I've sat in those seats, the twenties

I snagged a podcast listen while building a deck for a business pitch today. Instagram was the culprit. I got to my self-imposed limit and on the next thumb scroll I saw Gavin Kaysen was promoting a pod he was recently on - Life in the Woods: Episode 14.

We have all kinds of admiration and respect and thankfulness in this house for the work of the teams Gavin leads here in Mpls - and that was all pre-pando. While we are bummed Bellecour is no longer on the lake out west, we’re excited by the current iteration in the North Loop and stoked the teams have pulled through, adapted in countless ways and stayed with it to get to today. Can you say “seasonal Danish?” Can you say “plus, s’il vous plait”? The team there, @demi and @spoon are just simply crushing it. Lots of takeout was amazing during 2020 (Ramen at home!) and the holiday meals were smashing too! We’re so thankful.

While the core operating principles (that might be what the team calls them) did not come up in the pod, I was excited to hear of Gavin’s story from Chandon (we were recently there) through to France, San Diego, NYC and ultimately MPLS. I have a similar story of writing letters to business leaders as Gavin shared and a similar desire I sense he has to keep building teams of principle, hospitality and great execution.

Toward that end we come to the two tables at the pass… the twenties, as Gavin referred to them. They are exposed. We’ve sat at them. Gavin mentioned that his team pays attention when seating people there to check the comfort of the couple and to offer a different seat if a team member senses awkwardness.

I’ve had a sense of the level of attention to detail, queues from the clients and care that the team is putting into their work together. It was great to hear of this one as a person who has had the experience of needing to get comfortable in the twenties. I bet there are numerous examples in what has become their standard practice. Yet, I’m happy to just know about this one.