In 2014, after taking Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center’s Business Planning Class taught by Paul Terry and a team of teachers, Sean Patrick opened Calibur, an organic burger shop in the West Portal neighborhood of San Francisco.
We celebrated Sean’s business in this earlier blog post featuring Renaissance graduates who launched small businesses in 2014. Now, 8 years later, we are returning to some of those small business owners to ask them about their businesses, how they’ve been managing through the pandemic, and what insights they’d like to share about the real issues in starting and KEEPING a small business IN business!
An interview with…
Sean Patrick, Co-Owner
Calibur
68 West Portal Avenue, San Francisco
What inspired you to start your business? A desire to be in charge/responsible for the decisions that will impact my work life and offer a product I am proud to represent. I have often considered the decision and wondered if it were correct or how it could have been done better. My thoughts on small business have definitely changed as I have learned a lot by being in business for 8 years. You have to be willing to adapt, try new things and accept the decisions that did not work out and move on. I don’t call them incorrect decisions, just decisions that didn’t work and led to a better overall product or service. This can be a difficult balancing act with your original desires and goals.
Did the pandemic lead to operational changes? Dramatically. We used to have 35 seats and now we have a purely “to-go” model with only a parklet for seating. This has changed our business model immensely. We are significantly more efficient now, both in quality and speed of service. We are more focused on one business model instead of melding two (in house and to go). For our location this was difficult with such a small kitchen and tiny staging area. We would probably not have committed to a “to-go” only menu if the pandemic had not pushed us (…and to be fair, may not have been successful if the pandemic had not pushed consumers to be more accepting of it). We did close for 11 weeks in early 2020, without knowing if we would be able to reopen ever again. This was an extremely scary time, with our entire life savings invested and potentially nothing to show for it. We were lucky to get a PPP loan, and this enabled us to confidently reopen, with our new format and rehire ALL our employees (except two that moved out of the city). We were also lucky to be in a super supportive neighborhood that made a conscious effort to support their local businesses. We could just have easily opened our concept in an area like downtown and PPP money would not have saved us.
Are there specific marketing strategies you use that worked well? We work very well with our community and through our community get the word out about our business. We support other local businesses, we do joint promotions, we are a part of the local merchant association, we support local schools, and during the pandemic we helped with neighborhood relief programs. Having a business partner has been a great support factor. We are able to bounce ideas off each and having both come from a restaurant and catering background, as well as a combined 15 years restaurant sales and consulting experience, we had a wide network of help.
On a more personal level, how have you been managing through these challenging times? I have a deep appreciation for my home life and family. I am taking time to enjoy the now. Evening walks with the family have helped me stay grounded.
How is your business doing now? The business is doing well, utilizing the delivery programs customers are so keen to purchase through, but the apparent unstoppable increases in the cost of supplies and just doing business in general is becoming really scary. Our cost of goods in the last year has increased exponentially. In such a small margin field, it is difficult to absorb even small increases, and trying to incorporate increases on every item we purchase, compounded with new delivery fees, service charges and gas surcharges, it is hard to keep prices at our target point.
Any advice you would give to others starting a business at this time? As far as giving advice, I would suggest that people spend more time talking to people in the field they want to work in. This sounds so simple, but is often the most overlooked, free and useful advice you can get. It is amazing how helpful people can be, and how much time they can save you by explaining why they do things a certain way. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, the worst thing that can happen is people say no.
Any specific products or services to promote for Calibur? Burgers, Fries & Milkshakes…. That’s what we do, and we do it well. Like Burgers…… Love Calibur!
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