So you know when your walking your dog around your neighborhood and you see a banner go up over an empty building space that says “__________ Coming Soon!” or it’s more specific like “Opening this June”. And you kind of think, “cool, wonder what that’s going to be.” You keep walking your dog thinking not much of it.

A few weeks go by and you are walking your dog again because face it, you always take the same route, and you pass by that sign. Again, you really don’t think too much of it.

A few more weeks go by and you start to wonder, “what do they mean by ‘coming soon’?” because “soon” in your definition has passed on by. Or it’s now July and June has clearly passed by with not much change. A few new lights, maybe a new sign, and it seems like something is happening but it again clearly didn’t happen in June.

What’s the deal?

I suppose you could say, we, in the business world hope things will move a little faster than they do. When it comes right down it, we hope we are opening “soon” but alas, we are at the mercy of the rules and regulations governed by this city we pay our taxes to. With that said, for those who continue to call our HQ with no avail and with not much change it seems, please rest assure; change is brewing, but it’s a pour over, not the automatic drip pour coffee.

As of 3/31, our gate has been shut for 3 weeks. (Closed 3/10) What have we been up to?

Week 1: Brought in our coffee cart to the health department on 3/13 (in which we were starting to build before we closed to add another component to our space) for inspection. We figured this would get approved faster since it was already fully built. We were informed that we needed to pay for a consultation and then schedule a future inspection. They did not look at the cart, but we did pay a bill and then they booked us the next appointment, 3/23.

Week 2: Worked really hard stream lining our markets and events, taking on the Spring Break crowd and catching up with all you lovely folks booking events for your spring celebrations. Brought in coffee cart and received inspection.  A few changes were jotted down, filled with a little discouragement (as the health dept suggested we should get a food truck; “it’s easier” – okay, noted, thanks.. but we’re kind of all in with this right now), and our final inspection was scheduled for the next available appointment, 4/6. Oh yes, and we paid more money of course.

Week 3: Met & meeting with various contractors/architects to complete our plans for our garage kitchen. Awaiting quotes, catching up on some light reading, working on our side jobs (therapy and screen printing), and praying for the finances, favor, and positive attitudes.

The Plan: Once the coffee cart is approved; it will allow us to open part-time meaning we just can’t make our menu on a cart (as you can imagine). Folks will hopefully be able to have their waffle fix a few days a week through the cart, markets, and random events that pop up through out San Diego. All this, while we wait for the city to approve the plans and we go through something similar with the health dept. as we did with the cart – consultation, inspection, final inspection. As you can see from the dates, we are at the mercy of when they are available and it’s typically been a couple weeks at a time. Once we’ve been through at least 1 inspection with the city for our kitchen, we will have a better timeline for our grand opening…

We wanted to share this process with you! Please be patient and understand we are doing our part. So next time that banner goes up in your neighborhood of something “coming soon” – give them a break. They are trying and at the end of the day, once a place opens up, a couple months down the line, you don’t remember how long it really took to begin with.

Let’s all practice not to be in a hurry. Deal?