A new year, same values – January 2017
With the beginning of a New Year, I wanted to take an opportunity to open up a new line of communication on The Grey’s website. Beginning with this I will occasionally be posting a short, periodic note. This will be a way of sharing ideas and information, saying hi or initiating some other interaction. So, without further ado…
The past year was a true growing and learning experience for the team at The Grey. Our business strengthened overall and we made great strides toward further establishing a culture within our company and amongst our people that puts team as our top priority. As we continue to pull together as a fully functioning team, our ability to best serve our community and our guests becomes the natural output of that teamwork.
That said, putting on a show every night, which is what we do, is rife with pitfalls – one false move and things can and do go wrong. We’ve certainly gotten better at eliminating mistakes and shielding our guests from the results of the ones that we do make. But with each change to how we do something that is different from the day before, a new menu item or team member, for example, the risk of visible error increases greatly. As such, we are in an ongoing struggle to improve incrementally at every turn so that we are better equipped to incorporate inevitable change seamlessly and beneficially.
This past Saturday on New Year’s Eve we offered a seven-course tasting menu to our guests. It was a prix fixe. Each dish was brand new to us. We were in uncharted territory. Going into service we were happy with the food and we believed that we were ready to serve our guests. And for the most part we were. But, alas, we were not as prepared as we should have been and, frankly, we blew New Year’s Eve for three of our tables because of poor planning. It was, to say the least, not our best moment and to those guests who experienced it, I sincerely apologize. The next day, our team was dazed but we had a New Year’s Day service to put on. So we did. And the comfort we took during that New Year’s Day service was that the palpable pain that each of us felt over the failures of the night prior meant that we care; a lot.
As we begin our third year in business we remain dedicated to constantly monitoring our progress and analyzing where we can improve any aspect of the experience we provide. Our goal is perfection. While it is, by definition, an unattainable goal, we will continue to work as hard as we possibly can to get as close to that goal as humanly possible. During 2017 we will persist in our dedication to our principles, continue to learn from all of you, and, with constant hard work, get just a little bit better every day.
Thank you all and we wish you the best in 2017.
Johno