Tales from the Vault - Emotional goodbyes

School year ended June 16th 2011. Summer vacation starts. And what a day it was yesterday at Paddy's. Early in the morning, we had a few regular AMS school girls come in. Very shyly and with all the grace in the world, they proffered us a plate full of treats.

"Mr Paddy, we baked these for you. Thank you very much for treating us so nicely and making us our drinks. We are going to miss you for the summer. Will you be here when our school starts again ? ". Needless to say, we were touched.

And shortly thereafter, some teachers came by with cookies for us, for helping them get through the year. Sadly it was tinged with the knowledge that we will not be seeing some of them. With the budget crisis, some of them have received pink slips.

Joy and sadness, co existing at Paddy's

Menu changes and drink size changes

Say what you will, it is summer time now. What better time than to introduce our new line of smoothies, and a new line of sandwiches. We are currently testing out the products and so far the reception has been favourable. Starting July 5th 2011, our new line of smoothies will be on the menu. Some of the existing smoothies will be dropped to make way.

We are also taking this opportunity to streamline our drink sizes. Soon as the inventory is over, we will not be carrying 20oz hot drinks anymore. Our hot drink sizes will be 12oz and 16oz. Of late, we have found that our patrons have been watching their expenses and opting for the lower sized drinks. And we much appreciate their patronage even in these hard times. Similarly, for the cold drinks, our sizes will now be 16oz and 20oz.

This means you will see a price reduction on some items, and a price correction on some items.

Please, please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.

Why the Tech Hub ?

Silicon Valley. The very name conjures up engineers, technologists, start ups, constant innovations, geek paradise. With a location in the East Bay part of Silicon Valley, Paddy’s is host to numerous members of the fraternity. And what better way to encourage a spirit of networking and camaraderie over a cup of coffee. Have a mixer at Paddy’s.

Have an wonderful idea and looking for developers / marketing people ? Looking to change careers, want to get into the consulting arena for start ups ? Want to provide ancilliary services such as accounting / human resources etc to the start ups ? Want to find out new trends in the market ? Well, this networking mixer is just for you .

Every 3rd Saturday from 2 to 4pm,

Paddy’s is pleased to host the Start Tech Hub (STH). We are providing you with a venue to showcase your product and talent, hobnob with like minded individuals, listen to guest speakers, and of course enjoy a good cup of coffee.

Help us spread the word and we hope to see you there.

CA Small Business of the year award

At the Sacramento Convention Centre, and Paddy's Coffee House is being presented with an award as small business of the year from district 10 represented by Senator Ellen Corbett. This show is put up by the California Small Business Association.

And what a gathering it is. Lots of small business from various districts of California, and they each have a tale to tell. Succeeding against all odds, helping out the community, being at the forefront of innovation. Compared to them, we are small potatoes or to use a sorry expression, we are tiny beans :)

Truly, the state of CA is a wonderful place, though sometimes the regulatory processes can drive one up the wall. And that's what a lot of folks are talking about, and telling their legislators. Hope something good comes out of it.

And who are we ?

People constantly ask us about our colleagues and how did they come to work here ? We tend to hire students, with the main criteria being that they have to finish high school.

We do not look for experience, on the contrary we found that it was a hurdle in assimilating into our culture. And we have been extremely fortunate with all our colleagues. The average stay is about 2.5 years which is a remarkable feat in the industry. And that really helps, because as a customer when you come in, you are greeted by a familiar friendly face.

Their field of studies is pretty diverse. Hospitality Management, Engineering, Psychology, Speech Therapy, Sports Therapy, Law, Accounting, Computer Engineering and then you have Paddy who is a study unto himself.

Yeah,we are a different breed out here. We actively encourage our colleagues to talk and network with you, our patrons, to help them grow professionally. We have found that this has helped the young ones tremendously in becoming more aware of the profession of their chosen academic career.

Often times, we ask our patrons to coach and guide our colleagues in interview techniques, resume writing, industry outreach etc. It helps everyone out.

Who are you ?

And yes, that is a vexing question. The "you" here refers to our customer base. It is very diverse, ethnically, culturally, professionally and financially.

The neighbourhood we are in is a classic middle working area. In the days of the past, it used to be the home of both the rich landowners and the labourers that worked on their lands. And in contemporary times, we do have that economic disparity.

Quite a few of our patrons are extremely well off, while the others tend to be a bit more cautious. Many of our patrons are from the hi tech industry, and apart from that, we have a huge medical fraternity customer base, and automotive and service industry folk as well.

And then we have the student community. Who can all be lumped in one basket "Stressed out Students". And their field of studies is pretty diverse.

So what is coffee of the month ?

We used to brew different coffees every day. We noticed what our patrons liked and did not. Based on all that and to keep things even more interesting, we decided to switch to a dual coffee concept.

So we have a coffee of the month, which is one particular coffee varietal repeated every day, and we have a coffee of the day, where we rotate the varietals every day.

So for June 2011, we have our coffee of the month as our own

Namaste Blend

As mentioned in one of the earlier posts, we have a few of our own blends, and ought to admit, we are quite proud of them. Namaste Blend was designed by one of our colleagues, and it was an accidental design. We then brushed and polished the accident to give you Namaste Blend.

And it conveys the simplicity and complexity of the coffee bean. Namaste is Hindi for "Greetings", and given the context and personalities involved, it can be a simple form of greeting or a highly respected and revered form of greeting.

Enjoy the coffee.