Friday, October 28, 2005

Restaurant Business

Andrew and I met with a lady in town yesterday who is head of the Main Street Sterling organization. For those of you who don't live in small-town-Kansas, Main Street is an organization that helps revitalize the downtowns of these small towns. It has done a lot for Sterling. She talked with us about some opportunities we might have in the downtown area for a business and what other help she could give us with the restaurant. She said that she would be honest with us about the prospect of this and she thought it would go over very well right now. Three of the five restaurants are for sale in Sterling. One is possibly going in in the near future but she said that it wouldn't be similar to ours. So, we talked buildings. We have some good ideas.

The favorite idea right now is a building that could possibly be listed on the registry of history sites. It is the old newspaper building in Sterling. It would take some renovation to get it to where we wanted it but the size looks good, etc. We were thinking we would decorate in a newspaper theme with old pictures of the Sterling Bulletin on the walls and our menu would be a newspaper! I thought the idea was very cute. Anyway, if this were the case we would probably need to change the name of our restaurant. Mango Grill doesn't really reflect anything newspaperish. So, I am asking for any good ideas. The town newspaper is called the Sterling Bulletin but we don't really want to call it the Bulletin because the paper is still around and is called that (too much confusion). So, any ideas would be welcome. Keep praying for our decisions in this area. I am still a bit hesitant to do this project. It would mean staying in Sterling longer and probably delaying having a family for quite a bit longer than we thought as well. So, there are still pros and cons. It sounds like we would have a lot of support from the community and this organization. We'll keep you posted on new events!

Oh P.S. there are new pictures posted on our website of Dad's birthday (Kurt) and our trip to Ohio for graduations. There will probably be more this weekend if I get around to it! www.theschechters.com

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

OK - I just went through and read your blogs as I have not turned on my computer since last weekend, so my thoughts may be random. Also, we are headed to the Grand Canyon via back roads so I will make this short, but I wanted to let you know that I am thinking about you both big time and praying for you even more. Also before I forget again....your last birthday is still not done being celebrated as far as I am concerned as I STILL haven't sent you a card or money. At this point, it will probably be money, but who knows if I find the perfect card to express a six months late birthday, you will get that card (and no, Andrew's card hasn't been sent yet either). Luckily (and feeling very blessed about this) I get to see you both at Christmas, so you will be seeing some cash then. OK - I am so excited for you about the restaurant. I will think about names this weekend as we are driving in the middle of "nowhere" (when I do my best thinking) but I must say that the idea of a book club and your love of reading goes hand in hand with having a restaurant in an old newspaper building and I love your ideas for tying the two together and honoring the history of the building. I am officially volunteering to come and help with any renovations that I can help with - I am especially good with demolition and painting, but am pretty handy at wiring outlets too (and putting up baseboard, trim). OK, another subject - books. I am rereading the Mitford series (for the fifth time) and am finding something new in each one. I LOVE those books as I feel a part of them. I am a better person after each time I read them as I learn and grow and laugh and cry. I forgive myself and any others who I feel may have done an injustice to me and I am less quick to judge, more apt to laugh. I am also rereading a "Purpose-Driven Life" and they go together well. I also just read "My Descent into Death" which was quite hard to read in places but very, very good. OK - I am going to close now and take Sage for a walk. If I had any dog training ideas to pass on to you, I don't think you would want them - Sage is spoiled rotten but has turned out well in spite of my lack of dog training. I do know this - what helps makes him (and I) healthy (mentally and physically) is daily walks/runs. So I guess I did have a piece of advice there. Love and miss you and will be talking to you soon I hope. Love, Linda :) PS I think the music in the bathroom is genetic - I have heard my father singing while shaving and I know I have sung doing various activities. So I am telling on myself, but hey that is part of what makes life so enjoyable....

Unknown said...

I will post these in a later post instead of just the comments but I wanted to give people a chance to respond to the name idea. Here are some of the ideas we have come up with. You can either post your favorite one of ours or help us by coming up with your own.

The Wire
The Daily Grille
The Broadway Times
The Daily Digest
The Weekly Wolf
The Dispatch
The Bulletin Bite
The Goods Grille
The Daily Hash
The Broadway Digest

Any other ideas?

Anonymous said...

Jaime, I will come to KS to help you wallpaper your walls with old Bulletins (and Stirs).

I like The Daily Grille and The Bulletin Bite. Cute, but not cute-sy. Other ideas are: The Times Cafe, The Extra Bite, Newsies, Read 'n Sip. (I'd only use the last one if you're trying to draw the coffee break crowd.)