Puzzling It Out
If you happened to stop by the cafe during the first week of July and sadly found a "closed for a summer break" sign as your greeting, know that I was involved in a week's worth of family events surrounding the marriage of my daughter, Erin. This included the ceremony itself, a fun family brunch at Butter for many out-of-town guests, and time to connect as family at our north woods retreat along the Gunflint Trail. One of the most joyful events of that time at the cabin was completing a puzzle together. As my daughter and her newly-minted "husband" put in the final two pieces, the celebration of their ability to "puzzle things out" was clearly part of our joy.
Puzzling, although carrying the overall sense of "is this really necessary?" has many benefits beyond a sense of accomplishment. Sitting around a puzzle with others brings a focused time that lends itself to a sense of community building as we work towards a shared goal. The conversations, the "working it out," and the quiet silence of focus are all to be cherished.
I've been a puzzler all of my life. From beginning with a simple wooden-block train engine puzzle as a preschooler, I've always enjoyed finding time for puzzles. At this stage in my life, puzzles are mostly connected to my time at the cabin. But puzzling - and puzzling it out - is a way of life for me.
And one of the biggest puzzles I face, creating a profitable business, while it frustrates and disappoints me often, also continues to be a journey that I'm willing to walk, knowing how deeply embedded into creation this “puzzling it out” is.
I've also been quite enraptured by the ways in which the natural world has ways of puzzling things out. I love watching birds on the hunt for food among tree branches. I am inspired by the efforts of plants to puzzle their way into rooting, finding nutrients and embracing the sunshine in order to grow and thrive. I observe animals puzzling their way through creating shelter, seeking mates, defending their space, and living within a challenging environment and these inspire me to take on my own difficult puzzles. Whether that's a spider re-setting a web that I just inadvertently walked through, a loon rebuilding a nest damaged by an overnight storm, or a spruce tree puzzling out a way to defend itself from an infestation of spruce bud worms, I can take heart that putting things together is an ongoing, life-giving process, that is shared by creatures big and small.
Unlike most puzzles, a profitable business model doesn't come with a complete set of pieces and picture on the box to use as a guide along the way. Instead, the picture changes, pieces get taken away and added to, and often I feel like the pieces that once fit together somehow don't actually go together and must be rearranged. It's a process that can sometimes reach a point where I'm ready to push the whole thing off the table.
While the frame of this puzzle itself only feels like it has changed once since I bought the cafe in 2005 in order to move to Nicollet Avenue in 2012, the shape of the puzzle and the pieces have changed quite a lot since the pandemic. What I thought my "profitable" business model looked like back in 2019 is no longer the picture on the box. I'm not sure there really is a picture on the box currently. Like many restaurants, we're just fiddling around with pieces and wondering what is shaping up in front of us.
Like our family puzzle times, I'm aware that having other hands and eyes around makes such a difference in the puzzling process. Even the act of shifting my place around the table to see the puzzle from another perspective is like having another set of eyes. And like my family puzzling, the puzzling out for my business has always felt more possible when others are around the table, talking me through the difficult times.
It is once again one of those difficult times.
I've been puzzling out the menu, puzzling out the staffing, puzzling out the pricing, puzzling out the activities and events, and puzzling out my role. Some tinkering will not be noticeable, some certainly will. Some pieces that you have thought were part of the puzzle might not show up in the picture that is now forming. And, you might actually have one of the pieces I need to help complete the picture. It is my hope that together, we as a community, will create a beautiful picture of what a sustainable neighborhood cafe can be now and into the future.
This has been my walk along this green path and I am honored to share it with you.