porch is big enough for us to live in," causing horrible flashes of us living in what would probably be Reid's dream home of a little one room timber frame shack down by the pond with nothing but love, a gun and fishing poles to our name).  Reid admitted he liked the house but told me we just needed to be careful and figure out all the steps it would take first. 

So against my nature, I sat down and tried to really work it out on paper.  How would moving from our home (where the business didn't pay it's own electric bills, etc.) to an outside location (where the business would have to start paying for everything) work out?  Although I love spreadsheets (and can put some algebraic formulas to calculate estimated daily calorie needs with the best of them) I didn't have a great idea of how to merge all the variables that would go into having a real business.  So like any smart idiot, I took my scribblings (which I think I would have brought the work I had done on Quickbooks but this was around the time my laptop decided to go on the fritz for a few weeks) over to Bambi and asked her to look over them.  I laid it all out on the line and she helped me make it all make sense.  Along with great advice, she gave me encouragement that we could actually take this next step (without sacrificing our grits & coffee of course!). 

Just a few minutes after leaving Bambi's office, I called my older brother to ask what it would take to turn Southern Scratch into an LLC.  He had just gone through the process starting Deals for Schools (like Groupon but with proceeds going to the school of your choice, in any city you want including Washington!).  That night I recounted my meeting with Bambi to Reid and we decided we should at least go ahead and file as an LLC.   So that night Reid and I filed everything online.  (We felt like such grown-ups!).  When we got confirmation of our "Southern Scratch, LLC" status we headed to the bank to open up a dedicated business account.  (Well after having to go print out our forms at the library due to our computer issues...so professional.  But at least now I have my library card!) 

With our now legit business name, account & a call about our business insurance we were ready to take the next step.  We had let Charles & Sandy know we definitely wanted to rent the house and while they started doing some work to get it move in ready we started to get ready to move everything out.  Our goal was to move everything in the kitchen the weekend after Thanksgiving and try to get it inspected that week. 

So in true Bussey woman fashion, I tried to pack in making Thanksgiving food deliveries, family time in Decatur, AL for turkey day, cook for the market Friday night, do the market Saturday morning and pick up the keys and start moving in all in a 4 day span.  Surpringly we got most of it done but still had a long way to go.  Sunday evening Opie came over with his truck and we moved the major items like the two refrigerators and some furniture.  (Have I said often enough how awesome our next door neighbors are????)

That week, Carissa came and helped me set up all the racks that we had to tear down to move and put back up as well as get ready for a big festival we had planned on attending.  (You know you've asked the right woman to help when she shows up with breakfast, a pocket knife, a truck and tools.) She also "initiated" me into Tignall with lunch at the KumBack Cafe. 

Also going on that week was trying to get our website up and running, order forms for Christmas ready and baking for the festival.  When we first started out, my brother helped me register the domain name http://www.southernscratch.com/ but we hadn't done anything with it.  I told him at the very least we just needed a page with our name/contact info on it for the upcoming weekend.  That way we could go ahead and start printing the address on our labels.  Well Ben is kind of awesome too and designed our site so that I could go in and edit the words pretty easily from my end.  So rather than have the site "go live" only half finished we both worked hard getting it finalized before the weekend. 

My original plan was to ask the Health Department inspector to come out as soon as we got the equipment moved in but then decided it would be better if we had everything set up first.  I may have mentioned this before but I really appreciate and kind of enjoy all the certification visits like The Joint Commission, CARF, Health Department, etc.  Although it can be nerveracking for some to get ready for an inspection, the inspectors and you are all wanting the same thing.  It doesn't benefit your hospital or restaurant to have an unclean work environment.  It's not good for your customers, your patients, your employees or for you.  So seeing these agencies as a source of information and accountability to help you acheive your goal of a safe and sanitary work environment is good for everyone. 

So I thought if I had everything set up how I planned to use the kitchen the inspector could better pinpoint any problem areas he saw.  I would also be able to play around and see areas where I could be more efficient and how I wanted to use the workspace.  Then when January came we would be completely ready to go for Weekday Gourmet meals.  My ServSafe certification along with my experience in both retail and hospital kitchens had helped tremendously from day one.  It was so exciting then to put what has amounted to about 8 years total of "foodservice" experience (not counting all the time I got to spend going to work with my mom at the Susan Mott Webb Nutrition Sciences building at UAB growing up) into my own real commercial kitchen! 

Maybe that is why last week I joyously scrubbed the kitchen down and spent hours going through food prep scenarios in my head to make sure there weren't any chances for cross contamination.  So when the Health Department inspector showed up last Thursday afternoon I felt I had everything ready to go but was of course ready to make any changes.  He was a great help in offering some suggestions and would approve the facility pending some more paperwork for the permit. 

I was so elated but still wanted to obviously wait until we had the permit in hand before making any kind of official announcement.  I had started these "Kitchen Evolution" posts about the time we started to move into the kitchen and have been spacing them out in anticipation of our final granting of that super imporant piece of paper.  I got a call Wednesday to bring by my menu, etc. to the Health Department and after a little review was given our permit and initial inspection score, which was a 100! 

I got in my car and just tried to concentrate on driving I was so excited.  We had done it!!!  After so much prayer, so much work, so much celebration paired with plenty of times of doubt, we were now officially a real business!  I was more grateful than ever at that point for Reid's "not yet."  He persevered through my eagerness to do everything at once and and helped me wait on God's plan for our little business.  I would never have imagined we could have taken our little earnings from our yard sale and be able to grow that into being into a fully licensed commercial kitchen with equipment!  I also love how God has shown us time after time that it takes Reid and I working together, not apart, to build this. 

Also I can't believe all the people God put in our life to help us and encourage us along the way.  I tried just now to start writing it all out but realized it would be ten pages long.  Even though we have had some crazy setbacks and at times have thought we were in the middle of a disastrous romantic comedy with all the car & house parts that have broken in our less than a year of marriage, God has always provided a solution. 

We have no idea how our business will look in a year from now but even with this step have faith that we can still enjoy our grits & coffee on Sunday morning without worrying about Monday!

Once I get my pictures organized we will do a before & after!  Hope to see everyone tomorrow for our last Farmer's Market of 2010!