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 – Continuously studying the challenges we meet and the responses we devise, lean gives us endless opportunities to learn. The author goes back to basics, reflecting on some core lean premises.
VIDEO - In this video from the recent European Lean Educator Conference, John Shook and Isao Yoshino draw on their experience at Toyota to reflect on the development of lean thinkers.
INTERVIEW – Toyota’s approach to developing capabilities and its focus on life-long learning are inspirational. But how do people at Toyota actually learn?
INTERVIEW – This moving company in Singapore has taken its first steps down the lean road, reminding us that translating your strategy into small, actionable improvements people can make at the gemba is the way to a transformation.