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JaquariusJehoshaphat t1_je87arv wrote

Would you like to name a few? We miss you btw.

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nl2012 t1_je99ck4 wrote

The bakery specifically was a bunch of lessons in numbers, space, and pricing - and also the limits of bootstrapping.

The numbers of the bakery never made sense - we literally never made enough money lol. It would have closed in 9 months but north was supporting it. One of the reasons we never made any money was because we opened it what, ten years ago? Ten years ago that block was completely different - no restaurants, no gym (though planet fitness opened soon after), no breweries, no bars. Just garages and car repair places, and a private ambulance company. It was certainly residential, but the neighborhood has gotten way wealthier the last decade, and can now support higher prices. At the time I was obsessed with a $5 breakfast sandwich with a coffee. We eventually moved away from that ourselves, but not to the prices point you’d find that for now. Ditto for most of the other stuff.

Part of the issue is the inefficiencies of the space - I leased the space because the rent was dirt cheap (obscenely cheap actually), BUT I had to white box and build the space out myself. Floors, ceilings, walls, plumbing, electrical. This was the first space we built ourselves, and while we used contractors, we made a bunch of design errors - especially with HVAC - that really hurt the space both from a comfort perspective but also a functionality perspective.

I think the biggest lesson though was that for me, I learned that having a space that was open all day seven days and then another open all night seven days was just really difficult for me on all accounts. Other people are better about delegating and training people on the management level - frankly I can teach you to cook, but teaching people to manage, especially back then, is definitely a weakness of mine. I still think that place was special but I needed to spend more time there and just couldn’t.

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wafflesandgin t1_je9azad wrote

I appreciate this response. You've been one of the more genuine restaurant owners in PVD regarding the work and closing of North's various iterations.

That being said, I really really miss the stuffed bagels from the bakery. They were life.

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pvdjay OP t1_je9ukue wrote

Good point on the HVAC, it definitely was always smoky in there. To the point that the baked goods tended to take on the smoke flavor.

Still tasted good though

Also, when you guys opened Planet Fitness was there already. But nothing else though… except for Fountain Spa 😂

Source: I live around the corner (sorry I didn’t buy more 😳)

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nl2012 t1_jeafuea wrote

Yea we were going to have a full size hvac unit and the hvac guy convinced me that a minisplit would be sufficient and would match the space better. Probably the biggest mistake.

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pvdjay OP t1_jeanh1q wrote

That sucks. Sure, it probably would have been fine if you were a clothes store or something. But a bakery? 🤨

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