08 November 2010

We've come a long long way together



Of course I would write tonight. In a couple of hours we will complete one full year. Many said that we would not make it.

Tonight I'd like to dwell on some of our favourite mistakes. They were mistakes, because had we known better we might not have made them. But i'm glad we made them.

1. We thought we were a better dinner product than a lunch product. LOL. Had we known better we would have opened in the City. But we would have probably ended up being just another sandwich bar in the City. Today we are Mooli's from Soho. And the City landlords are calling out to us. At last weeks "Restaurant Conference" we were named in Davis Coffer's presentation on "The Killer Brands Every Landlord Wants".

2. We didnt really understand real estate. We didnt realise that 50 Frith Street which is just 20 metres from heaving Old Comption Street was 20 metres too far. But then again, we are now mentioned in the same breath as our neighbours Barrafina and Koya. Not Tuk Tuk Noodles and £3 Veg Buffet.

3. We didnt know how much time and money and space it would take to make fresh rotis in Soho. We could have crammed in 20 more chairs, reduced our labour costs by 10% and gained a few hours of extra sleep instead of rushing down everytime Moolita acted up. But screw that.

4. We didnt realise that opening in winter would be so much harder than opening in summer. Word of Mouth marketing is slower in winter so we had to sweat blood and tears to win our custom. We learned the hard way. But we learned.

Megan's ipod is playing "Feeling Groovy" by S&G. Its been ages since I heard this track.




So here's to making a few more (favourite) mistakes. Starting your own business is also about making mistakes, and learning from them. Do come and join us for a drink tomorrow evening as we celebrate our first anniversary.

10 comments:

sameer said...

nice post. for a moment, i thought you were going to disclose some other mistakes we made. :-P

mathew said...

ok, there is a fifth big mistake. but i'm not disclosing it right now. but its my favouritest mistake.

Manne said...

Congratulations to your first year. :) I will definitely be down for many more the year to come.

But I do think you ought to make the Bobotie Mooli come back.

Thanks for sharing!

TaB said...

cool post. Congratulations to you both and the team.

Vinay said...

Congratulations guys! This is fantastic news. You guys are a genuine inspiration. I'm also considering chucking this lawyering business. I just haven't figured out what to do after that.

catty said...

Happy birthday! Not sure what I would have done without you guys. The goat mooli has helped me through some tough days :)

Anonymous said...

Congratulations! The goat mooli is REALLY delicious!

Unknown said...

that's a great post and well done guys on great product, a great brand and the energy with which you guys have kept the dialogue going, very cool!

Quickgun...

jonathan rowson said...

Happy Birthday Mooli's!

Thanks for the mojito tonight. I enjoyed a mild buzz on my walk back to Waterloo station.

I'm currently eating some cold but still delicious Mooli dal, and I'm looking forward to giving kailash a malai kulfi tomorrow.

Expertise in anything requires making a lot of mistakes, so I wish you both many more of them! And, of course, sometimes the biggest mistakes are the best ones.

http://projects.rsablogs.org.uk/2010/08/wrong/

Manne said...

Thanks again for a great and honest post guys. Referenced you in the latest Off the Pass on theblackboard.net:

http://theblackboard.net/blogs/off-the-pass-week-of-november-15-2010/