A French Macaroon Mystery with a customer service tale to be told!

A week ago yesterday a couple came in for the first time. She was very pleased to see our French macaroons. We spoke about them & I told her that they are an item we want to have & we buy them in from Mad Max in NYC.

We do not sell tons of them & they are fragile, so we keep them as Mad Max sends them to us - individually packaged & frozen. This will keep them fresh for weeks.

I have 1 of each flavor (Choc, White choc., pistachio, raspberry, lemon & apricot) in the bakery case as SAMPLES only.

So the couple ate & left ---- did they buy macaroons? I don't know for sure -- inventory says that 4 were sold on Sunday. FOUR WERE MISSING FROM THE SAMPLE CASE!!!

As some readers will recognize -- not one employee sold those 4 macaroons from the sample case!

I would so love to find that wonderful couple & send them fresh macaroons -- I can only imagine how their view of us shifted based on the macaroons I feel quite sure they were sold!

If you read this -- please, please email or call -- I have fresh Mad Max macaroons with your name on them (an expression only -- if I knew your name -- I would send them on to you!)

If anyone hears a bad macaroon story attached to the BR, it is I firmly believe a "once off". We have retrained & reminded all staff & we have re-"signed" the sample case to more fully assure they will never be sold.

Ideas for what more we might do (other than sell more each day and not need a sample set-- this would of course be great however the market for macaroons seems a bit specialized) -- pls let me know!

I understand that M Stewart spoke about MM macaroons recently, so perhaps selling more is coming along. We love the product & they are closest to the Parisian macaroons that bring memories back to all who have had the afternoon experience at Laduree!

http://www.laduree.fr/public_en/maisons/royale_accueil.htm

Spring, break, b'ball & new menus

So much going on here & so much of it is great - moving us forward in amazing ways. Exec Chef Rich H has involved BR with an internship programm for chef's in training. What fun to have the newest of the new in our kitchen, learning & sharing their passions & interests.

Basketball & march madness do not really play much in the kitchen, however this year my Ivy League graduate husband had reason to watch, 3 games in particular. It was fun having both our alma maters in the mix.

I still have a very blue devilish reason to watch. This team has great toughness and last night, being an early evening game I actually was awake throughout the 80 mins. Being a "light" fan, I'd certainly say they seem to have a good shot at the gold ring. One game at a time, however. I need to find a way out of the BR before 1o'ish this coming Sat night to watch the second half.

In the mix with new interns, a bit of b'ball & so many returning customers who continue to share with us the reasons they keep coming back like: "the food was creative & delicious & beautifully served!" / "the service * environment were second to none" / each & every bite was amazing!! You mad our Valentine's Day perect! Can't wait to come back again!!!"

~~ we are creating new SPRING MENUS ~~

breakfast will have just a touch or two - fresh spinach in our omelets (thanks to the local growers) & a great muesli back in the signature dish area (thanks to Rich's hand at bringing this great dish back to its origins for us!)

lunch will be touched with local & fresh as well and a few new twists to keep our regulars interested

dinner has a fabulous array of items you come to expect from us -- not the typical menu items. Also, for the beef lovers, in particular one fellow who consistently requests the NY strip -- it's coming!!

we will have these menus "live" in the coming weeks.

breakfast will have one or two

A weekend learning or two or three

We hosted a lovely 9 year old's birthday tea on Saturday afternoon. The birthday girl had a very specific set of ideas for her party and we talked through them all weeks ago. A fancy event, dress up clothes, a well-set table and flowers, a few tasteful balloons & a very special group of friends gathering. This young lady knew just what she wanted to serve her guests - and she was thoughtful about what they might enjoy as well as what she would like herself. We agreed a set of tea sandwiches, beverages including our great lemonade (if the day might be warm - as it turned out to be) and a very special cake - chocolate, chocolate filling, chocolate frosting & fully decorated in purples. All was set & all went well.
On the day, we had one guest who was not enamoured with any of the tea sandwich selections -- so, back to the kitchen, a few open faced peanut butter perhaps?, how about cinnamon sugar on a bit of butter - also open-faced? -- non & no. However -- the cinnamon sugar was a really big hit with all the other girls! So, this will be an offer for our next birthday or other young ladies party.

Other weekend learnings -- breakfast, no matter the day of week, needs to be served smartly - and we did a really good job of that today. I love seeing people enjoy a first cup of coffee or tea within minutes of being seated; today it went that way! I love seeing people relax & enjoy a bit of newspaper reading, chat at table after they've enjoyed a hearty meal, and show by their demeanor & body language the satisfaction of their time spent with friends & or family @ The BR. Breakfast - a great meal - served in reasonable time is a pleasure to behold at the BR!

And what about all the fab folks who come in again & again and the many who come in for the first time -- and then become fab folks who come in again & again. It is amazing to me the friendships that seem to blossom @ the BR. It is wonderful when a new visitors let me know who sent them to the BR. Today a table of 6 had two "referrals" - J&P sent a great fellow (thanks!) and can I remember?!? -- no. Maybe it will come back (likely just after a post).

And the other great comment was a firm accolade to our sponsorship of National Public Radio (NJN) - they heard, they came, they enjoyed, they felt the message matched our place & they will come again!

Sitting in our office, listening to the lifeblood of the BR - visitors entering ..

What’s new @ Blue Rooster?

Sitting in my office upstairs, I occasionally hear visitors as they enter the BR. There are 3 common first comments-

* “It smells wonderful!”

* “Oh, this looks great!”

* “Look, fresh flowers!”

It smells wonderful is due to the nature of our business – we cook & bake using traditional methods. This means that most days a cassoulet is bubbling in our ovens and every day breads and pastries are baking & adding the indescribably delicious aroma of the pure ingredients used to make wholesome loaves, boules & baguette!

Now, about that cassoulet – we continue to seek the tastiest ingredients & the most flavorful combination.

We will bring our classic version of the southwest of France best meal – cassoulet for all to enjoy @ Taste of the Nation, Princeton; in a surprisingly tasty container!

Visit us any day to enjoy the goodness of melded flavors - white beans, pork, duck, sausage & herbs.

Visit us @ The Taste of the Nation, Princeton & enjoy cassoulet & more as we raise funds to feed the who live with hunger in Mercer Co.

the mundane & the fun

Today Comcast is coming to install our phone # on our landline. It is the mundane & yet may really make a difference to our customers who use a 411 service to find places of interest.

How did we get to this point (you might ask, as many have -- why can't I find your phone number with directory assistance? - that's non-web-based assistance.)
Before we opened, indeed before we had a brick & mortar presence at all, before we committed to Cranbury as a location --- we needed to communicate as the Blue Rooster. So, a cellular phone was the answer.
As the biz planning & development moved along, we built all our paper & web collateral using the cellular phone number. -- No phone company that we found would provide a landline when no land existed -- and so it started.
During development of architects plans, builders' bids, kitchen design & all that went with Blue Rooster start up - the cell phone was great.
During purveyor engagement, product trial tasting, delivery of goods - the cell phone was great.
Inside the BR building, the cell reception is not great.
During the first months of operation, we lost calls, we missed calls, we had no battery & customers started to let us know that they could not find our number in the directory.

Our website, all items one might take away from BR (labels, coffee cards, receipt envelope, frig magnet & more) ALL had our phone number -- so changing the cell phone as main phone was not a top priority.

Head up from the first run of the roller coaster - what should we do about the phone? We had a land line, used for fax only. Let's link the cell # directly to that land line by forwarding. This was a huge improvement in that we no longer lost calls, had dead battery, or missed as many calls (still an issue, however).

Finally - heads up from current roller coaster run & today is the day when the actual land line will be re-assigned with the cell phone number. Now the folks we need to find us via 411 or other non-web-based directory assistance tools will find our phone number! For many, this will be a FINALLY - what took you so long? It took what it took, sorry to those who missed us due to this problem.

Now the fun for the day: we are building our spring menu! With Chef Rich in charge, we will be refreshing our menu more vigorously season by season.

Some of the offerings I will pose to him include:

• goat cheese souffle - & other souffles (?)
  
• pressed, crispy chicken
• white bean & rosemary - a vegetarian of offering
• bouille - for our fish lovers
• shirred eggs perhaps
  
• dessert crepes made with buckwheat flour - delicate & light

Add your ideas here, we still have a few days -- target for spring menu in early April!

March 1st, 2010

And it is a great day.

sunshine in Cranbury, NJ. Inside the BR, we are really glad to be in a new month.

Snowstorms & the restaurant biz don't go together too well. And the really fact of import is that once a day is gone by, no recoup other than making it up on another day. So Feb had the good days -- V'Day weekend, great crowds. Snow days, particularly when the weathermen talk up the prospects -- reservations cancelled, decisions made around the safety of travel for staff.

I think we made most decisions well. Last Friday, however, I think we could have done a dinner biz even though the reservs we had cancelled based on threat of more weather!

Inside the back of house, we are shifting and looking for more ways to be effective in delivering our high quality product consistently. Also more ways to be efficient - what is the best staffing model day by day, hour by hour? The margins are slight and small miscalculations around staffing, buying, opening/closing -- all lead directly to the bottom line in a strong way since we are so small.

Sunday we had a different team in the back and our great strong Sunday crowds. People were asked to wait way too long for their food and I was at a lose as to how to fix the problem. Keep customers waiting at the door - not great - keep driving the kitchen to get moving - yeah, but not really effective at the time. We definitively lost a woman who felt the meal was very good, but not worth the wait. Her partner was more on the OK with it side, but still - we are not likely to see them again (as least on a Sunday - positive thinking) -- And for our regular crowd, the wait does not show our respect for them nor is it the professional level of service that we have grown into in the last 6-8 months. So, work required on that Sunday team! And we will take that on asap.

Lots happening in March and April and May and..... it is phenomenal to me to see how much we are doing and how much interest there is in what we are doing!

Tonight I got a call from a fellow who had our V Day weekend prix fixe meal. He was calling to see if we had plans to do it again, regularly. And the conversation was encouraging -- I told him we have plans to add a prix fixe to our weekly dinner, likely in April if all goes well. Testing the idea with this fellow, it seems we have a good audience for the prix fixe. So - any other comments on that topic would be greatly appreciated.