Launch dates can be too close for comfort

The team has done it again - three customer restaurants of more than 400 seats opened a week apart. At least this time they were not at opposite ends of Britain.

Our little café in Caleys is lovely. With only 56 seats, it is the smallest restaurant we have opened. Customers for years have been asking for a café and now that they have one, they are delighted. The tables next to the windows have a super view of Windsor Castle, offering an excellent vantage point to watch the band.

As for the café in Solihull, when I left, five days before opening, the floor was still not finished and the café was still being built - no chance of the three trial days we'd planned. Naturally, the café team was getting anxious - and so was I. This was the closest we'd ever worked up to opening day.

However, over the weekend the floor was finished and the café opened at 9am on Wednesday, giving us at least one trial day.

The team was just so pleased to get into their area. At least now they could be trained on the coffee equipment and we could practise getting the food across the shop floor and out into the mall in front of the shop.

I was delighted to see the army of specialist helpers arrive. They are the backbone of any new restaurant opening and over the years I have come to rely on them as well as my team for a successful start.

And they did not let me down. While I never aim to put them on the dishwash or clearing tables, they always seem to end up there as both areas require crucial management. So, once again guys, thank for keeping us out of trouble.

The launch of our Healthier Choices campaign in the dining rooms has gone very well. I thought customers might have felt we were trying to force-feed them rabbit food. But we are not trying to make everyone eat lettuce leaves or brown rice. What we are doing instead is advising our customers that, wherever possible, we will use healthier cooking methods.

We will also adapt recipes to make them healthier; offer healthy food alongside the usual choices; and we will ensure that healthy foods are not more expensive to buy.

All our dining rooms have adopted the policy, so we have a lot to live up to.

CAROLINE MORTIMER is general manager, catering, for the John Lewis Partnership Next diary from Caroline Mortimer: 8 November