Really? REALLY?

So after our tremendously good Kickstarter news (http://peggyjeans.blogspot.com/2013/11/by-numbers.html) yesterday, our super fast train to Thanksgiving Pie Town has slammed into a brick wall called PERMITS.  And for those of you reading who have built a business or your own home, please refrain from the whole "oh, I could have told you this wasn't going to be that easy" thing and let me live my delusion a bit longer.  Because I believed...oh, I so believed, I so believed in The Two Weeks Principle.

Contractor Steve took our beautiful plans to the City of Columbia on Friday for the City's review.  And the City didn't think they were beautiful.  At all.  First, the wrong code book was using when making the plans, so the plans have to be re-drawn using the correct code book.  Also, our front counter was drawn in at 24 feet from the front door because, well...that's where we liked it and we envision a super cute retail area in our entryway (on a side note, you are going to flip when you see the fun stuff we have in store for you).  But putting it at 24 feet changes all sorts of rules about occupancy - meaning we can put more people in the store if the counter is farther back...maybe?  Honestly, I in no way understand the connection of occupancy based on where the counter goes, but I know that putting it at 24 feet back from the front door puts a heap of new restrictions on us that would go away if we put the counter at 20 feet back.  And since I'm all for the easy route, we are moving the counter.  So we are waiting for updated plans from the architect (insert big sigh here).

Once those plans come, Contractor Steve goes back to the City of Columbia for the permit work and guess what...they need THREE weeks to get those permits issued.  At a minimum.  Then Contractor Steve and the panel van team need construction time.  And so if you are sitting there with a calendar, you are probably adding all this up and concluding that this doesn't bode well for Thanksgiving.  And you would be correct.  The odds that we can open on November 20th to be ready for Thanksgiving are exceptionally small.  I always thought the jokes about permits taking a long time were uh, jokes.  But I guess not.  While not officially confirmed, we are estimating a December 4th or 11th opening date.

Obviously, Thanksgiving is a major pie holiday.  It's like the bourbon and cookies of Christmas (or maybe that is just at our house?).  We want to be able to provide pies to our loyal fans, even if that quantity has to be somewhat limited and our baking schedule has to be completely wackadoodle.  Even if we have to think completely out-of-the-box of how that is going to happen for us.  Even if we don't know how we are going to do it just yet.

This is where we call upon our dear readers for help.  We would like to rent a commercial kitchen in the area where we could bake pies for Thanksgiving - a city approved commercial kitchen.  Perhaps something in the fully equipped department that doesn't cost $10,000 or so for a week (really, we just need access to it from November 22nd - 26th).  Ideally we would bake during the day, as we tend to get super grouchy when we roll dough late at night.  Realizing that I just eliminated 96.8% of places in this town, I will say that we will be realistic and take what we can get - the key is the APPROVED commercial kitchen.  Our customers wouldn't need to pick up from that location...we have options for that, if that makes it easier for your commercial-kitchen-owning life.  Any thoughts?  Leads?  Ideas?  Leave a comment here with your contact information if you can help...the comments are moderated, so I won't publish it but I'll see your phone number/e-mail address and we will keep it private.

One other note about Contractor Steve - I still haven't heard back with the estimate for construction.  Do we think we have collapsed him with our collective mind-bending "please don't be super expensive" brain waves?  Or do we think he is scared to call me because he has more permit news?