Hurry up and wait

Photo by Aphiwat chuangchoem from Pexels

Almost six months ago, I blogged that we needed to have a location by October so that we could install our roasting equipment that’s coming from Germany. Well, we’re almost at that time and we still don’t have a place for Opo to call home.

Our team has been working diligently towards nailing down a location, and we hope to have good news soon! We’re in the final stages of lease negotiation with a property in the city of Decatur. This building was most recently a restaurant, which means that we would be able to keep most of the existing buildout, making moderate changes so that we can use the space for all of our needs. I’m itching to tell everyone about the location, but without a lease signed yet I don’t want to count my beans before they’re roasted.

Here’s a quick rundown on where the launch stands:

• Fundraising has gone extremely well and we’re trying to close it all out ASAP.

• We have two launch team members officially on staff now (intros to come soon!) and they’re working hard on business planning and location design.

• We know the designers, architects, and contractors we’ll work with. Everyone’s ready to pull the trigger on the location upon the signing of a lease.

• We're continuing to progress through SCA training.

• We’ve roasted and cupped a few batches of samples from some prospective green suppliers.

Sample roasting with our IKAWA Pro100. All great startups begin in a home garage, right?

Right now is a big pregnant pause while we wait for a landlord to grace us with a final lease agreement. Once that happens, we’ll have a big flurry of activity as we design the space, apply for permits, and begin construction. There will probably be several more fitful starts and stops before we get to opening day, which at this point is pushing out to the beginning of 2022. The journey is crazy exciting though!