PJP Everywhere.
Well, I did at least 87,891 things today at PJP and less than five of them were interesting enough to share here. The rest fell into the categories: mundane; necessary; and mildly irritating. I would say that sounds pretty on brand for most entrepreneurs. Mainly I baked because we were short staffed and because we are taking 600 tarts to Holiday Mart in Jefferson City tomorrow, which presented us with an enormous baking schedule.
Not long ago, I was at lunch with my family on a Sunday at a chain restaurant. And most people who own a business will likely agree that doing so skews your entire perception of an experience on occasion. Often now, my kids and I will immediately assess what we think the rent in a particular place might be, who the food supplier is, what their margins are on menu items, etc. And on this Sunday in this particular restaurant, I was wildly distracted by all the things that would make me SUPER STABBY if it were my restaurant. For starters, the floors were sticky. And one of the forks had old food stuck to it. The whole place had sort of a rogue vibe to it, like even if you asked someone who worked there who was in charge, that person wouldn’t even know the answer. Gulp. Oh, and the signage in the storefront seriously needed to be wiped down with a mountain of Clorox wipes. But, the place was packed with customers and by the time we left, there was a wait list to be seated. So I guess I was the only one giving side eye to the set up.
It is sort of an interesting concept because when I think of the long-term picture for PJP, I think about A LOT OF STORES. Stores in Missouri and stores in places I’ve never even visited or thought of. That’s the big picture of World Pie Domination. And then I wonder if that’s how it all started for this chain restaurant…a person with a very big vision…and eventually it becomes a corporation so removed from the day-to-day operations, that sticky floors and dirty forks are just part of the norm. How does that happen?
Most people closest to me insist that I’m entirely too controlling to have more than one location. That’s a valid point. I do like things done my way and goodness knows Jeanne would cut someone if she rolled into PJP Times Square and found sticky floors and dirty utensils. She would also shove someone out of the way to mop the floors herself. That seems to be the problem with building a corporation…somewhere between doing it all and letting others do most of it. It’s the black hole I hadn’t really considered before opening our new store and adding the extra layer of bigger baking schedules and increased staff. I think PJP KC or PJP STL could be darling, but how could I micromanage from 120 miles away? How could Jeanne set her stringent cleaning standards from 120 miles away? I have no answers, I’m just sending this out into the depths of the Internet for a placeholder in the future to remind myself that it was on mind 67 months into our PJP journey. I feel like it will make a good read on the tour stop in our future headquarters. Ahem.
