Cayla Carson : Chavelas
There has been much excitement for Team Chavelas this week as CET started on painting and making several repairs within the restaurant. They installed a backdoor screen, fixed some tiles, and were hard at work painting. Indy, Calli and I were able to stop by yesterday, April 28 around noon, to check out the restaurant and make sure everything was running smoothly on both sides. The CET workers were hard at work painting when we arrived and were happy to see us. They seemed excited to be on the job and getting the experience. They were also really proud to show us what they had done and delighted that we approved.
Walking into the restaurant, there was one customer eating lunch and drinking a beer. Jose’s wife, Cherry, was feeding their daughter lunch. Jose seemed thrilled and grateful with all the progress. Even though they were slightly mismatched, the fixed tiles were well done. I think it is awesome for him to see the physical changes become a reality because we have spent so many weeks just talking about them. We also got to chat with Jose and get his input about several matters that we are trying to work on. This includes the outdoor sign, the size, color, and number of t-shirts for his employees, a day we can come in and take pictures for the website, creating a poster for his happy hour, finalizing a menu so that we can print takeout menus, wondering if he wants a kids menu, and more.
This whole process is all about communicating between Jose, CET, and each member of our group. The back-and-forth is worth it so that we can be efficient and at the end of the day make sure Jose is happy with the results and feels included in the things we want to do for the restaurant. It is really important to facilitate a good relationship between all the parties so that everyone knows what is going on, so that we can work towards the common goal—a better Chavelas!
We still have a ton of work and organizing to do in these next few (short) weeks, but seeing these physical changes was a lot of motivation and makes us eager to see the final results.