[Cafe Anecdotes] What Supports 'Sorenari' (My Perspective)

Yesterday's article was packed with the history and feelings I've had up until now.

So today, I'd like to change my perspective a little and talk about the 'mechanisms' behind it.

Yesterday, for the first time in a while, we had as many customers as we did on our opening day.
The operations were quite complex, but I was able to handle them more calmly than I expected, so I'm busy praising myself for that (laughs).

Now, we have all sorts of different customers who come to the shop.

Thankfully, I sometimes receive feedback like, 'It would be nice if you had such and such.'

Basically, I manage 'Cafe Sorenari' all by myself.

The front of house, the kitchen, the dishwashing, customer service, and product development.
If you look at it a bit more broadly, it also includes sales, public relations, planning, accounting, general affairs, and marketing.

I haven't worked as a professional in those fields.
That's precisely why there are many things I only notice after trying them, and it's not rare for me to think, 'I didn't even know that.'

However, for now, I'm enjoying continuing to make improvements, including those aspects.
Because it's a small shop, there's also the strength of being able to be flexible.

While protecting the sense of 'sorenari' (just right/as it is) that I want to cherish, I also have to meet the condition of 'being able to continue it alone.'

For that reason, I thought a lot during the preparation stage about mechanisms that wouldn't cause 'sorenari' to collapse.

My profession has changed significantly, but I don't think my past experience has gone to waste at all.

For example, thanks to my experience working in educational administration, I have gained significant skills in reading and writing official documents.

If it's simple design or production work, I don't find it that difficult to do it myself.

The story about being able to 'handle things well' yesterday is not just because I've gotten used to it, but I think it's the result of the accumulation of thinking about how to build mechanisms for management.

The same goes for disseminating information.
By sending out information regularly, I am conscious of creating a flow where people wonder, 'What will the story be today?'

How to make use of my past experience.

Rather, I believe that in this day and age, new value is born from the combination of different experiences and knowledge.

I feel that I am 'having fun because I am doing what I want to do' right now.

However, that doesn't mean I intend to easily tell others to 'just change jobs.'

Why do I do this?
What am I capable of?
What kind of method would allow me to keep going?

I started this after thinking about these things over and over, and establishing a perspective that 'I can probably manage to keep going with this.'

That is precisely why, even on days when no customers come, when I worry about inventory, or when I receive unexpected requests, I think I am able to remain relatively unshaken.

At the root of it all is the 'sorenari' (just enough/my own way) that I want to cherish.

To keep that axis in place.

To make sure I don't stray from it.

I believe that is what 'Cafe Sorenari' means to me.

...Well, this time I talked a bit seriously about the mechanisms that support 'sorenari'.

For the next anecdote,

[Negi-bo's Big Growth!? Growth Record Revealed All at Once!]

Maybe I'll try something like that.

Just when you think I've talked about something serious, a playful post suddenly appears.

Perhaps that kind of freedom is also one of the joys of 'sorenari'!