Tiffany and Amanda Purdy started to help move equipment, and Jeff and I worked on heavier items throughout the day. First our two upright freezers were emptied into a large chest freezer, and then Jeff and I got them out of the basement and moved over to the new location. After that, he and the girls packed up a pretty significant portion of the stuff in the old kitchen and serving area, and then he spent a few hours disassembling the portable equipment such as the metro racks, wine racks, and similar items.
One problem that we've run into so far is with Irving Propane. I've called them a couple times now to inquire about when they are moving our propane tanks. They keep saying that a contractor is going to call back to arrange an appointment, but the problem is that until the tanks are moved, we can't make an appointment to move our stoves, and I wanted to have the stoves moved and certified by this Friday, so I could start working on staff training for the week or so before Christmas, while there is lots of "free time." Well, it's not really free time, but at least we aren't open to the public, so that's as good a time as any to work on cook training. If I don't hear from them soon to at least book an appointment, I'm going to start making calls and see if there are any other propane companies in the area who will respond more quickly.
ADT Security came in and did an inspection of the place and we laid out the blueprints for the security system. We also got all of our recycleables out of the old restaurant, and did a major garbage collection.
It doesn't really sound like a lot got accomplished, but it was a good start. The time-consuming stuff isn't moving the equipment and loose items from one place to another, it's just trying to finish the painting and get the kitchen ready to receive equipment. In fact, I'm pretty sure that we'll be completely out of the old location by the end of this week. The tricky thing to consider is that our new kitchen is quite a bit bigger (as you can see from the "before" photo below), but I want to move things in an orderly manner and set equipment up as I go, to make the transition happen more smoothly.
