RIP Vinum, Home of Tacoma's best breakfast burrito. :-(

I agree Megan. The burrito was tasty. I will miss this place.

The Minoela Wine Bar up by the Grand Cinema has a great menu- so we still have that....

Time to walk to the Villa Cafe (or drive) on Market----these folks are investing real dollars on the rest of us and so far the guests are saying " very good !!":

Lets stop being half ass when we open a business. I hope Minoela is doing great but why when you search "Minoela Tacoma" my blog is the first result? No address, no website, no facebook. That is half ass. Went to a movie once at the Grand (on a Sunday!) and everyone was hungry and Minoela was closed! Vinum.. Spoke with them about marketing but they didn't get back to me after I showed up for a meeting and they couldn't meet because they had to run to the store. You build it, they will not come. You have to engage people, you have to make press, you have to update your freaking listing on restaurant/business websites! 1 or 2 write-ups in a local paper isn't going to do it! Bayview (Laura's?) you are next! seriously I don't get it... Are we in 1995 or 2010?

Jake: So true. Tried to get Vinum interested in several events promotions and never heard back.

Rest of the Tacoma universe: Google local listings are free! Why do you not have one? No good reason. Nope, I don't want to hear it, you don't have a good reason. It is 2010. If I google xbusiness Tacoma my blog should not be the first thing that shows up! (or this one for that matter) that's because YOUR listing should be at the top of the page, with a handy dandy map. You could make that happen today right now. Do it. Google.com/local

Facebook pages are also free. Villa Cafe has one and they are constantly reminding me of their existence which is why I went there this week.

Advertising locally might not be free, but you know what? I'm more likely to go to a place that advertises in a local publication like the volcano, or the trib, or exit 133, or Showcase Magazine, or South Sound Magazine, whatever. Also, there are still some people working at these publications who have actual money to spend, where do you think they will spend their money? If you didn't have *some* cash flow your doors wouldn't be open, so make it a priority.

....and another thing. (This has been stewing a while, can you tell?) I am tired of going to events and the sponsor list consisting of: City of Tacoma, Pierce Transit, Multicare, St. Joe's. (Not that there's anything wrong with these entities) Sponsor an event! If you don't see a sponsorship level you can afford, contact the organizers and play let's make a deal. Great advertising and gives back to the community, too.

Tacoma Mama, Villa Cafe must be using their FB profile because their FB Page has 2 updates & the last one was March 5th. While we are giving free advice for businesses:
FB Profile: Actual people
FB Pages: For Businesses
I don't want a business knowing all my business so don't make a profile page because most likely I am not going to add you as a friend. Plus if you have a regular profile for your business you can be tagged and deleted for not being an actual person.

Jake: it's the owner's account, with her picture and everything. I really don't mind businesses with person accounts, I don't have to accept their friend invites and I don't consider Facebook to be in any way private, anyway. Tacoma is too, too small for that. Until Facebook combines the functions of a group and a page and fixes it so that pages can efficiently message their fans I can't blame anyone for using a person account this way. (Although I tell my clients not to, just to avoid problems down the road.)

Vinum was open this morning. I don't know if it's different ownership or not (not having frequented it before) but I can tell you that their espresso is horrible! The girl behind the counter was very nice and told me that they would have a new lunch menu printed soon. I might go back to try that, but I will definitely NOT be purchasing coffee there again!

Vinum is back open, the people there now are actually Annie's (former operator) brother and sister. I agree their coffee is really bad. We frequent Vinum, both the sister and brother worked there before. Not sure what happened, but no one makes coffee and conversation quite like Cliff and Annie did. I have heard through the grapevine they will be opening a new place somewhere downtown. That is one of the challenges of owning and operating, you dont have time to do a lot of necessary things. We went to a lot of fundraisers down at Vinum, those people were always busy trying to give back. But Jake, I completely agree that you should have these things ready before the door opens, then after that you just have to maintain and it is not the huge undertaking that it is when its on top of a plate full of other things to do.
Either way, cant wait to see Cliff and Annie back downtown.

Actually Jake I think your detective skills are half-assed...I am a fan of Minoela on facebook and they have a twitter account (which I also follow). And since when does an establishment have to have a facebook page in order to be "full-assed"? I think you need to get out from your moms basement and welcome yourself to the real world

Vinum has hosted the Speak Your Soul poetry readings and open mics for months at their cafe this past year. There was a featured poet and reading scheduled for SYS the month of March on the 12th and it was also a fundraiser for a large national charity. When the poet, all the guests, the charity reps and the SYS team showed up to put the reading on, VINUM was locked up tight. lights off and closed for business... We walked into a couple local stores to find out what was going on and found out at the Pita Pit next door that they hadnt been open all week. It was irresponsible and careless and disrespectful to a lot of people they made promises to. And the nite they did that, no Vinum personnel answered their phones or emailed anyone in the org to let people know they had closed. They didnt even make an effort to apologize to the people they left out on the street, especially the poet and the nat'l org that drove 40 miles to show up there. I heard about some half hearted Facebook post that they were 'on vacation.' Oops sorry. Bad form in a million ways. And I can assure you, I will never spend a dime in any establishment that the owners re-open when they treat their patrons and the community that support them that way. Fuggedaboudit!