Patience, Anyone?

Admittedly, at the beginning we were a bit naive about how long this process was going to take. After being in business planning mode for 8 months, we thought we'd have no problem finding a space and opening up within three months. Boy were we wrong. It's now been a year and a half and we're still not 100% locked in to a location.

But as we continue, we're realizing that this really is the norm. In April 2008, the Oregonian wrote about a "soon to be open" bar in Portland called Beaker and Flask. It's now been over a year and they still aren't open yet.

Portland Food and Drink did an interview with the owner a few weeks ago: Interview: Kevin Ludwig of Upcoming Beaker & Flask. They also have a blog but they stopped writing last September. Bummer! I love hearing the juicy details.

And they aren't the only ones that know about waiting. A few months ago a friend suggested we take a look at the blog of a cafe in North Portland. They had been blogging about their experiences of looking for and opening up a shop. The Little Red Bike Cafe documented all their trials and tribulations and I couldn't help but see the parallels to their experiences and ours. They were gracious enough to meet with us a little while ago and let us pick their brains a bit. Bottom line is that it takes a lot of patience and persistence but eventually it will pay off.