The Washington herald., 1914-08-16
By ISABEL STEPHEN.
(Copyright, lslI.)

Ever since the first man or woman,
whichever II was, opened small res
tsurant which served tea and cakes at
outrageous prices, the tea-room business
has appealed irresistibly TO women as an
easy way to make money. The result
has been that hundreds have gone into
this business and the majority has lost
all the money they put in II. for II Is q
much more difficult thing to run a sue
cessfuI tea room than appears on the
| surface.
! Mrs. Mary A Sheehan's tea room is
one OF the most successful in New York
City. and as she started up without any
capital and built up her place solely on
its merits and by her own hard work,
the story Of her experience should be
valuable TO others who are thinking Of
following in her footsteps
Mrs. Sheehsn is q Connecticut woman.
with a good. hard business head and
plenty Of enthusiasm. This is the story
she told me when recently ! visited her
| tea room. which Is situated on one OF the
crooked little streets, dark, narrow, and
uninviting. which spread out like tribu-
taries from busy Broad and Wall streets:
For many years ! was housekeeper
! for various women's clubs and hospitals,
but~there came q time when / grew
weary Of msrshaling difhcult staffs Of
servants and catering to equally difficult
employers, so ! decided to so into busi
ness for myself.
The tea-room business appealed to me,
butt decided to strike new trial far
on from the usual environment Of tea
rooms. / wanted to work among quite
another class Of people. and the financial
district Of New York City seemed to be
a promising place. There. I knew, l
should have 20 compete with large. we'll
established restaurants. for, Of course, II
was TO the luncheon crowd that l should
have to cater to; in that busy district
there is no time for afternoon tea
"One OF the leas: of my difnculties
was my want of capital. but as had
determined to start in On a very small
scale that did not boother me- For
many months, searched for a proper
place which would come within the
margin of what believed ] could pay
but, of course, rents down here ara
enormous.
AT last, I found two rooms and
kitchen which the owner offered me for
SIS week. The price was the only at
tractive thing about the place. Once
before. 1t had been opened as a restau-
rant, but It had been vacant for two
years, and its appearance was no draw
ing card. One room was papered with
briIlian. red, the other with brilliant
green. The red loom had bright green
carpet, and the Ersen room an equally
brilliant red one. Each fairly shrieked
at the other.
However. II was che best I could do.
I toned down the walls somewhat with
pictures brought from my own apart
ment and covered a couple OF large
tables with snowy white linen.
You can make any place attractive
II you have the money. but l had none;
therefore, l tried TO make my tea room
as spotless-looking as possible. bought
q dozer: teacups ami saucers and plates
from the 5-and-lO-cent store, and added
silver and cutlery from my own home.
rented a gas stove by the month, and.
with four saucepans. I opened my place
for business.
When all was ready, wrote per-
sonsl letters to the head stenographsrs
OF every house on Broad. Wall and the
surrounding streets, prepared a good, |
appetizing luncheon, the menu Of which |
I had inclosed with my letters, and
opened my doors for business.
The first day my place was filled. and
from then on the only difficulty 1 had
was getting out orders fast enough to |
supply that busy crowd. There were
only about two and a half busy hours |
in the day, but / can assure you they |
were busy in the fullest sense Of the
word. My expenses were high, even with |
paid weekly. At first I bought only |
enough of everything to supply immediate
demands. This IL a very expensive sYs-
TEN, but 1t was the only thing could |
do. As my trade increased / kept add
ing to my table equipment-china, cut |
tlery. and linen.
when the business was running |
smoothly, and my rooms were crowded
daily, the owner of the building died and l
his successor demanded q rent Of 500
a month, as he saw that the place was
a good investment and decided to run It |
for himself. This put me out on the /
street, and as 1 had previously canvassed
the district so thoroughly 1 knew what /
a hard time would have to md another
suitable place. For four months search
ed diligently. / kept in touch with my
former stenographer patrons, and they
kept begging me to go back into business.
II is a mistake to believe that the aver
age stenographer's luncheon consists OF
a sundae and a msrshmallow; she Is a
very sensible girl. and orders a good
sensible luncheon, and II was my hearty
substantial luncheons that appealed to
her.
"A fire nearly consumed this building
and secured an option on this noor. The
place had been badly damaged, and the
landlord refused to do thing to II. i
had to pay two months rent in advance
and go to all the expense Of fitting It
up. This money was advanced to me
by some friends.
"As you see, chose quiet, cheerful
colors and attractive fixtures. Every inch
Of space had to be devoted to dining ac-
even the place where the
gas meter stood had to be utilized as a
storeroom. / rented another gas stove
and provided uuif, bla reat rnor, fnr