The Endless Pursuit of Better
We had our first official full-day experiment with our canned drink concept at Northern Vessel last week. To say people were excited would be a gross understatement. I could figuratively see people's brains melting before my eyes. Needless to say, the overwhelming feedback tells us we're on the right track.
To summarize, we're trying to innovate the way we serve our customers. About 70% of our beverages are served iced, even in the dead of winter. Instead of serving our iced drinks in traditional cups, we're piloting a process to can handmade drinks on the fly. Here's what it looks like in action:
I firmly believe this will be one of the most revolutionary things we've ever done at NV. It will have ripple effects that I don't yet even know about. Can you tell I'm excited?!?!
One of my friends happened to stop by the shop on that canning test day. He sent me the following text several hours later: "What's the point in doing this? You're already the best coffee shop in the state....probably the Midwest. Why rock the boat?"
Whether we're the best shop in the state or region is entirely up for debate. That's what we desire to be, but it's obviously a subjective topic. However, it's clear we've carved out some level of success. If that's true, "why rock the boat?" as my friend so bluntly inquired?
I've received this question countless times over the past 3+ years since we began building NV into what it is today. "It's good enough" is another way it's often phrased.
All this brings me back to an idea I can't let go of: The endless pursuit of better. If there's a better way to do something, don't we owe it to those we serve to find it? If our drinks can be better, why not serve them better drinks? If the experience can be enhanced, why not provide it? Sure, there's a "normal" way to do things in every industry. But sometimes, we need to look past normal and find "better."
All of us have things in our day-to-day lives that fall into the "good enough" camp. It's good enough, and good enough is good enough. But what if we could find a better way? A better way to do the laundry. A better way to handle our money. A better way to get to work. A better way to serve our clients. A better way to keep the madness in order. Better is better. This isn't about lack of contentment, but rather a deep-seated desire to grow, improve, and make a more impactful difference in the world.
Back to the canned drinks. Why would we blow up our entire workflow, increase our COGS (cost of goods sold), lower our gross margins, further constrain our already-tight dry storage capacity, and risk losing customers when we've already established ourselves as "successful"? Because our guests deserve better, and we firmly believe this will provide a better overall experience.
I invite you into the endless pursuit of better….in all you do. It's a fun and humbling journey, but we ALWAYS end up better for it.
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