As a small business owner, Jim* knew exactly what he was losing in revenue the days it rained on his patio.
And the months during the winter when it was too cold.
And when the wind blew too hard.
And when it was humid or the mosquitos swarmed.
Every night as he closed up the restaurant, he checked the weather. It was a ritual that seemingly took very little time. If the weather appears to be favorable, he crosses his fingers and leaves the patio furniture near the exit doors for the morning staff; he doesn’t have a way to lock up his furniture overnight. If the weather forecast mentions anything less than ideal, he telephones his ”patio staff” to tell them they probably wouldn’t need to come in as he moves the outdoor furniture to a more out-of-the-way part of his restaurant.
Early every morning over a cup of coffee, Jim is on his computer checking the forecast again to finalize the restaurant’s daily plans. There is an 11% chance of rain around 1 PM and back down to 1% at 2 PM and 0% the rest of the day. Jim verifies that he has enough staff scheduled to keep his patio open all day. Logistically the restaurant is covered and Jim hopes the 11% doesn’t amass to showers.
The early afternoon starts out as Jim’s popular restaurant fills up inside and outside. Business meetings, friends catching up over lunch, families out enjoying the day. And the 11% chance of rain becomes 100% as fat drops of water fall from the grey clouds. Jim and his staff try to find places to seat the patio patrons but it’s the restaurant’s busy lunch hour and most guests put their food in take out containers (available just for this type of unfortunate occasion) and leave the restaurant slightly miffed.
To avoid this type of circumstance, Jim buys a plastic tent to offer rain covering. He dresses it up with lights and adds greenery to make it feel outdoors even when the sides are drawn down. It’s still a tent and, although not a huge change, he notices a decrease in patio patrons.
A friend tells Jim about a new company that has a solution for his problem: they build retractable walls and roof and the retractable building is aesthetically pleasing to boot.
Two years later, Jim’s restaurant business is flourishing and his avant-garde patio structure is a showcase for other restaurant owners who are experiencing the same struggles he dealt with years earlier. He tells them how the retractable structure ended his constant weather checking and his fluctuations from summer revenue to winter revenue. He no longer has auxiliary staff for his patio and doesn’t have to shoo people inside or turn people away at the door. He leaves his patio wide open on most days during the summer and every night his furniture is safe behind locked walls. His staff is more content, possibly from the extra vitamin D they get while serving patrons on the patio during the winter months.
Before Jim purchased the retractable patio structure, his biggest concern was the price of the structure. He didn’t know if covering his patio was truly worth the value of the retractable structure. Looking back, Jim acknowledges the truth in his concern: back then his restaurant was on shaky ground because the patio couldn’t support itself. Now, with the daily patio revenue, Jim has paid for his patio in under 2 years with the additional, consistent revenue from his patio.
One day, a few weeks after his Cabreeze™ was installed, Jim told Kent, founder of Cabrio Structures, he expected his restaurant friends would be buying a Cabreeze just because of how successful he predicted his structure to be judging by how it was received in the first two weeks. Kent asked Jim what he’d like to receive in return for all his referrals, but Jim shook his head and said, ”Kent, my restaurant is going to make so much more money. I don’t need anything.”
*Jim is a collaboration of a half dozen Cabreeze™ owners, as their testimony.