Appreciating the bitter pill

My cafe is moving! Our current site is at a common area in the mall which has higher visibility. As the landlord wanted the location for marketing events, they’ve offered us an attractive rental for an alternative shop space on the same floor. Since marketing events will bring in more crowds that this mall desperately need and we get to save more, we’ve decided to move for mutual benefits.

While having a conversation about our move with a regular customer (Ms J), she told me at point blank that our cafe lacks a theme and look like a TV repair shop. I was flabbergasted but maintain my composure because my only other option was not going to fit into my cafe’s image.

My patience did pay off. She continued by telling me the reason she has that impression and since she is of Arts background and used to work in a 5* hotel in organizing events and banquet, I allow her to proceed. Subsequently, she told me she is going to give me free advice for my new cafe interior and I accepted with some reservations because I still don’t get the ‘TV repair’ joke and like I had blogged before, we do get compliments from celebrities.

After she left, I spent 2 hours conjuring up a graphical image of what the new cafe could look like with some of her suggestions thrown in. One week later, Ms J voluntarily dropped by again to check on the progress of my design. The seemingly snobbish Ms J was now a gracious and generous lady not because she was pleased with the results but I’ve gotten to know her better as a friend through her actions.

Although the end result only took in about 20% of her proposals, those are the important points like no tall showcases blocking the entrance, find a concept people will instantly come to term with (where ‘concept’ by now is a much more philosophical term), low and high furniture positioning, etc.

At my age (not that old lah, I know), I can indeed appreciate the goodness of a bitter pill. But sometimes my ego will still rush in and choke that pill before it can be swallowed. What if I’ve unleashed my rude rebuttal when Ms J gave me her honest opinion? Surely I would have missed out some valuable lessons on interior designing and possibly a long term impact on my business if I took the wrong bet on the interiors. That said, I still can’t figure out the ‘TV repair’ part.

The final version of my design in low res is attached for your viewing pleasure. This view only covers 3/4 of the space. YOUR COMMENTS are most welcome since renovation will only begin on next Wednesday.