We were almost open today

Happy Saturday! I’m drinking some super smooth cold brew at the cafe, listening to Blank Banshee’s first album “0”. All I have left to do on my end is fix a couple letters on the menus we made, and unpack the boxes here. From there I’d test the menu, take pictures and confirm the written recipes, then be ready to serve. This week we also finished the paintings and murals, got everything hooked up, and finished the work outlined by our general contractors.

But the city needs mechanical changes

Meaning changes to our HVAC, which is fans and air ducts. Since the premise was to be delivered with working AC, I didn’t intend to do any serious HVAC work, and neither did our general contractor. When it came time to inspect, turns out there is some work to bring us up to code.

It’s pretty minor work from what I can tell, movings fans on the existing system and adding a bathroom fan that vents out. Kind of annoying since I already installed a new bathroom fan, and I’d do this new one myself too If I could, but it needs to be done by someone licensed. I’m hoping that with the shortage of workers in JAX it’s not too difficult or expensive to get this done.

The most frustrating part isn’t the money or time this is going to cost us, it’s that no one in the last 7 months of permitting, thought to bring up that there was work left on the table.

So now it’s time to get this done.

I was on a no sleep marathon trying to get ready for this weekend, so when I found out it wasn’t going to happen Friday night, I slept in today. Now I’m up and getting back to work. I’m going to get this cafe to 100%, and find an affordable AC guy with availability, hoping that these changes are as minor as I understand them.

On the bright side

I do have a half keg of great cold brew from weekend prep, and I have a working cafe in general. If I’m legally allowed to do door service, uber eats, pop ups, anything! I’ll see if we can throw something together ahead of opening to make use of the space. Wish me luck everyone, and have a great weekend, ~ Elias