Well, here it was - Grand Opening. None of us could actually believe that we had pulled the whole thing together so quickly. We had the opening planned for a Saturday and everything was set. The DJ would arrive around 4pm to set up, we had alcohol stocked, a supplied kitchen and staff in place. Everyone was a little nervous because none of us knew exactly what to expect. We were hoping for a good mix of local Belizeans and expats - our overall goal for the restaurant was for it to be welcoming to everyone. It was a real concern here in Corozal that we could easily discourage Belizeans from eating at Scotty’s if we didn’t play our cards right and that was the very last thing we wanted to do. We were going out on a limb with our plan to only serve burgers, fries and sandwiches. Almost all the other restaurants in town served local dishes such as rice and beans, but we wanted to stand out so we chose not to compete with that - we were not going to pretend that we knew how to cook these dishes. It had been discussed between the three of us that we would change our plan if it came to the point that we were getting enough negative feedback about that decision.

The opening hour was set for 5pm. We chose to skip lunch hour on this day since we felt we would have a very large crowd for dinner and we didn’t want to overwhelm ourselves. The burger had been tweaked to perfection by Will, the fries were turning out fantastic - we went with handcut curly fries to be different - and we had finalized our beer battered onion ring recipe. We were slightly concerned about our fried food. The fryer we had purchased did not regulate it’s own temperature which meant that if we started to get large orders for fried foods the oil temperature would go down dramatically as we continue to fry food and things could get messy but this is what we had to work with so we couldn’t worry about it too much. We had another unique item on the bar menu, lime cello - Will had home brewed the concoction himself as a variation of lemon cello. It is made with Belize’s over proof rum (similar to 151) and lime peels and then added to simple syrup after sitting for a couple weeks and served ice cold. No one in Corozal had this refreshing little drink on their menu and we had high hopes for it. There were also some minor improvements we had to make to the road around the bar - the rain had flooded a lot of the road and surrounding areas which meant that cars continued to get stuck in certain areas around our place. This would not be good for customer satisfaction so we had gravel brought in and dumped all along our gate to ensure cars could park easily without getting caked in mud.

All the employees were at the bar around 11am and we were all running around making sure the final touches were in place. By 4pm the DJ hadn’t arrived yet but we weren’t too concerned. We had a spot for him already set up and we had called to confirm he was coming, he was, and was just running on Belizean time. We had a few expats contact us before Saturday and make reservations for 5pm so we were expecting people right at opening time and, sure enough, they arrived right on time. So it started - we were all so excited to serve our first official customers. I say “official” because we had about 4 days of a soft open before grand opening just to make sure we had the menu down - we had been given great feedback from that. While that first group was ordering the DJ finally arrived and got set up. Now, our place isn’t very big but it’s also not totally enclosed so we were anxious about how it would go with the DJ. We basically told him to keep the music at background level until later which he was okay with. So he continued to set up and then it hit…we got completely slammed. We all moved into high gear and got a little panicked. It quickly became a mad house - we had rented some additional chairs and tables for the chance that this would happen and now we were very happy we did. People just kept coming in and had to share tables or wait for tables. The first wave of people were all expats and they absolutely, 100% hated the DJ. They constantly told us to make him turn the music down - which we did until it was barely worth having the music there at all. Will, Salvador and Salvador’s brother Eli were in the kitchen running around like crazy getting orders out and Vanessa, Sherie, me and mom were in the front getting drinks out and orders placed. Sweat was running down my face and I was trying hard to just slow down and think a little. Other than the music everyone seemed to enjoy the food and the experience - as expected we started to have problems with the fried food after a bit because the oil wasn’t staying hot enough so we did start to get some complaints on that but everyone maintained a positive and helpful attitude.

As the first wave of people were leaving a second group started coming in - this time it was all locals. It was a little later now so we had the DJ put the volume up a little and this time people were enjoying it rather than complaining so it wasn’t a total waste of money to have him there. At this point no one was buying the lime cello so we started taking a few shots to calm the nerves a little - not sure if this is the best idea but we went with it anyway - we were trying to have fun with this night since it was turning out to be such a big success. Everyone on the staff was meshing well and having a good time. The fried stuff continued to be a pain so at the end of the night we just had to stop serving fries and onion rings - this would be a problem that would have to be addressed.

Towards the end of the night - closing time was 11pm - there was a group of expats hanging out and having a great time drinking and dancing and there were a few locals still hanging around doing the same. It turned out to be a great atmosphere and at that point we all could start relaxing. The only negative to the night was Will’s stress level - he was completely stressed out even at the end of the night and mad at me for taking shots during the night. So he stormed in the house and stayed there for awhile. I was elated that the night had gone so well and continued to be in the bar and socialize with everyone else. I could see Will’s concern if we would have gotten drunk while trying to operate the bar but that was hardly the case so I chose to not concern myself with it - we would have to discuss that one later.

About 12am we had the DJ shut down and closed the bar for the night. There were about 6 people there the whole time and they had a blast - they told us that they would be back and were excited for a new place to socialize. Once everyone had left we all sort of fell in to the closest chair and reflected a bit - all the employees left shortly after that and I crashed in my bed. It had been a success and that was extremely exciting. I knew we weren’t going to be that busy on a regular basis but the word was out and Scotty’s was open.

3 Responses to “Grand Opening!!”

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  By Brendan Wenzel, July 11, 2009 @ 5:19 pm

  So happy to see that your Grand Opening went so well. This was a great post to read. I am waiting for the video tour of the place. No question I will have to come and visit as this place sounds awesome! Best of luck with your business.
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  By Belizedragonfly, July 12, 2009 @ 12:16 pm

  Thanks! I will have to work on getting a video together I meant to put some pics in this post but forgot so I’ll put some in for the next one.
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  By Harry Bushwitz, July 12, 2009 @ 2:32 pm

  Great Post Kristy - I think you are dong fine blending your current and past event’s into one blog. Keep up the good work! Please post some pictures!
  Harry

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