Managing a chain of 100 cafes in Barcelona with lean
THE LEAN BAKERY - For the past decade, lean has fuelled the growth of a chain of cafes/bakeries in Barcelona. With 100 now open, the Retail Manager explains how lean helps them manage a booming business.
Interviewee: Emi Castro, Retail Manager, 365.café
You might have heard our story: a business in trouble discovers lean and turns things around so dramatically it is now booming. Our chain of over 100 cafés/bakeries in and around Barcelona has been growing so much over the past decade, and if we have been able to manage this growth it is thanks to lean thinking.
Our lean experiments started in our main workshop (more on that in a few weeks), and only reached our "shops" a little later. But when they did, they truly transformed our way of working.
In the short video interview below, Eva and Conchi (two of our coaches) and I explain how we manage the shops day after day, how we organize the work, and how lean is helping us open new cafés quickly and easily. There will be two more episodes on the retail side of our business in February, so make sure to come to Planet Lean next month.
Thanks for watching!
You can read all about the 365 story in The Lean Bakery.
Buy your copy here
THE INTERVIEWEE
Read more
FEATURE - This surgery department was among the first areas in this hospital (maybe in the whole of Spain) to adopt Lean Thinking. Here's what their lean journey is focusing on more than 10 years after they started.
FICTION – In the second and final part of this story, the main characters discuss in front of a board. If you regularly use visual management, their conversation will resonate with you.
FEATURE – This piece analyzes the different elements of scrum, an agile software development framework, as seen from the point of view of traditional lean thinking.
OPINION – Look at today's disruptive companies and you'll see how all of them have understood that real innovation calls for close proximity to the customer, rather than for stubbornly taking cover in the comfort of the upstream.