Two years to break even, twelve to stay there

I opened a six-table café in a forgotten part of Bologna. The hardest year was the fourth, when the neighbourhood found us and almost broke us.

The path, in milestones.

1. 2012

   Signed the lease, then learned to make coffee

   I had worked in restaurants but never owned one. Spent three months as an unpaid barista in a friend's place before opening. Best decision I made.

   Lesson: Apprenticeship is cheap tuition for an expensive lesson.
2. 2016

   The queue that nearly killed us

   A magazine wrote about us. Saturday queues went around the corner. We doubled staff, halved quality, lost the regulars. It took eight months to win them back.

   Lesson: Growth you can't deliver against is the most expensive marketing.
3. 2024

   Still here, smaller on purpose

   We turned down a second location three times. Six tables, one corner, twelve years. The accountant calls us boring. Boring paid for my daughter's school.

   Lesson: There is a size at which a business stops being a craft. Know yours.