Help The House Café get a liquor license
Donation protected
Hey, friends. The House Café needs your help!
Most of you probably already know this, but my husband, Brian, and I, recently purchased The House Café after it had been closed down for 7 months. We opened our doors at the end of May without a liquor license, just selling food and doing shows. We've been working with the city for several months to try to get our liquor license, and it's been a long and difficult process. However, we're on the city council agenda for this coming Monday, July 28th! If it gets approved, we will have to pay for the actual license and begin working with vendors to purchase our initial inventory.
When we initially bought the business, we had allocated enough funds to be able to pay for our liquor license. As is always the case, though, we ran into many unexpected expenses. The building needed much more work than we initially anticipated to be able to meet city code, pass inspections, and get our licenses to operate. So far, we've paid almost $2,000 in various license and permit fees, $3,500 to replace the front doors, over $2,500 in plumbing repairs, about $2,400 to fireproof the draperies, $1,000 in boiler repairs, and a lot more in various expenses to get the business started again, including quite a bit to rebuild the stage to make it safe for performers.
You might be wondering why you should care if we sell alcohol or not. The truth is that The House can't survive without revenue from liquor sales. It's survived this long due to countless volunteer hours put in by friends and family and our retirement fund, but it can't survive on that forever. Selling alcohol allows us to do things like provide a stage for performers (especially important now that Otto's isn't currently around), sell delicious vegetarian and vegan food (in addition to our meat choices), host family events, like story time, have church groups, provide an outlet for local artists to display work, offer a place for dance lessons, or provide a welcoming atmosphere for people to meet or work. The House Café is a vital part of the community in DeKalb, and it's the only place of its kind in the area.
Please consider helping us out and making a donation. $5 or $500, your generosity is appreciated.
Save The House!
Most of you probably already know this, but my husband, Brian, and I, recently purchased The House Café after it had been closed down for 7 months. We opened our doors at the end of May without a liquor license, just selling food and doing shows. We've been working with the city for several months to try to get our liquor license, and it's been a long and difficult process. However, we're on the city council agenda for this coming Monday, July 28th! If it gets approved, we will have to pay for the actual license and begin working with vendors to purchase our initial inventory.
When we initially bought the business, we had allocated enough funds to be able to pay for our liquor license. As is always the case, though, we ran into many unexpected expenses. The building needed much more work than we initially anticipated to be able to meet city code, pass inspections, and get our licenses to operate. So far, we've paid almost $2,000 in various license and permit fees, $3,500 to replace the front doors, over $2,500 in plumbing repairs, about $2,400 to fireproof the draperies, $1,000 in boiler repairs, and a lot more in various expenses to get the business started again, including quite a bit to rebuild the stage to make it safe for performers.
You might be wondering why you should care if we sell alcohol or not. The truth is that The House can't survive without revenue from liquor sales. It's survived this long due to countless volunteer hours put in by friends and family and our retirement fund, but it can't survive on that forever. Selling alcohol allows us to do things like provide a stage for performers (especially important now that Otto's isn't currently around), sell delicious vegetarian and vegan food (in addition to our meat choices), host family events, like story time, have church groups, provide an outlet for local artists to display work, offer a place for dance lessons, or provide a welcoming atmosphere for people to meet or work. The House Café is a vital part of the community in DeKalb, and it's the only place of its kind in the area.
Please consider helping us out and making a donation. $5 or $500, your generosity is appreciated.
Save The House!
Organizer
Alexandra Fausett
Organizer
DeKalb, IL
