by RonnieD » Wed May 10, 2017 2:23 pm
This is always the trick when growing. You have a vision, you have standards, you have a system for getting it done. And people love you for it, and demand grows, and people want more locations and more access. But you are only one person, or maybe two or three. So you can either stretch your resources too thin, or you can bring in outside help. Stretch your resources too thin and your quality and ability to execute suffers. Bring in outside help and you risk polluting your vision. Either way you have to take a risk. Every location after the first will require some kind of sacrifice. The perfect situation is one in which you find a professional (as mentioned above) who understands your vision, loves it, and wants to provide developmental support to help that vision grow WITHOUT requiring you to dramatically change your vision. This situation doesn't exist. Growth requires sacrifice, no matter how hard you want to fight it. The best strategy is slow and steady growth over a long period of time and even that is no guarantee. Look at Yang Kee Noodle. They waited 10 years to open additional locations and they are still having growing pains.
This is such a tough leap to make, that I'm not surprised that demand is outpacing supply. Here's hoping that Comfy Cow can get it under control and rebound back better than ever.
Ronnie Dingman
Chef Consultant
The Farm
La Center, KY