Chocolaterian Relief Fund
Donation protected
Little good comes from phone calls before 6 a.m.
In the wee hours of Sunday, February 25th, Chocolaterian Cafe on Atwood Ave suffered a major fire. You know it's really serious when the city fire inspector says it's bad.
My friends, Leanne Cordisco, founder of Chocolaterian Cafe, and Alex Aulisi are facing a serious challenge right now and I'm hoping that all the friends, fans, and neighbors of the cafe will chip in to help this neighborhood treasure get back on its feet.
The following is directly from Leanne and Alex:
"Hi friends. We want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all the support you've shown us in the last few days. Knowing that our customers are so loyal and caring has really helped to keep our spirits up during this incredibly trying time. We also want to thank our dear friend Meredith for deciding to create this GoFundMe on our behalf. We are very, very grateful for the help.
With the Atwood cafe closed, we've lost more than half of our retail income as well as our ability to generate wholesale and online income.
Scary Thing #1: Even though we don't have an estimate for the smoke and water remediation or the restoration yet, there's no doubt in our minds that these costs are going to eat up everything (and maybe more) that is available from our insurance coverage.
Scary Thing #2: The income from the Atwood cafe was helping to cover the start up costs of the Middleton cafe. Middleton has only been open for 7 months and, in the restaurant business, that's a drop in the ocean in terms of stabilization.
Scary Thing #3: We lost every, single piece of our wholesale product packaging (approximately $60,000 worth) in the fire - essentially shutting down our wholesale operations until we can get more packaging designed and produced. Of course, this costs money which, quite frankly, we don't have.
We're thrilled to tell you that we were able to keep five of our Atwood employees on board by bringing them over to Middleton. But (and there's always a "but"...) this puts Middleton more in the hole because we're increasing our payroll. Ugh, what a vicious cycle!
As a side note, we found jobs or job opportunities for all of our other Atwood employees thanks to the generosity of so many local businesses. The Madison restaurant community is magical.
So, what are we doing to increase revenue besides having a fundraiser?
Some of you may have seen Alex's note about finding places in the neighborhood to carry our products until we're back up and running. We're also looking at implementing a subscription program, streamlining online ordering to increase internet sales, increasing our catering operation, and pursuing a couple of interesting leads for regional sales.
We want you to know that we're doing everything in our power to quickly close our income gap but it's always possible that these ideas won't pan out, or they could take too long to implement, or they simply won't perform well enough to really help.
What will the GoFundMe money be used for?
Priority #1: We need to cover Middleton's operational costs until the insurance money is released, including paying bills and payroll.
Priority #2: Packaging for wholesale. It's really important that we get our wholesale business back up and running. We have many customers who order from us monthly and losing this income will be a serious blow to our ability to stay afloat.
Priority #3: Development of the additional revenue ideas. You all know the saying, it takes money to make money... These ideas are going to cost some money to get off the ground.
As we learn more about the construction costs and we get further into this "project" the priorities may change but we'll update Meredith so that she can keep you informed along the way. If you choose to share your hard-earned money with us, you should know where it's going.
Finally, we'd like to express our gratitude again for every single friend of Chocolaterian Cafe. We are so overwhelmed by the outpouring of love. Thanks for all your support, good vibes, visits to Middleton, and hugs. We love you back."
:'( #chocoaid
In the wee hours of Sunday, February 25th, Chocolaterian Cafe on Atwood Ave suffered a major fire. You know it's really serious when the city fire inspector says it's bad.
My friends, Leanne Cordisco, founder of Chocolaterian Cafe, and Alex Aulisi are facing a serious challenge right now and I'm hoping that all the friends, fans, and neighbors of the cafe will chip in to help this neighborhood treasure get back on its feet.
The following is directly from Leanne and Alex:
"Hi friends. We want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all the support you've shown us in the last few days. Knowing that our customers are so loyal and caring has really helped to keep our spirits up during this incredibly trying time. We also want to thank our dear friend Meredith for deciding to create this GoFundMe on our behalf. We are very, very grateful for the help.
With the Atwood cafe closed, we've lost more than half of our retail income as well as our ability to generate wholesale and online income.
Scary Thing #1: Even though we don't have an estimate for the smoke and water remediation or the restoration yet, there's no doubt in our minds that these costs are going to eat up everything (and maybe more) that is available from our insurance coverage.
Scary Thing #2: The income from the Atwood cafe was helping to cover the start up costs of the Middleton cafe. Middleton has only been open for 7 months and, in the restaurant business, that's a drop in the ocean in terms of stabilization.
Scary Thing #3: We lost every, single piece of our wholesale product packaging (approximately $60,000 worth) in the fire - essentially shutting down our wholesale operations until we can get more packaging designed and produced. Of course, this costs money which, quite frankly, we don't have.
We're thrilled to tell you that we were able to keep five of our Atwood employees on board by bringing them over to Middleton. But (and there's always a "but"...) this puts Middleton more in the hole because we're increasing our payroll. Ugh, what a vicious cycle!
As a side note, we found jobs or job opportunities for all of our other Atwood employees thanks to the generosity of so many local businesses. The Madison restaurant community is magical.
So, what are we doing to increase revenue besides having a fundraiser?
Some of you may have seen Alex's note about finding places in the neighborhood to carry our products until we're back up and running. We're also looking at implementing a subscription program, streamlining online ordering to increase internet sales, increasing our catering operation, and pursuing a couple of interesting leads for regional sales.
We want you to know that we're doing everything in our power to quickly close our income gap but it's always possible that these ideas won't pan out, or they could take too long to implement, or they simply won't perform well enough to really help.
What will the GoFundMe money be used for?
Priority #1: We need to cover Middleton's operational costs until the insurance money is released, including paying bills and payroll.
Priority #2: Packaging for wholesale. It's really important that we get our wholesale business back up and running. We have many customers who order from us monthly and losing this income will be a serious blow to our ability to stay afloat.
Priority #3: Development of the additional revenue ideas. You all know the saying, it takes money to make money... These ideas are going to cost some money to get off the ground.
As we learn more about the construction costs and we get further into this "project" the priorities may change but we'll update Meredith so that she can keep you informed along the way. If you choose to share your hard-earned money with us, you should know where it's going.
Finally, we'd like to express our gratitude again for every single friend of Chocolaterian Cafe. We are so overwhelmed by the outpouring of love. Thanks for all your support, good vibes, visits to Middleton, and hugs. We love you back."
:'( #chocoaid
Organizer and beneficiary
Meredith Westover
Organizer
Madison, WI
Alexandra Aulisi
Beneficiary
