CAN I? stands for Constant And Never-ending Innovation

At YO! Sushi there were five coloured plates which indicated the price of the food on them.

So by eating off the low-cost blues and greens you could economise, or you could go crazy and stack up the pinks and purples. Our price boards used to be magnetic so that we could change prices; now they are digital so that prices can be adjusted immediately.

Expand Close

And when we opened in financial districts, the price of a plate varied throughout the day, directly linked to the number of customers in the line, and you were able to buy ‘futures’.

Soon after, I developed a video screen ordering for specials that were delivered by conveyor belt and bleep at you, and we used the same screens for video dining between restaurant locations. All part of our Constant And Never-ending Innovation.

Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.

Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass

When I first started working with Sainsbury’s, the UK supermarket chain, I found out that they strive to “delight” the customer. That’s what I want to do too. But I want to go even further and “blow their minds” by constantly titillating them with new things.

You can’t create a masterpiece concept anymore and say, “that’s it, now we’ll roll it out.” The 21st century concepts that succeed will be those that continually re-invent themselves, just like Madonna.

  • Take Away

    Finding ideas

  • Allow yourself to fantasise – if you are enjoying it you are in the right place.

  • Often the really good ideas start out as the whacky ones, so don’t dismiss them before they have a chance to mature.

  • Allow yourself some lazy time, whether it’s in the garden, the bathtub or the car. Let your mind loose to fly.

  • Try behaving out of character or go to a meeting and act as if you are someone you admire.

  • Go to a supermarket and wander around looking at the shapes with a blank mind.

  • The most impossible ideas sometimes have the most useful content.