News
April 26, 2007 Location update: Over the past three weeks we have found a number of great sites for The Flying V Diner. Suddenly this idea that's been floating around for so long seems very real and very imminent. The locations we are looking at are on North Capitol Street near the New York Avenue Metro and U Street between Adams-Morgan and 7th Street. One intriguing possibility is to lease an empty lot and buy a prefrabricated diner, a "silver twinkie." Stranger things have happened. If one of these locations works out we will sign a lease in the next three weeks, so keep an eye on the web site and look out for a big announcement on our e-mailing list. I hope that you're as excited as we are!
March 18, 2007: Updated the entire web site. Enjoy!
Feb. 5, 2007: Exciting times here at planning central for The Flying V Diner. We started looking at commercial rental spaces, partly to get a sense of what's out there, partly to learn the commercial leasing game, and just a little bit in hopes of finding a knockout space. Doing this gives us a chance to play our business plan and strategy off of the realities that we'll face. We decided to scale back conditional on the space we lease... no 24 hours unless our location can support it, etc. It's like a research paper or a mix tape or some other project - you obsess over it for a month, then you take a break, and when you come back you have so many ideas drawn from other people, other experiences, and random daydreams that make the final result much better than the original draft. Now we have to keep our momentum while documenting our revised vision in our business plan and on this web site, so stay tuned for more changes!
Jan. 25, 2007: There it is, at the top of the page, our logo! I wish I had the energy to say more right now, but then again we have decided to reformulate what exactly we are doing. Over the next two weeks we have to take our original (and ambitious) plan and revise it so that we can open, be successful, and eventually expand. We call it the "Sticky Fingers" strategy, based on the D.C. vegan bakery of the same name. We're still committed to being all vegan, but real estate price may move us out of downtown, and we'll probably cut back our hours. It's all about balancing risk and ability, since our goal is to become a D.C. institution, not a flash in the pan.
Jan. 11, 2007: Expect some changes here in the near future. We have a new logo, and we might change the color scheme on the site to make it fit. We're also changing our menu around. Instead of one huge menu, we're going to have 10-15 dishes available daily (not including sides), supplemented by daily and weekly specials. This will give us a chance to stretch our vegan cooking skills and to manage resources. Be on the lookout for our new logo sometime next week.
Nov. 7, 2006: Aye Carumba! We have been ridiculously negligent, leaving you wondering what is happening to the Flying V Diner. You can relax, we are working hard and are still 1000% dedicated to this project. Unfortunately our other lives keep getting in the way. From our multiple jobs to unreliable computers (don't get me started on Compaq/HP), the web site has fallen to the wayside. We'll try harder, promise, that is if the replacement laptop works. We're shifting from planning towards action, sort of. We still have to raise money, but we have a FEIN and are starting to test and perfect recipes. Wish us luck, and we'll talk to you again soon!
Sept. 19, 2006: I like how the last update started with me saying that we try to update the news once a week, then we're silent for almost two months. We are working hard though, too hard to update this regularly. All three of us are working two jobs right now, one to live off of and one to gain experience for the diner. That adds up to not a lot of free time to balance between work on the Flying V and all the other things we have to do (cleaning, eating, and occassionally sleeping). So, an update on our progress is in order. First and most importantly is our work raising the financing we need to make the Flying V happen. We have about $70,000 so far, a nice chunk of change but only a fifth or what we need. Second, we've made some very important contacts in terms of people with restaurant and business experience who are willing to help us make the Flying V a reality. Third, we've been gaining experience and learning and doing what we can to make everything work well... ensuring a success in the short and long term. Right now I'm too tired to let you know about the next steps, but I'll let you know in the next update. If you're ever worried that something happened to the Flying V or that we gave up, rest assured we haven't... and if you are really worried you can always e-mail us at diner@dcvegandiner.com
July 27, 2006: We try to update the news section weekly, and we spend most of our free time working on the Flying V. But we each have a 40 hour job that pays the bills, and we each work part time in the restaurant industry in order to gain experience. So sometimes we fall behind on the Flying V. The updates, meetings, and e-mails being set this week should have happened two weeks ago. Then again, we have these considerations built into our timeline, so no worries. Later today we'll send out our first mass e-mail. You can sign up on the home page, and we plan to use the list for a once a month update. This month you can read about new information for investors and about a cooking class we're teaching (for free) this weekend. Of course, you can always e-mail us with any questions or just to find out what's up. diner@dcvegandiner.com
July 13, 2006: It's been a busy few weeks since the last update. We posted a couple ads looking for a kitchen manager and ended up generating plenty of buzz. At the peak, the Washington Post contacted us and we received a mention in a couple blogs including dcist.com. I don't know why wonkette.com ignored us, I mean who's going to feed all the legislative aides when the House leaves votes open until 3AM? Anyways, we interviewed four great candidates for the position and we plan to introduce you to our new kitchen manager by the end of the month.
June 16, 2006: As promised, here is Rudy's introduction, as written by Rudy (so take it with a grain of salt): "Rudy graduated from the University of Maryland with a degree in Philosophy and Molecular Biology in May of 2005. He first heard of the Flying V through friends of Sasha and became interested in the project because he had his own long-term goal of opening a vegan restaurant. After a stint at the NIH studying malaria, Rudy decided that science was not for him and the opportunity to contribute to the Flying V project was too important to give up. He has postponed graduate school enlightenment so that he can work the trenches alongside Karla and Sasha in making this dream come true."
June 16, 2006: We're moving along with the planning and team building. Rudy has joined us, and he will introduce himself next week. Currently, we're seeking the fourth and possibly final member of the management team, someone with professional culinary experience to help shape and manage the kitchen. If you are interested or know someone who might be, please e-mail diner@dcvegandiner.com and let us know. Also, we now have a MySpace page at www.myspace.com/theflyingvdiner
June 6, 2006: Please welcome Karla to the Flying V Diner. Karla is a journalism major at the University of Maryland, but her passion is the vegan diner. She first heard of the Flying V after presenting her idea for a vegan diner at the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurs at UMD. Unlike some journalists, Karla chose not to plagarize the Flying V business plans. Instead she joined us and will play an integral role as we transform the Flying V from a simple idea into a successful restaurant.
May 31, 2006: We have a name. It's official, this is the website for THE FLYING V, a 24-hour vegetarian diner. Keep in mind that just because it says vegetarian doesn't mean it won't be all vegan. I finished school about a week ago, so now I can turn my attention to the Diner Project in earnest. In the next few weeks we will introduce team members, add some photos to the menu, and begin our fundraising campaign. We estimate start-up costs to be $350,000, which is less than a decent one-bedroom condo in this town.
April 15, 2006: As you can see we skipped directly to version 3 of the website. Otherwise we're still in research mode. We submitted our incorporation forms to the DC gov, so expect a name announcement once it's official. The business plan is evolving, and we have a rough estimate of a start-up budget. Also new leads on locations, and on equipment and supplies. We keep saying that action will pick up next month, and this time we're serious. By the middle of May our previous obligations will be fulfilled and we can spend all day, every day cooking and scheming and promoting.
March 13, 2006: Version 2 of the website is now live, and you're looking at it. We've also started the process of registering our name and of becoming a formal LLC. Unfortunately the outside world is intruding on our restaurant-planning and vegan-eating paradise, but the action should heat up in April.