CLOSED on Mondays

"YOU'RE CLOSED ON MONDAY?"

Yes, people were surprised to hear that we would be closed on Mondays. The response to our restaurant this week was completely overwhelming. I shouldn't be surprised because we always knew that we would be a hit. During the construction phase and even as we were close to opening our doors for the first time, people would ask, "How are you going to market yourselves? Will you hand out flyers? Advertise in the papers? Will you have a grand opening? Are you going to put a sign up?" (FYI: other than a few pieces of paper in the window which spell out B-O-G-O-T-A, the restaurant does not have a sign.)

The answer was, "No. We don't feel we need to. People are going to come." I could see the skepticism in a few of their eyes but we were confident of it. Our plan was to simply and quietly open up our doors on July 5th (the date that George's Chinese accupuncturist recommended) and to let people start strolling in little by little so as to grow the business and iron our the wrinkles methodically during the course of the first few months.

I suppose God had other plans. Opening night we had 103 customers walk through our doors to enjoy the Bogota experience. Saturday night we had 247. People dig what we've created. I am especially pleased by the response from the latino community thus far and mind you, we've barely tapped into the market. This coming Wednesday's section in the latino section of the New York Post should begin to change that.

So, yes. We are closed on Mondays. Another big reason we're closed today? To give my cooks a day off. They worked very, very hard this week. A big part of our success this week is attributed to their hard work and until we expand and hire more people, I don't want to over tax them. Last night, a cook turned to me before leaving and said, "You're a very good boss. Thank you."

It's been an exciting first week. I also owe a big note of thanks to JJ Goode from Time Out New York. The mention of Bogota Latin Bistro in this weeks Time Out brought in a LOT of customers.