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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: November, 2020
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

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