9bars

I have my space, finally. It is in the Firstenburg Community Center, to which they are attaching a rather sizable library. The traffic flow is remarkable, the lease is great, customer base is large and will quickly grow in the near future. The only problem that I have with whole deal is the timeline, they need me in the space immediately, in about a week. The equipment is provided, like a new dishwasher, ice machine, refrigerated display case, the works. I am bringing in my own espresso machine, pour-over bar, hot water tower, and press pots. I will be serving food, how I am going to go about that will flesh itself out soon. But the permitting process has yet to show how hard it will be. I will post some photos of the setup process soon.

R.

Why are so many landlords so overly picky? My hopeful landlord called yesterday to tell me that he would rather put a bank in the space I was to go into in the very near future. Bah! The complex has nine empty spots around it in the same development, and he would not rent the spot to me and have the bank to move to the spot behind me on the other corner? NOPE! Are they paying more rent? NO, They are paying less. Are they leasing more space? NO. Are they leasing for a longer time? NO, It’s a three year term. One year less than mine! He didn’t even offer to move me to another part of the complex, and I wasn’t about to ask after the attitude he threw at me.

Time to go out and find me another spot, and with a friendlier landlord. It’s also time to get a rental agent, it is simply too hard to get a property owner or landlord to return a phone call. These days everyone needs an agent to work on their behalf, which is ridiculous, can’t people answer the phone for themselves? Maybe get in a car and look for a spot to put your business down, in a part of town you enjoy? I know that some people are not very good at picking a retail location, but if a landlord won’t call you back because you’re not an agent, thats very, very sad.

Finding the right spot is HARD, very very very HARD. Somedays I wish it was easier, but the I realize that if it was easy, everyone would do it.

Now, off to find myself a man-eating, fire breathing, no-holds-barred agent!

R.

I am currently rebuilding a Linea 4 AV, and if anyone has a wiring diagram for this bad boy, pass it along to my email ryan @ 9bars.com. This is quite a challenge, and currently I am writing my own diagram, with some modest success. But the real thing would be much easier.

I picked up some new portafilters, anti siphon steam wands, two PID’s, and some small parts for it yesterday. These machines are much more difficult to work on than the EE’s, which is about all I have worked on until now. Before soon, I will actually know how to work on these with some proficiency.

Oh, and in case you’re looking to pick up a ebay la marzocco, good luck, I hope you have some mechanical know-how.

Pretty ugly now

The previous owner obviously didn’t know to keep the machine clean:

Long day totally wasted on fruitless pursuits;

Solution:

R.