If you find yourself muttering under your breath about there not being enough hours in the day, you're just the kind of person Tennyson Mun wants to help.
Mun and Cesar Mendoza co-founded Gay-Cierge to be the city's only concierge service cateringas their website, www.gay-cierge.com, states"exclusively to Chicago's LGBT community."
Mun told Windy City Times the endeavor "is a subsidiary of Chi-Cierge, which has been in operation since December 2011. We launched Gay-Cierge because some of the clientele that we were servicing were LGBT and we realized that some of the services that we provided were unique only to that community, such as officiants for commitment ceremonies, and gay night life for visitors. We knew we had to build a brand that represented the community.
"[T]o our knowledge, there is nothing like it out there and, in our opinion and experience, there is a need for it."
The company's mission is to help clients maximize their days by removing the mundane and time-consuming tasks from their weekly planners. The extensive list of services, detailed on the site, coavers everything from running errands to waiting for deliveries to managing clients' travel reward points.
"Our services are for everybody. It makes financial sense," Mun said. "For example, if a person has to take their car in for repair, it would consume an entire day, whereas they could call us and we would be able to take it in and deliver it to the client." The business model hinges on consumers who are weighing, as Mun says, "eight hours of loss of work and loss of productivity versus hiring us."
One of the company's selling points is that the services only last as long as the hourly commitment demands. For individuals, the rates are $45 per hour, requiring a one hour minimum. For $75 per hour, small businesses can hire services ranging from copywriting, to research, to talent recruitment.
"We are currently active membership committee members in the Chicago Area Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce," Mun told WCT. "Like the chamber's mission, we also want help and grow other LGBT businesses."
When asked if starting a luxury, service-oriented business in this tough economic climate was a gamble, Mun responded, "It's actually the best time to start this kind of business as the economy is picking up, there is more disposable income. For those individuals that saw a reduction in their workforce and are now working10-plus hour days, we provide that work/life balance that is desperately needed."
As with the individual plan, the business owner pays for services by the hour. "They're able to utilize our services only when they need assistance. As a result, they are able to avoid the recruiting, training and any overhead costs associated with having a full time employee."
In this age of identity theft, some consumers might be hesitant about handing over their house and car keys to complete strangers, but Mun assures the associates have been properly vetted. "All of our staff are employees of Chi-Cierge. We do not outsource any of our staff that has interactions with clients directly... We run a full background check including criminal and credit checks. We have a confidentially and non-disclosure agreement that we require our employees to sign. We personally accompany them on their initial consultations and closely monitor their progress upon their start date."
Before founding Gay-Cierge, Mun spent almost eight years as a medical technician at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and credits that daily patient interaction with his continued desire to help people. Co-founder Mendoza also co-founded Evanston's Arez Lighting, described by Mun as "a luxury aesthetic lighting company." He has also been the director of student services at Westwood College, and the associate director of career services at DeVry University and Keller Graduate School of Management.
According to the website of the international concierge professional association, Les Clefs d'Or ("The Golden Keys"), the etymology of "concierge" derives from the French "comte des cierges, or keeper of the candles, [who] was the person in charge of catering to every whim and desire of a palace's visiting nobility." By the Middle Ages, they became "the "keepers of the keys at noted government buildings and castles." The profession as we know it today didn't develop until steamships and railroad lines created an international tourism boom at the beginning of the 20th century, and the grand hotels of Switzerland developed the "hall porter" position to serve guests' needs.
However, Mun insisted one does not need to be an affluent Edwardian to enjoy the benefits of Gay-Cierge. "It really is for everybody. A common misconception is that it's only for a certain class of people. Everyone could benefit from having additional free time added to their day."
Also, from negotiating the best prices,to securing LGBT-friendly providers, Gay-Cierge says it's ready to usher in same-sex marriage.