Living within Limits

December 2019

Because I have a tendency to reach for things just outside of my grasp, I have indeed had a few precarious near-falls and a couple actual ones.  Fortunately, none have them resulted in serious injury, but unfortunately that has meant I continue to put myself out on a limb (literally).

In the life of a small, independent business, risks are inherently part of day or day operations. If I were to fear those risks I’d end up immobile.  Over the 14 years I have weighed the risks with varying success.  Some risks, like moving the whole business 5 blocks east into a new construction have been far and away good choices.  Pioneering a no-tip pricing model into a café setting, well, it’s hard to weigh the positives and negatives and know to which side of the scale it’s tipping.

Some risks I have purposely chosen, others just present themselves as a part of living in a dynamic society.  Some risks seemed quite small when seen from a distance but as they entered daily life their impacts grew.  I knew of the planned road reconstruction along Nicollet Avenue in 2013 when I chose to move in the fall of 2012.  We made plans to work around that project and try to lessen its overall impact.  That summer-long loss of access to the business was more than we had planned for however.   You just never know.

And yes, I was aware that the 35W reconstruction would be starting up just a few years into the move.  We certainly had hoped to be in a stable place to weather the long, on-going sets of little disruptions.  I was keenly aware of how some businesses didn’t survive the first part of the project during the south end of the reconstruction.  We had experience from the Nicolle Avenue summer to draw from.  But, you just never know.

 That first summer we tried to tough it out and dug ourselves into a big hole that seemed pretty dire by early winter.  The outpouring of community support through last year’s Thanksgiving and holiday season, and the generous gifts at our Big Butter Night last January not only carried us through financially, but lifted our spirits.  And we learned a bit more about what was a more appropriate baseline for our operations.  We’re in this for the long term, so a short term reset of our services seemed like a better way to live within a changed environment.  New traffic patterns, ongoing construction fatigue and changing restaurant patterns all play a part in my decision to adjust our café’s hours and kitchen service during these next couple of winter months.  In the past I may have felt more desire to just stretch myself through a winter, filling unfilled shifts and trying to not tinker with what we had determined would be our “normal” hours of operation.

So, Butter is taking a bit of a winter break.  When I bought the café, back in 2006, the 2 pm kitchen time seemed to fit our breakfast-lunch routines.  Over the years we just kept reaching a bit further, stretching those hours and service times.  We’re returning to those early roots for a couple months to allow our kitchen staffing to focus on what we can do best and to better live within our limits.   And although I’d love to be a light-up-the-dark-winter-nights kind of café, limiting our evening hours for the next couple months feels less risky than stretching my staff and myself at this time in Butter’s lifecycle.

Oh, how I long to do everything, serve everyone, meet all requests that come my way.  Oh, how I wish my superpowers would let me be in all places at one time.  But alas, I’m only human.  And, along this green path, my human limits lead me on this humble journey with you.  That you walk it with me is my joy.