The Masterplan For The OX
Welcome in!
I’ll be writing this blog for two main reasons: 1) For me, so I can remember what I wanted to achieve with this “The OX LA” brand and 2) To help anyone who wants to get into entrepreneurship, specifically in the cafe/retail/food&bev world. I feel like there are lots of hypes about “grand opening” of businesses, but people are usually kept in the dark about the process and the progress of a shop being built. Not that anyone cares about such process, of course, but I have seen tons of new (and seasoned) business owners being caught completely off-guard by the often drawn out process of “opening” a business. I hope this series of blog posts can console them and give them hope; seeing that there was someone who suffered just like them—how he persevered and pushed through and made things happen (hopefully).
As you all know, my ultimate goal is to find a physical space to open a cafe again. And instead of just dreaming of getting there, I wanted to write out a “masterplan” (Thank you, Elon Musk.) so that you can understand my thought process.
Phase One: Rebooting The Deliveries
I feel like the half gallon jugs deliveries are what made us closer during COVID. I was desperate as a business owner to keep the business afloat, and you guys were trying to stay indoors as much as possible and missed craft beverages that you would often find at cafes. I will ever be thankful for everyone who ordered from The OX and became my friends. Even after two years of closing, you guys have welcomed me with open arms and encouraged me to do this again.
I want to give a huge shoutout to Aaron, who is the owner of coffee.jpg in Sierra Madre, for graciously letting me use his cafe space to prep the drinks. Although I’ve spent some money ordering the supplies (roasted coffee beans, loose leaf tea, matcha powder, labels, etc), I would not have dreamt of opening anything if I did not have a prep space. If you’re ever in the area, please support his shop, too! You might also catch me there pulling shots behind the bar or hanging out, nerding out on coffee.
As the deliveries resume, I will be reinvesting any profit I make back into the brand. I will be releasing some merch goods to reach a broader audience—those people who are physically too distant to order anything for delivery, or those who might find us cute! This phase will also activate an e-commerce portion of the website, which will come in handy for Phase 2….
Phase Two: Pop-up /“In-Person” Events + roasting
As the deliveries fall into a regular scheduled programming, I want to start doing pop-up events such as Maum Market and other unique events that are looking for coffee/tea drink vendors. I have done pop-ups in the past, and I know it’s a lot of work. It’s not sustainable as a business model, especially if that is all that I’m doing. My hope is that prepping for the pop-up can be done in conjunction with the jugs delivery preps. And hopefully, I can sell more merch in person as well.
I would also love to have started roasting my own coffee by this time, so that I can use them for in-person coffee services as well as selling retail bags of coffee in person and online. I feel like roasting in-house, and roasting well, is a key moment in growing the business. As the brand grows, hopefully there will be people out there who want us to be in their properties.
Phase Three: Building Out a Cafe
I would love to meet a landlord who will value the coffee shop for the positive impact it can have on their property, rather than someone who is looking to collect xxxx dollars per month. I know that I am being naive here, but I genuinely believe in the goodness in people. This is also why I am not rushing to find a building and sign a lease and build out a cafe. I want to find the right partnerships—with landlords, vendors, employees, and of course, customers.
I actually don’t know what I want from this space. I don’t know how large or small it’s going to be. I have no idea yet. My hope is that, as I go through these different phases of the business, my idea will become clearer.
In the future, I’ll be writing a series of “Pre-opening Diaries” blogs inspired by Chef David Chang (link to his podcast here) where he talked about the struggles of opening a restaurant in city he has never lived in.
My story is quite similar, yet different: I haven’t even signed a lease agreement to a retail space. Who knows how long it will take for me to have a physical store again? At least with David Chang, his shop was already in construction when he began his podcast series. He had a vision of what that store would look like and function.
My hope is to make this journey as transparent and real as possible. I will be making a new post when there are updates to share with all of you. I hope you can follow along. Feel free to leave a comment or send me a DM if you have any questions, concerns, or anything.
Peace.