You’re looking at a prototype of our stools for the restaurant. Ignore the blue, that’s just tape. We’re really excited about these. There simple, shockingly strong and durable, and not going to cost much.
Read on to learn more about the development
We’re like anxious first time parents. We can’t wait for our new restaurant to get off the ground. We’re terribly excited, and a little scared. Work has begun. Don’t get too excited, it’s going to be a while. Our landlord has work to do. Then we get in there. Then it opens.
You’ll know we’re there because all of that paper and tape will come off of the windows. I’m sure it’s not going to surprise you that I want our construction to be a transparent process. We’re not a fan of hiding behind things. So the first thing I plan to do when this space gets in our hands is to take down those shades.
Want to hear something funny about that? I was telling our contractor that idea, and his concern was that the folks working on the building will be distracted by attractive people walking by. Well… he didn’t exactly say “attractive people,” that’s my interpretation, but you get the idea.
Not to make all my posts about my bad qualities (like my inability to find plantains) but here’s another. I’m becoming a bit accident prone.
Last week I was biking down a very quiet Inman street. I hit a small
pothole, crashed into a parked car, and did some damage to my shoulder. I’m not supposed to lift anything with my left hand, which is why you haven’t seen much of me on board the truck (lots of lifting up there).
Today I was taking orders and slipped in the rain. The iPod hit the ground, and now the screen looks like this. I’m sorry, guys.
It still works, but it’s not pretty. I know one of our customers works at the Apple store. This post is for you. I’ll personally buy you a week of sandwiches if you can give me a fix.
Alright everybody, it’s working. We’ve launched an entirely new approach to ice coffee. Expect to wait 60-90 seconds. Expect a better cup. That’s right. We think this is tasting straight-up better than the cold brew method. And we’re very happy to announce that caffeine levels are closer to where they should be.
I did some quick estimates and I think I was right about the cold-brew method being over caffeinated. Health associations give guidelines of 200-400 mg caffeine/ day max dose. My estimates (rough):
Assume:
- 2% by weight
- Cold brew takes 100% of caffeine from coffee beans (I still think this is likely close to the fact, but don’t really have any proof)
- I did my math right : )
2 oz espresso: 100 mg caffeine (50 mg/ oz)
10 oz hot coffee: 100 mg caffeine (10 mg/ oz)
10 oz cold brew (OLD Clover method): 283 mg caffeine (28 mg/ oz)
10 oz single cup iced (NEW Clover method): 100 mg caffeine (10 mg/ oz)
Last Monday was one of those days where the weather was calling for rain, but there was no clouds in sight. Before I could bite my tongue, it started to drizzle and than downpour. I took the remaining orders and everyone scattered seeking refuge where ever they could find it (some better than others). It was raining so hard that it was coming inside the truck and we had to take action. We closed both awnings, but that didn’t stop us from serving food to the folks that were trapped outside.
We ended up serving food out of the front door window and weathered out the storm. When the dust settled, the awing came back up and the customers went on their way and operations went back to normal.
We used to have everyone store their bags on the truck dashboard when they came to work. As volumes grew, we had to hire more staff and…… you guessed it, with more staff came more bags. They started to pile up on the floor and get in the way so we came up with the idea of placing hooks over the driver’s seat to utilize this unused space during service. This made a huge difference and the improvement only cost $2.29 for the hooks!
You know how I said I needed a handyman the other day? Well if Chris doesn’t watch out he might get that role. A bunch of stuff has been getting broken over the past few weeks. I can’t figure out if it’s because we have more people on board, or whether it’s just an illusion, the same number just multiplied by two trucks. Either way, there’s a ton of stuff coming out of commission.
Chris went at the water heaters, found a small silicone elbow that was broken, ordered a new one ($2.90), and replaced it. The operation involved going through a couple of security screws, and I’m guessing we voided the warranty. But now we have a working water heater without having to invest the $300 for a new one.
The counters on the MIT truck were OK, for the 6 weeks we were planning on using them. You see the Clover Food Lab was only supposed to last for a few weeks, and we were only supposed to feed a few people. Here we are, nearly 2 years later. And the 3 coats of urethane I put on those counters wasn’t enough, and the counters never stuck in place (as those of you who have leaned on them know). And it was only months before employees burned rings into the counter (I wont name names, Chris).
With the Dewey truck I had a new counter design. Thicker, better finished New England red oak. They were cut from a single board, which gives a very integrated look. But the rails just weren’t working well from day one. And it was only week 3 before somebody (I wont name names, Bobby) tore it off it’s footing.
So now it’s time to fix all counters tops. I finally found the perfect way to secure them: a window sash lock. And I skipped over furniture rails to something much more precise and powerful from McMaster Carr. Late Thursday night I finished the left counter of the Dewey truck. Next week I’ll finish the right counter. Then finally, we’ll get to the MIT truck.
I’m thinking when we have a fleet we’re going to need a maintenance guy…
Vincenzo is our new listman. I think he’s going to write about this soon in more detail.
You wouldn’t believe how different it is to operate 2 trucks vs. 1. Wouldn’t seem that different, but it is. Add to that the growth of both trucks, and we’re talking about a 4-fold increase in customers served this July vs. July last year. That means more dishes, more smallwares, more food, more employees, more of everything. We live by lists these days.
We’ve all been spending a lot of our time lately on operations. And it’s not about making these 2 trucks work. It’s about setting Clover up with the systems we’ll need to support many trucks. That’s right, if you haven’t noticed yet we’re ambitious.
Hat, one of our favorite employees from last summer, came back to work 2 weeks ago. I asked her yesterday what she noticed today vs. last summer. Her answer: “It’s soo much easier.” While the current crew would have trouble believing that, it’s true. And great to hear. We’ve been working hard to make everybody’s jobs easier. Still a long way to go, but we’re making great progress.
We already serve more single-cup drip coffee than anyone in the Boston area. Someday we’ll be able to claim the best cup in the city. We’re close, but we still don’t have filtered water, and I think that’s a bummer. Despite that, I’d put our coffee head to head with anything in the area. We’re proud to be working with great brewers, our staff are properly trained, and the technique has been refined. You don’t hear me bragging often, but this is something I’m really proud of.
Iced coffee? That’s been another story. We’ve been playing with something called “cold brewed” coffee for a long time. Early on we were getting it really wrong. But now our method is down. It’s deep, tasty, stands up to milk. Only one problem: I think it’s loaded with way too much caffeine. Nobody knows how much, but I think it’s very very high. I’m going to do some calculations soon and will get them to you.
In the meantime, we’re ready to move away from the cold method. We love the taste but I just don’t feel right about the level of caffeine. So starting this week we’re going to be trying a new method: single cup iced coffee. Barth, our friend at Barrington Roasters, showed us the best method for brewing hot coffee. Basically you use a fancy expensive machine to brew concentrated coffee over ice, let the ice melt to get the concentration just right, then pour over ice.
I think we can do the same thing, but one cup at a time. As far as I know we may be the first to do this at a shop. I tried this morning and it was killer. Really really good. So here we come Boston and Cambridge. Come by this week and have us pour you a cup of iced coffee and tell us what you think.
You’re going to start getting a bunch of updates on the Harvard Square store. We didn’t want to post until things were underway, but hammers started swinging last week, so here we go. Harvard, our landlord, is responsible for a large chunk of work. They are the ones doing the work right now, rather Shawmut, their contractor. We’ll then do our work, and in time you’ll have a new restaurant to visit.
Obviously, this is really exciting for all of us. That picture above? To you it may look like simple demolition. To me it looks like the culmination of 9 months of hard detailed work, and the start of something great.
Exciting news: the MIT whiteboard is finally re-painted. Chris did this late Thursday night. We use this special whiteboard 2-part epoxy. It’s the best solution I’ve found, but it has 2 problems:
(1) It oxidizes in the sunshine (which is why the board looked so muddy)
(2) It loses it’s erasability after about 3 months of use
The solution is that we need to re-finish the board once every 3 months. Last time I painted it? 26th of August (you can look for that post). OK, so we’re not quite hitting once every 3 months. Something to improve.
By the way, the observant out there will notice some other changes. With our whiteboard, as with everything at Clover, we make changes constantly. Early on I tried many different whiteboard presentations. We’ve settled on this for the following reasons:
- Dollar signs are LARGE: what are we doing if we’re not proud of our pricing.
- Least ink to achieve the communication
- Short descriptions encourage (force) conversations with staff
- Date must be there every single day (that’s how you regulars know if the morning menu hasn’t yet been updated)
- Credit cards are represented, but with our hand-drawn graphic. I don’t like co-branding. But you need a way to tell everybody that we take plastic. This is my compromise.
- Operating times are included (this is a relatively new addition)
- Logo is written in permanent marker because it’s the one thing that doesn’t change. This too has evolved over time. Of course we could paint it, and many recommend we do. But the sharpie is more in line with our DIY approach to everything. And it’s cheaper and easier to handle. You’ll notice our re-supply van has the same treatment. I think it’s great.
- You’ll notice the logo is now much larger. I think I like the new size/ position. It gives more room for the stuff that changes. And it’s easier to read for the visually impaired : )
Ayr approached me and said I was at bat for my first blog post, and the topic was “Firing Employee’s.” My first reaction was, no way I can do that. Then it came to me that our blogs are all about honesty and facts, and that people need to witness as we grow our process on hiring and firing people.
My first week into managing the Dewey truck Ayr called me about firing a new employee who really wasn’t working out. He asked me how I felt about doing it and I responded “well I don’t know if I’m very comfortable doing that.” He said “great, then you’re the perfect person to do it, call me when its done.”
I called this employee and told her she was not on the schedule next week, and that she didn’t fit the role we are looking for. Calling her at first I felt quite bad that this was going to be my first time firing someone in my managing career. To be a great candidate on the Clover staff you need to be enthusiastic about food, willing to work hard, and willing to learn. This employee wasn’t close to our standards. It wasn’t fair to her, and wouldn’t serve Clover, to keep her on.
The way I saw this experience is like swimming in the New England Ocean, scared of how cold it will be at first, but once your in, there is no looking back. After the first employee was fired, there have been a few more we had to let go because simply their shoe just didn’t fit.
See the bags of carrots that guy is holding? Those are headed to Clover. I went down to Rhode Island to see how some of our food gets distributed. Distribution is an area you don’t hear about much. You hear about farmers, you hear about restaurants. But distribution, ordering, deliveries is something we deal with every day. (I think Brian could could have written an entire post on trying to make sense of the woman who mans the phones after business hours at Russo’s, but that’s another story.)
We get some of our produce, and the Narrangansett yogurt you’ve been eating in the mornings, through a pretty slick nonprofit called Farm Fresh Rhode Island. I worked with them one morning to get a huge volume of stuff from farmers to restaurants.
Once upon a time I was a summer associate at McKinsey and Company. For those of you who don’t know (I was in your camp 6 years ago) McKinsey is a somewhat, OK very, secretive company. They work with world leaders and business leaders. At one point they all wore easy to identify uniforms, sort of like the IBM salespeople. These days they’re wearing jeans and stuff and sitting on the greenway, much harder to spot!
I loved my time at McKinsey. I never expected to, but it surprised me. I’m not sure what I was doing there was important. Mostly I was helping big companies sell people more stuff they didn’t need in the first place. But I learned a ton and loved the people I worked alongside. This crew here are summer associates. We used to just call them “summers.” Blair, the guy gesturing, brought them by to have breakfast and say hi. Thanks guys, hope you enjoyed the food.
The same week we welcome one of our original employees back into the fold (Hat), we have to say goodbye to Brian.
This is tough for us all. Brian has been an important part of Clover since the end of last summer. He’s seen us through our first evening service, our first winter, and some tough times when we were covering holes left by unexpected departures. He’s helped us increase the number of people we feed three-fold, and helped us adapt to a new truck.
Brian’s commitment to quality and detail has elevated everyone around him. We’re going to miss him. Brian is going to be kicking it in Denver. We’re not-so-secretly hoping he gets tired of the thin air and finds his way back. Until then, good luck Brian, and we’ll miss you.
In honor of Brian we’re going to be giving away sodas at lunch today. Come on by and lift a bubbly glass.
That guy there is from ADP, a paycheck processing company. He’s the one who bought me that muffin I wrote about the other day. There are basically 2 huge paycheck processing companies: ADP and Paychex. So I’m trying to decide which to go with.
I’ve been driving myself and my employees crazy with payroll. We’ve been hiring a lot of people, which means tons of paperwork. It’s driving me batty. Each employee we hire on takes me about 20 minutes of data entry. So I’m usually doing this late at night, and it’s a hassle. And then I find that I don’t have a check to make the payment, you get the idea. And so more often than I’d like we’ve had people who get paid late, which is awful. So time to fix all of that.
To be completely honest I’m not convinced there’s going to be that much of a difference between the two payroll services. So I’m concerned about cost and ability to assist me in recovering any tax credits I may be due.
The new folks might not know this, because I’ve tried hard to keep it it under wraps, but I have a nickname. It’s “Bad Looker,” or Bill for short. Jeremiah made it up, and it’s not really that funny. But sometimes, it really fits. Sometimes, I just don’t look hard enough. Yesterday was one of those times.
We’ve been doing an afternoon special for the past two weeks. I love these specials. This week, fried plantains. At 3pm, it was time to start frying up the plantains. We ran through the few plantains left from yesterday, and then I started looking for the plantains that had been dropped off that afternoon in the resupply van. I looked everywhere. Kevin looked everywhere. There were no plantains on the truck.
I called Rolando, I called Chris, I even texted Enzo, suggesting that our truck had been sabotaged as part of the truck-to-truck competition.
Then, a customer came by, saying she’d been thinking about fried plantains all day. We had to tell her we were all sold out. I looked one more time. Right at the front of the truck, hidden under some crates, was a white plastic container, full of plantains. Kevin tried to call after the woman, but she was already gone. We didn’t get your name – but please come back tomorrow. Ask for Bill. I’ll fry you up some plantains.
I’m a pain when I go into food shops these days. I’m afraid I’m driving the staff crazy, and I know I’m driving my friends crazy. I’m always in research mode. 100% of the time.
Right now I have muffins on my mind. I suspect we can improve ours. But it’s going to take some serious development work. To start with we’re doing what we always do, talking to you all and asking what you think. What do you like about our muffins? What’s letting you down?
So that muffin there, it’s from Peet’s. And the poor guy behind the counter had to dig out the nutrition book from who knows where and look it up for me. Try asking for nutritionals at your favorite fast food shop. You’ll quickly start feeling like you’re not suppose to be asking those questions.
This bad boy: 580 calories, 30 grams of fat. That’s right: 580 calories! You may not know what that means, but I’ve been looking at this stuff a lot. That’s just crazy. That’s more calories and more fat than a Big Mac. No seriously, it is. Look it up. Or one and a half servings of our french fries!! That’s right. Eating that muffin is like ordering our fries, eating them all by yourself, then stealing your friends and eating half of his.
Our banana muffins have around 216 calories, 8 g fat, and 6 g protein. Sorry, haven’t gotten around to putting that up yet. Best of all, they’re 100% whole grains (whole wheat flour, oat bran, wheat germ). But do they taste good? If they don’t we need to change them, I don’t care how healthy they are for you…
We’re growing. You’re going to be seeing more stories like this one. Efficient operations have been important to us from day one, and we’ve been constantly experimenting and improving. But with the new truck (completely new floor plan), larger volumes, and larger staff our procedures are more important than ever. This is about making sure the food tastes great every time you eat with us, making sure you’re not waiting too long, making sure our employees are happy and not stressed out.
One of the major time sinks has been organizing utensils and dishes at the end of the day. We re-assess our needs almost weekly, but we’re still at a staggering number of items that need to go on the truck every single day, exactly the same way. I just counted nearly 400 items on the current pack list. These range from utensils, to mixing bowls, blenders, containers of food, boxes of cucumbers, etc. Now imagine 2 trucks getting cleaned and packed at the end of the day, making sure everybody has every single item they need. And don’t forget that if the fry boats are not packed, no fries to serve. If the falafel scoop is not packed, no falafel to serve.
Chris and Enzo have been brainstorming ways to color code the items by truck so the sorting process becomes one of “grabbing everything with a white tag” rather than picking and sorting to a list. Enzo and I were up at 3am in the kitchen working on this last night, but I think it’s going to be worth the effort. We’ll let you know how it goes.
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