Team Assembled!
The end of May was wild. Not only did I have what felt like one million little details to finalize but I interviewed dozens of people and finally hired what was to become our starting team.
When you begin a project like this, there are so many thoughts and ideas that you have. We all live in a world full of creativity so it is easy to accumulate ideas of many, many years. When you arrive at a project like this, the sky feels like the limit – until you realize that the limit is actually in the details like “What size fork should I get?” How many prongs should it have?” “Does this spoon match that fork?” “What do you mean you don’t have matching butter knives?” “Well, how many should I buy?” “Do I really need eight different-sized cups for our coffee menu?” “I need 100 – but you only have 11.” “Do I cater to the ‘paper-straw people’ or the ‘I refuse to use paper straws.’ crowd?”
We overestimate the exhaustion associated with these questions. At least I did. And, in the final weeks, it seems that all of those little details are what kept us from opening our doors. There were endless decisions to make and, even when I made one, there was no guarantee that there would be a sufficient supply for what we needed. Many times, there was not. So the hours spent working to find what you wanted were met with “I am sorry, we only have two.” when I needed fifty.
I took many trips back to the drawing board only to return yet another time.
But, we did accomplish so much in those few weeks.
We hired our team. Ten people! They began their work by helping me to prepare for our opening. We had our first team meeting where we all met and got to know one another.
As part of our training, we invited some friends and trusted customers to come and order and allow our staff to be practice.
We installed our TV screens for our menu boards and advertising.
We installed a new freezer for our cold beverage section.
We purchased ALL of our ingredients and supplies to kick off our first weeks of baking.
We began testing new bakery items and refining our existing products.
We finalized the bathroom finally and added a touch of ambience to it.
And, yes – all of those millions of little details? They all got finalized eventually, thanks to a great team who was able to explore stores in Pokhara and find exactly what was needed.
