There’s been so much going on the last few months, I’m just going to dive in and start catching everyone up, starting with the present. After a tremendous 28 events in October, and an equally busy summer schedule I was feeling like we were growing out of our current kitchen. After several other attempts to buy a storefront of my own had fallen through, I stumbled upon a diamond in the rough.
One morning in mid October, I had to replace the faucet on our handwashing station before a big gig. On my way to the hardware store, I drove by the Roma Pizza place and saw a for sale sign, took note, and drove on, got the necessary plumbing things. I grabbed the number and gave the guy a call about an hour later, arranged to meet Monday night. By Wednesday I cut a check and closed Roma Pizza, bought it, and immediately got rid of most everything not bolted down.
THe Doughjo’s location had been chosen. The name had already come from our crew, after a crazy gig, I think Patrick said it, “Let’s call it the Doughjo!” I had other names in mind but the more I thought about it, the more Doughjo stuck. It’s our home base, training facility for new recruits, and operations for our catering and mobile event services. A perfect name that plays into the overall play on the Fist of Fury and underlying martial-arts-like style to pizza spinning, using the fists, flour, etc. I’m not sure how many people actually get that, but it’s usually pretty neat when they do. So I bought a small Pizzeria Take-Away spot near my house. Now we’re pushing really hard to open and move in by late December, early January.
I’ll admit I’ve never done this before, so I’ve really been wingin it. I figured that after three years running a completely portable, Health Department Approved, mobile kitchen, how hard can a Brick and Mortar be? All the stuff is always there, you don’t have to worry about bringing enough water, you can plug things in, and most stuff is right where it should be most of the time. We’re all very excited to make a go of this in the Laurel District. We’re going to keep it simple, just a Take-away menu to start, with limited hours through the winter. We want to put a lot more finishing touches in place over the next couple months, and really “open” by spring.
We’re moving into the next phase of the transformation, we’ve started to primer the walls, and we’re getting ready for a full coat of paint head to toe. Then we’ll move onto the last few details and try for a re-inspection before the Holiday vacations start. So wish us luck, and keep your eyes open for our first round of testing the waters in early January!
Comments