I thought of it a while as I got ready for the first day of the project, January 8th, 2014."Let's go," I pulled myself together.
With the 4 train I was in Midtown, Manhattan in no time. Where better to start than at Grand Central Station. I chose to work the shops within the lower level, the station's dining concourse to start.
Making my first stop at Manhattan Chili, I checked the status of the shop, whether it is corporately or independently owned? The project is to speak to small independent business owners, not corporate companies. If you followed my first project in Austin, Texas, you realized all my interviews were with small independent business owners who are easier to get a hold of and are more open to sharing their stories.
Manhattan Chili is independently owned, but the owner was absent. Instead I spoke to Jimmy, the manager, who handed me a phone number for Aaron, the general manager. I took the number, unsure whether to make an immediate call or wait till later. I chose later, and moved to the next shop, Tri Trip Grill.
There, I spoke to Luba, the manager on duty and took an email to follow up with the owner, who was absent.
Two boots was the next shop, where I spoke to Justin the manager, who handed me the contact information of one of the owners, Phil. "Send phil an email," he directed.
A short day this day being, I took follow up cards at Cafe Spice and Irving Farm Coffee Roasters. At Dishes, the associate I spoke to directed me to try back later to speak to Richard the manager. The same happened at Zaro's Bakery, where Jackie asked me to find Richard in their middle level store, located a level above the lower level.
After passing up a few more shops for their corporate status and disinterest, I stopped in front of Central Market, New York. The gentleman I spoke to pointed me to a gentleman in white walking toward the shop as the owner, and the person to talk to. Alfred is one of the owners of three. Central Market, New York is a family owned business operated by all three of them.
Showing considerable interest in blogs and my project, he picked 3:30 pm for an interview. We spoke briefly about blogs and their power and where particular bloggers could be found online. Alfred set up the interview in front of me, and confirmed it for tomorrow (01/09/15). I thanked him, and took a break to gather my thoughts.
A few minutes later, I picked up a card at Oyster Bar & Restaurant for one of their managers. Also, following up on the instruction I received from Jackie at Zaro's Bakery's, I stopped at another store of their's to speak to Richard. A call to their main office was all I got from Richard.
After making my way to the middle level of the terminal, I picked up follow up cards from Joe Coffee and Cobbler & Shine on my way out.
All in all, a good day.
Find of the day.
If that's where I got my coffee, yeah, sure I would take them up on that. Yet, I will not only get a free cup, but I get to give something in return. A believer in win-win deals, I like that. The customer gets coffee for free, but gives a gift in return. The 11th cup still makes the business money, and the customer saves money, depending how much gratuity is given back.
Also, with the store located in the Grand Central Terminal, most of the folks there will be office workers who would frequent the place on their breaks, and could use the savings on the 11th cup. The 11th cup for 'free' also gives them something to look forward to as they interact with the coffee shop. A nice exchange between buyer and seller all that is.
Nice move, Joe's Coffee! You can check out Joe's Coffee here: Joe's Coffee.
