by Debbi | Mar 30, 2011 | Off the Wall, People
We have tons of stuff all over our walls, and much of it was donated by our customers.
Our latest gift is from someone who shall remain nameless, who formerly worked for a local company that will also remain nameless. However, many of you will recognize this sign and the company.
The sign now holds a special place of honor in the men's room, at the request of the person who donated it:
We're big fans of this company's employees. They affectionately refer to us as their "southwest conference room," and many "meetings" have taken place at our tables.
A celebration party for one of their soon-to-be-former staff members who has a new job will be held here Thursday. We're excited to see what they think of our new wall decor!
by Debbi | Mar 28, 2011 | Cool Stuff, Guest Blogs, People, Social Media, Stories
Editor's note: I discovered Team Cocktail on Twitter one day, and after perusing their website decided that they seemed like people who would hang out at the Sandbar. I asked them to write some guest blogs to introduce our friends to their lifestyle. No, I didn't get a free t-shirt in exchange for letting them talk about their products, just wanted to share their story.
We were very excited to be asked to join The Sandbar party by writing a few guest blogs. So here we are, ready to party! As you can tell by our name, Team Cocktail, we love cocktails…especially tropical beverages like the Hurricane. Since our company and designs are inspired by beaches and cocktails, and we're based out of Olathe, KS, it seems that The Sandbar and Team Cocktail have a lot in common! So, to start I'm going to give you a brief background on how Team Cocktail got started and answer a few questions. Now go pour a cocktail and let's have some fun Team Cocktail style!
Team Cocktail – The Story (2006)
Every great story begins in the Caribbean, right? To set the scene: think 28 friends on a cruise ship, 8 days, 7 islands and a boat load of liquid inspiration. We had a group, we needed a name and the obvious name was born: Team Cocktail.
The Brand (A few years later)
Sailing away from Barbados, a few martinis in, the Team Cocktail founders had an epiphany. Life is best enjoyed in a t-shirt, shorts and flip flops…and with a drink in hand. We always loved buying destination t-shirts from all of the local businesses but hated the way they felt and washed up when we would get them home. They were typically cheap, scratchy and would shrink to an unwearable size. So we decided to create our own beach & cocktail inspired t-shirts, hats, koozies and other accessories with an emphasis on quality. All of our shirts are a cotton/poly blend, so they are ultra soft to the touch and will not shrink. Thus you can wear them time and time again.
And so here we are a year later, and a few more martinis in, lawyers have been called, trademarks are registered and t-shirt designs are hot off the press.
Now on to the fun stuff!
How do you decide on new shirt designs? I was going to say something proper like "our shirt designs are inspired by a deep creative process where we look back on our favorite travel memories & cocktails." But let's be honest. Most of the time they are developed after we have had several drinks and then inspiration hits, or the buzz hits, and then we think every idea is fabulous. So the next day we look back through our notes and see which ones truly are funny, fun and representative of the Team Cocktail brand. We also work with the Kansas City creative agency Johnny Lightning Strikes Again who has great ideas and is able to bring our ideas to life!
How long have you been in business? We have been working on building the brand (i.e. developing designs, getting trademarks, etc.) for over a year. But went live with our website and first designs in December 2010.
What inspired the idea to actually create products & a business? Our mission is to create products that make people have fun, relax, and enjoy life as we do…one cocktail at a time. We really want to create quality products that people can enjoy while traveling or just spending time with friends. Team Cocktail is about having fun and enjoying what you do. We enjoy traveling and cocktails, so we made it our business. People always tell you to love what you do, well that couldn't be more true for us. We LOVE what we do, and we hope you do too!
If you made it to the end of this blog I'm sure your glass is empty so you better go get another. We hate for ice cubes to be lonely. Please check out our website www.teamcocktail.com where you will find our t-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, flip flops, bottle openers, slap koozies and much more. We are adding new products weekly and will soon be launching a men's board shorts line.
You can also find our blog there, where you can read about our travel experiences (focused on favorite beaches, beach bars, & bartenders), party times (pictures of our fans partying in TC style) and drinks (drink recipes we love, & love to make). We would love to hear from you so feel free to contact us on Facebook, Twitter, or through the website. You can also sign up for our newsletter to receive special discounts, new arrival announcements, and just fun stuff!
As you are traveling remember to TRAVEL GLOBAL, DRINK LOCAL!!
Cheers!
Team Cocktail
by Debbi | Mar 27, 2011 | Downtown, KU Basketball
The hometown Kansas Jayhawks played in the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight today, and sadly lost a spot in next week's Final Four with a devastating loss to VCU.
Dave opened the bar early today; normally we don't open until 5 p.m. on Sundays, but this was a special occasion. Tip-off was at 1:20 p.m., and we were there at 12:30 to welcome friends and fans for the game.
The Sandbar isn't much of a sports bar; we don't serve food and our TV's aren't exactly of the ginormous variety, but we had a good crowd of staff, friends and regulars for the game.
Of course, we were counting on a Jayhawk win and a huge crowd of people descending on Mass Street, but that didn't happen. We were surprised, however, that after the game our business actually increased. Other businesses around town apparently reported a drop in business immediately following the game (see this article from the Kansan) but within an hour of the game's end, the Sandbar was full.
Our friend Caroline posted this on Twitter, and we think it represents the afternoon well:
It feels like a Saturday. @thesandbar is packed. Lots of KU fans nursing our sorrows.
Thanks to everyone who came by today, we appreciate your business!
by Debbi | Mar 26, 2011 | Birthday Party, People
Happy birthday today to a whole bunch of our friends: bartender Heather, float dancer Sherri, Barrel House owners Emily and Alex and former Sandbar staff member Tyler.
Tyler dropped by the Sandbar last night to celebrate. Chris, another former bartender, and his wife came into town for the festivities. We haven't seen any of them in ages- though some of them have a good excuse (new baby).
Dave made sure the birthday boy was decked out in Sandbar style.
We hope all our friends had a great day of celebrations today!
by Debbi | Mar 25, 2011 | Around the World
That sounds like a new tropical concoction poured out of one of our machines, doesn't it?
Nope, it's this:
Our friends Phil and Jeannie, parents to former bartender Matt, brought this back for us from Culebra, a Puerto Rican island halfway between Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
We hope they take us along next time!
