Last spring my classes dropped of significantly, and the store that bought my painted furniture slowed down to a crawl as well. Blame it on the economy. How many of you can empathize? My studio, which is a converted 4-car garage, is just sitting unused. It's a great space, with lots of lighting, counters, and work surfaces. Sounds kinda like the perfect kitchen, doesn't it? I'll get back to that...
On May 6, 2011 my good friend Shannon and I opened Diggity, a gourmet hot dog shop. We have a little storefront on the courthouse square in Danville. I always thought we needed a little diner downtown, but after brainstorming for a long time, we decided on something that Danville didn't offer: hot dogs. Unless you went to the gas station, there was no where to buy a hot dog in this town. Plus we didn't want to live at the place 24/7, and a breakfast-dinner venue would require that. Fast forward to now -- business is great! We have survived the slow walk-in traffic of the winter months by catering events. And I wouldn't have dreamed it would be as successful as it has been. We run the shop ourselves, and each work only 3 days a week, 4 hours each day. Cushy. And it leaves me so much time to paint on my own. Now I can paint for myself, and not with the intention of selling it for grocery money. It's more fun this way.
We've catered such large events that we've had to hire six or seven people to help, and our little restaurant is too small to prepare for such large events. So the decision was made that we would convert my studio into a catering kitchen. In this state a commercial kitchen has to be certified, so we will be able to do a lot in it once we move in ovens! Curious about Diggity? Check us out at http://www.diggityrocks.com/.
No comments:
Post a Comment