These are the two most important and intensive processes in the cafe yet they often are the most rush and poorly thought through. The preparations we make and the actions we take when hiring and training staff will and does create a ripple effect that is felt by everyone who interacts with your business for years to come.
Maybe more than ever, a proper focus on hiring and training with excellence is the key to creating resilience and sustainability in our coffee shops. Strong investment in the beginning helps alleviate issues down the road.
Today we will be going through a detailed presentation I delivered at Coffee Fest that dives into some very practical advice to equip you to bring on, and care for well, the right people for your coffee shop and customers.
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New York City is undoubtedly one of the coffee capitals of the world. With a seemingly endless number of options to choose from, it is hard to stand out and create something that makes people notice and even hard to keep their attention and patronage. Birch Coffee in NYC was founded with the intention to level up the hospitality and customer service one can expect in a coffee house and has been busy building and making this a reality since 2009. Today on Founder Friday we get to talk with the Co-Funder of Birch Coffee, Jeremy Lyman!
Jeremy Lyman is the co-founder of Birch Coffee, a New York City-based coffee company. Since its first store opened in 2009, the company has grown to become one of New York City's premiere and most loved independent coffee shop chains. With more than a dozen locations throughout the city, the focus of Birch is on customer service.
Service is something Jeremy believed was lacking in the Specialty Coffee industry and being that both he and his partner Paul are consumers first and worked in bars and restaurants for years before, they realized that this was what was necessary to stand out in the industry. In order to grow the company, he has overseen the development of not only a high level of service, but methods in which to hone and develop those skills amongst his teams.
Jeremy, Paul, and their team have also figured out creative ways to stand out. From eliminating wifi and introducing conversation starters to designing extraordinarily unique napkins, they have caught the eye of the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and Forbes who have paid specific attention to these differentiators.
In this conversation we will not only her the story of Birch Coffee’s founding and growth but we will also be hearing about Jeremy’s journey as an owner through the years as he owns up about hard lessons, values, the impact of vulnerability, and what we considers the most valuable thing owners can focus on at any stage of their cafes development.
I loved this talk and was greatly moved by Jeremy’s honesty and candor. I hope you enjoy this episode but more than that I hope it helps inspire you to new levels of personal and professional excellence.
Links:
Email: Jeremy@birchcoffee.com
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At work there is unnecessary difficulty and then there is just…necessary difficulty. The trouble is that sometimes we can blur the line between the two and generally will default the thinking all difficulty is to be avoided or is a sign of something wrong with the system, ourselves, or the people we lead.
On this Shift Break I channel my inner old man (kinda) as we will be discussing the necessary difficulty of work and how to avoid blaming others, and why embracing hard work as a blessing and not a curse can change you and your business.
Interested in consulting services? Reach out to : Chris@keystotheshop.com
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What makes a successful coffee bar? This whole show is dedicated to exploring the depths of the question and yet there are a few fundamental elements that, if practiced, will greatly help your coffee bar succeed. Were are not going to be talking about the common things you might associate with success such as location, Cost of Goods, and great customer service. Those things and many like them are definitely important but even if you have the major pieces in place, there are aspects of your shop that are quite nuanced and are responsible for hold those big pieces in place.
Today we will be exploring the top 5 rules for a successful coffee shop, why they are important, and what it looks like to implement them to make your cafe sustainable for you and everyone associated with it.
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Quality control and assurance is common in most well established coffee shops. Even if it is not a dedicated position, it at least is an area where we invest a lot of time and effort. What we don't see very much of is a focus on care. How do the staff and customers experience the business and what are we doing to make sure we are dialing in that experience?
Today on Shift Break we will talk about how investing in care assurance is a critical to success.
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Winning coffee awards and competitions is pretty cool. There are many benefits to pursuing accolades for your coffee shop through such as marketing opportunities, sharpening skills, energizing staff, and networking. The question we have to ask ourselves though is, just how critical are competitors and awards tot he success of our shops and what metric should we be using to gauge the health of our businesses?
In today's episode we will be talking about how the pursuit of awards can often become a means to ignore the more foundational issues within the shop and actually contribute to further disfunction by prioritizing external validation over internal health.
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On a daily basis we have opportunities to take a customer's genuine curiosity and excitement and either affirm it and guide them or to stamp it out and push them away. In coffee shops all over the world the former scenario play out but what we see too much of these days is the latter. Customers being essentially scolded for their budding enthusiasm for coffee.
Today on Shift Break I am re-airing an old episode called "Curbing Their Enthusiasm". In it we explore the problem, what it causes, and how to fix our mindsets so we can be effective and genuinely excited guides for our customers.
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A big issue with coffee education is accessibility. Much of the practical information that leads customers and coffee professionals alike to understanding, buying, and brewing great coffee is either locked away in our roasteries and cafes or hurried in a sea of misinformation. That's where Leaderboard Coffee comes in.
Today we are going to talk with the founder of Leaderboard Coffee, Suneal Pabari. Suneal is the co-founder of The Roasters Pack, Matchmaker Coffee, This Coffee Co. & Leaderboard Coffee, based out of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He’s passionate about creating interesting coffee experiences and elevating specialty coffee. Leaderboard is a subscription based tasting competition that brings together passionate consumers and professionals to taste some of the best coffees in the world and win a place on the leaderboard at Leaderboard.coffee
In our conversation we discuss the origins and logistics of Leaderboard as well as the state of coffee education today and what it can be, and needs to be moving into the future.
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How do I motivate my staff? This was a question I received at Coffee Fest regarding managers and I believe the answer is applicable both to baristas and to managers. Heck, it's pretty much true for anyone. It starts with culture.
In today's Shift Break we will be talking about a few of the usual ways we motivate staff in the coffee shop and then discussing why creating a great culture is the primary way to motivate and incentivize and see people really engage.
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Training staff to become productive, competent, and confident members of the team is a massive challenge all coffee shops face. In spite of our best efforts we often end up with baristas who have completed training but are still not ready to work the bar effectively and this brings about frustration for everyone. There is a better way and today we are going to explore that way with one of the nations top barista trainers, David Castillo.
David has worked in specialty coffee for the past decade as a barista, manager, and trainer, and has competed in a few barista competitions along the way. Originally from New York, he moved to Los Angeles in 2018 and is now the Training Manager for G&B Coffee and Go Get Em Tiger.
David's philosophy and best practices in training have come about through a massive amount of focused experience in the field. Through failures and success he has honed in on what I think are the most critical element to successfully train baristas and the and create the professionals we need in our coffee shops.
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