Taking Stock
From opening weeks to a Bib, and everything in between
A check-in from us!
Which felt completely unexpected this week, and we didn’t actually realise until friends in the industry started congratulating us. It genuinely wasn’t something we had set our sights on or even allowed ourselves to imagine. But it feels really nice to be recognised.
This little neighbourhood spot that sort of started out as a burger, pasta and rotisserie chicken place somehow spiralled into hand-dived scallops, wing ribs with green peppercorn sauce, beef tartare, poulet au vin jaune, braised ox cheeks… and then some. It’s been an evolution that’s happened in real time, often without us even clocking it properly.
That made me want to reflect on how much customers shape your business, and how important it is to listen and adapt. I think it’s safe to say I’d like to simultaneously erase and retain the first three months of our opening period. Looking back, we were at our worst really – but we needed that unfiltered testing period to grow, adapt and learn. I don’t think any opening is perfect from the get-go. You have to test-drive the model to understand its durability, right?
When I say “worst”, I mean compared to where we are now, which actually feels like a really good place. There’s still a lot to learn, but our kitchen team is strong and settled. We’re incredibly lucky to have retained everyone from the start and to have added more people along the way. That continuity has been huge.
