Launch of Chippery.net

I'm proud to announce that we have launched the first release of the Chippery Florida site. The site allows customers to read more about our operations, the Chippery product line and it also lets them join the Chippery Club. Members receive exclusive deals and special promotions for everything from chips to shirts. Head on over there for a peak and make sure to vote for your favorite type of chip.

The Chippery - Florida: All About The Chippery

The Chippery is a unique specialty food concept that serves freshly prepared premium potato chips, dips, and sips to customers in just about any venue. The patented Chippery cooker, designed by Chippery Potato Chip Factory, Inc. (Chippery Canada), can turn a space as small as 200 square feet into a complete potato chip factory capable of producing 100 bags of chips per hour of operation. The entire process of turning fresh potatoes into tasty chips takes approximately three minutes and occurs right in front of the customer’s eyes. The Chippery cooker is a completely automated computer-controlled fryer that takes whole potatoes or any other chip-able vegetable in through a chute on one side and produces perfectly cooked chips at the other end. Once the chips exit from the cooker, they cascade onto stainless steel bowls where they are seasoned and tossed in the air for an even coating. The Chippery takes the lowly potato chip from the role of accompaniment and places it squarely at the center of the plate. Chippery chips are like no other commercial chip on the market; our customers get to enjoy them within minutes from when they’re made.

Last Day as an Employee

Strange feeling... I've been thinking about what I'll have to do so much that I didn't give any consideration to what this would be like. I spent most of the day packing and had a great lunch with a group of friends. I wrote a short message to the folks that are still left and included a link to this blog. Interesting to see that so many people were curious enough to click. Tomorrow I'll go in for a bit and go through the "Exit Interview" process. That will officially be my last day as an employee.

Overview Meetings with Contractor, Press Release and Business Cards

Over the last couple of days I've driven out to the mall to meet with Don, our contractor, to review the renovations we're going to be doing in the space. I'm confident that Don has a good grasp of all of the changes we want to do. The more I go out there, the easier it is for me to envision the space as it will eventually be. I drove out there today and found that our "Coming Soon" sign had been posted already. The sign is very plain, but at least it gets the message accross.

On the PR front, I've received and made revisions to Jenifyr's first draft release. It is sort of strange reading about yourself even if it isn't in print yet. I'm confident that Jenifyr will do a great job getting it in ink. I'm starting to feel pretty good about it and I think we'll probably issue the release in the next week or so.

I also ordered my first batch of business cards. This may not seem very important, but I only have two weeks left working at Motorola and I want to be able to hand out as many as I can before leaving. These cards can be redeemed at the store for a free "quick fix" bag of chips. I'm hoping they will bring some people out there and that those people will order a dip and soda to go with the chips. By the way, if you're looking for a great printer for your business cards, I've place several orders with Printing For Less and found their service to be great. Check them out and use my referral code (RP1QSDHJ6) to receive a $25 on your first order.

Back Home After Hurricane Frances

I brought the familly back home today after being at my folks house for five nights waiting out hurricane Frances and its aftermath. It's nice to be home again!

I actually drove up to Boynton to check up on our house with my dad on Monday. Our place did fairly well. We lost some roof shingles, had some damage to our wooden fence, and have slightly thinner trees now, but that's about it. We also ended up losing everithing in our fridge and freezer. My dad and I threw all that out when we were here. Seems we lost power on Friday, Sept. 3, at night (lucky that we left that morning). We found out we had power from one of our neighbors this morning so we packed everything back up again and headed home. I love staying with my parents and everything, but it's just not the same as being in your own house. I think they're going to miss having the kids there a lot!

Preparing for this damn hurricane was a royal pain in the butt! Since our house was built just prior to hurricane Andrew in 1992 (and we've slacked on getting them on our own), we don't have hurricane shutters. I started our preparations by running out to home depot to get plywood to board up the windows. This was the Wednesday before the storm at 10:30 in the moring. I was in line about 2 hours before I got the maximum 15 sheets that they would give me. I also bought a bunch of 2x4x12's that I used to build a wall across my lanai. Unfortunately, the 15 sheets was 2 sheets short of what I needed. I wasn't going to wait in line again, especially since I really didn't notice that I needed more until Thursday evening. By then the lines were much longer and the weather was starting to turn crappy. I started looking around until it struck me... "Hey... the chip cooker is in a crate... a wooden crate!" It was like I ordered the thing exactly to fit our front office window. I built a frame out of the studs and drilled one of the large faces of the crate and one small scrap piece directly into the space. The best thing is that "The Chippery" and "Fragile - Handle With Care" were clearly visible for all of the neighbors to see. See for yourself in the picture:

Plans Approved by Division of Hotel and Restaurants

I got a call today from Lynne, the plan reviewer from the division of hotel and restaurants, saying that our plans had been approved. She was very pleasant on the phone. She said that she was so bored waiting for the hurricane to pass that she ended up taking plans home to review and she got through ours. I'll be sending her a case of chips as soon as we're up and running!

I also called Steven, the permit expediter I had talked to earlier, to see if he can pick up the plans and take them over to the Palm Beach County offices for the Fire Department's approval, but I couldn't get a hold of him. If don't talk to him before I get back up to our house I'll just rund down there and take them in myself. That will save me about $400.

Preparing for Hurricane Frances

Things aren't looking too good over here. It seems that hurricane Frances will pass by close enough for us to see at least some of the effects of the storm. Other than the regular preparations for the family and home, now I have to worry about the business. Even though the store hasn't been started yet, I still have the Chippery cooker sitting in my garage. This was supposed to be a temporary holding place until we received access to the space in the mall so I didn't think that updating our insurance would be an issue. Our contents including the cooker add up to more than what we're insured for (gasp!). The plan is to push the mall to turn the space over as soon as possible and get the cooker over there. The mall sits further inland and may not experience as strong a storm as we would. We're fairly close to the coast. I'll try to keep this updated with what we do.

The Space Was Vacated

Well, if you're keeping track, you're wondering to yourself when the heck I get the space. Funny you should ask! I was supposed to get the space on August 25th, but due since the tenant paid through the end of the month, they were able to stay there for the full month. Just to make sure, I passed by the mall tonight and saw that they had vacated the space. They didn't leave it in too bad a shape, but they did take a few things I didn't think they would be able to get away with.

The ice machine is no longer there and they took the sandwich prep station. The ice machine is attached to plumbing, so I figured it would be considered a leasehold improvement. I had already budgeted for a new ice machine and refrigerator. On the bright side, they left a glass door merchandiser that I may be able to use.

Submitted Plans to Health Department

This afternoon was very hectic. I took off early from work thanks to Mot's "Summer Hours" program and had to drive to Ft. Lauderdale to our architect's office to pick up six sets of plans. I had the architect sign and seal five of them and print out an extra set for me to keep. I then drove back up to Margate to drop off the plans at Florida's Division of Business and Professional Regulation. The Division of Hotels and Restaurants is the regulatory agency that reviews and issues permits for restaurants in Florida.

I managed to get to Hotel and Restaurants at 4:30 in the afternoon. This, along with the fact that I didn't have the required water and wastewater approval forms, didn't play well with the plan reviewer. She quickly told me that she didn't believe that I was there at 4:30 and that she couldn't work overtime anymore. Not having the water approval form or a water bill for the space almost cost me the chance to get the plans in for review before the end of the week. The reviewer ended up agreeing to let me fax the bill in on Monday but warned that if I didn't, it would be another 30 days in the review cycle. I'm hoping that I'll get their stamp in two weeks.

Free Gmail Invitation

I've got one Gmail invitation available that I will graciously give to the first person to post a comment on this post. If you include details of why you read, I'll even send you your first message on your new account :)

Back From Vacation

My wife and I just got back from a quick cruise vacation with the two kids. This was sort of the last break before things get crazy through construction and then opening the business in November. We took a three-night cruise to the Bahamas and Castaway Key on Disney's Wonder. Overall it was a good trip even with a two-year-old and five-month-old. My only complaint was the quality of the food aboard the ship. I've had much better meals aboard Carnival cruises and I figured Disney should at least been as good.

Final Store Design

The design phase of the first Florida Chippery unit is done and boy has it been a chore (more to come later). Little changed from the initial concept that I posted about earlier, but I thought I should post the final layout for prosperity's sake.



The main difference between this one and the one I posted earlier is that the counter has a raised section at the end and a couple of cubby holes along the front face for displaying bagged chips. The face of the raised portion of the counter will be finished in Chemetal #449 Ripple with a Real Red tint. The effect I'm looking for looks very much like fire running up the side of the counter if the lighting is right.

(Re)writing the Business Plan

As I told you folks earlier, I lost my previous business plan due to a combination of stupidity and laziness. The plan wasn't finished (as if they ever are) so I had never printed a copy or sent it to anybody for review before losing the USB key drive that I stored it on. Well, I'm in the process of re-writing the business plan for the Chippery and I'm much happier with this version than the last. I've been able to take a step back and re-think the entire concept. I'm no longer married to the words that I had thrown on the page just so that I didn't have to stare at a blank sheet anymore.

In doing the re-write, I've gone back to one of the resources I've always used to get my bearings on the outline. That's Inc.com. They have a series of posts (Build a Strong Business Plan, Section by Section) that for some reason or other, I've always used to get a better idea of what I should include in the business plan. The articles may not be all-encompassing, but they've helped me. I thought I should share.

Employment Pre-Screening Service

Wow! What a racket! Here's an itch looking for a scratch...

I've been looking for a service that will automate the employment pre-screening for my chippery stores. I figure that for high-turnover businesses like this there must be something where I can pay a monthly fee to have any candidate answer a few preliminary questions, then if they satisfy our criteria, have them move on to a short personality assessment. Personality assessments are available in the public domain and the rest of it isn't rocket science.

Well, I've found a few providers, but none that are even remotely close to what I'm willing to pay. One wouldn't even quote because they target operations with more than 4000 units. The ones I have gotten prices from charge upwards of $2500 for initial setup and then about $25-$50 per candidate - not qualified candidate, just candidate. If I send 10 people to this site, they charge me $250-$500 that month! The incremental cost for each new applicant is zero once the system is set up!

I don't know about you, but this looks like a rip off.

Fully Executed Lease

I just received my two copies of the fully executed lease documents. There's definitely no turning back now :)

Notice to Vacate Issued

I heard back from our leasing manager for the mall and found out that the letter that gives the current tenant 30 days to vacate the property has been sent. This means that we will get the space by the end of August. It's sort of tough for the current tenant, but I think they may want to get out of the lease. Their store isn't doing well by my account. I've never seen more than one or two people order anything from them, while directly accross the corridor, another specialty food place is hopping.

During this month, I hope to have the construction drawings done and back to the mall's offices, and be part of the way through permitting with Hotel and Restaurants and the city. If all goes well, a date of November 1 is still feasable.

Architect Hired

After speaking with Mike Sanchez from MS Architects, Inc. in Ft. Lauderdale, I decided to retain his firm for the construction drawings and final details for our first store. It turns out that even without knowing it ahead of time, I've hired another University of Florida Alum. Mike heads a smaller firm, but I was impressed with his commitment. I asked him to review our plans at about 12:45 PM on Thursday and to have a rough estimate of costs by the end of the day. Mike called me back at about 8:30 that night and he had an estimate that was in the ballpark of what I've been getting.

Architects and More Contractors

I received the "approved as noted" set of drawings back from the landlord and I've been trying to hire an architect to complete the plans for construction. The letter that accompanied the prints from the landlord stated that I had to revise the plans with the comments that were made and resubmit within 14 days - and there were plenty of comments. Some not so serious, but others seemed fairly bad. Of note were some that called for changing some of the material finishes the Chippery designer chose. The one that sticks in my mind is the disapproval of the floring selection. I could work on incorporating these changes myself, but it would take me way too long, and I would still have to find an architect to sign and seal the construction drawings so I'm looking for a local architect with experience working in this particular mall.

Coincidentally, I received a call from a representative of a local company called StoreTech. These guys have been in the retail construction business for more than 20 years and have a fairly strong portfolio. This firm would be able to take the job from begining to end and only farm out the electrical and mechanical work. I met with the rep and found that they have done work in Wellington Green, almost directly below my space. After speaking with the rep and the owner, they were willing to find an architect to work on the plans for construction and permitting. I made some modifications to their contract and one of those changes required that they check back with the architect. Unfortunately, I've lost a day because it appears the architect has not responded. In the mean time, I've interviewed another local architect that I'm willing to give the work to if these guys can't respond by tomorrow morning.

General Contractor

I met with the second of several prospective general contractors for the build out of our first store on Sunday. This gentleman is currently in the lead to get the job. He has plenty of experience working in the mall (he's built out several food operations in this particular mall including the McDonalds and a salad place), he lives in the same city, and he has contacts in the building department that may prove helpful. We sat and talked about the plans for a bit and then he took me on a tour of the path I'll have to take to get the machine in to the store and cases of bagged chips out of the mall. We then stood in front of the space trying to stay out of sight of the current tenants and discussed what he felt would be the harder parts of the job. The good news is that his rough estimate on the amount of time needed for the project is half the time I've alloted for the work. He feels it can be done in one month if all the materials are ordered and everything is on hand.

One Crate Later

The excitement began at around 10:00 in the morning when I heard a delivery truck stop outside our house. By the time I made it out there, the tailgate was already out and the door was pulled up to reveal the crate that housed our first Chippery cooker. It took about 25 minutes between the driver and I to pull the crate towards the back and then ease it onto the tailgate. The next hurdle was getting it over the 2" step into our garage. As you can see from the pictures below, it didn't take long for me to unscrew one of the sides to take a peek inside. The machine looks very solidly built and carefully packed. There are also a few boxes that are strapped above the crate that contain the chip theater, cash table and other assorted items. These will be used for special events since our counter will have a built in chip theater. I can't wait to see what the machine looks like behind a glass wall under the glare of accent lights while it's cranking out fresh hot chips!

Preliminary Design Package Submitted

After staying up until after 3AM and getting up at 8 to continue working on the initial drawing package for the mall, I managed to finally submit the first set of prints to the facilities coordinator today. I shouldn't of had to twiddle with the drawings at all, but unfortunately the drawings that I received from the designer weren't ready to be submitted. It makes me wonder if the designer even took a look at the design criteria for the mall.