Obviously by reading the title of this post you know that Sarah is not writing this. Was it the words I was trying to say, the moment I was taking in, the love and happiness in my heart that was blocking my throat, the difficulty in describing an eternity in a few sentences, or just sheer fear and terror of having to be intimately serious with one person in front of 30? Those were the thoughts of my performance saying my vows on October 7 2011. With a perfect setting in the North Georgia Mountains at dusk with friends and family I had an extremely hard time saying my vows to my lovely wife. Luckily she jumped in and of course had no trouble with hers. When it became my turn again, I still couldn’t really get those vocal cords moving. Piece by piece and excruciating minute by minute I made it thru them. I am not sure the specific reason for the trouble but to those who didn’t hear me or just for my Baby if she wants to read. “Love you baby and thanks for marrying me.” Also, thanks to those who came and celebrated all weekend with us. It was great and we are so glad you came.
GPFM
The Grant Park Farmer’s Market was crazy yesterday. We sold more pizzas at the market than we have ever sold before at a farmer’s market. I guess delicious ingredients, awesome weather and a hot ‘za are a good combination. I am glad Sarah and I thought so 18 months ago and went ahead with our dream. We feel very lucky to be a part of a great thing going on in Grant Park. The vibe at the market was awesome. How can you not be happy with sun, music, food, hoola hooping, and the smell of a fire? Oh, and I didn’t mention the marching band or the costumes. Gotta check it out.
Recap
Wow. What a month. August may have been on of the busiest months of my life. Running S & J's Woodfired Pizza on a daily basis and selling pizza to the people 5-6 times per week is awesome but tiring. There is much to do and also much to catch up on.
During the month of August, we did a few catering gigs, some festivals a lot of farmer’s markets, and oh by the way we added delivery. Delivery with a smile is the motto of some businesses but we choose to go with delivery with a golf cart. Thats right people. It was not a crazy man driving on a stolen golf cart thru Piedmont Park. It was just Jeff Cohan, our part-time delivery man and SJ’s full-time dad. With a smile and a sweaty shirt, he traveled throughout the Festival on Ponce and the Piedmont Park Arts Festival delivering hot pies to hungry artists, who otherwise would have gone hungry. With 50 deliveries in two days as the new record, even a younger sprier delivery man would have trouble keeping pace. On top of deliveries, SJp added markets, menu items and an overall improvement to the pizza scene of Atlanta. If you haven’t tried us out yet. You are missing out.
What’s new at S and J’s?
As Sarah and I get ready for our last weekend of selling pizza before we take a break and relax while camping up on Lake Michigan, I wanted to take a second to update everyone on the new things happening here at S & J's Woodfired Pizza.
Full-timing it
The headliner of course is that I will be leaving my part-time job as an ER nurse and taking up pizza full-time. For a few months now, we have been debating on the decision as we have been turning down pizza gigs and decided recently to take the plunge. This will allow SJP to take our pizza to the street much more often. Starting in August, we are going to add at least 3 more weekly locations to our schedule. Check our calendar frequently as we will be updating with new dates and locations.
Solar!
The other bigs news I want to report is that we are going to go ahead and start acquiring the parts and knowledge to start running our whole operation on solar power. After I sell my gas powered generator, which has only been used once, I want to build a solar powered one that we satisfy all our electrical needs. It’s gonna be awesome to be run by wood and the sun. That being said, any people with any knowledge in that type of area please feel free to give any free advice as novice is a generous description of me.
To top things off…
On another side of research and development, we are continuing to try out new topping combinations and hope to offer some summer specials in the next coming months which will include a homemade bbq sauce, peaches, roasted corn, and possibly a trip south of the border with a Mexican inspired pie. We would love to hear any special requests so stop by the markets and let us know.
Dough for Sale
Finally, I hope to be in a position to offer dough for sale later on this summer. Many of you have asked about this and I want to give the people what they want. I need to work out a few kinks in how I package it to give you the optimum number of days before it passes its prime. Also, we want to get some instructions together to help you with it when you get home.
Any other fresh ideas or places you want S & J's Woodfired Pizza? Let us know. Just under 2 months until the 1 year anniversary. Get pumped.
Why Not???
The SJP train has been rolling of late. With multiple dates each week, we are really getting going. I wanted to take a second to reflect on why I love being my own boss and owning a business with my favorite person in the world, SJ.
When was the last time you were able to bring a smile to someone’s face with the snap of your fingers? I don’t want to brag too much about her but last night SJ was awesome. Twice she saw a chance to make someone happy and jumped at it.
We were at our East Atlanta Farmer’s Market last night and a young lady with her two children came up. They were all very excited about trying our pizza. That was until after they ordered. They wanted to pay with EBT coins, which the market generally takes, but I informed them that we can’t accept them because we are a prepared food and we are not allowed. Saddened and dejected, she began to turn and leave when SJ stepped in and told them that she would love to make them a pie and just let her know what they wanted. The happiness in SJ’s eyes and the young lady’s was the ultimate. With a smile and many thank you’s, they enjoyed dinner on S & J's Woodfired Pizza.
As the night continued and the oven was flaming, another opportunity crossed our paths and she stepped in again. Sitting on the new bench at the market, she watched as a young man was enjoying a delish ‘za. He proceeded to accidentally lose control of the pizza, and it fell to the ground. With an understandably saddened heart, he began to walk away. SJ yelled ” Hey man, we got you another one”. He didn’t stop and so she yelled again. Still the man walked away, until another patron ran and caught him and told him the great news. He was so appreciative, and it really made the night.
Before SJP, in order to make a decision Sarah or I would have to send an email, set up a meeting, have a meeting, send some more emails and then be informed by our boss that they needed to talk to their boss and we would get an answer in a week or so. That sucked. SJ making split second decisions last night just because they felt like the right thing to do is the way for me. People aren’t numbers and some decisions aren’t hard. Why wouldn’t you want to be your own boss?
Thanks SJ.
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