When it rains it pours. Metaphorically speaking. We just hired 3 new part-time employees to help the season rush, which usually happens the day after Thanksgiving (the biggest shopping day of the year!). It’s exciting because we have a culturally diverse group: Japanese, Puerto Rican, and Spanish—not to mention our Vietnamese, Puerto Rican and Ecuadorian backgrounds. Right now, training takes place in 4-hour shifts. Soon, we’d love to hand the keys over to the most willing and competent so we can do more graphic design and pour extra time into marketing Banana Dang.
November 20, 2008 is the one-year anniversary of Banana Dang. We survived our first year with just the two of us running the show (except for help in cleaning at night). We weathered the “dry spell” of Rincon’s endless summer, and got a few accolades worth mentioning...The new Lonely Planet spotlighted our business. Local paper El Coqui did a feature on Banana Dang (you can download the story in the November issue). The Hartford Courant ran a feature on Rincon titled "No-Frills Paradise" and mentioned Banana Dang. On Trip Advisor, we are fortunate to be the #3 restaurant in Puerto Rico!
Promo-wise, check out our FREE postcard with $5 purchase in-store (stickers coming soon). It also took a year, but we finally finished the Banana Dang Guide to Rincon—a complimentary 2-pages that features all our favorite hangouts and “secrets” of the town. We also redesigned the DANG Factory logo for our own graphic design business—and got a few more jobs out of it, including designing the visual identity for the 2nd Annual Rincon International Film Festival and logo redesign for Flying Fish Parasail. Images soon.One of the best things we’ve done for our barista career is joining the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) and the social network Barista Exchange, a forum for barista “geeks” to talk coffee. The David Schomer bible, Espresso Coffee: Professional Techniques, is still the #1 required reading for anyone who wants to up his or her skill. If anyone is thinking about opening a coffeehouse, that’s the best advice we can give.
In the near future, our vision is 3-fold: expand the seating area of Banana Dang downstairs and bring the DANG Factory graphic design business upstairs (with chaise lounges, projectors...). The other “dream” is to open a Banana Dang drive-thru kiosk or a Banana Dang Guesthouse in Rincon…or San Diego?!?
That’s life on the BD front.
Mario + T2
