Posted on December 26, 2007 by loveisdope
The owner of Le Perle Noir (corner of Lenox and 131st) has the below message for U.F. readers. This is from the other post on this cafe/bakery, but I thought I’d give it its own post. If you run by there, be sure to tell us about your visit.
Hi all,
I am the owner of La Perle Noire. A friend just pointed out there was this other thread here about our hours…the hours that were on the door during construction was for the previous tenant “M&T” bank. Our hours are 7:30am to 7pm. As our clientèle extends we expect our hours will as well. For sure, we will have longer summer hours. Please know that we live and now work here so hopefully that means a slight insight into the community’s needs and wants. Check out our site http://www.laperlenoirebakery.com for our vision.
Anyway, thank you for your comments. We welcome them, read them and respond as quickly as we can. For sure we won’t be able to please everybody but hopefully for those who are willing to share in our journey, it will be a fun and interesting ride.
Johnny
PS We made a choice to have our product and particularly our coffee drinks made by a human being which means it’ll have the human imperfection. So if you’re looking for that exact same machine-made cup’o java which removes that thing that is “us” then La Perle is probably not for you. Our hope is to be a neighborhood spot with all that it entails.
I agree, too many Harlem businesses open when they are not ready. People moving to Harlem want/demand customer service. Opening when it is convenient for the business owner does not make sound business sense. You must cater to your customer needs.
People get turned off by businesses when they open and are not prepared to deal with customers or don’t have the items in stock – Purple Reign…opening with limited items and no cavier which was suppose to be their niche.
Best of luck!
4, poor way to start, run, a business. “if he staffs it and is open, they will come”. i normally charge for my services (consultant), he’s a freebie for the guy.
you are in the business of changing people’s patterns & habits. i have a habit, a pattern of spending $4.75 @ starbucks 5 times a week at 7:00am. i will be walking buy your business every day @ 6:55am, a place i would prefer to cater and support rather than that damn starbuck$, yet spending basically $5 @ starbucks. i am your ideal premier customer. 1) you can bank on me spending $5/day and 2) i won’t lounge around with a computer or chess board taking up seating another customer might enjoy. i am the commuter customer and require minimal investment. i won’t make your limited floorspace my personal office and second home. the prime target for this business is me, but you have to be prepared and know my patterns, it cuts both ways.
le perle noir will go the way of Purple Reign & Emperor’s Roe (out of business) if it fails to understand and know it’s customer. a business like this opening at 8am is a fundamental lack of understanding your customer. this business would be better off opening early and closing at 10am after the morning commuter business. this is simple simon 101 stuff. one need not look any further than the coffee carts on 3 corners of 135th and lenox, all open, serving customers and making money starting at 6:00am latest! you gotta hustle, please reconsider your operations, i would love to spend my money with perle noir and not starbucks and keep at least 1 black owned and operated business around for more than a flash (in the pan). good luck
In an earlier post Johnny had mentioned that these hours would be temporary. While I agree that the times are a bit impractical, he did say that until he secured the proper staffing and gauged the public’s reception of the new business, etc these would be the hours. I guess I’ll have to stop by during lunch for now.
Their hours are a major problem. In fact the days they are open coupled with their hours = disaster. Opening at 8am? Closing at 4pm? Nuts! Their market is going to work early, and coming home after 5pm. The place needs to be open at 6am like Starbucks on 125th, and close when the working class is coming home off the Subway, seems obvious and makes sense in my opinion. Plain as day.
Take a look at their hours of operation and they simply don’t allow us working folks to spend out money at their business, why? They are closed! It’s nuts!
It’s on Lenox and 131st, I believe. I’ll put that in the post.
where are you located?
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I wanted to let you know we “unofficially” opened our door last Monday. What is “unofficially” you ask? Great question…it means we basically have a short menu serving only breads, bagels, muffins, pastries and coffees. We want to get things right and get our ducks in order before expanding to the full menu. We expect to have an official grand opening some time in mid-January.
You will be the judges and though we won’t please everybody, we hope you’ll let us know how to make our little spot truly the “Black Pearl.”This is a work in progress but we are proud of our little slice of Harlem and we hope you’ll be too.
Johnny