STIR CRAZY!!!

As the days pass and pass, i am starting to go a little bonkers that we have yet to start the build out. I swear if the building permits don't get issued by early next week, there will be one angry cupcake in your midst. We are now waiting upon the schematics of the HVAC system for the engineer that is being installed. Once we have those, cross our fingers, we should have the permits. SO THEY SAY....

I know i have said it before but this process has the speed of a sloth!! All I want is to get going. Cupcake Contractor says the same, seeing as he has better paying paying jobs waiting for the bakery to get built out. I just don't get why this is so time consuming. I will just add this. I don't understand a 9-5 job mentality. I am by no means saying that it is bad, I just don't relate. I often put in 16 hour days between my 4 jobs and opening the bakery. I try to get back to everyone that needs me to get back to them, I send out proposals that need to be sent out, and I defiantly don't do it half assed. It has been trying for me to not call up people at 9:30 pm when I am driving home from my work day and ask them where my info is. I NEED this info to get started people. like a month ago. lets go!!! And I will say that we can kiss a JUNE anything opening goodbye. We are looking at July folks.

The Rise of Cupcakes | Read the History of Cupcakes, oh and my Opinion of Course!

 Enojoy this little homage to the start of Cupcakes. They indeed are what started this whole whirlwind of business, but they are not the only thing that will be on the MENU at Miss Cupcake Boutique bakery. As I have said to people who ask about the business When they ask about the name Miss Cupcake. Miss Cupcake is a persona, not the menu. I have a strong feeling that if you want a business to be profitable and have longevity in Milwaukee, you must offer more than just cupcakes. Yes Cupcakes are fabulous, nobody knows that more than me, Oh, and my dear friend THE CUPCAKE QUEEN ; But Milwaukee as we all know in fashion and food trends that we are not the first to be in the groove, and people here are classic and traditional (I mean that in the sincerest way, being a Wisconsin girl myself, born and breed). Not only would you be limiting your customers to just that one sweet little treat but, you would be limiting your profit ablility. Example. I like cupcakes so i would go to a cupcake shop. Joe Smith may not like cupcakes, so if you only serve cupcakes, you wont get him throught the door. BUT if you sell more than just cupcakes, Joe Smith just might be your new best customer. Thats the business girl in me talking, say what you will but those are my thoughts. So, Enjoy the timeline about cupcakes below! There are some very FUN and informational facts. Cupcakes arent just a sweet little treat... they have a big history

                                         The Rise of Cupcakes | Read the History of Cupcakes

The answer is NO

No, No we do not have the permits yet. No I am NOT happy about this. Really, I am trying to stay calm and be understanding as to why they keep saying, oh now we need this, oh and this, oh and more $$. Well here's the deal. I WILL pay the money, I will turn in what you need. Lord, I would give you my first born if I had one to get these Damn permits if I could!! The worst part about this whole thing is there is not list of criteria for us to follow to hand in to the Village. We asked numerous times, and called, and called again to confirm that we have EVERYTHING possible that they would need to approve our application for the permits. And sure shit, they call us, tell us they need more money AND that they need more information about the venting system. I don't understand why this keeps happening. Why is there not a master list of things that they KNOW that they will need to see from the business owner. Seriously, how do they not have a list!?!? That list, would be helpful for not only us business owners, but also for themselves so they know that they are acquiring all the needed info to do their jobs accurately. This process is so inefficient I cant even believe it. Who does a girl have to blow know in this city to get some permits.

On another note: If I loose the opportunity to be featured on Bobby Flays new show for the food network because of this, well lets just say NOBODY is safe.

For the love of PERMITS

It almost seems too good to be true.Tear. Today the cupcake contractor has informed me that he will be picking up the building permits tomorrow morning!!!!!! Ahh! I cant tell you how good it feels to finally know that we have the permits and that we can get to building. This does come with a big hesitation however.Im sure you are thinking how can this be? Well, let me give you a bit more of the fat of the matter. Lets start at the beginning of finding this space. I was set on not being in Shorewood. I didn't want to be in the area for fear of what I had heard from residents and other businesses trying to open there. I did not want to succumb to the "North Shore hauteur" If you live in this area please know I mean this in the kindest of ways. So, while on the hunt for the space with my broker Marianne (whom is amazing for not only finding my space, but for also putting up with my extreme girlyness) she made sure to include a space in Shorewood. I was sure that I was meant to be on Downer Ave, ie the old Lixx location (swoon) But! that space was not only not only unaffordable, it just did not feel right along with other spaces on that street. Marianne, showed me spaces as far north as Fox point and down as far as the Third Ward. The spaces were nice and OK, some immediate nos, but in my heart there was only one spot for me. The very spot I plan to open up in; the spot that I knew I had to have. I soon got over my airs to being in Shorewood, and now I know that Miss Cupcake was meant to open its very first retail Boutique Bakery in Shorewood. I had heard some stories about it not being easy to open in Shorewood and I would listen, but think in my head " Oh that wont happen to me, they have been great to work with" Well people, let me tell you.... As much of a pleasure as it has been working with Shorewood to open, it is DIFFICULT!! I am in no means pointing the finger at just them, or them in particular for this matter. Everybody is just trying to do their jobs. But for goodness sake can't we find a way to do this more efficiently?!? EXAMPLE: We have to pay for the building permits, totally fine with that. I get it. This is how the Village makes its money. But to tell my contractor that they need more money for an examination fee?!?!?!? Ummm isnt that part of a permit fee? And or why would it not be? EXAMPLE 2: I need a permit for my sign. The sign that is to hang on the side of the building to let all you know where the beloved Miss Cupcake will reside. I have to get a permit ($$) for the sign. I then have to submit an application ($$) for the design review board to review the sign. This is also another fee. Yes, a fee for the village board to look at my sign and aprove it and give me a permit that I have to pay for. Thats not all. Ok so we are at the sign permit, and the review board application fee, oh yes! The sign that was designed for Miss Cupcake Boutique Bakery is gorge. However... the sign is flag mounted which means that the sign will hang over the sidewalk. Alas it will be 9ft above, but it is still over the public walkway, so I need to get what they call a special privilage permit ($$). I also will need a permit for my tasteful sandwhich board sign outside to show specials, and another permit for outdoor seating. That brings us up to a grand total of so far 5 $$$$$ permits. While on the phone the other morning with the village, I asked the sweet dear that I have nothing but love for over at the village, if they have a punch card frequent shopper program for permits. Buy 5 get one free?!?!? She laughed and said absolutely not. So before I hung up the phone with her I told her it was nice speaking with her, and that I had to get to harvesting from my money tree because they must think I have one for all these fees :-)

On a side note: I think that when the bakery is open, I will deliver a beautiful triple chocolate cake to the Village of Shorewood. I will call it Death by Permits Cake.

Permits shmermits

It is now May 7th, and I have yet to have anything besides some demo happen at the bakery. I should probably be a little aggravated, which I am! but, at this point in time there is not much that I can do. The next step to move forward is in the hands of Shorewood Village... We are waiting for the building permits. Until we have those there is nothing to be done at the space (SAD FACE).

A little more in depth info on this permit hold up. I guess you can say it started with me. Yes yes I admit that I did throw a kink in the plan when after this giant waste of space stage was removed, the contractor (my daddy* but note It makes me feel like a small child having to reference my daddy so much so contractor it is*) and I measured the space as to where walls and my cash wrap and bakery cases were going to be. Yeah, well about that... the space I swear shrunk overnight, and the layout that was designed was NOT going to work. So , I sent contractor daddy back to the drawing board. Literally. Really, the guy still draws all of his plans by hand. Amazing talent? YES! Timely and efficient? Not so much. (I swear i will have to buy the man one of those cad programs to use to draw, but he just got email last year and that sends him into a tizzy. Give a man an email address and he insists that now he would be able to reinvent the Internet... I told him to leave that to Steve Jobs' people.) With the new plans done, and his extreme persistence for perfection the first go around, we just were able to turn in the plans to the village inspector last week. After tirelessly going back and fourth since last December, we have tried to get the exact needed specifications for things. Some issues have been answered, some have yet to come to light, and right now our hurdle is we are hoping to get the building permits straight from the village without the need to send the plans to the state WHICH could take weeks. WEEKS!! That is time that I DO NOT have. So if you all can. say a little prayer that these permits come this week. We need to get this show on the road if you catch my drift.

The morning of the lease signing. * Real Footage*

ok time to add even more personality to the blog. the following video is of me driving down to the lease signing at the space. Now, i the morning i was taking care of the loose strings and things were going well, and i did not feel nervous at all... Well thats what I thought! I cant help but laugh at myself in this video. I was SO nervous! Good thing this is all documented.

And now for the post Lease signing video... I was a bit more relaxed. That may or may not have something to do with the bottle of Veuve Clicquot that was popped open shortly after the ink dried.