Today we’d like to introduce you to Laura Soncrant.
Laura, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I started my business on what would have been my dads 59th birthday as a way to celebrate and apply all the valuable lessons he had taught me over the years. In fact, our legal name, Sweet Attila’s – a bake shop is based on one of these lessons. While living in the Lake Tahoe area in California I was Director of Operations for an interior design firm. I had one individual who did not like that I required him to show up to work each day and do the basic job requirements. For this, he gave me a hard time.
After a few months of trying to figure out how best to approach this matter, I talked to my dad about the issue. He said the way he saw it was this person saw me as Attila the Hun for making him do his job yet I was a honey bunny at heart and was having a hard time being stern. My dad’s advice was to combine the two and be a true leader by being firm in my need for him to come to work and do his job yet do it in a way that was true to myself. By visualizing sweet Attila the honey bunny I was able to be much more effective at my job and it is a manner of leadership I still apply to this day.
Within a week of this advice, I rescued two pet rabbits from The Nevada Humane Society and named one Attila the Honey Bunny and the other Deputy Kallie. One rabbit became the namesake to the parent company Sweet Attila’s a bake shop and the other, Deputy Kallie, was our very own growling rabbit and became the inspiration for the restaurant DBA name. Each day I run my company asking myself how would my dad solve today’s problem. So far it’s a model for problem-solving and business growth that has served me well.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I have found working capital and cash flow has been by far the biggest challenge of running my business to date. When I started Sweet Attila’s I worked out of a commercial kitchen in an effort to vet my idea with less overhead and initial start-up capital needed. Within a year I had outgrown this setup and had started looking for my own space. What I found was bigger than I needed but the landlord was willing to provide it in turn-key condition.
With a space secured, I opened my original location summer 2011 on what some may call a shoestring budget. I did not use credit cards my first 5 years in business and purchased only what I could pay for as I did not want to implode under the weight of debt. With this, I had to cut on marketing and advertising and rely only on word of mouth. I had to build a menu slowly over time and with lots of input from my customers because I could not afford to purchase ingredients unless I was certain customers would purchase the dish. I had to cut back on staffing and cover shifts by myself as I did not want to run into issues with covering payroll.
Every time I went to a bank in an effort to secure a loan I was told the following statistic. In the first year 50% of all restaurants will fail and by the end of the year, two of those another 50% will fail. That leaves 25% surviving to the end of year two. To be sure I understood the reality of their choice not to lend they added that only 5% make it to the end of year 5. With this, the business had to run in such a way that it was self-sustaining. At the end of year 5, we had outgrown our original location and had secured a few small loans and grants in an effort to build out a new bigger location.
Today in our bigger location cash flow is as big an issue as always. I still do not spend on advertising, I still cover shifts, and I still only purchase what I can pay for. I look forward to summer each year when business picks up and I can squirrel away a small bit of cash for the winter months. While a lack of cash flow makes for a bit of stress I do enjoy looking at my P&L in an effort to analyze every aspect of my spending habits. It keeps me on my toes and it forces me to run my business in as wise and as smart a manner as possible.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with The Growling Rabbit – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
It was obvious when deciding to open a business within an industry with a 5-year 5% success rate in a city with enough restaurants to feed a small nation one will only be a part of the 5% if they know their audience and do something to set themselves apart in the sea of competition. I felt as if I had a small advantage over fellow restaurant owners as I opened my doors with zero preconceived ideas on how a restaurant should be run because I had never worked a day in my life within the restaurant industry.
I also opened my doors as a new mom with my three-month-old son, now almost 7 years old, by my side. I did not come to the table with a bunch of bad habits and preconceived ideas. I was able to be open-minded to customer suggestions and figure out the best way to accommodate their suggestions on our menu with what equipment we had available. Because I was learning how to be a mom, a boss, and a restaurateur all at the same time so I was incredibly open mined. I did not have a pre-set notion of how things should be done or that something was wrong because it had always been done a different way.
I set The Growling Rabbit apart by doing things the way that worked best for our customers in the space we had available. Because of this, our customers noticed the food tasted good because it was made with love. They also noted it was food they had suggested, and an immediate sense of buy-in and ownership was established. We created a menu that offered comfort food made from scratch, food that reminded customers of their grandma or aunt or mom or a trip or a positive experience.
By creating positive connections customers came back and brought their mom or their grandma or their friend so they could try the dish named after them. Our food stands out in a sea of other options because our food is honest, flavorful and memorable.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
With our one-year anniversary in our bigger location coming up at the end of January I am not looking to make any big changes anytime soon. We are still working on educating our customers that we are open for and serve supper at The Growling Rabbit. Since we had been known as just a brunch place before this has been a real challenge over the year.
With this, we are still teaching customers about our full bar that was not available when we first opened but is now available. I would also like to work to utilize our new space to its fullest potential by offering customers the option to rent the space for special events like baby showers or bridal lunches. While we have done some catering, I would like to be able to expand our catering menu and opportunities.
Contact Info:
- Address: 5938 N. Broadway Chicago, IL 60660
- Website: www.thegrowlingrabbit.com
- Phone: 773-654-1444
- Email: laura@growlingrabbit.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officialgrowlingrabbit/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/growlingrabbit/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/GrowlingRabbit
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-growling-rabbit-chicago-2
Image Credit:
Emily Cooper
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