Wow, That Was A Whirlwind!

Flipside is closed now. After spending the Fall last year working on the creation of my cafe/bar, mini-donut shop concept, I took possession of a beautiful 1000-square-foot space in Toronto's Historic Distillery District at the start of 2019. It took two full months to renovate the space and continue to work on development. We opened for weekends in March, did six days a week in April, and then, starting in May, we were open everyday until this past Friday when I decided to close down.

It was a heartbreaking decision, which like all my decisions was made very quickly when the financial reality of my situation presented two options: crash and burn in a flurry of bankruptcy sometime in mid-2020 or exit gracefully by the end of the month with a lot of debt. I didn't want to ruin supplier relationships or deal with collection agencies hunting me down, I have been feeling like I was in over my head since the start and the idea that things were going to soon take a much worse turn didn't sit well.

The weekend was spent crying, cleaning, and packing up a shop that I have spent a literal year building. The painful implosion of a lifelong dream of hospitality small business ownership. I am not as devastated as I thought I would be, the year has been very challenging and I am definitely worn down. A second blow to my already fragile emotional state was that instead of getting everything moved into storage, at the last minute all my equipment and supplies ended up going into the garage, porch and dining room at Casa Verde. Now I get to be surrounded by the byproducts of my dream's demise everyday.

I locked the door and gave back the keys today. No more Flipside, I am gutted to be saying goodbye to this incredible experience.

So, We Do Have A Name

Bit of an update on that donut business I mentioned before - we have a name! Full disclosure, I hired a communications company to help with this and they came up with it. They sent a list of suggestions many of which were great. I did a survey, got almost 100 responses from friends, family, and their larger networks. This was the decided upon result - I love it! We have the domain and social media names. Just working now on a logo.

FLIPSIDE DONUTS
- the act of looking at something from the other side, an alternative angle
- originally a reference to the back side of a vinyl music record and the location of less popular/mainstream songs

The name comes from the fact that we are turning the idea of the donut on its head. We shrunk it down and are making it gourmet - using a machine that makes them right in front of your eyes, that automatically 'flips' the mini donuts so they cook on both sides.

Our sweet flavours (raspberry and candied rosemary, smores, hazelnut plantain, etc) bring in unexpected ingredients and heighten what is often considered a common or even boring pastry to a new level of taste experience. These are fun, stylish, delicious, tiny treats! Not only that, but we are going on the flipside of sweet - and offering savory mini donuts too (curry, porchetta, taco, etc.).

The cafe itself will have espresso drinks, coffee, and offer a cozy, casual, but attractive place for friends and family to meet and hang out. And on the flipside of the cafe experience - we are licensed! We aren't a bar but at our cafe you can enjoy a beer while trying out a pile of poutine donuts at the end of a busy night, or throw some Irish whiskey into your coffee on Sunday Morning after bringing your young kids in to enjoy a sugary treat.

The cafe location is also on the flipside of the building itself, with Tank Lane being the main commercial street in The Distillery, we are in the south section of the main building, on Case Goods Lane.

Beginner Drawing - Class 4 of 4

I have been sick and I missed class tonight. The past three nights have really opened my eyes to the joy that pursuing a hobby can bring to my life. That making art and learning, meeting new people and participating in something like this really elevates my day. I am so sad to miss this last class and though my new business will take up too much time to continue with more courses at this time, I hope I don't stay away from art for too long.

Some Of The Things We Missed

During my missing streak, when I didn't post on Always Standing from June to September there was so fairly big things that happened - aside from starting a small businesses (though frequently related.)

Here are some things that happened...
- Got to Long Point a bit, but not nearly enough
- Summer Solstice Event involved a full road closure and wasn't as tiring this year
- I had a big team at the office with three students hired for the summer
- Kristen, Noah, Jason and I went on a road trip, got to do some white water rafting
- Mom and I went to Las Vegas, she did five posts about it on her blog
- We got our driveway re-paved and the roof done at Casa Verde
- Had an awesome day at Wonderland with Jeska, as is tradition

No Time To Spare

I mentioned that I am working towards opening a mini-donut businesses, well from April until September that was done in my spare time. Starting in October I went down to part-time hours at The BIA and I plan to leave that job completely at the end of January.

Since getting a confirmed (purchase agreement in place, but haven't yet officially closed on it) location the workload has really increased. I have chosen to buy an existing business allowing me to skip a large part of the renovations needed for a raw space, and it also comes with some equipment.

I think I naively thought that working part-time in the office might leave a little bit of time to do more writing on Always Standing - but it turns out that starting a small business is more than a full-time job!

Time To Share

I haven't given an update on what is happening in my professional life. Basically I have spent the last 6 months or more working towards opening a mini-donut business. This added element into my life is probably a major component as to why I haven't been posting as much on Always Standing.

I did so well in October, with the intention of spending November sharing information about my new enterprise publicly on this blog. But time slipped away and I didn't know how to explain to the world - using this medium - what was going on. My groups on WhatsApp and close friends over texts get lots of updates. I have sent emails to friends, family, acquaintances and work colleagues. I am using Facebook to share details. But writing about this donut venture here has been escaping me. (I am sure that most of my audience - that is even still around - duplicates from those I speak with more intimately.)

I realize that for me now Always Standing is a bit of a journal. A public repository of what is happening in my life. I don't want to stop writing because I don't want to lose the ability to look back at this time in my life, I love doing TB posts and the chance to see my thoughts from years ago. So the blog is going to continue as a means of documenting my life. There is over a decade of writing, can't stop now!