28 October 2005

That week was a whirlwind. I received a call around the 21st notifying me that upon completion of my Officer Basic Course (OBC) I would be mobilized to Iraq (of course it later changed to Afghanistan). While I always knew that call would likely come, I didn’t think it would come then. There couldn’t be a worse time for it with everything else going on. Amy, the kids and I returned from Ft. Jackson on the 27th where I left my truck and most of the stuff I would need for OBC.

Debt was the only thing I thought about for over a month. I owed Tim, my general contractor, $57,600 from cost overruns in the initial construction. I owed US Foods over $24,000; about $12,000 of that for our start up order that was due 18 September. I owed Feller’s Fixtures over $15,000 for equipment, and I owed Cardinal Business Systems nearly $23,000 for my camera and point of sale system. These four debts were all due in full and had been pressuring me very heavy for a solution.

The solution I was working for the entire month of October was to get an additional $40,000 from the SBA to pay Tim most of what I owed and then get an equipment lease company to pick up about $39,000 to satisfy two of the other three. On the 21st, things were looking good. I had received an approval for the lease pending receipt of my balance sheet. By the 26th, everything was falling apart. One line on my balance sheet had scared everyone; payroll taxes payable $21,172.

On the 26th while I was at Ft. Jackson playing with the kids on the playground I received a call from Karen, my banker. She told me that she had argued all she could on my behalf concerning financing the cost overruns up to $40,000; however, the board and the SBA could not overlook the payroll taxes payable. They felt I was too far behind and that I should consider liquidation. When Karen said those words, my heart sank. I shut my cell phone off for the first time in months and disconnected from the world; later that night I did check my email only to discover that my lease had been disapproved due to the payroll taxes payable.

I kept my phone turned off throughout most of the day on the 27th until we arrived at O’Hare Airport on our way back to Springfield. We had about a three hour layover, so I turned it back on to discover over 30 voice messages. One of the messages was from Brad Eldridge, a friend of my General Manager, Brad Moncado. Brad Eldridge had been privately shopping the Lazy Susan for a buyer, and a guy by the name of Agim Zendeli had made an offer. Those of you from the Springfield area would recognize Agim as the owner and developer of Ziggie’s Cafe. He had offered to pay $75,000 for the place and take over the lease. I called Brad right away and told him I was looking for closer to $350,000 but to have him make another offer. After I got off the phone, I was immediately back in the game.

Of course one of my other messages was from Brad Moncado. Nixa Utilities had dropped off a termination of service notice; we had to pay $1,675.67 by 4:30 PM on the 28th or our electricity would be shut off which would make it difficult to remain open. I called him and let him know I would drop a check by for them to deliver later that night.

I woke up early the morning of the 28th; I had lots going on. I had to get ready for the range I was running for the Criminal Justice Association conference that Evangel was hosting. I also had several emails to respond to. Tim wanted a copy of my business plan and my current balance sheet after I told him we were denied on our loan, I had an email from a customer who loved our decor yet hated our food, and I had to get photos of our equipment to Agim.

The rest of the day flew by and that night I headed down to the Lazy Susan after everyone had left. I needed to pick up the deposit. When I sat down and looked at the numbers I just started shaking in fear. Sales for the day were $1,676.30 and labor was at 23%; 5% too high! I needed at least another $1,000 in sales for a Friday night, but it just wasn’t there. After the deposit was added in and the check to Nixa Utilities and payroll was taken out my balance in QuickBooks was -$8,669.06. I was going to need a good weekend, and it didn’t start out on the right track.

The Last Days of the Lazy Susan 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10