Last 7 days

It is all happening now, after all the hard work on the bar in the past 25 days, we are opening in just a week. Every day is so eventful, and goes by very quick, we meet a lot of people and we try to get as much done as possible, but it feels like there is not enough time in a day. This morning we were waiting for our new beer supplier, the representative from Dreher. Who we already met before when we got here, but after that we thought Heineken would be a better brand for our bar, only because of the foreigner customers. Unfortunately as we said before, that didnt go very well, so were stuck here 8 days before we want to open, with no beer in the bar. This is when we decided to meet him again, and we can say that we are very lucky that it turned out this way. He came around this morning and we went through everything, our ideas, what they can offer and a lot more. This contract is going to be for a year and after that we can see how the bar was doing, how much beer we can sell on average, so it will be easier to plan with the following year. Anyway, he was really nice and helpful, and he has to do his best, but we have the beer coming in on Friday. Very last minute of us:)...

Template for our Friday nights!

As you know as well, the Coca Cola fridges are going to be here the day before, so the schedule is a bit tight but it should be all right. We had an unfortunate accident with Scotts bank card, because about a week ago Ruby got his wallet, and she damaged it with a couple of notes too, so we cant use his card at the moment, and mine went missing for two days, so we have to go every time to the bank and take money out in person. We really need to sort ourselves out after we open, because our stuff is all over the place, and sometimes we really feel very unorganised. It is

hard to keep up with the speed we are opening. 

The electrician is coming on Monday, to set the rest of the lamps in the bar and he is going to do the bar as well, so on Monday everything should be ready for the drinks. We need a few stuff tomorrow from IKEA and the DIY store, but this should be our last trip till next week. Every day new things come across, things we havnt thought of, so we need to finish with everything before we open. But no worries, we are doing very well:).

One of my friends was here today to help me with the wine selection, because although I really like wine, I am not at all an expert and dont really know what to get, but we know that we only want quality drinks in our bar. So, we got some good tips, and he also going to help me with the order as he knows a lot of people in the wine industry. 

Scott had his dream come true today, as he bought the old Super Nintendo from 1992 with two games that he loved: Super Mario Cart and Royal Rumble. I almost forgot how annoying their background music is, but apart from that I am sure a lot of people is going to love it!!

Our days already packed for next week, I never thought this is going to happen with me, but I bought a calendar and it is full till the opening. We still have a health check, the fire safety, all the drinks, getting the toilets done, moving tomorrow to the new flat and the list is almost never ending. At least tomorrow morning we can have the new flat, so the dogs dont have to be in the bar anymore, which is going to be a lot easier. We thought that it is going to be easier with them and we can get them involved once we are open, but having them around here for the past time just proved that we are wrong about it. We have to come up with a system how we are going to do the next week, but I really want to pay enough attention to the dogs, because this past couple of months wasnt easy for them either. 

Fingers crossed everything is going to go well, but soon we can meet you all and celebrate:)!! Enjoy the weekend!!

Quick Chat Part 8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHSYUYw_am4&feature=share

Not enough hours in a day 10 days and counting!!!!!

There is not a single day going by without something happening. It is crazy how we cant really relax for a moment, we have to be in contact with too many people and sometimes it is not easy keeping everything under control. As much as yesterday was a very successful day, and we got so much done, today didnt start very well. So, yesterday morning we were up early and we were waiting for the guy to come from the fire safety department and check the place, so everything is according to the laws. It turns out, that the fire safety licence is another bigger project, it takes time and it is quite expensive to make.  

Anyway, he pointed out all the things we have to do before we open, and some things that have to be on as soon as possible. Also, we have to do the health check for ourselves, so we have the doctor coming here on Monday, so we can get the permission to work behind the bar. Fingers crossed, everything is going to be fine eventually...

We went to the DIY store after this, and we realised we cant really get the work top for the bar, because we dont have a car, and we cant put it in a taxi. At the end, we bought some more decoration (always...) and a vinyl floor for the bar, so it looks cleaner and nicer. On the way home, for the first time we got off at the next tram stop, and this way we found a small store that sells second hand electronic stuff, and as we entered, we found straight away what we needed: a fridge and a dish washer both in brand new condition for a very good price. Also, one step from here we got two flags for the ceiling like we wanted, now you can clearly see that it is an English-Hungarian international bar. We got more and more promotional stuff from the drink suppliers, last afternoon we got some glasses from Heineken. We were very busy with the final touches of the bar, Scott was decorating and revamping while I was doing the drink order, the first one, so it is very exciting for me, and I have to estimate now without knowing exactly how much drink we need. Of course it is not a problem to have left overs, but we want to provide a really nice variety of drinks already on the opening.

We were just cleaning up, when all of a sudden someone knocked on our door, and it was a very nice surprise, because our ex-collague, Greg came around with a friend of his. It is still a rare occasion for us to have people around in the bar apart from the builders and the suppliers, and we havnt really socialised for about 2 months now, so it is always relaxing to do so:). When someone is here, I feel like this is a bar, which sounds funny, but we spent so much time and money and energy on creating something great, but it still feels far away to open, yet it is only 10 days now! We went out for one drink, and then came home, so it wasnt too bad, but unfortunately I lost my card on the way, so I had to cancel it today. It wasnt the best start of the day, I stressed out and I was tired. 

But that was only the beginning, since the beer provider came out to put the taps in, but the work top is not on yet, since we didnt know the size of the unit it comes in, so we had to tell the provider to come on Monday to do it. When we decided to go with Heineken we were not too happy about their representative, because she hardly picks up the phone, she gave no information and didnt really show any interest in our business. On the other hand, the Coca Cola representative reads our blog, he made an effort and got us a lot of cool stuff for the bar and always reachable. So we were thinking about if we should stick with this beer or no, but this morning just helped us make the decision. We called her, and she called us back after a while, and told us, she though we had experience, so we would know how the beer goes in. So,telling us how we do our business is not cool, it is just best we decided not to work with them anymore. I quickly called Dreher and since one beer tap is enough for now, we will go with them and get a premium Hungarian beer in the bar. He is coming tomorrow, and we can sort out a contract and a good deal. They also offer a financial help for the new businesses. 

 The electrician comes tomorrow to put on some lights and sort the bar out, we are going to have some nice shelves inside, where we can make the drinks etc. This morning Scott made a sports design under the TV, which was a good idea, but it didnt turn out as good as he wanted it to be, so we had to take it off and now he is making a new one, but it should look really cool once it is done. We always think we are getting there and then something happens to make it more complicated. It is a very big challenge to stay calm, I cant do it most of the time. But seriously, it is only 10 days left till opening and deep down I am sure that till then it is going to look perfect and everything will fall into its place eventually.

Busybusybusy Part 2

As I said before, so much happened today!! We are finally done with everything apart from writing the blog, but tomorrow it starts again, I guess till we are opening it is going to be non stop. So much good news today!! So, the day was all about getting ourselves a new flat, a normal home finally where we can relax after work, take a shower, and where the dogs have a perfect place. The whole weekend I called so many agents, but we were still not sure what is going to happen with the flat above the bar. I was less and less interested in it everyday and just felt like it is such a commitment that it would just be stupid to take it on in the state that it is in, saying that we would be able to 100% buy it eventually. It made it a bit more difficult, that we knew, the flat can only be maximum 5 minutes walk from Lost, and it has to take the dogs and it should be at a reasonable price as well. Anyway, I talked to a lot of people and arranged some viewings for today and tomorrow. Yesterday we decided that we are not taking the flat above for sure, Scott said first, that he is going to sign it for himself, but since we have a budget for the two of us it doesnt make a difference, plus I told him, I do him a favour not letting him signing the papers, it is just too much at the moment. So this is were we were yesterday, we knew, we have nowhere to go and only have 11 days till the opening, and we have to get the dogs a nice home.

In the meantime Scott took care of the outside bit, he went to the printers and now the front just looks amazing, it is done, we even put two signs on the light above the door, so people can see it from the street, it is perfect! Last week the painters done the front of the building and they painted it a greyish purple colour, but some of the main house tenants had a problem with it as usual so today they re-did it, now it is plain white, but actually it looks even better for us, you really cant miss the bar once you go pass it.

The representative was here from Coca Cola, he is really cool, we think he understands what we are trying to do here, and I guess he can help us a lot. We signed the papers and got some promotional stuff, I am especially happy about the Jack Daniels ice cube holder, it is so classy! We only have a couple of things on the bar now, but it makes such a huge difference, that it actually looks like a bar now... and there is so much more to come this week. Tomorrow, we get the first glasses from Heineken and on Thursday we are getting the beer taps too with the fridge hopefully, so it is not long now and we can practice for the opening and test pour our first lost in budapest beer. To be honest there is still a lot to do, we have to come up with a system how we are going to work, but I think it is just going to be a matter of time, and this place is going to run very smooth. I cant believe that I can do what I love to do, and not only that, but all the decisions made are ours, everything here represents us and our way till here. One again, it wasnt easy, and it is nowhere finished, but now we can see the results. It was such a journey, crazy!! The Coca Cola fridges and the first order of drinks come in on next Thursday, so it is a bit last minute, but everything else is going to be ready by then. For this, we had to get our company stamp done as well, so I think we are almost finished with all the legal parts of the company. 

After signing with Coca Cola we had to hurry for a viewing across the road, only about 5 minutes away from the bar. The building was a bit similar to our last flat in Vienna with Dori as you enter, she will know what I am talking about, but I had a good feeling, because that flat was very nice... So, it wasnt dirty or anything, just a bit old. As we entered, we went into the most unique property I have seen recently and I moved way too much in the past 3 years. It is a home of a painter, Marta Kiss, who by the way paints beautiful pictures. The flat is about 60m2 but it has a gallery as well all the way through. The best part is the kitchen and the bathroom, which has a black and white tiles on the floors it reminds us so much of alice in wonderland. We just need a big mattress on the gallery and that is it. They built it up really beautiful and it feels like a relaxing island in the middle of the city, 3 minutes away from the bar. We told her, we wanted it straight away, and she said, there is also a friend interested in it, but we were quicker, so we can take it. And they have a dog and a cat too, so she doesnt mind us having the monkeys in. Ruby and Sky are going to be so happy there!! So, the next step is that she is going to send us the contract and then we can move in fingers crossed before the weekend. YAY! so many results in a day, we start the week knowing we have a place to go and we can focus on the bar. The first flat was far, the landlady not nice, no hot water, weird neighbours, now we get a very nice landlady, we have already been introduced to our neighbour, who is lovely. We can cook a nice meal and sit down in the kitchen at a table, it sounds weird but we have not had that for ages... Can it get any better?

A lot left for tomorrow, we get the fire safety person coming over in the morning, than the Heineken pr and

glasses and we can work on the bar setup as well. Finally...this past 3 weeks felt like ages, it seems unreal that we can sleep in a bed in a few days. It looks like all that hard work and a couple of nervous breakdowns are going to pay off:). 

Busybusybusy

So much going on today, it is very lucky we could rest a bit before this week ahead. It is only noon, but we have done a lot of things already. Company stamp is getting done, ELMU was here, checking our meter, Coca Cola representative was here finalising the fridges we want to get and signing the contract. We have a viewing for today and another one tomorrow morning. Scott was busy with getting the entrance done, it feels so good, just taking care of the last bits before we open! 

We will be coming with a very long post at the end of today, till than have a great day everyone:)!!!

We our very pleased to announce that NDJT PROJECT will be hosting our Friday nights @Lost Coming very soon summer 2013 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cAG29Oz4K0

Finally Our Camera Is Fixed!!!!

After the weekend painting outside of the three connecting shops We have to start again on the front design of lost so much more to do but its looking really fresh window graphics arriving next week then drink sponsors etc but we still stand out from the rest!!!

One of the last quiet Saturday nights at Lost

Today, we can relax a little bit, Scott is already done with his masterpiece for the day, and I think he needs a bit of a rest as well sometimes, because he passed out on the sofa. Finally the dogs calmed down, so it is one of the rare moments when Lost is quiet. Yesterday we have done a lot, Scott finished off with the painting (again, I think it is never ending, but he loves it:)) and now the inside of the bar and also in front of the toilet looks very cool with the Kurkuma colour. Also, we brought a bit more personal stuff to the wall painting, so now we can say, that everything that is here, decoration, furniture and so on represent us, and what we imagined when we started it. It feels such a long time, and our ideas changed so much through this time, but I think it turned out even better than what we ever imagined. 

Lost Toilet entry Art work in process!!

You saw on the blog yesterday, but now the front door is done too, it is going to look crisp and clean, popping out of the building, so whoever is going to walk by will take a look at it. This already happens now, we are in the bar working and constantly we hear people talking in front of the door, discussing what they read on the window as our goal. It will be very exciting to see what kind of customers we can get, but the hotel next to us has such a potential that it is unbelievable. Dont forget, we still havnt been to any of the hostels in the surroundings, so that might boost up our clientele as well! Fingers crossed, the building is also happy with the new colour and they are not going to change it...

Time Machine entry now with lighting effects

I was busy yesterday doing the drink menu and creating the prices. As we said before we dont want to go high with the prices, but too low neither, in the area, there are quite a lot of places to go if you are only looking for cheap drinks, and we dont want to, and couldnt really beat them. Our goal is to have a standard, a nice crowd, who can have fun, and even when there is a Friday night special or a DJ playing, we are not going to make people pay for the entry. It still needs a lot of experience to see the financial side of the things, so I created something that I as a hungarian feel is a reasonable price, and than according to later events we will change this.The other thing that keeps me busy is the flat situation, we decided to tell the above flat owner that we are more than happy to take the flat to rent, we would make it look beautiful in the next seven months till January and then we can sit down and talk about buying it, but at the moment it would be too big of a risk to have that pressure that we have to pay a big amount of money in a couple of months. Hopefully she will understand this, and rent the flat to us anyway. Otherwise we are ready to go somewhere else, it is not a problem, we already have a couple of viewings for the week. Of course, the ideal would be if we could move upstairs...we will see.

scotts dream!!!!

Now Scott is looking at old arcade machines, I guess I will never understand men in this case, for me sound systems and pinball machines are not too exciting, but we might be able to rent it off from someone and in that case it would look cool in the bar. 

Anyway, for today we only have to finish the drink menu and create some shots and Lost drinks, but otherwise, since it is a long weekend and nothing is open, we can relax a tiny bit before a super busy week, where finally we are going to have our bar and order the drinks!! Cant wait, it is so exciting!!

Have a great weekend everyone:)!!