# Advice for new place



## nentony (May 7, 2005)

Well after years of thinking about it and a year of serious looking, Friday I signed a purchase contract on a coffee shop. As it is currently operated, it serves coffee, espresso, tea and smoothies and nearly no food at all. I plan on offering food. Baked goods, paninis, wraps, salad, soup, etc. While advice in any area would be gratefully accepted, I am particularly interested in advice on frozen dough and/or par-cooked pastries, breads, etc. I plan to purchase a half tray convection oven and a proofer. Could use direction here as well. Thank you very much for your time.

Tony


----------



## m brown (May 29, 1999)

use the best product you can afford that your clients will like.
Voila is a very good company.
You should ask your vendors for samples of all their products. 
Test them out and see who the winner is!
Your best bets are the classics:
muffin batter that you can add fresh berries to 
danish 
brioche
croissant
puff treats
coffee cake
cookie dough

:bounce:


----------



## nentony (May 7, 2005)

Thank you M Brown. I guess I was suprised by the sheer number options and by how good some of them were. I take over on sept. 1st, so I have untill then to get it together. I have only ambient display cases, is that a problem? 

Tony


----------



## chrose (Nov 20, 2000)

Tony,
I wish I had some constructive advice for you, but at the moment I don't  
But congratulations, I wish you the best of luck and I think all of us would be very grateful if you have the time if you could keep us updated constantly on how things are progressing for you. Good, bad or ugly, there's a lot we can learn just from hearing how a business gets off the ground.


----------



## nentony (May 7, 2005)

Thankyou very much, Chrose. Things are going smoothly, I'm not as lost as I probably sound,lol. Just excited.

Tony


----------



## nentony (May 7, 2005)

It occurs to me (finally) that the question I had maybe shouldn't have been posed to people who have dedicated their lives to pastry arts. I hope I didn't offend and thank you for your restraint 

Tony


----------



## m brown (May 29, 1999)

You are opening a coffee bar! You have limited kitchen space and limited funds to hire a 5 star pastry chef!
I would have gotten a little nuts if you stated you where opening a 5 star resort with all the top amenites, and by the way, using frozen cookie dough and pre fab danish and mrs. smiths pies for dessert. 

You must keep your clients happy and you need to make a living.


You did the right thing, some of us manufacture the frozen doughs!
:crazy:


----------



## nentony (May 7, 2005)

Well, it's been a month and things are going o.k. Two weeks ago we got a higher level license that allows us to cook from scratch rather than just reheat, it's called a specialty foods license and lets me do just about anything as long as my food sales don't go above 50%. (who makes all this up?) So anyway, I'm doing our own muffins, cookies, and some of our breads for the sandwiches. Pastries are another story, I'm not competent there. And I can't make a crusty french bread I'm happy with. The convection oven I bought (Moffat turbofan 31) has steam injection, but it's not hooked up now. Will this make the difference or will I always have trouble getting a good crust using a convection oven? Thanks, Tony


----------

