Are We There Yet…?

Madame Chocolat’s Blog:

My Beloved Chocophiles,

It is the the day before Valentine’s Day and all through the shop…  still the sounds of scrubbing, painting, drilling, sanding and hammering can be heard… but we’re getting there! We are sooooooo close!… but, unfortunately, we will not be open on Valentine’s Day – waaaaahhhh!

When I signed the lease eons ago (December 2nd), February 14th seemed so far away. Bob, Tina (RVP Architecture and Planning) and I rushed to get the plans submitted to the respective city and county departments three days before Christmas. We weren’t even approved to commence construction until the 17th of January. Robb has performed incredible miracles in such a short period of time!

We have come a long way, indeed, but alas, we are not ready to open tomorrow. Mea culpa my friends – we really tried! Please give us another week to week-and-a half. We have set many lofty goals along our path and have had to re-adjust many times. Considering the immense scope of this project, I am grateful for our progress and I feel we have done very well! Yes, it would have been glorious to have opened on Valentine’s Day. But, remember, “…good things come to those who wait…”

Think of it this way, just when you will be coming out of your chocolate hangovers from V-Day, we’ll be here to fulfill all your chocolate desires. Besides, at PL&C we believe that love and chocolate should be celebrated everyday of the year!

Yesterday, I was at the shop early removing all of the masking from my vintage Traulsen revolving pastry display case. It was so exciting – like when extensive bandages  are removed from a healed and wounded body. She was a little homely and lonely when I first found her in a used restaurant equipment graveyard in Denver last December, but her mechanics have been cleaned and updated, her fluorescent tube lighting fixtures have been replaced with energy efficient LEDs andIhave dipped her in chocolate!  “Trudy” is nothing short of gorgeous now with her new make-over! Just wait until you see her! She will be the veritable revolving “runway” for our high-fashioned whole chocolate cakes and pastries – and she will make them look like delicious chocolate super-models!… Strike a pose, baby-cakes! I wonder, do “normal” people get excited about these kinds of things?

So, perhaps you are wondering what has been going on? Let me make a list for the sake of time because there is a stack of used equipment sitting in our display kitchen that needs some love in the form of a scrub brush and soap with my name on it. I need to get to work!

– We passed all of our final building inspections on Friday, yea!…

– We had to re-schedule our final county health inspection because drywall and saw dust are inedible… imagine that?!? Ha! We will be ready this next time!…

– Bill, the cabinet maker, will have part of our front counter finished enough for the POS system (the very system that isn’t here, yet – fingers crossed for Monday!)… Heidi is getting a little anxious regarding this matter because packages are arriving daily from around the world. Are there enough “oms” in the world, dearest Giftress, to put up with me?

– Genny had her first “official” day of work last Wednesday… with all of the scrubbing and cleaning we have been doing of this pre-loved equipment I have bought, she may be questioning her role here… What a team player! I don’t think I could ever thank-her enough!…

– The real-live website will be up this week… Matt, of Green Chair Marketing Group, told me it would be four days from when I last talked with him six days ago… can someone please tell me why this takes so long?!?…

– We haven’t even had a chance to fire up all of this pre-loved equipment… it will take some time to get to know all of our new (to us) toys and tools…

– The big and beautiful chocolate awning will be installed above our entry Tuesday…

Thank-you so very much for your patience my friends. You have all been so sweet and believe me, we are just as eager to meet you!

Warmest OO’s & XX’s, Sarah