I hammered the final nail into my old job

[kamakiri]

The Short:

I opened a new pizza shop, here are pictures.

The Long:
Many of you here know me, and I think I mentioned this before, but I finally got my last shop closed and torn down last week. I had seen the writing on the wall, and started closing down shops in my pizza chain about 3 years ago. A competitor came to town with a similar name, I own Chris' Pizza, the opened as Kurusa Pizza. In Japanese it is just 2 characters off, and since 100% of my marketing for 5 years was done in English, no one could tell the difference. Was it a fight I could have won? Sure, but it was in a game I wanted nothing to do with. They were putting out sub standard junk food, I have the award for best pizza in Japan on my mantle.

I was also tired of 16 hour days supervising a team of managers, assistants, and the head office staff. By June 2007, I was down to 1 shop, and fired my secretary, and the unexpected happened. I was on my way back from delivering a final proof to the printer and I got hit by a truck. I was on a motorcycle, and it put me in the hospital for 2 months. During that time I shut down my shop, best decision I ever made.

Fast forward to now. I finally had surgery done on my shoulder, and it is 1000% better, no amount of money can buy health, but a good doctor is worth more than money, there again, I can't say enough, "Get a third opinion."

I knew of this restaurant they had closed in 2006, and walked by there a few times a week as I had thrown away my car in 2005. I called them one day, and set up a meeting. Must have been something in the water (or the fact that I dressed up like General Custer with a hat and leather jacket) that got me a short term lease on the place, so with a deposit of $3,000 and the first month;s rent of $3,000, I was in business in the Chris' Pizza Seaside Beer Garden. We opened for business on the 14th of this month to record opening day and weekend sales.

The following week, I sent out 70 press releases, and the responses are flying in. I don't post much about it here, but the press release is a huge free tool for your muse.

Tonight (Friday) was my biggest night yet, and we have a 50 person Canada Day party booked for tomorrow on top of what should be a huge day, so I am going to hit the sack. Hope you like the slide show.

[Marcie]

Congrats Chris! The location looks beautiful. Keep us posted on how it goes!

[shanerbock]

Awesome! Congrats! The pictures are fantastic... Thanks for sharing!



Make it a great day!
Shane

[ephigy]

Talk about getting back on the horse after being thrown off (literally and figuratively). That's an inspiring story Chris. Where are you located?

[JFrenzel]

KUDOS 2 U!!!! The place looks super clean and sharp. I will definitely have to visit it. It is in Japan correct?


Cheers

Jose

[kamakiri]

Thanks for the encouragement guys.

I am in Nagasaki, Japan. If anyone from the list ever makes it into one of my shops, the first beer is on my by the way.

Now I am in the situation of having a lot of fun though. Learning daily about how to control charcoal, keeping the place filled and my customers entertained, making enough food to satisfy people with the buffet... The list is unending, but I really have the most fun 'working' when I am busy and learning new stuff.

The owners of the building asked me to stay after Sept 30 when my lease is up. It is tempting, but I know I will have to be more creative if I leave this place. I had a deal set up to move to Singapore and consult for a pizza chain for a year, with an opportunity to go work at the HQ in Dubai for another year expanding there. A friend is selling his shop in S'pore and the oil company that expressed interest needed a qualified consultant, and I was available after October. The deal fell through, but we are still looking at other options.

I might force myself to get a site or 2 up and running in my 'free time'.

[Brooklynite]

How awesome! Beautiful space!