The future of retail seems pretty uncertain right now. Many of us are left wondering how things will look at the end of this crisis. What will happen to the physical shop and the customers that frequent it. Whenever we consider the future, it can be pretty murky. Today we get some clarity and direction on what the future holds for our businesses and what we can do to prepare for it.
I am very pleased to welcome to the show, Doug Stephens, CEO of Retail Prophet!
Doug Stephens is one of the world’s foremost retail industry futurists. His intellectual work and thinking has influenced many of the most widely known international retailers, agencies and brands. Prior to founding the consultancy Retail Prophet, Doug spent over 20 years in the retail industry, holding senior international leadership roles.
Doug is also the author of two International bestselling books - Reengineering Retail: The Future of Selling in a Post-Digital World and The Retail Revival: Re-Imagining Business for the New Age of Consumerism. Doug is also the nationally syndicated retail columnist for CBC Radio and sits on multiple corporate and academic advisory boards. His unique perspectives on retailing, business and consumer behavior have been featured in many of the world’s leading publications and media outlets including The New York Times, The BBC, TechCrunch, The Wall Street Journal and Fast Company.
In our s=discussion today we are going to be discussing a wide variety of topics related to the future of retail. All of this is hugely instructive and clarifying in a time when we need it the most.
We will cover:
I hope you find this episode helpful!
Links:
Related Episodes:
Designing the Customer Experience w/ Dr. Lisa Waxman
Making Great Business Decisions w/ Dave Stachowiak
SB Your peers are not your Customers
The BEST in commercial coffee equipment
Want the best plant based beverage for your coffee drinks?
www.pacificfoods.com/food-service
Karl Purdy is a coffee legend. Credited with kickstarting the specialty coffee movement in Ireland in 1996 he has since founded and run the amazing Coffee Angel in Dublin. From a humble mobile stand that offered great coffee and a smile, to now 5 cafes and roasting operation, Coffee Angel is an Irish coffee institution.
Since the COVID-19 crisis started Karls has had to make the painful, and now all to familiar, decision to close down all his shops, put his staff on unemployment, and now drives around the city delivering roasted coffee door to door in a fight to keep his business going for the sake of his community, family, and staff.
This is a conversation with someone who has seen a lot and been through a lot since 1996 and in this discussion we talk about the lessons he has from his history, how he communicated to his employees as things went down, his motivation that keeps him going, how he is pivoting to keep the business alive, his back-to-basics philosophy, and what his mindset is for the future in a post-pandemic world.
I hope you find this helpful and encouraging.
We are in this together.
Links:
KTTS COVID-19 Focus Spotify Playlist
Today on Founder Friday we are talking with Linda Thach, the founder of Little Skips in Brooklyn, NYC!
Having come to the states as a Cambodian refugee with nothing, the comfort of food and family played a foundational role in setting the values that drive Linda today.
Little Skips is a communal, artistic, accessible, and fun coffee experience that seeks to create happiness in everyone. Since it's founding in 2009 it has quickly become a Bushwick institution. Now with 3 shops and 1 restaurant, Linda has been able to learn a lot through the peaks and valleys that inevitably happen when running a business and explores much of that for us here today.
I am thrilled to present this conversation to you because I believe Linda offers a critical message to owners that will help bring the clarity, freedom, and focus that is often sought but not found.
In this episode we will learn about:
Links:
The BEST in commercial coffee equipment
Want the best plant based beverage for your coffee drinks?
www.pacificfoods.com/food-service
Hurt feelings and processing grief are all too familiar to us right now. As an owner you have had to make some tough decisions for the sake of helping the business survive this time while also trying to do good by your staff and customers. No matter what the outcome is not ideal and staff will have some negative emotions to work through. The question is, how do you respond when they are upset at you, the situation, and the decisions made? How do you manage their bitterness or dejection when you are working like crazy to keep everything together? Today we will chat a bot about this tension and how to lead well in the midst of it.
Related Episodes:
What you Must Know about Employee Culture
Batch Brew like you never thought possible:
Erica Escalante is no stranger to overcoming challenges. You might say that her experience in starting and running The Arrow in Portland, OR has prepared her to shine as a leader during this crisis.
Today Erica recounts how she prepared herself, her staff, and her business to respond to the COVID-19 crisis and offers an insightful, vulnerable, and passionate look into the world of an owner fighting to stay in business, maintain connections, and care for her family and staff through these hard times.
This is an awesome example of leadership and I hope Erica's words offer hope and strength to you.
Links:
Founder Friday w/ Erica Escalante
One of the most unique things about Baratza, a legendary 20 year old home grinder company, is that people are not just loyal to them, but that those same people go out of their way to advocate for and recommend the brand to anyone who will listen. That does not happen by accident, it is cultivated and grown over time with am inset that sets out to care for and to be an advocate for the customer.
Today I am absolutely thrilled to present a conversation with the Co-Founder of Baratza, Kyra Kennedy!
You might say a concern for the well being of others has always been a core value of Kyra's having a background in environmental science before founding Baratza with her friend / Business partner Kyle Anderson in 1999. Their concern for the environment and being a sustainable company has been central to their identity from the start.
Innovation has also been their main calling card. Baratza has pushed the envelope, with innovative firsts for the Specialty Coffee market like macro/micro grind adjust system for fast and repeatable adjustment; Portaholder to grind hands-free into a portafilter; Grind by Weight; plus Grind by Weight directly into a portafilter (earning Best New Product Awards from SCA in 2011, 2013 and 2016). The full range of Baratza grinders and all their features, offer users the ability to create cafe quality coffee at home or on bar.
As we are currently in the midst of pivoting in the COVID-19 crisis we are deeper into teaching and promoting home brewing to our customers than ever before. Baratza plays a central role in making that possible. We are doing this because we want to continue to care for our customers even if we can't see them in the cafe. To me, Baratza embodies the kind of hospitality we would expect in the best cafes.
I have no doubt that this conversation and the insights Kyra gives into showing care as a company will inspire you as you continue to serve your community.
Enjoy!
Links and Related Episodes:
Consumer Revolution w/ Kevin Sinnot
Supplying and Selecting Equipment w/ Steve Rihnhart
The BEST in commercial coffee equipment
Want the best plant based beverage for your coffee drinks?
www.pacificfoods.com/food-service
Today we are talking with past guest Marshall Fuss Attorney at Law. Marshall is attorney and general counsel to the Specialty Coffee Association, World Coffee Events, and Coffee Quality Institute and was a guest on episode 101 of KTTS "Avoiding Legal Pitfalls"
Today he joins me to offer some guidance to shop owners on how to actions to take in talking with your landlord and bank during this crisis. Things are moving fast and this conversation is meant to help guide you as you pursue action appropriate to you local context.
These are hard times. It is difficult to know where to begin in discussing the COVID-19 crisis and its impact on our industry. I have, like many of you, spent countless hours trying to process this and attempting to help in any way possible. There have been tears and anxiety to be sure. There has also been many bright spots and encouraging moments as I see our community come together. That is what I want to focus on in today's extended shift break.
Resiliency, community, and the path forward in the midst of this unprecedented time in coffee history, that is what we are discussing today.
Ya'll...we have what it takes, we have each other, our community, and the heart for hospitality that drives us to keep serving, keep caring, to be creative, and ultimately to take this moment and use it for good.
Links to related episodes:
Spotify playlist of encouraging episodes
Resources:
The COVID-19 post from Christopher Feran (includes a list of resources)
NCRLA Guidance on COVID-19 Preparedness
Follow KTTS on Instagram as I boost ideas and resources through the Stories
If I can be any help to you in this time please reach out: chris@keystotheshop.com
Batch Brew like you never thought possible:
In the midst of challenging times, there can still be hope and a way forward. Today we welcome back to the show Kathy Turiano to talk about finding hope in the face of difficulty.
Kathy is the Co-Owner of Joe Bean Coffee Roasters in Rochester, NY, an award winning Roastery and cafe in Rochester, NY that has consistently set the pace for specialty coffee in their city and beyond. Our initial interview with Kathy was a Founder Friday back in May of 2017 (link below). This interview was also focused on the overcoming difficulty and pivoting the business as that has been a theme of sorts since Joe Bean was founded.
During the last three years since we last talked, a lot has changed and they faced some of the biggest challenges to date. Challenges that crushed their spirits. In all of it they were able to find hope, light, and ultimately a better version of their business as a result.
My hope is that Kathy's story of overcoming hardships and letting it shape their business for good, will bring you hope in this very difficult time. To me it is a story of learned resiliency and taking things one step at a time. We will learn some pretty important mindsets to have and lessons in how to lead ourselves and communicate with other when things get really tough.
We need stories that encourage and I am certain this interview was meant for such a time as this.
Links:
Related Episodes:
200! : From Tragedy to Triumph : Navigating Change w/ Talor Browne of Talormade, Oslo, Norway
135 : Staying Motivated in the Midst of Difficulty
008 : Finding Joy in Coffee w/ Nathanael May
184 : Making Great Business Decisions w/ Dave Stachowiak
The BEST in commercial coffee equipment
Want the best plant based beverage for your coffee drinks?
www.pacificfoods.com/food-service
Managing poor performance is one of the more frustrating parts of being a leader in the coffee shop. While in NYC for Coffee Fest I receive this great question, "What do you do if your manager or barista is not fulfilling the requirements of their role? Do you demote?" In this episode of Shift Break I will get into why I believe most bosses are too quick to blame the employee and slow to see themselves as the source of poor performance in the cafe.
Related Episodes:
Empowering Staff to Make the right Call
Consulting opportunity!
Does having a regular one-on-one coaching session where you get to work out problems, develop solutions, and gain clarity on your business sound attractive? Reach out!
Batch Brew like you never thought possible:
The cafe is an institution of our social lives. More than just a spot to grab a quick coffee, the coffee shop is a place that carries with it a host of different sociological and emotional implications for the customer, the local and global community, and the ones who work within its walls. Having a grasp on these ideas is critical and today we are diving into the social intricacies of the coffee bar with sociologist, Noa Berger!
Noa is a PhD candidate at the EHESS (School of Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences) studying specialty coffee in Brazil and France
Her research is part of the PSL project "Emodities: How Emotions Become Commodities" directed by Prof. Eva Illouz, a theme explored in her PhD and in the seminars she teaches (on consumption and authenticity).
In addition to her studies, she teaches Sociology at both Graduate (EHESS) and Undergraduate (NEOMA) level and write for magazines (25 Magazine, Standart) and newspapers (Le Monde, Ha'aretz).
Her professional experience has revolved around studying and "doing" culture. Alongside research, she has gained extensive experience working in communications, event production and journalism in the cultural and culinary fields, experiences she now mobilizes in her research into the sociology of consumption and the anthropology of food.
We will be discussing many things today including what do we mean by "authentic"? What is emotional labor and how does it apply to both cafes and farmers? What does the design of our cafe say about our values? The benefit of understanding our messaging to customers, and how to ask questions like a sociologist.
I love the rabbit holes and layers of thought we go down in this conversation and am so thrilled to be presenting it to you.
Enjoy!
Links:
Related Episodes:
The Evolution of the Cafe w/ Prof. Jonathan Morris
Designing the Guest Experience w/ Dr. Lisa Waxman
The BEST in commercial coffee equipment
Want the best plant based beverage for your coffee drinks?
www.pacificfoods.com/food-service
Our default in management can often be to live in the extremes. Either we are suspecting everyone and everything as a potential problem or we are way too trusting and offer no structure in order to avoid conflict. Both scare away your staff and make your shop a pretty miserable place to work.
Today we talk about why we need to live in balance with realism and trust in order to create a thriving coffee shop and happy staff.
Related Episodes:
104 : How to Deliver Difficult Feedback w/ Tom Henschel
074 : The Life Changing Power of Good Authority w/ Jonathan Raymond
028 : Why it's OK to be the Boss w/ Bruce Tulgan
Batch Brew like you never thought possible:
300 Years! That is how long Caffe Florian in Venice, Italy has been in continuous operation serving Venice and the world. In those years Cafe Florian has served as the cultural hub for millions of Venicians and travelers privileged to experience its art, events, unique service of food, coffee, drinks, and chocolate. Today it is all carried out in the original way past patrons like Charles Dickens, Lord Byron, and Casanova would have experienced it.
To celebrate today's 300th broadcast of Keys to the Shop (including our shift break ep.) I sat down with the resident authority on all things Florian and Venice, Stefano Stipitivich. Stefano is the Art Director for Caffe Florian and has worked there for 33 years! We will be speaking to him through a translator, Cristiana Rivolta, the Sales & Marketing Manager at Florian. (You will hear Stafano in the background mostly and Cristiana in the foreground.)
In our conversation we discuss the history of Florian, how it has evolved, the secret to it's longevity, how they hire and train their staff, how they keep up with the times while being true to the past, the values that drive their dedication to delivering a perfect customer experience, and more.
I have read about Caffe Florian in coffee history books and to get to speak with them is surreal and an honor indeed. It all really impresses upon me the the kind of impact coffee houses have had over time and will continue to have through you and I.
Enjoy!
Links:
Related Episodes:
The Evolution of the Cafe w/ Prof. Jonathan Morris
Designing the Guest Experience w/ Dr. Lisa Waxman
The BEST in commercial coffee equipment
Want the best plant based beverage for your coffee drinks?
www.pacificfoods.com/food-service