Welcome to the Club

A few months back, I wrote a blog about losing our first employee. 

Kelly McGreevy, her husband Kevin and their 4 girls decided to invest in their own community and open up Cazenovia Bagel Co.

On February 4th, they held their grand opening and have been a huge success since. Their menu is simple, the food is incredible, but more importantly, as you will see in this video, it's the faces and the smiles that make their business.

Yesterday, we stopped in for a late lunch. It was about 1:30pm and the Bagel Co. closes at 2pm on Saturdays. Mind you, this was probably the 4th or 5th time we've already visited. I had the pizza bagel with cheddar cheese (because that's what Lily recommended) and a natural cola (because my love of soda is well documented). Shioban and Paige had a bowl of an amazing vegetarian kale chili. 

We were the last customers in the restaurant so Kelly and Kevin came over and sat with us for a cup of coffee after they had closed the doors. It as great to catch up with them as we really haven't had a chance to talk since they opened earlier in the month. 

After about 20 minutes, they got up to head in the back to begin to clean up before heading home for the night. Shioban quickly popped up and walked right in the back and started scrubbing pans, knives and anything else that needed to be washed. I grabbed the broom and started at the front of the store. Paige grabbed the box of chocolate milk and started restocking the cooler. 

2 hours later, we all walked out together. 

It was so cool to see what their family has accomplished in such a short amount of time. I'm sure they, like all family businesses have had their peaks and valleys, but here they were, still plugging away. 

But, it was what Kelly said to me as we were walking out that stuck. 

She gave me a hug, looked right at me and said, "Ben, I get it now". 

And I said, "yup. It's all about prioritization. Maybe that email doesn't get returned in a timely manner. Maybe that receipt doesn't always get properly coded. Sometimes you just have to focus on mission critical stuff". 

They have accomplished something incredible. Just to get the doors open to a store is a daunting task. It means something. 

Ideas are great. Execution is the key. 

Welcome to the club, McGreevy's.

~ Ben