Well, here we are at October 4th ~ and the Bad Dog is two years old today. They say surviving the first two years in the life of a restaurant is the toughest part. I never believe those kind of things, because I remember being warned the same about kids, and still went on to have five. Hah, that's why every business partnership should have a seasoned mother in it ~ they believe they can survive the impossible. Anyhow, I almost had a cardiac arrest when we almost closed this summer. But 7 weeks into a restructured business format, many sleepless nights, much frenzied planning, hoping, fearing, re imagining & the support of some great friends and things are looking even better than expected! Ahh, I can finally breathe again! And since birthdays are a time to look both forward and backward, here it goes...














October 4th, two years ago marked the last day of a week of schizophrenic, adrenaline charged renovations. Our friend Briant, who owned Mission's Main Street Cafe for 7 years, had sold us his business for $10. Lock stock and barrel. Every piece of equipment, worth many times over what we paid. The business later became the Bad Dog Grill. Ten dollars. Who'd ever have thought a ten dollar purchase could change life so much?

The months leading up to the Grand Opening on October 4th challenged and inspired us in every way. None of us were restaurateurs, we were pastors, bankers, housewives (oh bad word!) so the designing of a menu, a restaurant interior and a business plan was all new territory. Territory that in retrospect, we faced with the blind kind of confidence you can only have when you have no friggin idea what you're getting into. Two years later, and I understand firsthand why most restaurateurs are workaholics, alcoholics and psychos...














And so we learned: to wait tables, to cook, to cost analyze, to inventory, to menu design, to purchase, to make espressos, to fix equipment, to market, to cater, to host banquets, to book live music, to network, to run community services lunch program.

And we learned the subtleties of interacting with the restaurant going public and ourselves. The praise and complaints, the wonderful and frustrating...Countless people have sat across the bar from us, (welcome, hah & not) and poured out their lives & stories. Listening doesn't always come easy. Neither does coping with the onslaught of time, financial and relational pressure. I personally have sat on the floor behind the bar downing shots of Fireball when things have become overwhelming. More than a few times, in fact. And i don't even like Fireball...

But there is undoubtedly, a wonderful (though sometimes painful) camaraderie that develops in the community of a restaurant. A lady we've hosted a few year end parties for has just discovered a 10mm malignant tumor on her liver, another street lady we knew well passed away quite unrecognized, our manager got injured, our chef moved on, we lost a business partner and this summer, augh - that terrible possibility of closing the doors forever...

And yet, here we are, against all the odds, alive and moving forward. Not in the same direction as we started but in the more profitable, less time consuming, 'niche filling' direction of a live music, events & catering venue. We're almost 7 weeks in now & I'm counting the weeks with the same focus and anticipation as counting pregnancy weeks. I remember thinking when each of my kids was brand new, I couldn't love them more. But every year has made them infinitely more precious to me.

That's kind of how the Dog is for me too. Two years and I'm still in love.
Happy Birthday Bad Dog. (oh my, you sure are ugly!)