Frankly Speaking: We’re running out of money. What do we do?

Well. Here we are, nearly a year since that For Lease sign was placed in the window of the old butcher shop. 

Here’s the gist: we’ve had delays due to an objection to our planning permit from a disgruntled neighbour, delays due to Christmas and New Years, delays due to our council contact taking a month of annual leave. And that’s only from the last two months. 

But rent? Rent doesn’t stop. 

And so we find ourselves in a very quiet January, bills piling up.

We need to do something. Not just for money, but something to reinvigorate us. Something to remind us why we are on this journey. A way to connect with our community. 

And so, we decided to hold a pop-up. 

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, we settled on a campaign centred around spreading some local love. 

Here’s how it’s going to work — we’ll put together something we can make ourselves, in this case, grazing boxes. Simple, appealing, and a chance to maximise our profit margin. There’s also an option for customers to add on drinks. 

Then, we needed something more to sweeten the deal. I had a strong urge to partner with another established brand to bring something new and exciting to the neighbourhood. To show the community that we have big, delicious plans ahead.

Through various discussions, we’ve been able to partner up for the pop-up with the kings of cannoli, T Cavallaro & Sons. The business has been slinging Sicilian sweets in Footscray since 1956, with recipes handed down through generations. This is a huge deal for it to do us this favour as they famously do not stray far from the west.

We felt that this was a prime choice for our first pop-up as it aligns with so many of our own brand’s values: family-run, respectful to history, a passion for cooking with care and using local ingredients. Not to mention the Mediterranean connection, which will guide much of what we do at Two Franks. And who doesn’t love cannoli?

With the grazing boxes, we were drawing on our strengths. My sister Angie had launched a rising events and styling business before the pandemic hit and had spent many months connecting with suppliers, sourcing produce and learning the ins and outs of grazing catering. 

While it seems all this amounted to nothing when she had to close the events business during COVID-19 and pivot, it is very much a case of sometimes things fall apart so other things can come together.

We tapped another family member on the shoulder and asked if we could use their commercial kitchen in the mornings when they won’t be there to put our online orders together, and they said yes.

I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: they say it takes a village to raise a family, but it takes a village to raise a family business, too. 

We did some sample boxes, bought some cannoli. I did a quick little photo shoot, tidied up the website and we were off and racing.

Within 36 hours from launch we are ticking over to nearly 50 orders, all from hyperlocal residents in our cafe catchment area.

Unsure whether we would make many sales at all and seeing these numbers, I quickly decided to broaden the offering. Messaging our coffee supplier (currently in Colombia on a coffee-sourcing mission) we arranged to sell coffee beans for the pop-up.

“A pop-up is a fabulous idea,” he tells me from the other side of the world, cheering me on. 

The cafe itself is still a bit of a shell and we’ve got less than two weeks before the pop-up to get as much done as we can. 

Sitting in a big box at the shop is a huge, brand-new fridge we got last year through the Victorian Government’s Energy Upgrades For Businesses Program.

We’ll wheel it to the door, fill it with grazing boxes, cover the long table with cannoli orders and coffee boxes, pop some local flowers in a vase.

On the day, we’ll set up our Square tap-and-go register and sell anything pre-packaged we can. 

During the first two days of the campaign, we saw a huge peak in website visits and orders. I’m expecting it to quieten down now and then with a last promotional push a few days before order cut-off, there should be a second smaller peak with a final flurry of orders. 

Either way, the cannolis have sold out and the online orders have already exceeded our expectations. We feel seen, supported and spurred on to succeed. 

Next, onto the fun part of this challenge — delivering our first in-person B2C experience as Two Franks, a mere 13 sleeps away.

Chryssie Swarbrick is a writer, small-business-juggler and mum of two. She is currently documenting her adventures in opening a cafe, Two Franks, opposite her childhood home.