I have been thinking a lot about loyalty, customer loyalty in particular. I have been wondering how to achieve customer loyalty and how to keep it. I guess this is closely linked to competition, every business has competition in some shape or form. All I could denote from my musings was that to achieve loyalty was to create relationships and to maintain loyalty was to stay interested, to not become complacent with every person that walks through the door. There is no room for bad days, half smiles, and there is absolutely no point if the connection isn’t real or genuine. For me that means getting to know my customers, there names, remembering what they like to drink or whether they prefer their bacon sandwich on white or brown bread, with tomato chutney or without. I went to work this morning with this in mind, and it wasn’t hard as I’d like to think I am naturally interested in people and love the chance to meet and chat to new people. But what happens when you are having an ‘off’ day, or when the milk delivery is late and you have a cafe full of people waiting on coffee’s? I guess it’s similar to the notion that the customer is always right, whether you think so or not. Whether you are having a good day or not it’s your job to put on a smile, to care, to ask questions, to wish people a good day.
Tonight for the first time since opening I was able to go for a run, I had enough energy for a run. I better keep it up because Karen, our chef makes the most amazing rocky road and I am getting through half a dozen pieces a day. At least.
I tell you, I feel for ducks; all is calm above water, but below feet are paddling madly. That about describes how I feel these days. It is Sunday evening, and it’s beautiful out, the sun hasn’t quite left but the night is on it’s way. Spring is upon us, and tonight I have enjoyed the first evening walk when the breeze is mild and sweet.
The days of these weeks have washed over me like a wave; I’ve been carried on their highs and lows, along their ebb and flow. Thankfully I’ve kept my head above water. But though I have been busier of late, what with managing two businesses, a one year old spot dog and a home, the romantic in me is as happy as a bee. The Laden Table already has a lovely familiarity, akin to a tune you’ve hummed for a lifetime. Each morning I collect the bread, still warm from the oven, wrapped in brown paper bags and the newspapers. On Fridays I collect fresh flowers too. And all the while I am smiling.
I have already met so many wonderful new people and am enjoying thinking of all the ways in which to make The Laden Table a hundred times better than it is now… I am eager to please… both with the food we serve and the space we create.
We are planning lots of new things but I can tell you now we have added an after-school story-time at 3.45pm every Wednesday as well as our story-time on Friday mornings at 10am.
We got there… there were many time when I wondered if we ever would! Saturday was crazy-not in a very good way either-we had no real structure in place and quickly found out what we were lacking in the kitchen and under-estimated things like how much milk we would use and how much change we would need in the till. But anyway it was a lovely sunny day and everyone was wonderfully supportive.
4 full days left before the opening of The Laden Table.
The enormity of things has hit me and I have become a nervous wreck. I have felt sick for days now, and if I am honest I have questioned the whole project because I am terrified of it failing. In fact terrified doesn’t even match up to this feeling-this fear in the pit of my stomach.
My mum and I spent the day taking boxes to the skip-several car loads later I can see the floor again. Tomorrow I am back at Ikea getting the last of the chairs which means the afternoon will be spent making flat-packed furniture. It will be the 4th time I have been to Ikea in the past 6 days-sense the tone.
I have given up trying to make lists of what’s left to do because it feels like there is everything left to do. Hang pictures on the walls, stock the fridge, finalise the menu, install coffee machine, learn how to use coffee machine, find the box with the till in it, learn how to use it … you get the idea. There are a trillion things to do.
Sunday’s were made for billowy pancakes, in my opinion. Best eaten with grated milk chocolate and then rolled so that the chocolate melts, but be sure to have a napkin ready because it can get quite messy. Sundays are not meant for rushing about, they are made for plaid flannel pajamas’ and settling in.
My name is Nicola Dixon and I am twenty-six years old. There was a point several months ago, that I found myself wondering about my life, about my worth, wondering when I last felt really happy. I’ve had this dream for a long time, I dreamt of yummy food, books, coffee, and fellow creatives all coming together under one roof. And then I asked myself what I was waiting for. There are moments when it still feels surreal. Yesterday I bought 36 glass milk bottles, today I am painting a table, tomorrow I’ll be proofing the menu.
There are some words I repeat to myself, like a mantra, when I get nervy and in-decisive. ‘If something is worth doing, it’s worth doing well… ‘ Pretty straight-forward I know, but they seem to help.
The Laden Table opens March 27th 2010.
