soft opening

Meaning

1. 1nouncountablebusiness

   A quiet early opening of a business to a limited audience, used to test its service before the official launch.

   Grammar: Usually a countable noun with an or the: we held a soft opening.

   Patterns

   • hold a soft opening
   • a soft opening for something

   The restaurant held a soft opening for friends and family before its grand launch.

   During the soft opening, the staff practiced serving customers and fixed problems in the kitchen.

   The store's soft opening drew only a few curious neighbors.

Word forms

Common combinations

hold a soft opening

The cafe will hold a soft opening on Friday.

soft opening period

During the soft opening period, drinks are half price.

invite-only soft opening

The invite-only soft opening was full of local chefs.

after the soft opening

After the soft opening, they changed the menu.

a quiet soft opening

The hotel had a quiet soft opening in March.

Synonyms and how they differ

preview

A preview can be for anything, like a film, while a soft opening is specific to launching a business.

trial run

A trial run is a general term for testing something, but a soft opening involves real customers.

pilot

A pilot is a small test of a project, which may or may not involve customers paying.

Opposites

Word family

soft launch noun

a limited release of a product before a full launch

grand opening noun

the official, publicized start of a business

open verb

to begin business

Commonly confused: soft opening or grand opening?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “soft opening”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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