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
It's Founder Friday! I am thrilled to be able to feature a conversation with an old friend and coffee OG, Jeff Taylor.
Jeff is the Co-Founder and CEO of the legendary PT's Coffee Roasters in Topeka, KS and the Owner/ President of Bird Rock Coffee in San Diego, CA.
In todays episode we dive into Jeff's 27 year journey from founding a small shop called PT's with his business partner Fred Polzin to now being at the helm of an amazing team of coffee professionals that run 10 cafes and two wholesale roasting company’s in 3 states.
Jeff left a very successful career in photo journalism to work fully in coffee and I am so glad he did. PT's has been at the forefront of many of our industries firsts. Jeff worked with a select group to develop what eventually became the United States Barista Competition (USBC), dating back to 1999. Jeff made the transition to Coffee Buyer for PT's Coffee in 2004 and began the process of building relationships with producers around the world which led to forming one of the first Direct Trade models. (Today, PT’s Coffee Roasting Co. Coffee and Bird Rock Coffee Roasters (acquired in 2017) source approximately 85% of our coffee’s directly from farmers)
Jeff also served one term on the Specialty Coffee Association of America's Board of Directors through 2010 after which he returned to focus on growing the business sharing sourcing responsibilities with his wife, Maritza Taylor, and Director of Operations Brent Pipiergerdes, so that he could lead the transition and purchase of Bird Rock Coffee Roasters in San Diego, CA. In 2016.
This has been a long and winding path leading to what is undeniably a great coffee career. Patience, relationships, stubbornness, dedication, and trusting your gut are just a few of the themes that emerge here and I feel like we can all see a bit of ourselves and our star in Jeff's.
I hope you enjoy this episode. Like Jeff's career, it's a bit on the long side but worth every minute to be able to learn from one of the original specialty coffee professionals.
Links:
Related Episodes:
184 : Making Great Business Decisions w/ Dave Stachowiak
Patience & Passivity : Career Advice for the Long Game
174 : Saying Yes to Business Opportunities w/ Kyle Wells of Torpedo Coffee & Close Quarters
The BEST in commercial coffee equipment
Want the best plant based beverage for your coffee drinks?
www.pacificfoods.com/food-service
Mindset is at the heart of our effectiveness as leaders. As the work of the cafe piles up it is easy to forget about what your role's primary responsibility is. Today we are going to be chatting about how facilitating success of the people you lead is the cornerstone mindset that supports and gives momentum to everything else you do.
Links:
179 : What you MUST Know About Employee Culture w/ Stan Slap
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In the world of specialty coffee we still have a lot of work to do when it comes to creating a context where women are given the same bias-free consideration as their male counterparts. As a result, having the confidence necessary to thrive and advance in the cafe can be hard to come by. In today's episode we will be exploring how women can cultivate confidence in business and how those who run businesses can empower the women in their organizations. To that end I am so excited to welcome to the show, Katherine Knapke!
Katherine Knapke is the Chief Operating Officer at the American Negotiation Institute. Katherine is passionate about using her experience as a Psychiatric Nurse trained in Therapeutic Crisis Intervention (TCI) and as a Certified Mediator to address the psychological, emotional, and societal concerns that impact women in the workplace. Her goal is to use her expertise to help women develop the skills and confidence they need to get more of what they want and deserve in the workplace.
Katherine also uses her healthcare experience to lead our work within hospital systems and in public health departments. Lives depend on the crucial conversations that happen in healthcare every day. She helps healthcare professionals manage conflict in order to improve communication, persuasion, and patient care.
Katherine is the host of our newest women’s focused negotiation podcast, Ask With Confidence, designed to empower women and to help them gain the confidence they need when engaging in difficult conversations.
Some of what we will cover:
Links:
Related Episodes:
131 : The Strong Women of Coffee w/ Laura Gonzalez
125 : Confidence in Conflict w/ Kwame Christian
104 : How to Deliver Difficult Feedback w/ Tom Henschel
052 : Solving Coworker Conflict w/ Tom Henschel
014 : A Barista's Guide to Advancing
015 : What to do if you Don't Advance w/ Anne Nylander
Shift Break: Career Advice from Joe Marocco
The BEST in commercial coffee equipment
Want the best plant based beverage for your coffee drinks?
www.pacificfoods.com/food-service
We seem to be addicted. Not to coffee, but to coffee loyalty programs. Whether it's a card or points on the POS, we can't imagine running a business without them. But what if cards and programs don't actually create loyalty? Today we are chatting about mindsets and practices as it relates to achieving true customer loyalty and why what we have accepted as a means to that end has really led us astray.
Links:
wwww.keystotheshop.com/consulting
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Too often an otherwise promising business is compromised from lack of attention, simple systems, and tools to manage the finances. This leads to many cafes going under way before their time. There is a lot going on when you are just starting out and accounting/finances are often the first things to get compromised.
Well, today we are going to talk about best-practices, mindsets, tools, systems, and strategies to help you take control of your cafe's finances and accounting with our very special guest, Keila Hill-Trawick of Little Fish Accounting!
Keila is strategic business advisor who partners with freelancers, solopreneurs, and small businesses owners to plan and reach their financial goals . After spending over a decade working in both the government and private sector, Keila launched Little Fish Accounting to serve as a trusted partner in financial and tax planning to drive business results and growth.
Keila holds a BBA in Accounting from Georgia State University, an MBA from Mercer University, and is a licensed Certified Public Accountant. She has held multiple senior level accounting and finance positions at corporations such as Home Depot, Georgia-Pacific, UPS, CNN/Turner Broadcasting, Comcast, and various Federal agencies. Based in Washington, DC, Keila now services small businesses nationwide through Little Fish Accounting.
This is a critical primer for foundational financial health of cafes everywhere and I hope it empowers you to take control of your accounting, the future of your business absolutely depends on it.
In this episode you will learn:
Links:
Related Episodes:
160 : The Smart Way to Approach Money w/ Jill Schlesinger
101 : Avoiding Legal Pitfalls in Coffee Retail w/ Marshall Fuss, Attorney at Law
108 : Founder Friday w/ Dorian Bolden of Beyu Caffe, Durham, NC
The BEST in commercial coffee equipment
Want the best plant based beverage for your coffee drinks?
www.pacificfoods.com/food-service
Okay, so today the tables are turned and I get interviewed by my loving and lovely wife, Lynnsy. Doing something like this podcast requires a good deal of support, encouragement, and patience from the people around us. My wife is the epitome of those things and more. When she came to me with this idea was very hesitant but she has convinced me to let her interview me for a Valentines Day episode to explore some fun stories from my career, completion, and also how coffee brought us together. Seems pretty appropriate right? Coffee brings us all together.
So if you want to hear about how latte art got me married, why you should check your ego before you blog, what happened to me in that I needed to call my wife from a pay phone in Vegas, and more, then this episode is for you!
Thanks, Lynnsy. I love you more than coffee.
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It can be hard to organize all the responsibilities you take on when in a leadership role in the cafe. When we don't order our work well it leads to giving too much time and energy to things that seem important in the moment only to get further behind. Today we chat about three categories to place our work under and how to prioritize you work to thrive as a manager or cafe leader.
Related episodes:
Links:
wwww.keystotheshop.com/consulting
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Curiosity is the reason we got into coffee. As we go on in our careers though, the world we thought was so big becomes much smaller. We learn the rules, the ropes, and we get busy with the business of coffee often at the expense of being fascinated by it.
Today we will be discussing the importance of curiosity and how it has a tremendous impact on our personal and professional lives. To do this I am joined by someone who's job it is to inspire curiosity in people around the world, Cody Gough!
Cody Gough is the executive producer and co-host of Curiosity Daily, an award-winning daily science podcast from Curiosity.com. Curiosity Daily was recognized as the Best Technology & Science Podcast in the 2019 Discover Pods Awards, and was recognized as the Best Science & Medicine Podcast at the 13th Annual Podcast Awards. Cody's broadcasting background includes more than a decade of experience working at Chicago’s 720 WGN Radio in both on-air and production roles. He’s also a seasoned podcaster with The GonnaGeek Podcast Network, an accomplished commercial actor, and former cooking show host.
I am so happy to have gotten a chance to speak with Cody. I really enjoy his podcast and believe that what we discuss here today will, not only ignite our curiosity, but will help us break out of our ruts and explore the world around us a bit more deeply. The return on investing in curiosity is immeasurable.
We will discuss:
Links:
Related episodes:
165 : The Art of Deep Listening w/ Oscar Trimboli
137 : Essential Books for your professional Development
112 : The Power of Story w/ James Harper
The BEST in commercial coffee equipment
Want the best plant based beverage for your coffee drinks?
www.pacificfoods.com/food-service
Problems come up all the time in the cafe. We deal with them as best we can but often we are leaving a lot of value on the table with the ways we attack the issues we encounter. Today we are chatting about how get your problems to work for your companies benefit and not let them go to waste.
Related Episodes:
Communicate, Duplicate, Repeat
Links:
wwww.keystotheshop.com/consulting
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Navigating unforeseen change brings about a ton of challenges that, in the moment, seem insurmountable. Today we will be exploring this subject by hearing an incredible story going from tragedy to triumph with the ever-awesome, Talor Browne!
Links:
Related Episodes:
Founder Friday w/ Talor Browne of Talor + Jorgen
Avoiding Legal Pitfalls w/ Marshal Fuss
The BEST in commercial coffee equipment
Want the best plant based beverage for your coffee drinks?
www.pacificfoods.com/food-service
It's Founder Friday! Today we get to talk with Mario Jimenez one of the owners of Banana Dang Coffee in Oceanside, California!
Mario and his wife, Thanh-Thanh Dang started Banana Dang back in 2007 in Rincon, Puerto Rico before eventually relocating to Oceanside, California. Back on the island, they served Puerto Rican coffee and homegrown bananas in all their smoothies. Dubbed the “World’s First ALL Banana Smoothie and Specialty Coffee Bar,” Banana Dang became an institution in the Caribbean surf town. After selling the property in Rincon in 2014, they returned to California and opened the second Banana Dang shop in Oceanside in 2015.
Banana Dang is lovely and unique business in the specialty retail space with a simple mission and a lot to teach us. In today's interview we will be exploring the founding and evolution of Banana Dang in depth with Mario and learning all about the heart behind it and the insights gain from over 13 years of operation.
You will learn about:
Links:
Related episodes:
Founder Friday w/ Luaren Crabb / Andytown Coffee Roasters
The BEST in commercial coffee equipment
Want the best plant based beverage for your coffee drinks?
www.pacificfoods.com/food-service
It is easy for us to be consumed with work. Especially if you are passionate about it and desire to achieve great things, to move the needle in the company, and to help those you lead. Trouble is hough, we tend to blur the lines between work and home and end up burning out for lack of clear borders. Today we will talk about three tactics that will help bring balance and ultimately keep you healthy and thriving at work and at home.
Related episodes:
Links:
wwww.keystotheshop.com/consulting
This Episode brought to you by ODEKO!
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Coffee and the coffee shop have an amazing history. From the Ottoman Empire to your favorite 3rd wave coffee bar, there have been many evolutions and critical pints in time that have led us to where we are today. In order to move forward well, we need to be well informed of our industry's past. To help us in this effort we are chatting with coffee historian, Prof. Jonathan Morris
Jonathan Morris is a Research Professor in History at the University of Hertfordshire, specializing in the history of coffee. His latest book Coffee: A Global History explains how coffee became popular the world over, and why tastes in coffee differ all over the world. Jonathan was the European Editor of Coffee: A Comprehensive Guide to the Bean, the Beverage, and the Industry (2013) and directed the Cappuccino Conquests research project which traced the history of Italian-style coffee from the origins of espresso through to the global coffee shop chains of today.
In this episode we are talking with Prof. Morris about some key points in the evolution of the coffee shop that impact us today.
We will discuss:
Links:
prof.jonathan.morris@gmail.com
Related Episodes:
Your Peers are not Your Customers
090 : Researching the Cafe w/ Dr. Jennifer Ferreira
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Want the best plant based beverage for your coffee drinks?
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