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

Can’t remember how we decided to do the stools custom. I think it was an idea I liked. I am convinced we can make a better stool at a lower price. (Does that attitude sound familiar?)

Stool 1

This is where it started. I wasn’t sure any of these were simple enough. But I thought we had something to work with stool #2.

stool 2

This was the next stage. The shape wasn’t there, but the color idea was really interesting to me. John and Jinhee and Peter (our architects) thought you could make the chairs feel like they were floating with clever application of color. The black was a bit much, but I saw this could be going somewhere.

stool 3

At this point we were getting pretty close. I talked to SSD about the design and asked if we could get a prototype made. The prototype rocked. And we’re off…

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.