Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
A coffee podcast providing coffee shop owners and leaders with insights, inspiration, and the tools needed to grow and advance their coffee business or career. It features interviews with experts both in and outside the coffee industry, delivering practical advice on ownership, optimization, profitability, barista work, employee culture, management, scaling, leadership, and personal development.
Episodes
631 Ashley Derrick: The Joys and Challenges of Buying an Existing Cafe
Many owners start in the business of coffee shops by buying an existing cafe. Sometimes there is a lot of work to do. Other times, the cafe is already a successful, well love, and established cafe. The later example is actually a bit more daunting since now there is legacy, community, and great staff to steward, all while learning the ropes yourself! Today is a story of how one woman took on this
SHIFT BREAK! Let Your Cafe Be
In the ecosystem of entrepreneurship we glorify and practice a certain kind of paranoia about our businesses. We are never happy and always suspecting we are behind, or broken in some secret way that we need to find. The result is that, even when we arrive to a good place, our ability to recognize it and rest in it is nonexistent. Today on Shift Break we will be talking about why we sometimes need
630: Two Dollar Drip and The Fight For Accessible Menus w/ Tim Riley of Heavy Water Coffee, Los Angeles, CA
The coffee shop experience is one that should be accessible to a wide variety of people. How we go about building a welcoming and hospitable space is not only the work of interior design, workflow, and service standards; it also extends to the menu and what we offer. Enter the 2 dollar drip. An item that represents an intention put into action to offer something to anyone who has less but still w
629: Founder Friday! Stephanie Jones of Mrs. Jones Cold Brew is The OG Cold Brew Queen!
Cold brew only is not a normal thing for a coffee bar. It takes deep dedication, innovation, and focus to drive that concept and offer customers out of the ordinary that they both remember AND love. For ten years now our guest has been blazing a trail for cold brew lovers to experience a fun, hospitable, pure, and deliciously crafted cold brew menu. Today we will be talking to Stephanie Jones, Fo
SHIFT BREAK! Don't Build Compromise Into Your Business
What happens when we build into our systems exceptions for the less than desirable habits of staff? Well for starters we rob that staff member of the opportunity to grow and receive correction to meet the standards. We then rob our business of reach its potential as we now erode the foundations from the inside. Lastly we rob the customer of a great experience because all the little compromises and
628: Start With Reasonable Hospitality
We love extremes. Novel services, events, specials, and stunts to catapult us into the consciousness of our customers seem to be what we favor and are fixated on. After all, it proves that we are different, better, and that we care about people and quality!...right? Not exactly. Just like Settling the Table before it, Wil Guidara's great book, Unreasonable Hospitality has been making the rounds i
SHIFT BREAK! The Danger of Fast-Track Training
The temptation for fast-track people during training is a very common one. I would go so far as to say that, half of the reason we see the inconsistencies and quality of product and service issues we do today, comes from pushing people through training and putting them on bar when they are not equipped to succeed. Today on Shift Break we will be talking about the danger of "fast-track" training,
627: Why You Need to Work IN Your Business
We hear the advice from the popular author of "The E-Myth" saying that we should work ON our business, not IN it. While I understand and agree with the point being made to not get caught up in tasks perpetually that make you a bottle neck, I believe we have taken it a bit far as of late where many want to skip a crucial step in the process of their growth. Today we are going to be talking about w
SHIFT BREAK! Vibes Are a Cheap Replacement For Meaning
I hear the word "vibes" used as a stand in for a lot of different things. Most often it is used to describe a somewhat ambiguous sense of good feelings or peace of mind around a culture or a person. The idea is great, but the issue is that without having specific and meaningful definitions of what brings those vibes to fruition, we end up with more problems than good times. Today on Shift Break w
626: Why You Are Not Getting Ahead in Your Career
We all have ambitions and hopes for our career but time passes and we don't see any progress. It would be a mistake to chalk this up to fate instead of a lack of progress that comes from a lack of intentional actions as well as our underlying beliefs. Today we are going to explore what some of those beliefs and actions look like to help you unlock the potential of your career and make meaningful
SHIFT BREAK! It's Got To Hurt If It's To Heal! : The Pins and Needles of Positive Change
All too often we are likely to stick with the comfortable and known dysfunction or the habitual neglect of important areas of our business, than to take the uncomfortable but needed step of fixing and bringing life into those areas. In fact, I believe avoidance of taking action on those areas in need of attention is the first step in business failure. Today on Shift Break we will be talking about
625: 5 Ways To Make Your Coffee Taste Better
The quality of your coffee is one of the main reasons people choose your cafe vs another. It is the baseline expectation customers have for a specialty coffee shop and today, in spite of our abundant resources and access to information and tools, we are still far from consistently meeting, let alone exceeding, those expectations. On the show today we will cover 5 ways your cafe can make your coff
624: Founder Friday! The Power of Inclusion w/ Lindsay Wrege of 321 Coffee in Raleigh, NC
One of the coolest things about coffee is how it can be used as a catalyst for change. Today we are going to be talking with someone who has built one of the best examples of how a business with a vision can make real progress for inclusion. We are talking with Lindsay Wredge, Co-founder of 321 Coffee in Raleigh, NC! 321 Coffee is a coffee shop and roaster built on inclusion. Based in Raleigh,
SHIFT BREAK! It's The Way You Say It: Tips For Improving How People Receive Your Words
You may have the best advice and information, but then your delivery can often fall flat or even have the opposite effect. This is very common in the cafe leadership environment where things are busy and our emotions feed into how we speak. Today on Shift Break we will be talking about how to start paying attention to and adjusting the spirit behind the words you speak and how to make practical ad
623: Coffee Content Overload! What Matters Most When Consuming Content Today
Today we have an impossibly vast range of resources and content about anything you need to learn or know about coffee and coffee shops. What a time to be alive! The issue that comes with these accessible and abundant resources is the issue of learning but never applying or growing. We have become people who seek information as the end in itself, not the means to an end On this episode I am goin
SHIFT BREAK! Don't Give Your Staff Invisible Targets
If we want our staff to succeed, we have to give them clear target to aim for. Unfortunately shocking number of cafes have what I would describe as invisible targets that only appear once the arrow is released. No wonder managers and other staff feel that winning at work is a rigged game. In today's Shift Break we will talk about the importance of providing clear targets, and how to build momentu
What are the Key Holder Coaching Groups?
For cafe owners, the way you and your coffee shop grow is determined by how you are supported and nourished by community. The trouble is most owners are isolated, stressed, and are in desperate need of a type of community that is not just generally related to business but is made up entirely of other coffee shop owners who know exactly where you are coming from. That is what Key Holder Coaching G
622: Lifting Up Coffee Farmers w/ Ben Carlson of Long Miles Coffee!
In coffee we can often question the impact of our efforts. Over time though, small consistent steps in the right direction can not only carry you over many miles, it can transform you and those for whom you are working. What may seem like plodding work now, is the foundation for what will be built in the future. Today we are talking with someone whose work has taken several turns over the year
SHIFT BREAK! What It Means To Have Integrity In Our Work
Integrity is hard to identify unless you are actively looking for and working on it. But what is "it"? Well, in some ways it is consistency, but that is not enough. Integrity is more than production of the same thing the same way, it is more related to the mindset and spirit behind that consistency. In coffee, we have a lot of room to improve our consistency, because we are lacking in how seriousl
621: Managment, Supply Chain, and Building Great Teams w/ Ewelina Kania!
In order to provide excellence in the cafe, we need to focus on people. Building, caring for, and managing a team is the cornerstone of any great cafe. The potential of your coffee and hospitality depends on this! Today we are going to be talking with someone who has lead and managed at the highest levels of coffee. With her passion for logistics, people-first leadership, and team development, sh
SHIFT BREAK! Challenge and Affirmation: Why You Need Both In Your Coffee Shopp
If we know anything it is that striking a balance in our communication is very difficult. It often feels like we are neglecting affirmation for fear of not addressing issues, or we neglect addressing issues and challenging our staff because we worry about how they will take it. So we stick to simply working a lot and mostly doing both poorly. No more! Today on Shift Break we will be talking about
620: Creating Spaces For Joyful Hospitality w/ Mo Maravilla of Studio Tigre
As we continue to see specialty coffee shops grow and expand into the furthest reaches of the globe, one thing remains an enduring value to customers. That feeling of belonging. A sense that the hospitality and the good will of those providing it are genuine makes every cup taste sweet and the memory of the experience even sweeter. Perhaps no professional in recent years better embodies these val
Special! Interviews From Coffee Fest Chicago 2026! w/ Lan Ho (Fat Miilk), Miranda Haney (Barista Friend), Asia Vo (Loba Pastry and Coffee))
Every Coffee Fest we sit down with presenters and speakers to talk about their field of expertise and learn from their experience in coffee. This time we had a wonderful time talking with three professionals at Coffee Fest Chicago! We start with Lan Ho, Founder of Fat Miilk Vietnamese coffee bar in Chicago! Lan Ho is the founder and CEO of Fat Miilk, a Chicago-based Vietnamese coffee company red
SHIFT BREAK! Walking Out Effective Leadership and Management
Leading and managing are only as effective as your knowledge and understanding of the who, what, and why of your cafe. Sadly many people with the title of manager or in positions of leadership are going day-to-day putting out fires, chasing down tasks, but never getting ahead in developing and supporting their staff in meaningful ways. Today on Shift Break we will be talking about some practical
619: 4 Mindset Shifts Every Cafe Owners Needs
How we think determines how we act. This is especially true when it comes to pressurized situations like the kind that we find in a busy coffee shop environment. We talk a lot about leader, ship, tactics, and principles, and aspire to be better leaders, but if we don't fix our thinking, our actions will not be effective in our efforts will fall flat. On today's episode we will be discussing for ma
618: Founder Friday! w/ Tim Wendelboe | Oslo, Norway
It's Founder Friday and I am so pleased to finally welcome the one an only Tim Wendelboe! Tim Wendelboe runs his own roastery and espresso bar in Oslo, Norway where he imports, roast and serve high quality coffees. Apart from winning 8 Nordic Roaster Competitions with his team, he was the 2004 World Barista Champion and the 2005 World Cup Tasting Champion and has also published several books on c
SHIFT BREAK! Start Small
Seemingly in balance to our episode with Kwame Christian on big swings, we need to talk about small starts! Making decisions about size, scope, and scale of our cafes can set us up for success or it can set us up for disappointment. I see this play out time and time again where people over commit to something and bite of more than they can chew. This leads to al sorts of downstream issues. Today
617: Kwame Christian On How To Take Big Swings in Your Career and Business
There is wisdom in taking well considered steps in your life and business. The trouble is that sometimes, when the best move is a big one, we can write it off as unwise or reckless. How can we overcome what holds us back from making the right big moves? Well I am pleased to welcome back to the show someone who has lived out and navigated this problem. My friend and world renowned expert in commun
SHIFT BREAK! Are You Holding Your Business Back? Let it Grow!
I had a conversation with a successful cafe and roastery client recently. We talked about delegation and what was standing in the way of them giving tasks and authority to others. It came out that they were worried about relinquishing control and that they want things to be perfect. Of course this owner is in good company, we all have this feeling that ultimately holds things back. Today on Shif
616: How to Run a Boardgame Cafe w/ Kevin Kerkhof of Hitherto Coffee and Gaming Parlour!
Boardgames and coffee! The two were meant for one another. Gathering around a table to share an experience with your friends and family is core to how community happens. In the last decade we have seen an explosion of gaming and coffee cafes meeting a need for connection over shared dice, boards, cards and cups. Todays guest has been a pillar in this community for over 7 years and brings an incr
SHIFT BREAK! Avoid Burnout By Serving Your Managers
We serve 2 types of customers. External and internal. The external customer is the one that comes in for a coffee and spends money and time with us as guests in the cafe. The internal customer comes in for a job and spend their energy and time helping us serve the first customer well. In this environment, managers are critical leaders in caring for both groups. Not only this, managers are under pr
615: The Key to Excellent Cafes, Sales, and Wholesale Support w/ Sam Lewontin!
In the world of specialty coffee, the relationship between roaster and cafe is one of the most vital. In a healthy relationship, there is a support for the client that mirrors the hospitality and quality that the roaster hopes the cafe produces using their coffee. There may be nobody more qualified to speak to both side of this relationship of mutual support than today guest, Sam Lewontin! Sam is
SHIFT BREAK! The Best Strategy is Simplicity
I have noticed a lot of noise in the industry. The coffee shop and its owner are the targets of a crushing and never ending stream of marketing that does not care about your success, but only moving units. The uncertainty that was supposed to be solved, is made worse, and the simple desire to serve coffee professionally, gets over complicated. No wonder we burn out so often. Today on Shift Break
614: 3 Areas to Prioritize for Your People's Success
A cafe's culture is built by intentionally investing in values, hiring, training, and leadership structures and behaviors. These areas are integral to any cafe's success. The issue is that for many, they tend to be rushed or even afterthoughts, leaving the people part of our coffee shops under developed and the resulting culture fragile. In this episode we will go over the three areas we are co
SHIFT BREAK! Every Manager Should Have This Trait
We are notorious in coffee for promoting people into management based only on technical skills or that they might not be quite as unreliable as others on the team. We also rush good people who need more time to develop resilience into the position and set them up for failure. In order to make good decisions, there are many traits we need to look for in a a manager, but one in particular is importa
613: Challenges and Opportunities in Changing the Industry w/ Writer Sarah Charles of Underscore Communication
Today we have access to information about the world of coffee that is unprecedented. At times it can be overwhelming to consider all the areas of the coffee industry that need fixing while we also work daily to care for those we have immediately with us. The trick is to tune into sources that convey not just the reality of the problem, but can also feature stories that showcase hope as we work to
SHIFT BREAK! Getting The Hint From Your Customers
Sometimes we hope against hope that we can eventually win the customer over to that one flavor, those later hours of your cafe, or the new menu item that the internet said was a sure-fire winner. Whether it is our own pride or some other reason, we can hang on to things a bit too long and damage our business in the process. Today on Shift Break we will be talking about the signals your customers
612: Founder Friday! w/ Yaren Maya of Cafeto Cacao in Oaxaca, Mexico!
I am so glad that I came across this jewel of a cafe in Oaxaca City, Oaxaca, Mexico. We hear often about direct trade relationships, local sourcing, excellent hospitality, and servant leadership all as aspirations of mindful operators. This place is living these aspirations as a part of the daily rhythm. Coffee and Cacao from their backyard. Signature drinks and a food menu made from ingredients d
611: What Colin Harmon Knows About Growing Coffee Shops!
As hard as starting a coffee shop can be, growing that shop is where the real work begins. The industry is riff with examples of cafes and roasteries that have suffered and even failed as a resulting how they approach growth. The industry also has many whose businesses have grown well but we can only admire their work as outsiders to the work that was done to get there. Enter Colin Harmon. Just l
SHIFT BREAK! Are You Ready To Scale?
As time goes on, opportunities to grow your business will present themselves and you need to make a decision on whether you will say yes, no, or not yet. In order to make a good decision there are a few things you should consider. Today on Shift Break we will be talking about six areas of your current business that need to be healthy in order to set your next venture up fopr success. Whether it
610: What People Love and Hate in a Coffee Shop |Research Results from Chicago Coffee Fest
What do customers love and hate about coffee shops? It feels like a question that is too easy to answer and as a result I believe we do not spend nearly enough time researching it. This past weekend I spoke in Chicago at Coffee Fest. In preparation we analyzed the most positive reviews and negative reviews of the worst rated and best rated cafes on Google and Yelp in the Chicago area. The results
SHIFT BREAK! Why You Need To Cross-Train Staff
In too many cafes we find staff trained only in the areas they work in with minimal to no knowledge or understanding in other parts of the business. This derails a cafes growth and effectiveness. Staff in the front are not equipped to speak with understanding and confidence to customers and those those who work in the back or in production areas are isolated from the up-steam results of their work
609: Lessons On Running a True Community Space w/ Blew Kind of D'griot Cafe | Philadelphia, PA
More than just a 3rd space, some cafes are platforms for ideas, catalysts for change, and a space specifically organized and designed to grow and nurture their communities. Led by people with deep convictions and a vivid vision for what can be, these spaces transform and help support the community beyond the coffee. Today we get to catch up with someone who has spend decades pouring into her
SHIFT BREAK! Why It's Hard To Find Good Help These Days
We have heard this phrase before and, if we are honest, we have said it a couple times too. The statement is problematic since it assumes that the world around us is the reason we can't seem to find the help we want. Today on Shift Break we will be talking about why it seems like we can't find good help, and the reality of how our own behaviors, lack of preparation, and well thought through system
608: The Best Behaviors for Building Resilient Cafe and Roastery w/ Tracy Allen of Brewed Behavior Consulting
Our businesses are the results of the small and large decisions we make over the years. It is our behavior in the business that ultimately determines the success and Impact we can realize. Some have said that the 4th wave is ,marked by more passionate coffee balancing that passion with good business practice and strategy. Today will be talking with someone who has been hugely influential in teach
Founder Friday! w/ Amos Gillespie of Wheelhouse Coffee, Kentville, Nova Scotia, CA
The best coffee businesses are built on solid values, local community, and small consistent steps taken toward deeper connection through hospitality and excellence in the product. The story of Wheelhouse Coffee is one that demonstrates the power of intentional people-first work over time and what happens when you make growth a conversation with those your serve. I am thrilled to get to talk with
SHIFT BREAK! You're Only as Good as Your Worst Drink
It may seem unfair, but it is the truth. Customer hold a special place in their brains for negative experiences. Don't we do the same? And when do most of these lower quality experiences tend to take place? Usually when we are the busiest and have the greatest opportunity to build a good reputation. It's diabolical! On today's Shift Break we will be talking about why you are only as good as your
605: What To Do When You've Been Promoted To Manager
Congratulations! You have been made the cafe manager! Now what? Well, you are now occupying one of the most critical roles in all of coffee retail. As a leader you have a lot of growth opportunities and can make a massive difference as you serve the company, the staff, and the customers. The first six months - a year is a pretty critical time where you either build trust and establish healthy outl
SHIFT BREAK! Addressing "Bad Apples" On Your Staff
Nothing kills cafe culture like an a staff member who is a bad fit for their role. Often this manifests in work performance issues that are felt by customers, coworkers, and leaders alike. It brings people down. The diabolical thing is that the most common response cafe leadership has is to simply wish it away and let it go on far too long. Meanwhile a toxic or ill fit employee continues (whether
Special! Interviews From Coffee Fest NYC 2026! w/ Rachel Apple and Ivana Chan (Raise the Bar), Jeremy Lyman (Birch Coffee), Lauren Tran (Bahn by Lauren)
Every Coffee Fest we sit down with presenters and speakers to talk about their field of expertise and learn from their experience in coffee. This last NYC Coffee Fest we were privileged to get to chat with four dynamic professionals and discuss everything from barista education and community, social media strategy, and how to run a world class bakery and coffee bar. We start with Ivana Chan and
604: 5 Habits Holding You and Your Team Back
Habits we develop around work and leadership can serve to help us grow, or they can hold us back from growth. Many leaders unintentionally develop habits that feel like the right thing in the moment, but in the end actually undo progress and move things backwards in the cafe's operations, culture, and quality. Today we are going to dive into five habits that I have seen damage and hold back busine
SHIFT BREAK! Why You Will Always Be A Small Coffee Shop
Our image of who we are as a business is not necessarily the same as that of our customer. We see all the inside gears and pulleys that hide beneath the surface. We see the scope and organizational diagram of the cafe, the roastery, mobile cart, online sales, and multiple locations. We see a brand, while they see just a small coffee shop. Today on Shift Break we will be talking about how no ma
603: Innovation, Progress, and your Coffee Shop: Finding the Signal in the Noise
The words "innovation" and "progress" are the favorite buzz words of our industry, but what do they mean? It is usually a lot of noise around the subject of technology, but rarely related to things that deliver lasting positive change in the cafe. The average shop owner has to wade through a sea of claims and sales pitches all making big claims about their products. In the end, they are left with
SHIFT BREAK! The Mindset of Working Clean
Having a clean cafe and a clean bar is not just a surface level pursuit. The mindset it takes to keep things clean while busy is a discipline that have far reaching benefits extending to the quality of our products, depth of hospitality, and the health of our relationships behind and across the bar. Today on Shift Break we will be talking about the mindset baristas and owners need to have in or
602: Renata Henderson | Cxffeeblack | Putting The Heart Back Into Coffee
The success of coffee globally is based on what coffee represents...community. A beverage that facilitates rootedness, growth, and fruiting of relationships through shared conversation over a cup in our shops or your home. But today, we are an industry. And our concerns tend to be exclusively around just the business of specialty coffee. Where is the heart? Today I am honored and excited to pres
SHIFT BREAK! "What's Next in Coffee"
The more we ask this question the more we tend to steal time and consideration away from what we have of value in the present. The coffee shop and the larger industry for that matter, are obsessed with not being left behind and therefore we must constantly disquiet our minds and worry. Today on Shift Break we will be talking about the danger of letting this question be the dominant question we
601: Why Your Cafe Staff Meeting Might Be Doomed To Fail
Meetings can be a very useful part of running a cafe. The way we tend to use them though has become a real problem. In fact, rather than helping, even the most well intentioned of meetings, might actually hurt your business if it is being conducted improperly. Today we are going to be diving into why your staff meeting might be doomed to fail and what you can do to make sure that you are using m
600: Founder Friday w/ Sammy Piccolo of Prado Cafe | Vancouver, BC
The world of specialty coffee today owes a lot of its success to those who helped build movements and create opportunities in earlier years. The times where new and actually meaningful advances in coffee shops, coffee craft, and service. There were many people and businesses that were at the forefront of the 3rd wave coffee movement and we get to talk with one of those people today! On this Foun
SHIFT BREAK: Forget Productivity
The hustle of business creates a fear culture where operators worry about their productivity at a near constant rate. We scratch our heads over how to prevent burn-out and talk about work life balance, but what about having a balanced perspective on work? Today on Shift Break we will be talking about how you can shift your view of productivity through clear definitions, willingness to recognize su
599: How To Raise Your Baseline Coffee Knowledge w/ Dylan Siemens | Head of Coffee Education at Cafe Imports
Coffee education is essential for a professional to not just have knowledge needed for their current job, but to add depth, appreciation, motivation, and to prepare them for possible futures in the coffee industry beyond their role today. The next step is to find a place that can supply you with that knowledge in a way that not only delivers facts, but breeds understanding and growth. Today we get
SHIFT BREAK! How To Keep Your Customers Excited
We talk a lot about engaging our customers and spend time, money, and effort to try to capture their attention in a crowded market. With so many things competing for their attention, what can a coffee shop do to keep their customers excited and loyal? Today on Shift Break we will be talking about ways that you can keep your customers excited and engaged without losing sleep or your identity in th
598: When To Quit
Quitting a job is a normal part of any career. Problem is that sometimes we don't know when to quit and hang on too long to ours and even the cafe's detriment. When should you as a staff member quit? What does positive quitting look like? What does recognizing and quitting a bad situation look like? Today on the show we will talk about some of the things to look out for in a coffee shop and in se
597: John Gordon: Developing Institutional Wisdom, Efficiencies, and True Expertise in Coffee
Knowledge about coffee is one thing, but wisdom and true expertise? Well, that is quite another. While knowledge is widely and cheaply available and true wisdom and expertise that makes a business effective is only attained after living and experiencing the realities of the coffee industry over time. The difference is important because it means the difference between effective operations and sol
SHIFT BREAK! Don't Waste Your Presence
Leaders have authority to make decisions, guide, delegate, affirm, coach, and grow the business and those they serve. The presence of a leader is only a benefit when that leader sees their authority as a tool for serving others and embraces a planned approach to using their presnce in the areas of the company that need it the most Today on Shift Break we will be talking about the practical ways y
SHIFT BREAK: Making Leadership A Real Process
Leadership and management are things we talk a lot about, but what does it take to actually make them a real process in the cafe? Most of what is in a job description is either unreasonable and poorly though through, or it is good but there is no real commitment from owners to see that it takes place. Today on Shift Break we will be talking about how we can we make it more than an aspiration and
596: 7 Reasons Why You Have High Turnover
Employee turnover in specialty coffee shops is the most talked about and difficult issue deal with, it has been for a long time. There are many causes for high turnover and sadly owners and managers frequently try to lower turnover with methods that are not effective. This is mostly because the cause specific to your shop has not yet been identified. On today's episode we are going to explore seve
595: Founder Friday | Advocating for Independent coffee shops w/ Peter Dore-Smith of Kaffeine London UK
Creating an excellent cafe experience is a work of commitment and dedication to caring for both the staff and the community that you serve. The coffee shop functions as a cornerstone of a healthy social structure in any city and advocating for it needs to sometimes go beyond the operations of the shop itself but extend into action taken to change the civil environment a cafe operates in. Today I
SHIFT BREAK! Fixing My Face: Why Optics Matter in the Shop
I can hold an average weight business card in the furrow of my brow. Kinda proud of that. However in my career my natural resting face has inspired a lot of "interesting" assumptions. Now, to some degree, there is a limit to what I can do, but in my work I want to make sure that what I want to communicate and display is actually clearly seen and felt. Today on Shift Break we will not just discus
ROR #40 w/ Chris Johnson of Purefi Coffee Roasters, Spring Texas : Roasting Excellent Coffee With Purpose
Roasting and brewing creates opportunity for mentorship and relationships that last longer than the sensory experience of the cup. Seriously pursuing technical excellence is a part of securing this opportunity and today's guest has been on a journey to bring both to the table. On this Rate of Rise we are talking with Purefi Coffee Roasters, Chris Johnson! Chris is the lead roaster and co-founder
594: Encore : Don't Get Stuck: Retraining Staff on New Standards
It is easy to become stuck in the ways that you first learned to do things. Especially if those ways have brought some degree of success. We take comfort in the familiar to the degree that even if it is not working, we will protect the known dysfunction rather than embracing something new better, but not known. Not to mention the fact that we can tend to reject it because we anticipate the resista
SHIFT BREAK: Cupping is Overrated
I love cupping coffee. It is a great way to assess a coffee and learn how to identify defects, attributes, and nuances that allow you to make decisions about buying coffee and how to maintain consistency in roasting. But the issue we have in a lot of coffee is that cupping, a practice designed for the above scenarios, has been miss used in the front of house customer facing world of retail. Today
593: Why You Should Not Manage Gen Z
The favorite past time of many an owner is to gripe about their younger Gen Z staff. Before them it was millennials. Before them it was Gen X, before them...well, you get the idea. For as long as coffee shops have hired employees, leaders have found it challenging to lead and manage a younger work force and the reason given is that there is just something about "That" generation. Well, I have goo
SHIFT BREAK! Become Immune to Fear-Based Coffee Marketing
"Don't get left behind!" It feels like every post trying to sell you on a product relies on fear in order to make the sale. The idea of marketing to "pain points" as they say in the biz, is not entirely wrong since we do in-fact want to provide solutions for real needs. But where things go a step too far is trying to create problems in order to sell the solution. As a coffee shop, you have an oppo
592: The Criteria For The World's Best Coffee Shop
Ranking the best coffee shops in the world is a task that sounds like a neat idea! That is until you realize the sheer impossibility of such a task not to mention the cognitive dissonance required to pretend like the results of such a ranking are in any way definitive or substantive. The world of coffee shops thrives on professional pursuits related to criteria anchored in locality and the nuance
591: The Problem w/ Focusing On The Numbers vs The Guest Experience
Focusing on numbers above guest experience may actually prevent you from achieving the numbers you need to sustain your business long term. Yet still people insist on creating environments in the shop that turn customers into marks to be worked for the sake to extracting as much out of them each interaction as possible so we can see average tickets rise and celebrate record days. In this case, the
SHIFT BREAK! Please Don't Be THAT Kind of Content Creator
Today we are surrounded by content and it is expected of every customer facing brand to strive to create a brand persona and content to reinforce your values and attract others who share those things. The bi-product of this dearth of content is the underlying sense of anxiety, disconnect, and lack of grounding as it seems the more we produce and consume, the emptier we feel. Today on Shift Break
590 : Founder Friday! w/ Patti and Jesse Ventura of Lontra Coffee | Los Angeles, California
When you build a trust through serving people with sincerity and passion, those same people support and uplift you. In the business of the coffee shop, those kinds of relationships are the life giving force that carries owners through the ups and downs of ownership. Today we get to talk to two of our industry's sweetest people whose cafe is built on this very thing. I am so happy to welcome to th
SHIFT BREAK! What We Lose When We Don't Listen
Feedback is all around us. From the customers, staff, and the business itself, we can only make great decisions for the coffee shop when we practice listening to understand. Trouble is we often avoid listening for fear of what we will hear, or because we falsely think we know what someone thinks or that their opinion cannot be helpful due to who they are or what position they hold. Today on Shift
589: How Coffee Sets the Stage For Conversation w/ Actor + Director Grant Garry!
Coffee is a connector. I think we all have seen this in our personal lives, our social lives, and in the community we help facilitate through our shops. In the fast paced often stessful world of cafes and the vocation of coffee, we need to take some time, and leave some room for appreciating the real impact a simple cup can have on people. On today's episode we will be talking all about the ways
SHIFT BREAK! Time Management to Beat Overwhelm
It's a common belief that there are not enough hours in the day to do the work that we need to get done in order to run a good coffee shop. The truth of the matter is that, more than a lack of time, this feeling is a result of poor time management. In particular, not having appropriately set and strategize priorities. Today on Shift Break, we will be exploring a few ways to think about time manag
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