It goes without saying that there has been an extremely large amount of planning in developing bread&cup. Everyday there are new details to think through, new questions to answer. Without a predetermined set of values, these details and questions would be much more difficult to process.

We could have spent excessive amounts of time trying to catch the latest wave or food service trend. We also could have studied the competition and imitated their ideas and values, but we wanted to take a different approach. We wanted to start from within.

To embrace the risks involved in this venture, we needed to know exactly what it is we are trying to create. Not just for the banker and her loan application, but for us, since we are the ones who will be making it all happen day to day. So early on we put these few thoughts on paper:

1. To create a workplace in which we LOVE working.
2. To serve food we LOVE making and eating.
3. To create an environment where we would LOVE to bring our friends.

As you can see, joy is a huge part of what drives us in this thing. Sure, making money is a part of the equation, but it is not the sole factor. If making lots of money was at the top of our list, we obviously wouldn’t be going in this direction.

I’ll put definition to each of these in subsequent posts. Thanks again for reading.