The Journey of Our Soft Launch: Embracing Feedback
for Continuous Improvement

Hello everyone, and welcome back! In today’s blog post, I want to share an exciting milestone for our Challenge Cafe operation—the soft launch. This experience has been a remarkable journey filled with insights, challenges, and invaluable feedback. Let me take you through the process, our learnings, and the importance of feedback in making our venture better than ever.

The Decision to Soft Launch

We made the decision some time ago to do a soft launch for our new venture, the Challenge Cafe. The idea was to invite a select number of family, friends, and neighboring tenants from the industrial estate to try our services and provide feedback. It was quite an interesting ride, filled with both exhilarating and humbling moments.

The Power of Feedback

When running an exhaustively organized operation, standing there and observing can sometimes be demoralizing. However, one crucial learning I've embraced is that there’s no such thing as bad feedback; it’s an opportunity to improve. It’s easy to get caught up in things that don’t seem right, but it’s highly unlikely that everything will go smoothly on the first try. If everything appeared perfect, one might worry about what was overlooked.

Hearing both positive responses and areas for improvement is invaluable. The more minds thinking about improvements, the better. Major feedback helps to correct significant issues before they escalate, while minor feedback reassures us that we are getting most of the big things right. Overall, we received mostly positive responses, although a few things went wrong, which was expected.

The Experience and Immediate Actions

We really put our team under a lot of pressure—about 85% of full capacity—and they came through remarkably well. Although the overall feedback was overwhelmingly positive, there were some areas we needed to address. For example, some menu descriptions were off, and we faced an influx of feedback that we needed more time to have ready. Despite these hiccups, the feedback we received was incredibly worthwhile.

Before starting, I mentioned that if we could implement 75% of the feedback by the next day, it would be a phenomenal improvement. To me, that represents the essence of continuous improvement. There were numerous process adjustments, procedural updates, and some new items to purchase and bring into the store. These tasks are fairly straightforward but essential to enhancing our operation.

Continuous Improvement and Feedback Loops

Ongoing feedback is crucial. It’s important to gather feedback not just from customers but also from staff, suppliers, and any stakeholders in the business. Some feedback may not be immediately actionable due to its complexity, but prioritizing and addressing as many points as possible makes a substantial difference. Establishing a continuous feedback loop ensures that we are always attuned to the needs and expectations of everyone involved.

Final Thoughts

Soft launches are invaluable exercises. They offer a proactive approach to improvements and help us avoid becoming defensive about the areas needing attention. Implementing feedback before the next opening slot ensures that our operations continue to get phenomenally better.

In summary, our soft launch has been a super cool, positive experience. We know there are still areas to improve, but with each piece of feedback, we are advancing towards an even better operation. Thank you for being a part of this journey with us. And remember, feedback is a gift—it’s the ultimate tool for growth and excellence.

Until next time,

Kevin Brittain