FINISHES

A POP OF RED, A DASH OF NEON & A HINT OF PINE

The interior aesthetic of the airstream is pretty barebones, stainless steel appliances, and countertops. Most of the aesthetic is the Silver Bullet interior itself. Which I absolutely LOVE.  So when it came to picking the floor color, I knew THIS was where we could have some fun. And I just had to go with Cherry Bomb Red on our floors. It’s like finding a cool jacket at a thrift store but then you see the liner is a bright color. So I’m super excited to share that the floors are indeed RED!

My next favorite finish will be a neon sign(s). I am currently sourcing and pricing out potential vendors for a neon sign(s) that will either hang above the service hatch spelling out Mondaes, or a round sign like I have below that could hang on the side or inside the airstream OR both because there can literally never be too much neon. I will fight anyone who disagrees. 

Then lastly, as a nod to its predecessor The Soda Parlor, I had to include some light finished wood accents with butcher block counter tops that will be visible to the public through the side service hatch.  

SPACE PLANNING

IT'S NOT BIGGER ON THE INSIDE

The space in the trailer is very small but personally as a designer I THRIVE in working with smaller spaces. The challenge of it is so much fun and forces you to really strip it down to the essentials and zero in on that work triangle (which is an interior design term used in kitchen layouts). So I sort of thought of each station as its own tiny work triangle. These layouts below bear in mind that there would be 3-4 people working in the trailer at full capacity:  one cashier, one Waffle-tista, one Float-tista, and an optional food runner. The Float-tista could act as food runner.  

Yes I made up those job titles. 

Float-tista - Someone who makes floats

Waffle-tista - Someone who make Waffle Mondaes

MONDAES STATION:

1. Scoop the batter, put it on the iron 

2. Scoop ice cream and add topping. 

3. Hand to food runner. 

FLOAT STATION:

1. Food runner puts scoop ice cream on back bar.

2. Pour soda. 

3. Drop to customer

Now, was I 100% successful in the small space? No… but overall I really hope after designing two Soda Parlors this is the best work triangle yet. I also consulted all of the staff at Star Cadet who at one point in time worked at The Soda Parlor, and took any feedback they gave me into consideration. There were several adjustments that I made from the first initial layout.

CHALLENGES

RIVETING DETAILS ON GENERATORS

The search for an adequate generator set-up was one that turned my brain inside out. First off, disclosing this information is 100% not inviting every male who may have electrocuted themselves changing out an outlet in their lifetime to email us with their thoughts on our set-up. There are about a million ways to slice how to get power to the trailer. We had to factor in the cost of generators, supply chain shortages in said generators, and weight of the generators when full of gas. (Also questions like: Can Rachel move this on her own….?) So with all that, the Mondaes trailer and all of its appliances need 100 amps of power in order to function. Which, side note: is the same amount of power we had in the first Soda Parlor located in Marathon Village. If this seems odd that a mobile “mini'' version needs the same power as a 1000 SQFT space…….. you now know one of the many reasons we relocated after only two years in Marathon Village. Long story short we were popping breakers on the reg. So in a nutshell this means we need to find a generator that can either power one 100 amp breaker box, or break it up into a smaller box and install a parallel kit. We opted for the going with two 50 amp boxes and we went with these duel fuel Westinghouse 12,500/9500 Watt generators. The only issue with these is they are not what they call inverted, which means the motor is completely exposed and they are LOUD!!!!!!! As you can see here from this text from my father, Paul Vaughn, as he is getting them broken in. So that’s our next challenge is building a sound box for these to help dampen the noise.

SUPPLY CHAIN SHENANGIANS

So another big challenge in this process was sourcing our appliances.  Not only did we need them to fit in the small space but they will need to perform multiple tasks if possible to get as much use out of their electrical needs. Because as you saw above, we had to keep our total power amperage under 100. This meant we had to cut some equipment. I initially wanted to have 3 waffle irons but had to pull back to two. And then sadly (but not too sad for my scooping wrist) we had to cut milkshake blenders for the time being, unless we want to add another 50 amps to our power use. Then in addition, the appliance lead times are around 8 months in some instances. And twice now after ordering our freezer the vendor emailed us after requesting an additional 2-grand because their supplier increased the price on them. And then that even further delayed the order because I had to cancel the order (on principle obviously) and go find another supplier for the freezer. Finally our usual and trusted supplier got the freezer back in stock and it is due to arrive in November. 

WHAT'S NEXT?

As we wait for appliances to arrive, our partners over at Pioneer Vintage Trailer have finished the floors and installed the rear hatch, polished the exterior and made repairs to our majestic vintage girl. 

For our next blog post, we will be working on finalizing the branding & packaging, brought to you by owner Bailey Galloway. 

After that we will begin construction of our commissary space that will be held at Star Cadet headquarters in Nashville, which is essentially our commercial kitchen for the Mondaes trailer. This is where we will mix batter, prep toppings, and store ice cream. We are currently in the space planning stages now and we'll send you updates once that construction gets underway. 

And most importantly... THE MENU!!! Once our commissary is up and running at our shop we will begin building the Mondaes menu.

Last but not least, I will be planning out our merchandise presentation as well. Which I am super excited to share with you all. There will be nods to The Soda Parlor and some new exciting finishes for our pop up business. 

So stay tuned we have so much more to share and thanks so much for following along on our rebuild journey!  

If you want more updates follow us on Instagram @itsamondae and make sure to sign up for emails HERE!