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Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders

A coffee podcast providing coffee shop owners and leaders, with insights, inspiration, and the tools you need to grow and advance your coffee business or coffee career. We learn from experts both in and outside the coffee industry as they deliver specific, practical, and actionable advice about ownership, optimization, profitability, barista work, employee culture, management, scaling, leadership, personal development, and anything else that will help you achieve success in the coffee shop.
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Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
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Now displaying: 2020
Dec 31, 2020

Last Shift Break of 2020! As this year wraps up and we set our sights on the next there are a few things I believe we would greatly benefit from focusing on in order to build resiliency and a thriving business. Today we will be discussing a few of these things and why focusing on them can transform your shop for the better!

 

Related Episodes:

Systems as Care

Bridging the Values-Action Gap

004: Leadership in the Cafe : 10 Steps to Being a People First Leader

257 : A Conversation w/ Morgan Eckroth of MorganDrinksCoffee!

170 : Why your Inventory Counts w/ Albert Amar and Pierre-Francois Rio of SwiftCount

223 : Building a Financially Resilient Business w/ Andrew Carroll

202 : Mastering your Finances and Accounting w/ Keila Hill-Trawick of Little Fish Accounting

 

 

Need consulting or coaching? Reach out to KTTS Consulting!

Chris@keystotheshop.com

 

Elevated batch brew and so much more!

Ground Control Cyclops Brewer

 

Your Own Branded App!

www.espressly.co

 

 

Dec 28, 2020

This year has been a mental and emotional test of endurance like no other. Add to the pandemic the already existing stresses and pressures in the cafe as customer face professionals and you get a perfect storm of both feeling the need for mental health wile simultaneously feeling helpless to actualize it. Even though mental health has been top of mind, it can be hard to move it from a "Should" to "Must" and as we look forward to the new year at the close of this incredibly challenging one, resolving to prioritize our mental health will make a monumental difference both for us personally and the people we lead. To help guide us in this pursuit we are going to be talking with Dr. Lara Pence!

Dr. Pence attended graduate school at Widener University where she obtained her Doctorate Degree in Psychology (PsyD) and her Masters in Business Administration (MBA). In 2010, she opened her own private practice, Chief Mind Works, in Dallas, TX.

Early in her career she worked primarily with individuals suffering from eating disorders, anxiety, and depression both through individual work as well as intensive group workshops. She later branched out to work more specifically with entrepreneurs who were looking to elevate their leadership skills and execute more efficiently at work, and professional athletes who needed support in understanding the mind/body connection and its impact on performance.  In 2018, Dr. Pence began consulting for Spartan Race, the largest endurance racing organization in the world to implement a curriculum that provides a mental pathway to change and transformation, and began hosting a weekly video series, Spartan MIND. Dr. 

Pence also works at the Unbeatable Mind Coaching Program alongside Mark Divine, and has recently launched her own product – LIGHFBOX – a tool used to strengthen mental health and wellness. She also began a new podcast, Curious Minds with Dr. L, where she and her guests use curiosity as the cure for stagnation. 

She has served on the Board of Directors for various non-profit organizations, and has been featured in various publications, media outlets, and podcasts, including Good Morning America, the BBC, Glamour, Vogue, WebMD, Psychology Today, and the Huffington Post.

In today's conversation with Dr. Pence we are going to explore many absolutely critical topics that will set us up to prioritize our mental health in the new year. 

This is the perfect way to end the year and I hope you get a lot out of this episode!

We will be covering: 

  • Why dont we prioritize our mental health
  • Taking stock of our relationships
  • Making mental health practices stick
  • How knowing our values guides our success
  • Self and situational awareness
  • The masks we wear
  • Matching values to circumstance
  • What are common things that degrade our mental health
  • Setting boundaries
  • The value of hard conversations 
  • Negativity bias
  • Checking in with ourselves and others

 

Links:

www.drlarapence.com

Instagram

 

Related Episodes:

201 : Igniting your Curiosity w/ Cody Gough

213 : Coping with Corona using Emotional Intelligence w/ Andrea Hoban of Oji Life Lab

176 : Harnessing Emotions at Work w/ Andrea Hoban of Oji Life Lab

095 : Dealing with Stress in the Cafe w/ Wellness Counselor, Joe Sanok

111 : Self Care 101: Taking care of yourself while taking care of others

 

Need consulting? Reach out! chris@keystotheshop.com

 

The BEST in commercial coffee equipment!

www.prima-coffee.com/keys

 

Want the best plant based beverage for your coffee drinks?

www.pacificfoods.com/food-service

 

Dec 21, 2020

Connection with our audiences has never been more important. How do we go about truly delivering value and building a strong community that resonates with or message all while staying true to our core "why" ? Well, today we are going to be talking with and learning from someone who has cultivated all of those things and has created the largest online coffee following in the world as a result. Today we get to have a conversation with Morgan Eckroth of MorganDrinksCoffee! 

Morgan is a barista and content creator, having worked in the specialty coffee industry for 3.5 years. With over 5 million followers across TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram, she shares her love for coffee through comedic customer service sketches, vlogs about her job, and educational videos. Morgan also released a line of coffee in collaboration with Wrecking Ball Coffee in December 2020 and is working to continue creating a link between baristas and their customers through a shared love for coffee and a dash of humor.

In this conversation we will be exploring Morgans beginnings in the industry as a barista and competitor, then diving into the story of how MorganDrinksCoffee was born, how it has grown, and the insights and lessons Morgan has learned along the way. 

When we look into what the future holds for hospitality, we need to fully embrace our distributed online audiences and create for them a specialty experience just like we do for those who frequent our in-person shops. Morgan shares a great deal of wisdom to help get us where we need to be as an industry. 

We cover:

  • The evolution of MorganDrinksCoffee
  • Managing both cafe life and the social platform
  • Creating a message that connects people
  • Lessons in marketing
  • Community inspiration
  • Attracting the younger generation
  • Balancing and curating the message at scale
  • How to approach digital hospitality
  • Not using celebrity as leverage 
  • Balance of sales and story in marketing 
  • Quantity of fillers vs quality 
  • Advice to baristas and owners 

Links:

https://morgandrinkscoffee.com

Instagram

TikTok

 

Morgan Recommends these IG accounts:

Glitter Cat

Erica Escalante 

Umeko Motoyoshi

 

Related Episodes:

242 : A Conversation with James Hoffmann

222 : How to have Difficult Conversations about Race and Justice w/ Kwame Christian

COVID-19 Focus : Erica Escalante, The Arrow | Acting Quickly, Leading Well, and Fighting for Connection

097 : Founder Friday w/ Erica Escalante of The Arrow Coffeehouse (Now Cafe Reina)

215 : Communication and Marketing Master Class w/ Spencer M. Ross, PH.D.

210 : The Future of Retail w/ Doug Stephens | CEO of The Retail Prophet

 

Need consulting? Reach out! chris@keystotheshop.com

 

The BEST in commercial coffee equipment!

www.prima-coffee.com/keys

 

Want the best plant based beverage for your coffee drinks?

www.pacificfoods.com/food-service

 

 

 

Dec 19, 2020

One of the most counterintuitive ways to make progress in the right direction just may be slowing down your decision making and response time. We are bombarded with pressure everyday from all sides to make decisions about a myriad of subjects both large and small. Often we will resort to making quick decisions in the moment that we might regret later. In today's Shift Break we will be   talking about why slowing your your response time can create a greater likelihood for good decisions down the road. 

Related Episodes:

184 : Making Great Business Decisions w/ Dave Stachowiak

181 : Organizational Self-Knowledge

252 : Founder Friday w/ Klaus Thompson of the Coffee Collective, Denmark

253 : Mindsets that Sabotage Success

 

Need consulting or coaching? Reach out to KTTS Consulting!

Chris@keystotheshop.com

 

Elevated batch brew and so much more!

Ground Control Cyclops Brewer

 

Your Own Branded App!

www.espressly.co

 

 

 

Dec 18, 2020

It's Founder Friday! Today we are visiting the wonderful city of Bangkok, Thailand as we have a very interesting and inspiring  conversation with Varat Vichit-Vadakan.

On top of being the 2014 barista champion of Thailand, Vichit or "Tae" as his friends call him, is the founder of Roast Coffee & Eatery and Roots Coffee Roaster in Bangkok, Thailand. Over the years he has expanded to many other food and beverage concepts but always with the coffee at the center. At Roots Coffee Roaster they source 100% Thai coffee and they are heavily invested in creating a virtuous circle from farmer to consumer through their direct relationships. 

In our conversation we get to hear about the early years where many important and hard lessons were learned that informed how they conduct business today. 

This is a fantastic conversation that shines light not only on the great work of Varatt and his team, but also on what is happening more and more at origin as consuming markets in coffee growing countries are gaining momentum. After this I m sure you will want to pay a visit to to Bangkok and taste the awesomeness for yourself. 

We discuss: 

  • Beginnings in coffee from a marketing career
  • Hard lessons form early failures
  • Tapping into success through listening
  • Coffee culture in Bangkok
  • Evolution of Thai coffee
  • Building a customer base over time
  • Expanding and evolving form past experiences
  • The keys of service style and consistency 
  • The consumer market in Thailand
  • Complete circle value chain in Thailand
  • Sourcing and serving Thai coffee
  • Meeting your customers where they are

Links:

www.rootsbkk.com

Instagram

 

The BEST in commercial coffee equipment!

www.prima-coffee.com/keys

 

Want the best plant based beverage for your coffee drinks?

www.pacificfoods.com/food-service

 

 

Dec 17, 2020

Making decisions on the way things go on the bar can seem like a pretty easy thing to do once you are convinced as the leader or owner. The trouble is when you do not make your decisions with empathy and deference to the barista and how they will perceive it or how they are even able to accomplish it. This lack of regard and impatience produces a lot of stress and bad blood that can be avoided. Today we will talk about the difference that deference can make when we make decisions that impact the lives of those we employ. 

Related episodes:

080 : Changing things in the Cafe : A workflow for Refinement

Good baristas are not born, they're made

 
 
 

Elevated batch brew and so much more!

Ground Control Cyclops Brewer

 

Your Own Branded App!

www.espressly.co

 

 

 

 
Dec 14, 2020

When we talk about equity we often we are just scratching the surface of what is going on deep in the structure of the coffee industry. Today's guest, Phyllis Johnson has dedicated much of her career to bringing to light the deeper generational inequities that hold people back. Her new book, "The Triumph: Black Brazilians in Coffee" profiles two families whose inspirational stories are rewriting the narrative for future generations of marginalized people in coffee farming. 

Phyllis Johnson is the President and co-founder and CEO of BD Imports, and In addition to owning and operating a social enterprise over the past 16 years, has served as lead international consultant to the United Nations International Trade Centre, Women in Coffee Program. In addition Phyllis founded The Coffee Coalition for Racial Equity, a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to build greater racial diversity and equity in the U.S. coffee industry.

In our conversation today we will be discussing her new book but also diving into the issues that were a catalyst for this book. As we enter into a new year after such a strained and tumultuous 2020, our sights, more than ever, should be on how we can use our positions in the industry to help others, like those featured in this book, rewrite the narrative and create more opportunity, visibility, and representation across the whole spectrum of our global coffee community. 

Among many things, we discuss:

  • How we see black people in coffee
  • The importance of landownership
  • Creating space 
  • Interrupting the pattern
  • Visibility and opportunity
  • Representation
  • Choosing coffees based on story and support
  • Using our buying power for good

Links:

https://www.bdimports.com

https://coffeeforequity.org

 

Related Episodes:

183 : Exploring Diversity w/ Phyllis Johnson

153 : Exploring the Peace Trade in the Congo w/ Mighty Peace Coffee

116 : Understanding Gentrification w/ Dr. Stacey Sutton

139 : Founder Friday w/ Kusanya Cafe co-founder, Phil Sipka

245 : A Conversation with the World’s Youngers Q Grader, Frankie Volkema, Founder of Joven Coffee

COVID-19 Focus: Perspective form Burundi w/ Jeanine Niyonzima-Aroian, JNP Coffee

Starting a shop -or- want to level up you operations? KTTS Consulting can help!  |  Email me: Chris@keystotheshop.com

 

The BEST in commercial coffee equipment!

www.prima-coffee.com/keys

 

Want the best plant based beverage for your coffee drinks?

www.pacificfoods.com/food-service

 

Dec 10, 2020

Oooh boy - This is a phrase frequently used often in coffee to determine whether or not an employee is exceptional or not. It is also a mentality that we use on ourselves to determine if what we are doing is worthy of praise or earning our keep. Going above and beyond may be a nice and generous thing to do, the problem though is when becomes a tool to unfairly judge employees and to unfairly judge ourselves. I and many others have suffered under unreasonable standards that have been both imposed by bosses and self-imposed out of insecurity.

Today we will be discussing how this manifests and what to do to avoid "going above and beyond" to the detriment of yourself and others. 

Related Episodes:

200! : From Tragedy to Triumph! Navigating Change w/ Talor Browne of Talormade, Oslo, Norway

253 : Mindsets that Sabotage Success

074 : The Life Changing Power of Good Authority w/ Jonathan Raymond

221 : Building your People Program w/ HR Consultant Dana Goodwin

095 : Dealing with Stress in the Cafe w/ Wellness Counselor, Joe Sanok

 

Elevated batch brew and so much more!

Ground Control Cyclops Brewer

 

Your Own Branded App!

www.espressly.co

 

 

 

Dec 7, 2020

This is an especially important time of the year for coffee shops. The holidays are where our hospitality skills are put to the ultimate test.  In the midst of COVID lockdowns and never before seen strains on small businesses, the holidays are a great opportunity for us to more deeply establish our commitment to each other and to the customers through how we show up in the cafe.

In today's episode we will be discussing some important points to consider as we enter into this season of holiday hospitality and how they will give you, your staff, and your customers the best chance at having a wonderful holiday season in spite of the present circumstances. 

We will cover:

  • Empathy based action
  • The gift significance
  • Self-care, planning
  • Organization and planning
  • Attention and connection
  • Honoring guests
  • Checking in with and listening to staff

Related Episodes:

058 : Holiday Hospitality

045 : Simple, Powerful Hospitality w/ Philip Turner

084 : Crushing the Rush : Tips and Best Practices for Busy Times

111 : Self Care 101: Taking care of yourself while taking care of others

176 : Harnessing Emotions at Work w/ Andrea Hoban of Oji Life Lab

Episode 32: Making Order Out of Chaos

Episode 57: SOPs FTW

 

Starting a shop -or- want to level up you operations? KTTS Consulting can help!  |  Email me: Chris@keystotheshop.com

 

The BEST in commercial coffee equipment!

www.prima-coffee.com/keys

 

Want the best plant based beverage for your coffee drinks?

www.pacificfoods.com/food-service

 

Dec 3, 2020

Sometimes, when we are convinced that something needs to change in how we do things, the biggest obstacle is the pain of the change process. In effect it is the discomfort of detoxing and introducing something new or better that prevents us from seeing any substantive change take root. Today we are talking about this problem and how pain in the process a necessary apart of helping us make positive change. 

 

Related episodes:

200! : From Tragedy to Triumph! Navigating Change w/ Talor Browne of Talormade, Oslo, Norway

228 : Cracking the Leadership Code w/ Alain Hunkins

224 : Essentialism: Focusing on what truly Matters w/ Greg McKeown

176 : Harnessing Emotions at Work w/ Andrea Hoban of Oji Life Lab

 

 

 Elevated batch brew and so much more!

Ground Control Cyclops Brewer

 

Your Own Branded App!

www.espressly.co

 

Nov 30, 2020

Actions are the products of mindsets and not all mindsets are beneficial. In fact, there are a few very common and very dangerous mindsets that will actually sabotage your success without you even knowing it. We will call it fate, the universe, circumstance but in actuality it could just be a problem in our minds. 

In today's episode we will going over what I believe are some of the more pernicious mindset traps we fall into that I have seen sabotage progress isn success. I have personally experienced all of these over the years and also seen the havoc they create in cafes. 

In addition to pointing out these thinking traps we will discover the mindset to replace it with in order to help you succeed and thrive. 

So let's dive into these mindsets with an open mind and start the process of fixing how we think to fix how we act. 

We will cover:

  1. Image vs. Substance
  2. Fast vs. Right
  3. Perfect vs. Good
  4. For power vs. From power
  5. Approval vs. Service

Links:

067 : 6 Truths About Power : The Responsible Approach to Power Dynamics in the Cafe

194 : Encore Episode! Leadership in the Cafe: 10 Steps to being a People First Leader | Aired January 17 2017

Your peers are not your Customers

 

Starting a shop -or- want to level up you operations? KTTS Consulting can help!  |  Email me: Chris@keystotheshop.com

 

The BEST in commercial coffee equipment!

www.prima-coffee.com/keys

 

Want the best plant based beverage for your coffee drinks?

www.pacificfoods.com/food-service

 

 

 

Nov 26, 2020

I am thrilled to present this amazing conversation w/ Klaus Thompson to you all today! The Coffee Collective is at the top of a very short list of the world's best and most influential roasters.  Today's guest, Klaus Thompson, is not only a Danish barista champion but is also the 2006 World Barista Champion. In 2007 Klaus, along with his co-founders Peter N. Dupont and Casper Engel Rasmussen, founded the Coffee Collective with a mission to build a different kind of coffee business from the ground up. One the focused on sustainability and hospitality both at the farm and in the cafe.  For the last 13 years they have been growing the company slowly, responsibly, and are what many consider the vanguard of direct trade, transparent business practices, and the epitome of quality from seed to cup. Today they have a thriving wholesale business, global web store, and 6 amazing retail locations, and continue their positive impact on the specialty coffee industry. 

Of course, you don't get to this level without challenges, grit, determination, and lessons learned along the way. In this conversation we get an inside look into the story of the Coffee Collective from the first day until now and Klaus truly delivers some great insights and wisdom that we would do well to follow.

We discuss:

  • What it took to get started
  • The goal of transforming the way coffee business is done
  • Challenges in the early years
  • Site selection and lessons from failures 
  • The value of starting small 
  • How retail fueled wholesale
  • Creating a practical and personalized space 
  • Scaling the business and engaging customers 
  • Becoming more professional 
  • Prioritizing areas of the business
  • Approach to sustainability 
  • Become a B-Corp
  • Their long term goal and why it is never about profit

Links:

www.coffeecollective.dk

Coffee Collective on Instagram

Coffee Collective Youtube channel

 

Related Episodes: 

242 : A Conversation with James Hoffmann

196 : Understanding Customer Preferences w/ Peter Giuliano

118 : Founder Friday w/ Phil & Sebastian Coffee Roasters founders, Phil Robertson and Sebastian Sztabzyb

145: Founder Friday w/ Red Rooster Coffee Roasters co-founder, Haden Polseno-Hensley

 

Starting a shop -or- want to level up you operations? KTTS Consulting can help!  |  Email me: Chris@keystotheshop.com

 

The BEST in commercial coffee equipment!

www.prima-coffee.com/keys

 

Want the best plant based beverage for your coffee drinks?

www.pacificfoods.com/food-service

 

 

Nov 25, 2020

It is very easy for us to slip into a place where we start to seek approval from employees through trying to just be "one of the gang". Put another way, we want to be likes and as a result we become ineffectual bosses creating relational messes in the cafe. 

In today's episode we will talk about how you are NOT just one of the gang, why that is a good thing, and how to pull yourself out of that state if you have already gone down that path.

 

Related Episodes:

141 : The 27 Challenges Managers Face w/ Bruce Tulgan

028 : Why it’s Ok to be the Boss w/ Bruce Tulgan 

226 : The Art of being Indispensable at Work w/Bruce Tulgan

229 : 7 Tips for New Managers

 

Sponsors!

 Elevated batch brew and so much more!

Ground Control Cyclops Brewer

 

Your Own Branded App!

www.espressly.co

 

Nov 24, 2020

How coffee is processed after the harvest is integral to whether or not it reaches its full flavor potential. Farmers depend on their crop's quality and consistency but all too often what happens during processing produces inconsistency and a less than full realization of that coffee's potential. Enter today's amazing guest, Lucia Solis!

Lucia, specializes in "microbial demucilagination", or the use of microbes to process coffee following pulping. Born in Guatemala and raised in San Francisco, Lucia studied Viticulture and Enology at UC Davis prior to working in the wine industry in Napa Valley. In 2014 she started at Scott Laboratories and traveled to Central America applying commercial yeast strains at coffee mills to modulate flavors coming from the tank.  Today she is an independent consultant working directly with coffee producers in origin countries to improve processing practices to increase quality.

In her work she is able to help farmers control the variables in processing their coffee in order for them to efficiently produce consistent high quality coffee that opens up more opportunity for them to scale and thrive. 

In today's conversation we will be learning about her work and its implications for the future of farming. Additionally we will be discussing our role as retailers, roasters, and consumers in how we have communicated with and influenced the farming community in ways that have been potentially damaging and some helpful mindsets to adopt going forward that create a better chance of success for all parties. 

We will cover:

  • The role of microbes and fermentation coffee production
  • Why fermentation has been undervalued
  • Bridging the gap between consumer and farmer 
  • Creating efficiency and scale 
  • Do microdots really help producers?
  • Romance vs exploitation
  • Where do processing traditions come from
  • How we shape production
  • How consistency is key to quality

Links:

www.luxia.coffee

Instagram

 

Related Episodes:

072: Taking an Origin Trip w/ Kim Elena-Ionescu : How to go to origin in a mutual beneficial way

060 : Serving the Coffee Plant w/ Hanna Neuschwander, World Coffee Research

020 Joe Marrocco : Transparency, Origin Knowledge,and Your Shop : How to approach and apply coffee origin information to enhance, not detract, from the cafe experience

140 : A conversation w/ Erika Vonie, Director of Coffee at Trade Coffee

153 : Exploring the Peace Trade in the Congo w/ Mighty Peace Coffee

138 : Joseph A. Rivera on Organic Acids and the Importance of Coffee Science

 

Starting a shop -or- want to level up you operations? KTTS Consulting can help!  |  Email me: Chris@keystotheshop.com

 

The BEST in commercial coffee equipment!

www.prima-coffee.com/keys

 

Want the best plant based beverage for your coffee drinks?

www.pacificfoods.com/food-service

 

 

Nov 18, 2020

We all have a collection of little things the annoy us, and the customers in our shops. What we don't talk about very much is the result of all of the little problems accumulating over time and what it would be like if they were not there. Today we will be discussing how your shop can benefit from the impact of absence.

Related Episodes:

 Elevated batch brew and so much more!

Ground Control Cyclops Brewer

 

Your Own Branded App!

www.espressly.co

 

Nov 17, 2020

These days community and connection are needed more than ever. There can be many hurdles to creating opportunities for having events whether in-person or online, but how we go about planning and execution those events does not have to be one of them! 

For 6 years The Barista League has been at the forefront of what it means to produce a community driven and community connecting event in specialty coffee. Today we will be talking with the founder of The Barista League, Steven Moloney. 

Steve Moloney is a two-time Swedish Barista Champion and founded The Barista League in 2015. Since then, his team has grown The Barista League's original coffee competition concept into a global brand across three continents. Whether it's throwing wild coffee parties, producing reality competition shows or running barista competitions, every project that The Barista League creates follows their three core values of Accessibility, Sustainability and Community.

Steven is also the author of the organization's brand new book The Barista League’s Guide to Planning Better Events - a practical guide of how to run coffee events for your community.

In todays discussion with Steven we will be talking about how things have evolved over the years and in response to COVID, plus we will dive into some of the most important points in this new book. 

We wil cover: 

  • How they have grown and pivoted in 2020
  • Connecting the barista community
  • Producing a great event in-person and online
  • Balancing entertainment with content
  • Breaking down and focusing on the details
  • Focusing on who you are serving
  • Keeping everyone's attention
  • Communication
  • Staffing and delegation

Links:

www.thebaristaleague.com

Instagram

 

Related Episodes:

163 : Lessons from Crush the Rush w/ Josh Little Field

195 : Organizing the Community w/ Espresso State of Mind founders Javier Alvarez and Joseph W. Gonzalez

146 : How to Host a Throwdown w/ Justin Shepherd of Spencers Coffee, Bowling Green, KY

 

 

Starting a shop -or- want to level up you operations? KTTS Consulting can help!  |  Email me: Chris@keystotheshop.com

 

The BEST in commercial coffee equipment!

www.prima-coffee.com/keys

 

Want the best plant based beverage for your coffee drinks?

www.pacificfoods.com/food-service

Nov 12, 2020

There comes a time in every service encounter where we need to decide to take the high road. Re-making a drink when there is a mess-up is one example of many that highlight an attitude we need to have toward service that will produce the best possible experience. Unfortunately, we (myself included) can sometimes default to pettiness rather than advocacy and generosity. 

On today's shift break we will be talking about re-making drinks and the motive and the mindset that drives good in-the-moment hospitality decisions.

Related episodes:

030 : Casey Underkofler : Matching Your Service to Your Quality : How to Manage and Control the critical details of service so both the experience and product are excellent

016: Raising the Bar on your Customer Experience w/ Michael Butterworth 

045 : Simple, Powerful Hospitality w/ Philip Turner

058 : Holiday Hospitality

084 : Crushing the Rush : Tips and Best Practices for Busy Times

Visit our amazing sponsors!!!

Elevated batch brew and so much more!

Ground Control Cyclops Brewer

 

Your Own Branded App!

www.espressly.co

 

 

Nov 6, 2020

When we think about cooperative ownership related to the coffee shop we tend be fairly unsure what to think of it.  Even though we tend to fear it as an unknown, it is actually a viable option to help secure your business and also to generate stability for your employees. 

In today's episode we are going to explore this operating model by talking with Christopher Feran and Shane Hinde of Phoenix Coffee in Cleveland, OH. 

After years of planning and research they just transitioned the business to being a worker owned cooperative. The values of Phoenix Coffee have always been to create a democratic and equitable company that supplies stable middle-class jobs to their employees. This is the latest step in many they have taken to pursue that. 

In this conversation we will be exploring their experience in this process and what it means for the company going forward. You will definitely learn a lot from this talk and perhaps you will be inspired to pursue this model for your own shop.

We discuss:

  • Values based operating culture
  • Navigating the impacts on the business
  • Establishing equity and driving commitment 
  • Beginning the process of becoming a coop
  • Challenges in the process
  • How their cooperative model works
  • What changes now?
  • How are decisions made? 
  • Developing skill sets and competencies
  • How collective leadership looks
  • Coops as an option to exit as an owner

 

Links:

www.phoenixcoffee.com

Evergreen Coops in Cleveland

 

Related Episodes:

237 : Thoughts on Post -COVID Coffee

Bridging the Values-Action Gap

6 Truths about Power

 

Starting a shop -or- want to level up you operations? KTTS Consulting can help!  |  Email me: Chris@keystotheshop.com

The BEST in commercial coffee equipment!

www.prima-coffee.com/keys

 

Want the best plant based beverage for your coffee drinks?

www.pacificfoods.com/food-service

Nov 4, 2020

As the saying goes, "The grass is always greener on the other side." We all know this to be true in one or more areas of our lives. In the coffee bar we can tend toward always comparing our selves against what others have or have accomplished with their careers or their shops. In today's Shift Break we are going to dive into this idea further as I give you some thoughts I had while pondering professional accomplishments and my neighbor's tree. 

 

Related episodes:

You are not your Competition

046 : Death by Comparison : How we practice it and ways to avoid getting caught up in it

Episode 08: Finding Joy in Coffee / Nathanael May

 

Visit our amazing sponsors!!!

Elevated batch brew and so much more!

Ground Control Cyclops Brewer

 

Your Own Branded App!

www.espressly.co

 

 

Nov 3, 2020

The main job of leadership is to give people the resources they need to do the work. Generally speaking, I have simply stated that staff need the tools to do the job. Today I want to go a little deeper and cover 5 elements of resourcing that must be in place for your cafe to work well. If any one of these thing is out of whack it will show up big time in the final product and experience. 

We will cover:

  • Planning
  • Time
  • Information
  • Tools
  • Training

Related episodes:

 

Starting a shop -or-want to level up you operations? KTTS Consulting can help!  |  Email me: Chris@keystotheshop.com

The BEST in commercial coffee equipment!

www.prima-coffee.com/keys

 

Want the best plant based beverage for your coffee drinks?

www.pacificfoods.com/food-service

Oct 31, 2020

Part of the work we do entails some pretty gross things. In today's episode I will be reading 8 selected stories submitted by listeners about the grossest things they have experienced while working to bring great coffee to the people. 

Story order:

  1. Dropping the Load
  2. Backed Up Bar
  3. Clean up in Everywhere Isle
  4. Elbow Room
  5. French Roach 
  6. "Take Out?" Coffee
  7. Rabid Fire
  8. When Urine Trouble 

 

Links to related episodes:

Working Clean

Reasons to love the Customer

 

Other resources:

Resource 1

Resource 2

Resource 3

Resource 4

 

Oct 30, 2020

The best Kenyan coffee tends to be exported to other countries. Spring Valley Coffee flips this on its head by sourcing, roasting, and serving the best for themselves and the local Kenyan community. Today we are going to be exploring this wonderful company's history, evolution, and impact as we talk with Ritesh Doshi!

Ritesh is the CEO of Spring Valley Coffee, Kenya’s oldest premium coffee roaster, a business he acquired in 2018. Having introduced the Flat White to Kenya, Ritesh wanted to combine his passion for coffee and his sense of purpose with his need to control his own supply.

Prior to Spring Valley Coffee, Ritesh founded Naked Pizza Kenya, a company he sold to Pizza Hut. Before becoming an entrepreneur, Ritesh worked in international finance in the US, Europe and Middle East for financial institutions such as Credit Suisse & HSBC. 

In this conversation we not only get the overview of Spring Valley Coffee but we also explore how rites came to the company, the values and goals they are pursuing, why scaling, relationships, and integrity are cornerstones of success and much more. 

I love the work they are doing at Spring Valley and I know you will as well! 

In this episode: 

  • The coffee culture of Kenya
  • Building resiliency and scaling
  • Sourcing and serving Kenyan coffees
  • Impact of relationships
  • Challenges of politics
  • Setting goals for the business
  • Adding value in-origin 
  • The value of doing the right thing
  • Kenyan coffee history
  • Why company culture matters

Links:

www.springvalleycoffee.com

Instagram @springvalleycoffee 

 

Related Episodes:

171 : Founder Friday w/ Matt Chitharanjan and Namrata Asthana of Blue Tokai Coffee Roasters in India

236 : Founder Friday! w/ Meil Castagna-Herrera & Curtis Herrera of Cafe Corazon!

108 : Founder Friday w/ Dorian Bolden of Beyu Caffe in Durham, NC

134 : Founder Friday w/ Jeremy Zhang of M2M Roasters & Uni Uni Coffee in Nanjing ,China

 

Starting a shop -or-want to level up you operations? KTTS Consulting can help!  |  Email me: Chris@keystotheshop.com

The BEST in commercial coffee equipment!

www.prima-coffee.com/keys

 

Want the best plant based beverage for your coffee drinks?

www.pacificfoods.com/food-service

Oct 29, 2020

Stay in coffee long enough and it will happen to you. The assumptions and dogmas we make when we first get into coffee are challenged or destroyed, and we are sent into a dark place of wondering who we are, and what we really even know about coffee. Today we are talking about how this moment every professional goes through is critical to maturity and should be more common for the health of the industry. 

*Stay tuned for a Halloween special where I read the grossest cafe stories sublimed by KTTS listeners!

 

Recommended episodes:

Taste the Rainbow

242 : A Conversation with James Hoffmann

Curbing their Enthusiasm 

 

Our amazing sponsors!!!

 

Elevated batch brew and so much more!

Ground Control Cyclops Brewer

 

Your Own Branded App!

www.espressly.co

 

 

 

Oct 26, 2020

Your business is built on partnerships. One of the most critical is the relationship between you and the coffee roaster you select. Entering into this relationship needs tp be done pretty methodically and the decision should be based on more than on just branding and your personal taste. 

Today we are going to go over 10 things to consider when deciding on a wholesale coffee provider that will help you have the best chance at finding one that fits what your business and your customers need for the long term. 

We cover: 

  1. Values 
  2. Cost
  3. Forecasting and capacity
  4. Variety
  5. Regional tases vs personal
  6. Flexibility
  7. Support
  8. Feedback 
  9. Checking references
  10. Taking your time

Recommended episodes:

152 : Essential Advice for Starting a Roastery w/ Jen Apodaca

063 : What Your Roaster Wants you to Know w/ Rob Hoos, Author, Modulating the Flavor Profile of Coffee

026 : What Your Roaster want you to Know w/ U.S. Roasting Champion, Mark Michaelson, Onyx Coffee Lab

196 : Understanding Customer Preferences w/ Peter Giuliano

217 : Should you roast your own Coffee w/ Joe Marrocco of List & Beisler

Building an Accessible Coffee Menu w/ Joe Marrocco 

 

Starting a shop or want to level up you operations? KTTS Consulting can help!  |  Email me: Chris@keystotheshop.com

The BEST in commercial coffee equipment!

www.prima-coffee.com/keys

 

Want the best plant based beverage for your coffee drinks?

www.pacificfoods.com/food-service

Oct 21, 2020

BOGO! 10% off! Get any item of equal or lesser value free! 

We love to offer promotions and discounts in the coffee retail space. When numbers are down we go for deals, offers, and discounts... maybe a little too often. Combine this with the fact that most of the time these offers are executed sloppily and create more confusion than excitement and you turn that BOGO into an OHNO. (sorry, not sorry)

In todays shift break we will talk about how you can approach promotions in an organized and clear way that actually benefits your business. 

Related episodes:

080 : Changing things in the Cafe : A workflow for Refinement

You need SOPs

Introducing Chaos

Elevated batch brew and so much more!

Ground Control Cyclops Brewer

 

Your Own Branded App!

www.espressly.co

 

 

 

 

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