The core strategy of our
business was to differentiate our product offering on the basis of consistent
food quality and segment our market by providing a unique value proposition!!!
:P
Hee hee…just kidding… ;)
The journey started with
finalizing the place for our café and finding a name…Interestingly, deciding on name took more rounds of
discussion than deciding the menu.. ;) fed up with those discussions.. I agreed
on ‘Pablo’... The name doesn’t even have a farfetched connection with Italian food
but it was short and simple and it did save us a lot on printing cost! ;)
Next, we had to hire an
expert Italian chef… And when
traditional ways didn’t seem to be working we went the unconventional way… the
POACHING way… that was the first dose of real shit! We poached our chef from a
well-known Italian café... We realized that in business it’s not about being fair and
cautious ...instead u have to be bold and do whatever it takes to make it
work..
So, we were all set for the
grand opening… And on the very first day we were left in lurch… our counter guy
didn’t turn up for his job… :o Big problem..!!! We didn’t know who will stand
at the counter to take orders… After
much persuasion... I agreed to be 'counter lady' for a day...with a smile on my
face and hope in my eyes, i stood there staring at each and every person entering the food
court... Smile slowly faded as the day ended with just 5 orders.. :(
I dunno..May be all the Porter 5 forces
were working against us!!! ;)
How we salvaged the
situation and came out of it... will be in my next post… See u soon.. :)