We were invited by Sears to come and set up in their parking lot on Black Friday. We were excited for the opportunity to give Gram's Mini Donuts some exposure and to provide the hoards of black Friday shoppers with hot donuts, coffee and hot chocolate. Well, provide we did!
We ran into a problem right off the bat when we went to use our new (very expensive) extention cord. The ends of the cord were not the right ends needed to plug into our power source. Luckily, a good friend of ours happened to be driving through the parking lot, saw us setting up and decided to stop. Turned out, he had everything Danny needed to switch out the plugs and we were up and going in no time.
We dropped our first donut at 6pm on Thursday and never stopped the machine until Friday afternoon at 2:20pm. When you factor in the set up/take down, we pulled a full 24 hour shift. There were lots of hungry and cold shoppers lined up at the various stores in the shopping center with Sears. Opening times were staggered enough that lines continued throughout the night.
The weather more than cooperated with temps in the 60's during the day on Thursday and only dropping down to the mid 40's. Friday morning we battled some wind and rain, but by lunchtime the clouds had parted and the sun made a brief appearance.
Our oldest daughter and her boyfriend came and helped out in the middle of the night giving Danny and I the chance to catch a few winks in the back of the Suburban. We took blankets and pillows and although it wasn't the same as our nice warm bed, it was nice not to have to make the drive home while we were sleepy.
All in all, our first Black Friday experience was a good one. The shoppers were all friendly and grateful to have a hot snack and hot drinks available to them while they waited in lines and shopped. We hope that all of you had an enjoyable Thanksgiving with family and friends and that you were able to find some great Black Friday bargains!
Friday, November 23, 2012
Monday, November 19, 2012
Fall has been our season!
Over the course of the last few months we have provided mini donuts at a few local car shows, a benefit for a local church and we have been adopted by Sears. We have set up in their parking lot in the middle of a large shopping center for some sidewalk sales.
My favorite gig so far has been setting up at the Sierra Hull Bluegrass Festival in Byrdstown, TN. This was a 2 day event. I love bluegrass music and the people at this festival were just so dang nice :) They all made us feel like part of a big family and we have already marked our calendar for next years event.
November has been a big month for us. We were asked by the band to come and work the high school football game. This was by far our largest selling event. We cranked the machine up on high and it never stopped making donuts the entire game. Not only were we invited back for the following weeks game, but the tennis team at the same school voted to use us as their fall fundraiser. The tennis team took pre-orders for buckets of mini donuts and we set up on Friday morning to fill those orders (the same day and location of the football game). We wound up making donuts for 15 hours straight! The tennis team raised some money as did the band. We were both wore out, but happy that our little donuts were finally getting some recognition.
It is great when we hear "Hey, don't you make the little donuts? I love those things". Our next gig is at Sears for Black Friday. I'm not sure if we are ready, but last Friday sure broke us in good. I think we can handle about anything at this point!
We are having fun and spending time together as a family. It doesn't get much better than that.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Open House
After we returned from vacation and retrieved our new mini donut business, we knew we needed to set the machine up and learn to use it. Danny sent out a text to some of our close friends and we scheduled our Gram's Mini Donuts open house. It took us about an hour to set everything up and soon had little mini donuts flipping out the end of the machine.
6 couples showed up for our open house and everyone was intriqued by our new contraption. We spent some time visiting with friends and experimenting with the donuts. This gave us a pretty good idea of how long it would take to set up and tear down/clean the machine.
In a few days, we received a call from one of our open house attendees. He is part of the band boosters at our local high school and they were running a concession stand at the local fair to raise money for new uniforms for the band. They were inviting us to come set up at the fair next to them and in return, donate a portion of our proceeds to the band. Our first fundraiser!
The catch was, the fair started in just a few days and we would have to pass a health inspection with the local health department. We werent sure we knew what we were getting into, but we agreed to give it a try. You have to start somewhere right????
Well, all the stressing over the inspection was not necessary. The inspectors were very nice, gave us a few tips and a score of 99. We were excited!
Even though the fair was not kind to us, we gained some experience and our little mini donuts got some exposure in our small town. We contributed the slow sales to the heat (in the 100's) and lots of competition (funnel cakes and ice cold smoothies).
6 couples showed up for our open house and everyone was intriqued by our new contraption. We spent some time visiting with friends and experimenting with the donuts. This gave us a pretty good idea of how long it would take to set up and tear down/clean the machine.
In a few days, we received a call from one of our open house attendees. He is part of the band boosters at our local high school and they were running a concession stand at the local fair to raise money for new uniforms for the band. They were inviting us to come set up at the fair next to them and in return, donate a portion of our proceeds to the band. Our first fundraiser!
The catch was, the fair started in just a few days and we would have to pass a health inspection with the local health department. We werent sure we knew what we were getting into, but we agreed to give it a try. You have to start somewhere right????
Well, all the stressing over the inspection was not necessary. The inspectors were very nice, gave us a few tips and a score of 99. We were excited!
Even though the fair was not kind to us, we gained some experience and our little mini donuts got some exposure in our small town. We contributed the slow sales to the heat (in the 100's) and lots of competition (funnel cakes and ice cold smoothies).
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Our machine has arrived!
Our family left on Monday for vacation for a week. We were expecting an e-mail on the day our Lil Orbits machine was to be shipped out. On Wednesday, after checking my messages at lunch, I realized I had missed a call from the freight carrier which was trying to deliver our machine. No e-mail.
Danny returned the phone call and spoke to the person in charge and we all decided it would be best if the shipper would agree to hold onto the machine until Monday when Danny could then go and pick it up. The shipper agreed to that arrangement so, even though our machine has officially arrived, we do not have possession of it yet. We arrived home from vacation on Sunday afternoon and Danny will be picking it up tomorrow morning.
Excited does not seem to sum up our feelings today. We are ready to have everything here, set it up and make a batch of donuts for all our friends. The trailer is not ready for the machine yet. There is still quite a bit of work to be done, but with temps in the 100's over the next week, work will be slow on that.
I will post an update and pics of our new addition tomorrow after we get it home and unpacked. I can already smell the aroma of fresh cooked mini-donuts!
Danny returned the phone call and spoke to the person in charge and we all decided it would be best if the shipper would agree to hold onto the machine until Monday when Danny could then go and pick it up. The shipper agreed to that arrangement so, even though our machine has officially arrived, we do not have possession of it yet. We arrived home from vacation on Sunday afternoon and Danny will be picking it up tomorrow morning.
Excited does not seem to sum up our feelings today. We are ready to have everything here, set it up and make a batch of donuts for all our friends. The trailer is not ready for the machine yet. There is still quite a bit of work to be done, but with temps in the 100's over the next week, work will be slow on that.
I will post an update and pics of our new addition tomorrow after we get it home and unpacked. I can already smell the aroma of fresh cooked mini-donuts!
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Oh Boy!!!
Over the course of the weekend, we managed to purchase what is to be the new home for our LilOrbits mini donut machine. Now, before I reveal the photos, keep in mind that yes, we do realize we have our work cut out for us and no, we are not completely insane!
After some discussion, we realized that we really have no way to store or transport our new little business once it gets here. We have a bit if a delemma. The machine has taken all the money we have to purchase. Soooooo......we are improvising! We found this sweet little camper on local sales network. We need a mobile unit, and it is in need of a new purpose in life.
This will eventually be our serving window
Our generator will sit here on the back of the unit
This will be our sink area
A work counter will go here with the donut machine directly across from it
Let the remodel begin :-)
After some discussion, we realized that we really have no way to store or transport our new little business once it gets here. We have a bit if a delemma. The machine has taken all the money we have to purchase. Soooooo......we are improvising! We found this sweet little camper on local sales network. We need a mobile unit, and it is in need of a new purpose in life.
This will eventually be our serving window
Our generator will sit here on the back of the unit
This will be our sink area
A work counter will go here with the donut machine directly across from it
Let the remodel begin :-)
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Here we go!!
Today, Wednesday June 13th 2012, is the first official day of Grams Mini Donuts. After weeks of research, prayers, more research, more prayers, we finally ordered our LilOrbits mini donut package. Let me take you back to the beginning of our story.
My name is Trina. I work full time as a pharmacy tech inside a mental health facility. I have been a CPhT since 1999. My husband (and best friend) Danny is a professional furniture mover. He is good at what he does, but works long hours putting a lot of physical strain on his body.
We are in our early - mid 40s and have 3 children still at home. About a year ago, we started thinking about our future and our dreams. Someday, we want to travel fulltime across the United States. Of course, the obvious obstacle is financially, how do you survive?
So, one day I was online looking at the local ads and saw a mobile mini donut unit for sale. It was basically a motorhome in which the kitchen and living area had been converted to a mini donut concession area. There was still a bed and a bathroom in the unit, so it could be used to travel with. This was my ding, ding, ding moment :-) It made perfect sense! Sell mini donuts all over the United States on the weekends and spend the weekdays seeing the sights. Brilliant!!
We emailed the owners of the unit and found that they had been in the mini donut business for 30 years. They had designed and remodeled the unit using all those years of experience.
We drove up to meet with this sweet couple and spent an afternoon and evening learning all we could about the mini donut business. The information we gained was truly a blessing for us and we plan to stay in touch with our newfound mini donut friends.
So.....our plan. We have decided to borrow the money to purchase a new LilOrbit machine. We plan to do enough gigs (street fairs, carnivals, fall festivials, flea markets etc) this summer to pay it off. That means that next summers profit is all just that. Profit. We are then going to begin the process of building our own mobile unit that we will be able to travel in.
We want to do short travels at first, but the long term plan is for us to have enough in savings that I can quit my job the summer of 2016 (both girls will be out of high school) and for us to begin our full-time travels, booking mini donut gigs as we go.
Estimated delivery of our machine is June 27th. The month of July will be full steam ahead. I hope you will follow along on our mini donut dream.
My name is Trina. I work full time as a pharmacy tech inside a mental health facility. I have been a CPhT since 1999. My husband (and best friend) Danny is a professional furniture mover. He is good at what he does, but works long hours putting a lot of physical strain on his body.
We are in our early - mid 40s and have 3 children still at home. About a year ago, we started thinking about our future and our dreams. Someday, we want to travel fulltime across the United States. Of course, the obvious obstacle is financially, how do you survive?
So, one day I was online looking at the local ads and saw a mobile mini donut unit for sale. It was basically a motorhome in which the kitchen and living area had been converted to a mini donut concession area. There was still a bed and a bathroom in the unit, so it could be used to travel with. This was my ding, ding, ding moment :-) It made perfect sense! Sell mini donuts all over the United States on the weekends and spend the weekdays seeing the sights. Brilliant!!
We emailed the owners of the unit and found that they had been in the mini donut business for 30 years. They had designed and remodeled the unit using all those years of experience.
We drove up to meet with this sweet couple and spent an afternoon and evening learning all we could about the mini donut business. The information we gained was truly a blessing for us and we plan to stay in touch with our newfound mini donut friends.
So.....our plan. We have decided to borrow the money to purchase a new LilOrbit machine. We plan to do enough gigs (street fairs, carnivals, fall festivials, flea markets etc) this summer to pay it off. That means that next summers profit is all just that. Profit. We are then going to begin the process of building our own mobile unit that we will be able to travel in.
We want to do short travels at first, but the long term plan is for us to have enough in savings that I can quit my job the summer of 2016 (both girls will be out of high school) and for us to begin our full-time travels, booking mini donut gigs as we go.
Estimated delivery of our machine is June 27th. The month of July will be full steam ahead. I hope you will follow along on our mini donut dream.
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