Wow! Is this exciting or what? Just think of the stories we call tell one day. Our grandparents could say, "we went through World War II", "Yea, but we went through COVID-19". We will all get through this, we might have a lot less money and hair, but we will. This week we opened FlapJacks for take-out only but it was a struggle. We are not really set up to take all our orders over the phone at one time. This week we will get the ChowNow app working and that should help a lot. I encourage you to download it on your smartphone. It allows you to order from different restaurants and prepay. It will also give you a time when the order is ready. We will shoot to open Country Waffles this Thursday, but we won’t have the app ready so we will have a little bit of a struggle at first as well.
This week I have applied for at least 5 different forms of the same loan, all while trying to learn all these systems of online ordering that frankly we never had to worry about before, and all the while I have had to listen to my son play his guitar or drums or just converse with me for hours and hours.
Once again, we will get through this. I got through 30 months of rebuilding after the fire, so what is a measly 18 months of spending time with my children. Oh, that ‘s right, we better find a vaccine pretty soon.
Thanks folks.
Apr 1 - News
Wednesday, April 1 (no not an April Fool's joke) we will open Flapjacks from 9AM to 3PM for phone orders and take out only. We will only take credit cards over the phone. We will serve most of our regular menu items, along with some dinner items that you can reheat. We are also going to have our baker make pies and cookies to order. You could call in the previous day and we would try and have them prepared the next. I will work on a Menu for the bakery items next.
The dinner items would be Lasagna with garlic bread and a salad, Chicken or Beef enchiladas with rice and beans and a salad, and Meatloaf with mashed potatoes and bread and a salad. These would all sell for $8.99 for each serving, however email customers get their discount. These would be served cold unless you ask for it heated. The idea is you can pick it up at before 3PM and take it home and microwave it or throw it in the oven.
By next week we should have the ChowNow app in place so you could order online and even have Doordash deliver. On Thursday of this week we will open Taylors in Loomis from 11AM to 5PM on a similar basis. If this goes well then we will open Country Waffles next week.
Folks, we all need a little luck, but please help us out.
9AM - 3PM, Monday - Sunday
(916) 488-5440
Mar 30 - Apr 5
A few weeks ago, my kids and I were having breakfast at the Sunrise Country Waffles, when my daughter looks over at the jelly basket. Suddenly she gets a big smile on her face and looks at me and her brother holding up a Smucker's grape jelly and says, "Mother Smucker," and repeats "Mother Smucker, Mother Smucker," over and over again. I will never be able to use that jelly again.
Ok, so now, with us all spending all our time together and getting on each other's nerves, things have gotten out of control. Kids know they can get away with things at home they can’t get away with at school, and since they aren’t at school it gets a little scary. At dinner last night my son got upset and used the other "Mother" phrase. He tried to explain that my wife and I were both MF’s, and we were not able to get him calmed down. As he was ranting (understand special needs kids have a difficult time containing their emotions), I was thinking about how wonderful this time will be with our darling children.
Folks, we have no idea how long this coronavirus is going to disrupt all of our lives. The problem is this can literally go on for a year. The vaccine is that far off and no other drugs so far have proven to consistently help people. So, I am looking at possibly opening for takeout and delivery only. All orders would be prepaid either by an app called ChowNow or by phone orders where customers would pay for their order over the phone with a credit card. We would not take cash so there would be very little interaction with anybody. We would bring it to you at the door or your car. First, we need to be safe, for everybody, but if we end up being closed for say three months and then customers are afraid to come out for another six months, then that could cause more damage than any SBA loan can ever pay for. If we do this we will offer regular meals, with a smaller menu. We will offer pies and cookies to be preordered. We would also offer refrigerated meals that you could reheat, like lasagna, meatloaf, and enchiladas. If we did this we would try it at FlapJacks first and if it works we would try it at Country Waffles. I haven’t decided for sure but I will send out an email if I can get this done, and if I can find any employees who want to come back to work.
We will get through this, then again if I have to spend 6 months with my children, who knows?
Mar 23 - 29
Social distancing is definitely the most logical solution to combat the coronavirus right now but when it puts you and your children in the same home for what may be months, it resembles something closer to a horror story. Imagine the Chucky doll that sneaks up behind you, but not with a knife but an electric guitar and plays BAD hard rock for the entire morning. Or, Freddie Krueger coming up to you and starts asking you questions about which is the best guitar pick to use and continues it for 3 days. We will survive, but my brain won’t. So when we finally get through this, please just kindly just say simple things to me and please don’t ask me any questions.
Folks, I went ahead and closed all three locations. I just didn’t feel comfortable exposing my employees and customers to something we cannot see. I feel that we will be closed for at least several weeks, but at this time, we have no idea. We may come back with some form of to-go orders that involve new technologies, but only when I feel comfortable. I kind of feel this is my fault. Someone asked me last year after we got open after the fire "what do you think will happen next?", and I said, "probably the plague."