What a great day that was yesterday! Thanks to our customers for making it a happy and busy day. We were full throughout the day – always a good thing for a restaurant. We gave away prizes, unveiled our gift baskets and new merchandise. Our quiche special was highly popular as were the petite pumpkin scones. We saw many friends, some who have been visiting us for all of our 12 years. I personally had the opportunity to see people I had not seen in a long while including some of my friends from NYNEX/Verizon where I worked many years ago. We collected food items as well as monetary donations for the Community Food Pantry and 
look forward to handing over our joint contributions to them next week. Thanks for making our special day so much fun. Enjoy the pictures – our customers and staff, all having a good time.
Highlights of our 12th Anniversary
Coming attractions – Tea Accessories
Here are a couple of items to whet your appetite for this coming Saturday’s attractions. The Teatime Infuser Mug comes with its own matching Canister and we’re going to add a package of tea. The floral tea set is a beautiful china mug with lid and a sugar and creamer on a tray. The sugar bowl even has its own spoon. Aren’t they beautiful? Our back office is now busy making all the packages for you. They will be unveiled on Saturday, Nov. 12.
Digital Signage
You will be seeing something new in the next few weeks at the Tea Room – digital signage. What is this? A flat-screen TV hoisted high which will display information we think is of interest to you, the most obvious of which will be Specials. We’ve always struggled with how to communicate information to all our customers and have sometimes not offered new things because it was difficult to get the message out on time in a consistent way. Not anymore. Now if we have a special dessert or quiche to offer for a limited period, we can do so efficiently. As the holiday season approcahes and our tea merchandise arrives, we can tailor prices and packages as they move on and off our shelves. We can offer discounts on products we stocked up on or offer 1-day or weekend specials on popular gift items such as Samplers and Tea-of-theMonth subscriptions.
In addition to our own content, the system provider offers general-interest information such as Quotes, Jokes, Weather & News. Rest assured, we will never carry sports scores! And this is all signage, no sound so it will not interrupt your conversations. We think it will allow us much greater flexibility to get our messsage out to you and free up our servers to do what they do best – make your visit memorable.
Community Giving – Nov. 12
As mentioned in my last blog, here are more details of our plans for November 12, which is both our 12th Anniversary and Customer Appreciation Day. A chief focus of this day is our plan to donate 10% of proceeds to the Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow Community Food Pantry.
The Food Pantry is located in the basement of the Christ Church parish hall (at the corner of Elizabeth and John Streets) and is very much a community effort. Volunteers come from the various churches in the area, temple, YMCA Kids’ Club and regular residents who want to share their time and resources. Last month alone, the pantry served 140 families. The first Thursday of every month, guests come and receive food of their choice from the pantry. This is not a pre-packaged bag of food but items each family can choose based on the number of people in their family. On the 3rd Thursday, fresh fruit and vegetables are distributed. The Food Pantry recently received a grant that will allow them to purchase chicken, meat and milk for distribution. In addition to distributing food to those who are able to come to the Pantry, they have now begun to deliver to homebound residents who benefit from the supplemental food.
Our effort on November 12 will be to give 10% of the day’s proceeds, have a donation canister near the cash register for those who wish to donate and to encourage our customers to bring unopened packaged and canned food goods which we will deliver to the Pantry on their behalf. Pantry donations can include beans, rice, tuna, cereal, pasta…..it is put to good use. Monetary donations allow the Pantry to purchase food at very low cost from the Food Bank for Westchester. For those who wish to write a check, they should be made out to “Community Food Pantry”. We can deliver them for you or you may mail direct to 43 South Broadway, c/o Christ Church, Tarrytown, NY 10591. In this season of giving thanks and sharing, please open your hearts, wallets and pantries to our community.
Customer Appreciation Day – November 12
On this crazy snowy day in October, forced to be indoors, I am putting the final touches on plans for Saturday, November 12th – our 11th Anniversary. This year it will be Customer Appreciation Day. Although we will be celebrating our eleven years in quirky ways (there may be a quiz with 11 questions!) – the focus of our day will be on our Customers and the many ways we can make their day special. Visit us that day and you will experience several small and not-so-small pleasures:
- Menu Specials, of course, including Pumpkin Scones at a special price
- New Teapots and other accessories on Sale
- Tea-of-the Month subscriptions at a discount
- $15 Gift Certificates for $11 (to celebrate our 11th year)
- Iced Tea Pitchers for $4 (1-day only)
- Silver Tips promotional giveaways
- Prizes and Gifts for no reason!
We will be donating 10% of proceeds from that day to the Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow Community Food Pantry which has seen a lot of activity in the past year with more families in need. We will put out a donation jar to allow our customers to contribute if they so wish and we’re working with the Food Pantry to see if we can ask customers to bring canned food or other items to the Tea Room that day. I will post another blog in a day or so on what the Food Pantry does and details on how to contribute.