OTBKB spoke to Corey, the manager of the Mojo, the cafe on Seventh Avenue at Third Street that until recently doubled as a Carvel franchise. The shop was sold a few months ago to the owner of Ainsley’s Cheesecakes. Last week, the new owner closed the shop for a week of renovations. Open again, the shop is now a bakery cafe that also sells panini sandwiches, wraps, and salads.
According to Corey, who was manager of the Carvel/Mojo and is still manager, the ice cream business on Seventh Avenue is a bust. You just can’t make any money at $1.00 a scoop, he says. Especially if you have to pay $25,000 a year to Carvel. So it was essential, he says, that the new owner get rid of the Carvel franchise.
Corey, sounding like an MBA, seems to be really on top of the dollar and cents aspect of the ice cream/coffee/dessert business. The new owner plans to offer dessert items and some sandwiches and salads. Said Corey, with his number-crunching hat on, You may sell less cheesecakes per day but based on the price per cake, it’s whole lot more profitable.
The Mojo might be good spot for a bakery. Between Cousin Johns (near Berkeley Place) and Two Little Red Hens (on 8th Avenue near 12th Street) there is no bakery. Regina closed on February 27th, another casualty, I would guess, of the skyrocketing rents on Seventh Avenue. There is the Cocoa Bar one block up from the Mojo, but they’re not selling whole cakes and pounds of cookies.
I asked Cory if he was optimistic about the new direction of Mojo and he said he was a whole lot more optimistic once they got rid of the ice cream stuff.
So the ice cream biz on Seventh Avenue (just one block from a big public school) is lousy. I imagined (as many did) that the place was doing great business – but I never really sat down and did the numbers…
Sitting in the Mojo this afternoon, about ten kids and parents came in between 3:30 and 4:00 p.m. looking for ice cream or Krispy Kremes. While they were disappointed, in most cases, they picked something else to order.
The kids have the most to lose. I tried to explain to OSFO that selling ice cream to kids just isn’t that profitable. "But it makes it such a happy place," she said. "Why don’t they just raise the price of the ice cream."
A true capitalist.
Saturday is the grand re-opening. There will be a lot of dessert items on hand, says Corey. I hope they plan on adding tables and chairs. It must be hard to make a change like this with a whole bunch of opinionated, busy-body neighbors chiming in.
But that’s the way it is in Park Slope.
1 more thing we do have Krisoy Kremes
Its not that we are looking to upset children of Park Slope or force their parents into ordering $2 ice cream from what some call Maggie Mooch, we are however looking to stay above water,calling Pak Slope our home and pay what is put here in the blog “sky-rocketing 7th ave. rent. I must say that I personally have had coffee from around the neighborhood and they just arent as good as ours, Ive had cheesecake from other places and they just arent as good as ours ( ask the 500 people worlwide who believed Marion Burrows(food section editor of the New York Times) and ordered a cake online after having never tried a piece). Ive worked here 6 years and Ive had ice cream from other shops, comparable yes but not as good, and that is why we decided to keep the ice cream cakes(which are all made fresh on the premises). The myth is that we have been a Carvel franchise since being sold a new to owner, but we havent; we were selling premium(which was made here on the premises) ice cream that was better than Carvel’s. To really move foward as the home of the slopes best coffee and the worlds best cheesecake, we had to produce and ambiance that makes people fele they are getting a quality product, and I believe most people woul dagree that they dont go into Haagen Daz for a great cup of coffee. Having said that I look foward to seeing all of you for our grand re-opening party on Saturday March 4th c’mon down theres free samples.