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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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All Episodes
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Now displaying: 2017
Mar 21, 2017

Sometimes, in spite of doing all the right things and taking all the right steps, advancement just does not happen. Today we talk with Anne Nylander about how to navigate the tricky terrain of leaving your job in pursuit of the next step in your career. We talk about how to bring up the topic with you boss, getting counsel from the right people, making a solid plan, how to maintain relationships throughout. 

Anne Nylander has been a Specialty Coffee Professional for 11 years Her experience in the industry goes from East to West Coast. She has worked as:

Store manager for Joe Coffee NYC

Founder, President, and Lead Consultant at TampTamp NYC

BGA Executive Counsel Member and SCAA Membership Coordinator 

Manager at Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room in Seattle

She has launched: WWW.ANNEFNYLANDER.COM

... which is home to her consulting business 

 

 

Questions/Comments: chris@keystotheshop.com

www.keystotheshop.com

 

 

Mar 14, 2017

We all want to make progress and be fulfilled in our work. For many of us though frustration in our jobs causes us to not take full advantage of our current role to help us get to where we want to be. Today we are talking about some basic (but powerful!) ways to advance and set yourself up for success in your coffee career. 

 

Related Episodes:

Ep: 12 "A Journey Into Management and Back w/ Lauren Airola"

 

Ep: 05 "Baristas Speak! Interviews from Coffee Champs Knoxville"

 

Have questions, Comments etc? Reach out to me! chris@keystotheshop.com 

 

Some Helpful Resources: 

www.keystotheshop.com/resources

www.scaa.org

www.baristahustle.com 

www.jimseven.com

Chris Baca Youtube Channel

Barista Guild of Washington State FB Group

 

 

Mar 7, 2017

So you want to be a better leader or manager? Have we got a show for you! On this episode Eva Attia, the Director of Retail Operations for Portland Roasting Coffee, is our guest. Eva is just an amazing professional and today she shares her insights & advice gained from 20 years of coffee retail management and leadership, 16 of which was spent at Pete's Coffee and Tea where she worked her way up from Assistant Store manager all the way to Director of Retail Operations. I was quite encouraged an energized by this discussion.

Eva also gives us a list of 5 things she feels are the most important to practice if you want to be a great manager or leader. 

1. Select Carefully

2. Treat People Differently

3. Have High Expectations

4. Show Courage

5. Put others before yourself 

 Buckle up and enjoy! 

 -Chris

More show Notes are available at www.keystotheshop.com/resources 

You can reach out to Eva via email: Eva@portlandroasting.com

Or connect with Eva on Linkedin

 

John Maxwell: 21 Laws of Leadership

Book: Situational Leadership

 

Feb 28, 2017

Going from barista work to take on a management role can be a tough transition. It can also be a very rewarding one both personally and professionally. On this episode we talk with Lauren Airola about her experiences as a barista and a manager at Onyx Coffee Lab in NW Arkansas. We discuss her "Employee Focused" management style, how she discovered more about her strengths and weaknesses, her advice on how we improve as managers and baristas, and her decision to step away from management back into barista work. 

There's just a lot here. I think you are going to find this just as fascinating and helpful as I did!

Enjoy!

Show notes:

www.keystotheshop.com/resources

Onyx Coffee Lab

 

Other resources mentioned:

Bethany Hargrove's Article in Barista Magazine on transitioning from barista work to roasting

 

 

 

 

Feb 24, 2017

It's the second edition of Founder Friday and today we get to hear the story and learn from the experiences of Maxwell Mooney who owns Narrative Coffee in Everette, WA. We discuss how he got started in coffee, his driving vision for Narrative, how competitions and the coffee community helped shape that vision, and much more! I hope you enjoy the discussion. Maxwell is a true professional and incredibly driven guy and I was certainly encouraged by this conversation.

Show Notes and other resources can be found at: www.keystotheshop.com/resources

 

Maxwell can be reached at:

website:

social:

Want to donate you Competition wares? Maxwell suggests donating to WINCC (Women Investing in North West Coffee Champs) 

 

Other Resources mentioned in this interview include:

 

 

 

Feb 21, 2017

Are barista competitions relevant what I do on the bar every day? How does my business benefit from sending staff to compete? These questions are asked by almost everyone at one time or another when they consider a coffee competitions. Today Jess Steffy, Owner of Square One Coffee in Lancaster, PA, joins us to not only answer these questions but also to share her experiences from being both a successful business owner and the Chair for the SCA's U.S. Competition Committee.

Jess is also a licensed Q Grader, a BGA Certified Barista, an SCA Certified Lead Instructor, a veteran USBC Judge, and certified World Barista judge. 

Show notes are available  at www.keystotheshop.com/resources 

Have questions, comments etc?  Chris@keystotheshop.com

Thanks and enjoy this episode with Jess Steffy!

 

Other mentions intros episode:

Nick Cho's (of the Portafilter Podcast) post on Medium about competition from an owners perspective

You can also learn more about the U.S. Coffee Championships by visiting www.uscoffeechampionships.org  

 

 

Feb 14, 2017

Data, Metrics, Measurements...they play a critical role in the success of your shop. But how we approach the information available to us will determine how well we use it. Today Simon Ouderkirk a former coffee professional who now works with Automattic (the company behind Wordpress.com, WooCommerce, and JetPack) talks to us about how we can best approach data and make it work for business and our people. 

If you're like me you can really get caught up in the numbers and maybe miss some critical perspectives that being on the floor talking to your staff and customer provides. You might be the opposite. Maybe you don't look at the numbers enough and are all about being on the floor. You might be missing critical information in the data that can enhance the experience people have in the cafe. 

 

No matter where you are, you will likely be encouraged by this discussion and equipped with a foundational understanding of metrics that will help you use them successfully. 

Show Notes are available on the website: www.keystotheshop.com/resources 

Enjoy!

-Chris

 

Feb 7, 2017

Joyfulness in our work is something we all would like more of. Nathanael May joins us to discuss how we can cultivate joy in our work in coffee. Being a barista and remaining joyful throughout the day can be challenging especially when things just seem to be going wrong. In this episode we talk about the difference between Joyfulness and happiness, Joy's important role in the cafe, how we can take control of our own joyfulness, giving joy to others, and some tips for how you can start that process.

Nathanael May is the Director of Coffee and Green Buyer for Portland Roasting Coffee in Portland , OR. He is a head USBC judge, WBC judge, and a Certified Q Grader.

You can find some great writing from him HERE

 

For the complete show notes simply click HERE and you will be directed to our resources page where you can find the downloadable PDF of this episode's main points and key take-aways.

Enjoy the show!

www.keystotheshop.com

got comments, questions, or suggestions? Email me! Chris@keystotheshop.com 

Jan 31, 2017

Checklists get things done!!!

If you work in coffee you use  a checklist. Some lists are effective and others...not so much. In this episode we explore the 4 keys to making an effective checklist and talk about what role it plays in the cafe and in a baristas professional development.

 

Jan 27, 2017

This is the first in a monthly interview series highlighting founders of great cafes on the last Friday of each month.

This month we are featuring new owners Taylor and Shem Doupe who own Soleil Cafe (So-lay cafe) in Syracuse, NY! They started their cafe in may of 2016 and have been very well received by the community. Their passion for people and great coffee is what drives them and in this interview we get to hear how they came to start their business and what they have learned along the way.

You can find more info on their website: www.soleil-cafe.com

and follow them on Instagram: @soleil_cafe

Also you can email them at:

shem@soleilcafe.com

taylor@soleilcafe.com

 

I hope you enjoy this interview and if you like Keys to the Shop be sure to subscribe to the show and leave us a 5 star review on iTunes...it really helps the ge the podcast up in the rankings and out in front of more people.

email you questions, comment, and suggestions to chris@keystotheshop.com

 

www.keystotheshop.com

 

Jan 24, 2017

This weekend I got to go to Coffee Champs in Knoxville, qualifying event for the United States Coffee Championships. While at an event party hosted by Wild Love Bakehouse I sat down with 5 baristas to get their unique take on coffee service, career development, and the future of the cafe industry. Each perspective shines a light on something different that you will find useful for your own career.

It always helps to learn from the experiences of others and this episode includes some really great insights from:

1. Trainer,  Dawn Shanks of Peregrine Espresso in Washington D.C.

2. Manager, Paul Yates of Shenendoah Joe in Harrisburg, VA also Owner of 

Rock town Coffee Roasters

3. Consultant,Diana Mnatsakanyan-Sapp, Owner, Undercurrent Coffee, Charlotte, NC

4. Barista, Hannah Craig of Quills Coffee in Louisville, KY

5. U.S. Barista Champion, Lem Butler of Counter Culture Coffee in Durham, NC

Full show notes will be available Wednesday in PDF form from our website 

www.keystotheshop.com

Twitter: @keystotheshop

IG: @keystotheshop

 

Jan 17, 2017

In this episode you and I get to discuss some practical leadership practices for the shop to help you keep people first. There are 10 things that, if implemented, will help anyone who is currently a leader or is aspiring to hold a leadership position in a cafe to lead effectively while also providing proper care for their staff. 

Thanks for listening!

Show Notes can be found at:

www.keystotheshop.com/resources 

 

Jan 10, 2017

We get to talk about mentorship with 2013 World Barista Champion, Pete Licata. In this conversation we discuss what mentorship is, what are the benefits of its one-on-one nature -vs- other learning methods, and how do we find mentors to help us in out coffee careers.

We also discuss how we can invest into others and act as a mentor to those who might need our help in our professional community. Pete has a tons of insight and wisdom to share here. This is a guy who just exemplifies learning and teaching in his career. Enjoy! 

Here are some links:

http://www.roastratings.com

http://www.licatacoffeeconsultants.com

pete@licatacoffeeconsultants.com

Twitter @petelicata

 

Subscribe: Keys to the Shop

Visit: www.keystotheshop.com for the show notes under "Resources" 

Jan 4, 2017

In this episode I discuss with guest Ryan Soeder a cornerstone of any great cafe...Workflow.

Ryan will break down the ins and outs of good workflow, why it is critical, and 5 ways you can improve. 

Resources:

www.sunergoscoffee.com

Follow Ryan:

Twitter

Instagram

 

Jan 4, 2017

Greetings! In this episode I get to formally introduce myself and what you can expect here at Keys to the Shop. Plus I discuss the philosophies and values that drive the show. WELCOME!!!

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