Z&H website..."Coming Soon"

We had an excellent meeting last night with our website developer and were able to refine our ideas into practical concepts that will be reality on our site. Functional, infomative, clean, and attractive. So, another coming soon, www.zhmarketcafe.com

Electricity...a fine thing

Such a simple thing, such a good thing. Our electrician was in today; we have many electrical needs. I can't really believe I use the term "three-phase" conversationally. I much prefer to talk coffee, cheese, or even Parma ham. We have begun interviewing for our staff positions and welcome applications if you know of anyone with a love of food, beverage, service, and hard work.

Zoning, and why it is important in everyday life

Today, Monday, was a break-through day. We have been fencing with The City of Chicago Department of Zoning for a few week. It is a medium-long, incredibly crazy (seemingly typical) story of how Chicago works. The sort of it is that we were able to finally get zoning stamps on our plans so that we can move forward. The core of the issue was that the City did not understand that retail commerce had been occurring for more than 80 years in a retail storefront
at 1126 East 47th Street. Hmmmm. Well, at about 10:50AM this morning something happened in the Zoning office and our (need I say fantastic) architecture plans were given the red stamp of approval. On an even more positive note is that our major equipment was delivered this past week and it is terrific to see the equipment in the space. 16 feet of deli case, multiple refrigeration and freezer units, sandwich table, and all the rest. Additionally, we presented at a community meeting about our plans and concerning our seeking a license to sell wine. The meeting went very well and we are excited about the interest in the MarketCafe and the relationship we are developing with our neighborhood. What a great day.

Bread glorious Bread

Bread is important. Our search for a terrific to offer in our MarketCafe has led us in some interesting directions. The search continues. One interesting issue is that very few bakeries on the north side of Chicago deliver down to the wilds of Kenwood/Hyde Park. The search continues.

Framing

A nice surprise today, the framing of Z&H has begun. It is great to smell new lumber. The rep from the company that our front door will come from was also in the space today, measuring. The new front door set will redefine the appearance of the store. An actual retail 'face lift'.We also met with our coffee roaster Intelligentsia today, they are excellent people with an excellent product. 

An easy decision.....Intelligentsia Coffee

We will be featuring Intelligentsia Coffee at Zaleski & Horvath MarketCafe. This is perhaps the easiest decision we will make for Z&H. With the experience we gained from our previous business, Intelligentsia is a perfect fit for us. They roast the best coffee available (Direct Trade trumps 'fair trade' every time), they roast every day in Chicago in vintage German machines, and the coffee taste spectacular. Can you tell we love Intelligentsia Coffee. We will be offering Intelligentsia at our espresso and coffee bar as well as on the shelf in the Market. We won't be offering any other brands. Since we know they are the best why would we offer something not as good?

Demo Done

Today the last piles of plaster dust were consigned to the dumpsters of time....melodramatic? Yes. The naked space looks fantastic. As fantastic as a 1750 square foot, backward C shaped space with 15 foot high ceilings can look (photos will be posted once we download them out of the camera). The next step is to get the city permit posted in the front window so construction work can begin. The architect (who is great) and Ziggy, our contractor (who has always been great, and is nearly like family) are hard at work acquiring the permit. So at this stage everything is falling into place. We have found an excellent solution for the ceiling. We have decided on the floor, we just need to select the tile colors. The aesthetics of our MarketCafe are fixed and will be a departure for Hyde Park. I think our customers and neighbors will be happily shocked as how nice the space is going to turn out.