Spring Report
SO much can go on and on in the early stages of starting a new business, none so overwhelming as the foodservice. It is genuinely staggering the amount of people who come out of the wood work with their hands out wanting money....at some point....I keep telling myself.....I might have some to give! All the things you need to have your business happening in the 21st century, requires, more then anything, an endless amount of license, permits and taxes, all which amount to nothing but useless handouts for no apparent reason but to justify some governmental agency that has no benefit to a small business owner.....but I regress!
Our first full month of being open is now in the books, feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, and lots of good ideas from our customers have made this stressful time gratifying and in general, very successful. With exception of the last couple days of the month and the first couple of May, sales are trending up at a very encouraging pace...granted, we have a ways to go to start breaking even, but that being said, I am happy at where we are.
New items were added over the last 2 weeks, including The Springfield (a perfect nod to my hometown of Springfield SD), a Strawberry spinach salad with a home made orange dressing, we also added the Keystone salad (basic Chef style salad with house made...from scratch...ranch dressing) and the Chamberlain, a delicious version of Chicken Salad (original recipe from our Chef Pete Schmidt on a fresh croissant.
The Black Hills Farmers Market opened up last weekend, signaling the beginning of available local produce, I bought some beautiful yellow tomatoes from Happy Hydros out of Pukwana SD and looking so forward to more items coming up on line. Kasemeister Creamery, gave me access to their entire line of grocery items, if you haven't tried their pickles, get on down and getcha sum! Definitely an insanely good line of products! And the seemingly endless wait for Dakota Style Potato Chips to send me my first order...which I placed the beginning of March, continues.. We tried several times to make our own, but with the limitations of the products I allow us to use, we just haven't made it work yet.
In closing for this week, I'd like to thank everyone who has been coming in and supporting the Bashful Bison, not only are you supporting us collectively (Pete, Troy and Peg) you are supporting Evergreen Ranch(Cindy, Levi and Louve), Kasemeister Creamery (the whole colony), Cedar Creek Gardens (Peggy and Bud), Cox Farm Stands (Kyle, his wife and whole army of kids), Hupp's Honey ( Spencer), Sturgis Meats (The whole crew), Dakota Pure Bison(Scott, Jeff and Richie), Slangin' Dough Bakery (Pat and Cody), Belle Valley Ancient Grains (Brian) and all the other small local businesses that help us out all here in South Dakota..... This is the story of your food! Well, lots to say but I need to close for now, so get outside, breathe deep, relax and appreciate this amazing place that we get to wake up in and call home! Keep chugging my brothers and sisters, I'm pulling for you!
Yours Truly,
Chef Scott