It's been A Year... and there's no community we'd rather have done it with than this one. :) Here are a few of the milestones from around this time last year...
Feb 29, 2020: Our birthday party.
Muddy's "birthday" is on Leap Day (we opened Feb 29, 2008) so every four years we get a birthday party. For our "third" bday, we had a special challenge/activity at all three locations and anyone who completed all three was entered in a raffle where we gave away 12 prizes- one for every year in business. At the Sanderlin shop you wrote your favorite baked treat on a construction paper slip, which we used to create a garland. At Midtown, we provided postcards and you could write a note to someone you're thankful for and a few days later we mailed them all-- over 150! And at the Kitchen, you got your photo taken with a chalkboard sign on which you were invited to write a "big leap" you took... a time you felt brave.
I can't tell you how many times through the next year I would draw strength from these photos. Over 100 reminders of how resilient, courageous, and awesome Our People are.
March 12, 2020: And it begins...
Posted a health & safety plan outlining steps we were taking immediately in response to the new threat of Covid-19 as well as a variety of contingency plans. It evolved (as further posts illustrate), but I'm still extraordinarily proud of it-- and my team who helped create it. There were so many unknowns, but we were all 100% in alignment that the health & safety of our community is more important than the financial health- or even existence- of the business.
Side note: I firmly believe that because we addressed that head on and early on, we were able to make decisions over the following months with speed & clarity. And because everyone on the team was already accustomed to using our guiding values, mission, and vision to make small daily decisions, when it came time to make big decisions in a time of uncertainty, we were ready. (want to learn more about visioning? take our class!)
March 16: Things escalate fast.
Closed the Midtown shop and transitioned that team to the Kitchen HQ for curbside service. Adjusted hours & menu. Increased the number of chicken pot pies we made each day as that item skyrocketed in popularity (and has held its own ever since!).
April 1: Our "last dance".
Emergency orders, stay at home, everything in flux... We decided the right thing to do was close down entirely for an unknown period of time. As a team, we wrote a vision of what "success" would look & feel like for our last day and I'm proud to say we pretty much nailed it. Read Jennifer Biggs's lovely article about it here.
April 16: Fun House
Our mission is to love & serve our community and in the absence of an operating shop, we created videos that families could bake-a-long to. Episodes were released weekly all summer and often included craft projects and interviews with inspiring people in our community in addition to the bakes. All are still available on our blog.
April 22: Mini Grocery
With many groceries still difficult to find, we opened up our kitchen location and worked with Sysco to stock some pantry staples for customers. We ran these Wednesday "mini markets" for a couple of months.
June 26: Restart
We shared a plan for reopening in stages and began Stage 1 with a re-orientation of the returning team. We got on the same page with new expectations, health guidelines, and more. We approached as launching a "new" business and agreed to be open to evolving, adjusting, and trying some new things in service of our community, our customers, and ourselves.
And it took off from there!
Since then we've made a lot of changes, but the heart & soul remains the same. Muddy's exists to love and serve our community. To be a place where kindness is contagious, hospitality is legendary, and every bite you eat is outrageously delicious. To be a place where every person matters and we use our powers for good. A place you can't wait to visit again- an experience you're proud to share. ... and we have PLANS for some serious fun coming up.
We are insanely proud to serve you. We love what we do, the people we do it with, and the people we do it for. We have LOVED sharing the behind the scenes by opening up our kitchen. We love taking our show on the road in our elderly-but-awesome treat truck. We love knowing we're in this thing together with the most incredible community ever. We love YOU!
Thanks for being you. We love you and we're SO excited about everything to come. xoxo.
