Caffe Centro had been in business for twenty years when I took over ownership in 2013. There were many reasons that had motivated me to purchase the cafe. The location was key but the cafe’s long history as a central part of the community was particularly appealing. You can’t put a price on twenty years goodwill. I’m still regularly surprised quite how many people know of Caffe Centro. Most people I meet seem to have visited at one point or another, and it has played an important role in the daily lives of many of the central figures of the tech revolution in the last twenty years.

So when I took over in November 2013 the cafe’s history and it’s place within the community was central to my thinking. I knew that changes were necessary. I don’t think it is doing the previous owners a disservice to say the space was tired and the business had lacked attention. But I was nervous of undoing twenty years of goodwill by making the wrong changes. Caffe Centro and South Park are unique and very special places in San Francisco. To lose the identity that made Caffe Centro so unique would be a massive mistake.

And so began the strategy of patience and iteration. Making small changes over time as I developed a better understanding of the cafe, park, and our customers. I guess it could be seen as developing the business without a plan. I prefer to see it as a strategy in itself. By making regular small changes I can watch their impact and improve or remove without worrying that any changes can’t be undone.

I believe that this patient approach has led to the changes being accepted more readily as well. If I had come in on day one and made wholesale changes then there would probably have been some pushback from customers and my team. They would almost certainly have been the wrong changes too.

It’s been two years since I first took over and looking back it’s apparent that, despite the patient approach, a lot has changed in that time. It’s amazing how much can be achieved with regular little improvements. Every area of the business has been touched in some way, but to the casual observer nothing has changed. The business is performing better financially and the cafe remains central to the South Park community, reputation intact. I’m proud of the work we’ve done so far and I’m a believer in the strategy of patience and iteration. Hopefully it will be able to help me continue to grow the business while retaining the heart and soul of Centro.

Having said all that, I think that after two years I have a better understanding of where I want to take the cafe and what the future might look like. The whole purpose of this blog is to talk about how the cafe can be more than just an income producing business. Now is the time to develop a vision where this becomes a reality. It is time for me to get this on paper and start putting in place a strategy that will define Caffe Centro over the next twenty years.