Innovation

Blue Sky Café (Blue Sky) is an innovation in the restaurant business. It’s an organization that thrives on authentic and sustainability leadership in the delivery of socially good food. Blue Sky specializes in breakfast and lunch and also serves as a part-time yoga studio. Blue Sky is innovative because it truly embeds the notion of sustainability within its organization. The cafe focuses on conducting an ethical and environmentally friendly business, but where it thrives is in its dealing with its employees and customers. In a sense, Blue Sky is an interesting innovation because it is a restaurant that seems focused on serving its stakeholders through developing community through good food.

Blue Sky emerged from the want of its owner to have a different type of business in which it could be differentiated in the form of being part of the community and serving people. The idea was to have place where organic and gluten free meals could be part of the quality and wholeness orientation of conducting a restaurant. That is, where good wholesome food is the norm not the exception. Blue Sky was also a place to serve the soul through practicing yoga with patrons in the evening.

Blue Sky came about through the vision of its owner and passion to do business in a different way. In a truly entrepreneurial way, the owner divested her assets and concentrated on building Blue Sky. Originally, Blue Sky was actually a corporate type of restaurant, but emerged after and has been in business in its current form for 12-years. In talking to the owner and observing the organization’s operations, one gets the sense that her authentic style of leadership is deeply embedded into the organization. It quickly becomes clear that she leads in an open and transparent way and that she inspires her employees. This fact is evidenced by the promise of good service and good food that is printed on the back of every menu and the overly apparent pride Blue Sky’s staff takes in delivering on these promises.

From the owner: “Provide a positive work environment where people make enough money” and “It’s a huge mistake to prioritize profit and not to incorporate human values in the way people run their business. Business can change the world. It doesn’t have to cost money.”

Inspiration

The original idea for Blue Sky came about as an expression of its owner’s passion and values. Blue Sky seems to have manifested as a values-based organization more so than most restaurants. The idea for Blue Sky is an interesting mix of what is currently being done and what could/should be done. In many respects, Blue Sky is a new type of restaurant organization in how it approaches business and serves is value proposition. More specifically, Blue Sky seems to focus their business model around social service both in terms of employees and customers. Secondarily, the organization’s focus is on doing the least amount of harm to the environment and holding itself accountable to these ideals by openly expressing them to stakeholders. Lastly, Blue Sky seems to focus on profits. Perhaps not surprisingly, by focusing their business on the first two (i.e. social and environmental), profits seems to be a natural byproduct rather than the driving force behind Blue Sky’s success.

Thus, its innovation relates to its owners sense of mission. Values, community, and a sense of social empowerment are all ingredients of the Blue Sky’s value chain. The mission to be socially, economically, environmentally responsible is evidenced by reading the back of every menu which is inscribed with, “We believe our business practices should reflect our personal values: take care of each other, take care of our environment, offer fresh food made with love and service from the heart."

By expressing its values in this manner, Blue Sky uniquely raises its customers’ expectations at the start of each meal and provides them with a standard by which to measure the organization’s actions each time they visit. It is these types of practices that are transforming Blue Sky into something that goes beyond just being a restaurant for its stakeholders.

Overall impact

The impact of the innovation has been interesting to watch and unfold. On the surface, Blue Sky looks like an interesting restaurant that is popular its community and has been known to host a yoga class here and there. Although, digging deeper, Blue Sky is a transformational organization and business in the sense that it prioritizes people first (customer and employees) and everything else second. This prioritization is supported and facilitated by the production of truly good food made of quality ingredients.

The short term effects of Blue Sky are in the satisfaction of receiving something of quality in the form of a meal. In the true nature of a sustainably-oriented organization, one doesn’t get the feel that Blue Sky is looking at the short-term. Blue Sky seems focused on service and quality and in talking to its owner; “This is a long term pursuit and orientation.” After 12-years in business in the same location, it was hard for the owner to catalog her short-term effect. The long-term effects seem evident in that her business is thriving and on the surface, it seems to be fulfilling its mission.

Moreover, evidence of the long-term effects are exhibited through her communities support and the fact that on just about every day of the week there is a wait to be seated and that customers are willing to wait. This customer devotion may in part be attributed to the sustainable way in which Blue Sky operates. For example, Blue Sky touts the fact they source only natural ingredients without “nitrates, preservatives, fillers, antibiotics or hormones” in their food. Additionally, Blue Sky is proud of the fact that they openly recycle, compost, use biodegradable carry out containers, and seek energy saving efficiencies in their operations. The positive long term-effect of the business can also be seen in the “nearly two-thirds of Blue Sky’s staff that have been with the organization for more than 10-years and that they haven’t had to hire a server in eight.” This amazing example of employee loyalty speaks directly to how engaged Blue Sky’s staff are with its employer. In speaking with the owner, she made it clear that she invests in her employees by providing them more than a salary that is above industry averages, she encourages an inclusive and positive work environment where employees feel like contributors to their communities. This high level of employee engagement seems to be communal at Blue Sky and as a patron you get the sense that the staff has bought into the business model and want to be a part of the social value it creates.

Business benefit

In a very real sense the innovation described here is a type of new business model that focuses on the social and environmental side of creating and capturing value. The overall benefit to the organization is revealed by the tenure in which the restaurant has been in business and the ongoing devotion it receives both by employees and customers alike.

Social and environmental benefit

The societal and environmental benefits this innovation produces is one of doing good business by doing right by employees and making the environment a priority rather than an obscure part of a businesses supply chain.

Interview

Tina Trammell, Owner