KEEP ON KEEPIN' ON / NEW MENU

The last few weeks we’ve been hard at work with a new food program, and a few large scale, or “batch” drinks to share. It’s finally here. But first, some context.

Being a cafe near SDSU, a good chunk of our afternoon biz came from students. We had just launched a new lunch menu back in January that we put a ton of work into as well and had seen a solid boost in sales from. We had rocked the same 5 bagels since we’ve opened, and decided to refresh + add a few lunch items. We found a new format of design with fonts, logos, a paper menu, new servingware, etc., and did an insane promo where we literally gave away about $7000 in sandwiches in about 16 hours, spread over 4 days. It was a whole thing, and one hell of a week. Two months later, this damn pandemic hit. On the outset of COVID19, we chose to cut hours about 40%, closing at 2pm, instead of 6pm, completely eliminating the entire point of that menu. We weren’t going to hold onto it anymore and hope it stuck, and chose to just cut it completely.

With COVID-19 hitting, so many restaurants have been forced to close their doors, or pivot and adapt. But I think many are forgetting the freedom we have right now. Bobby Hundreds, someone in the streetwear scene who I look up to a ton, posted this piece of knowledge to his IG the other day. He’s referencing his industry here, but the same can be applied to restaurants and hospitality.

“Streetwear is all about brand-building, and brand building is all about maintenance and endurance. But, what if you don’t have 50 years anymore? You have 50 days? You are suddenly unfettered by the usual creative restrains. You know how the latitude to say Yes without the fear of long-term repercussions. Lean into that guilty pleasure. This is a time of no judgement. Nobody is watching. Everyone is more concerned with shoveling water out of their own boat than laughing at your leak. So, take advantage of this rare moment to experiment, think freely, and stretch the limits of brand and business. How would you play your favorite game if you could re-write the rules in your favor? You now have the permission to do that.”

I found incredible validation through this quote. As an industry, our lobbies are empty, hours are eliminated or reduced, and while fuel in the tank has to be preserved, we have an incredibly unusual amount of time/space to turn back to our creative side for once. Customers aren’t judging us for trying new stuff, other cafes/establishments are all only preserving their own survival, and frankly this is an insane opportunity for re-invention, fine tuning, or experimentation. We’ve suppressed our creative sides dozens of times over because sometimes our ideas just don’t fit in the mold of Scrimshaw Coffee at the time we had them.

Full transparency- we’ve had a brand re-fresh, serious environmental upgrades, and product re-do’s all in the works, and on the table for late 2020, our 3rd birthday (see; ‘leftovers’, ‘17til, “still burning'“ and others), but now, we’re fast tracking altogether.

Back to food - a big part of this brand refresh has been taking our food program to the next level. Keeping it simple, but blurring the lines between a “coffee shop” and proper neighborhood cafe that can be recognized for doing cool stuff across the gamut of coffee / food / service / environment. Frankly, in our opinion, we don’t have a ton of that in town - especially on the east side. As a shop, we always put ourselves through the ringer when it comes to rolling out a new item, and especially a new menu. We ride an insane roller coaster of highs and lows, of success and failure, of good ideas and bad. Ideas that fit like a glove and others that leave us wondering where tf that even came from and why we bothered to put money and time into it. This is the deflating part. We look at ourselves and see if it makes sense to us, then if it’s supply chain possible, financially viable, and if customers will even get it (while this means a lot, we have to push the envelope regardless, it’s just how we work), and what we’re adding to the conversation (see last post). I can’t tell you how many ideas we’ve had, tried, and even some executed, that were total or partial flops and failures. Unfortunately, our previous lunch menu just no longer works through those filters given the circumstances.

So tomorrow, May 4th, we’re launching a few new sandwiches, and lunch bowls, and extending hours just a bit, so that it makes sense. Served between 10 & 3pm, daily. These will be vegan, veggie, and omnivore friendly. All hearty af, and in our opinion, a serious step up for “coffee shop food”. We’re not talking panini’s and tossed clamshell-packaged salads, but rather slow cooked meats, jammy eggs, grains, house sauces (keep an eye out for retail jars, wink wink), and farmers market greens. Stuff inspired by the sun & sea, our honeymoon in spain, and our neighborhood itself.

In addition to that, we’re going to bring back the Tahoe Gold. This was one of our spring drinks we made a few years ago. It was a house made orange & rosemary cappuccino served on ice. We’ve reengineered it to be a cold brew & oat milk based drink, available in 32oz custom growlers. Made to share. Take it to the park with a couple of cups of ice, and have yourself a proper spring afternoon. We’ve also added a spin on the wellness tonic, calling it SUN JUICE. A healthy portion of coconut water, ginger, turmeric, ginger, pepper & honey. Will make you feel ALIVE. Also served in a growler, and made to share or drink over a few sittings.

This has been a weird little season between spring and summer that none of us expected, but we’re making the best of it, and having a damn fun time doing so. While so much of what we do as a shop revolves around paying the bills & making some sort of living, even more of it revolves around what is fulfilling for us, and what is nourishing to those pulling up a chair to our table.

hope to serve you soon,
Will Remsbottom