Completely agree with Johnny … Some great points.
Have to say Freddie’s “Aaaayy Ohh” (last 50 secs of the clip is one of my outstanding memories of the 80’s … The control that he has is staggering with such a large crowd - pure genius.
To be fair to Pret - They do do it. And that [...]
Hugh and I were kindly invited by Jeffery Young of Allegra Strategies to attend the UK Coffee Leader Summit on the day previous to Caffe Culture. These events are always useful from a networking perspective (even though that’s generally an expression that puts the fear of god into me) but there was some great content [...]
The death of passion and the initial obsession to create a truly outstanding business is a horrible thing to witness. And yet we see it every day of the week.
As I was returning home from my holidays we stopped off in a little restaurant that we have used over many years. The [...]
It’s one of the most simple and at times irritating pieces of advice. Very often, it’s easy to argue, life just isn’t as simple as “Just do it“. It makes a wonderful catch line for Nike since at heart we all want to be thrusting Michael Jordans or Tiger Woods out there just [...]
Today I met a very sharp restaurateur who is in Day 3 of his new Italian Restaurant on Belfast’s trendy Lisburn Rd. He buys his coffee from somebody else. We had a great chat about the challenges & pressures of opening a new business and I decided to try him out. The pizza was delicious, [...]
One of the things I preach endlessly to clients is to make a big issue out of stories. To keep the customer educated on the detail of how you do what you do. The glamour of running any coffee business quickly recedes in our minds as we deal with the relentless daily [...]
One of my mantra’s over the years has been the famous 4 rules of referral …. all you ever need to do to keep customers …
1. Turn up on time
2. Do what you say
3. Finish what you start
4. Say please & thank you
1 [...]
…our book is going to print!
After what seemed like eternal delays with the binding and final design we have gone to print.
We hope to be in possession of the first copies at the end of next week and would like to thank all of you who have patiently waited and continued to nudge us along.
It [...]
Reading the brilliant Jack Welch tonight on Candor which he calls “The biggest dirty little secret in business” in his bestseller ‘Winning’, I realise just how very important this idea is in the coffee business.
Just focus for a minute on the exact meaning of the word from the Oxford Dictionary ;
1. Frankness or sincerity of [...]
