While we were in Paris this summer, we stumbled upon a tiny ham shop in the Marais called Caractère de Cochon.
The shop is tiny. Only about four people can fit inside at a time, and the line often wraps down the street. We waited about 40 minutes for our turn.
Then we met Rosa.
The moment you walk through the door, she makes you feel like you are the only person in the shop that day. She welcomes you, answers your questions, explains the different hams and cheeses, and takes her time with you. She genuinely made us feel like she had all the time in the world. Even though she had probably done this same thing 200 times that day.
And somehow, you completely forget that you just waited 40 minutes.
Rosa doesn’t sell a million things. She doesn’t need to.
She knows exactly what she does, and she does it incredibly well.
We ordered a simple jambon-beurre. A baguette, butter, and really good ham and cheese. It was delicious, but the sandwich itself wasn’t something that couldn’t be replicated.
What couldn’t be replicated was how we felt in that tiny shop.
We felt welcomed. We felt valued. We felt like she genuinely cared that we were there.
That experience really stayed with us.
Because it reminded us of what we want Duality to be.
We don’t want to offer everything. We want to be really good at what we do. We want to be intentional about what we offer and thoughtful about every detail.
But most importantly, we want you to feel special when you walk through our doors.
