It's Founder Friday once again and I am thrilled to shine a light on someone who has built their business on a heart for people, relationships, and an offering of accessible quality coffees. Today we are talking with the founder of Drip Coffee NYC, Nigel Price!
Nigel left a career in finance to pursue opening his own coffee shop. Once he was immersed in the industry he realized there was much more to doing this successfully than just having a good business would prepare him for. He spent 10 years working in great coffee bars learning and growing his perspective, skills, and concept.
He launched Drip Coffee Makers NYC 3 years ago as a focused mobile multi-roaster cart popping up all over the city. From there he opened his first brick and mortar in 2020, thrived in the pandemic, and now has a fleet of 4 stores and a growing community of committed customers and fan across the city and the industry.
Nigel has a calm and clear passion for people and coffee that has been at the heart of Drip and it's success and today we are going to hear the story of how this all came to be along with some very important insights into entrepreneurship that you will be absolutely key to your own success and fulfillment in coffee.
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"We don't speak Starbucks" I cannot tell you how much damage phrases like this have done over the years. More than just creating hostility at the register with customers who don't speak the same "coffee language" as us, it also sets the stage for more hostility and misunderstanding with customers whose culture, language, or abilities are literally different from our own.
In today's shift break we will be discussing the importance of fostering a desire to serve through understanding and how we can overcome language barriers of all kinds with the right mindset and resourcing.
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The system works exactly the way it was designed to work...and it needs to be broken. This is the goal of a new model of coffee trade introduced by Andy and Nanelle Newbom through their company Torque Coffee.
Andy and Nanelle Newbom are life long coffee professionals who have been foundational in helping establish the standards for transparency and excellence we know today. With their iconic roastery and retail company Barefoot Coffee they helped pioneer Direct Trade, Andy was a founding member of the Barista Guild, and they both have been work in roasting / importing companies since then where they are consistently pursuing equity and systemic change for an industry who's distribution of value is drastically lopsided.
Recently they have launched a new model of trade based the idea of what they call "Proportional Pricing" with their company Torque Coffee.
In this model they seek to give to break the system and replace it with a framework that pays the farmer a set percentage of the coffee's retail value upfront. It really is a great idea and in today's conversation we will get the inside scoop on how this came about, how it works, and what you can do to adopt this model in your roastery.
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Welcome to part two of a live series of interviews conducted on the show floor of Coffee Fest Chicago in June of 2022! In these interviews I sit down with stellar presenters and lecturers to dig deep into a range of relevant and important topics that will help make you and your coffee business better.
Today we will be talking with Marissa Childers, co-founder (along with Ethan Darla) of Tanbrown Coffee, a roastery dedicated to re-writing the narrative about Asian coffee and Asians in coffee. In our chat today we dive into the topic of the current narrative regarding asian coffees and other marginalized origins, and how roasters and shops can help make a difference through highlighting the nuances and complexities those origins have to offer.
To learn more about Tanbrown visit:
Next we get to talk with Jess Gulino who wears many hats at La Terza Coffee. One of her focuses is in branding and helping shops create expressions that resonate with customers and the shops values. In this chat we discuss lots of relevant questions you might have when approaching branding and Jess helps us guide us to more clear understanding of what may be right for you.
Learn more about La Terza Coffee here:
Finally we get to have a conversation with the great Tony Dreyfuss who, along with his father, founded the iconic Metropolis Coffee in Chicago! In this discussion we cover what goes into an effective training program and Tony gives us insight into how they have honed their own program from nearly 20 years of experience.
Learn more about Metropolis Coffee here:
Be sure to tune in to listen to part 1 of this series if you have not already!
HEY THERE!
If you are looking for resourcing, clarity, inspiration, and just a really fun experience then I would suggest attending Coffee Fest Trades Shows!
You can get 50% off your registration by using the code KEYS when registering you and your team at www.coffeefest.com
Welcome to part on of a live series of interviews conducted on the show floor of Coffee Fest Chicago in June of 2022! In these interviews I sit down with stellar presenters and lecturers to dig deep into a range of relevant and important topics that will help make you and your coffee business better.
Today we will be talking with Luke Waite of The Lev Co and Pomelo Coffee Consulting all about how roasting operations can increase profitability and clarity around their mission.
Learn more about Luke's work here:
Next we chat with Kris Christian who is the founder of Chicago French Press. In our conversation we discuss her story of building a business to make coffee more accessible, black entrepreneurship, and the need for resourcing to continue to see that sector of small business thrive.
Learn more about Kris and Chicago French Press here:
Lastly we get to sit down with Mark Calhoun and Jim Starcev of Perfect Cube. Mark and Jim have been on the show before to talk about data and metrics and in this interview we focus on how and where businesses can get started on the right track to financial tracking and health.
Learn more about perfect cube here:
Be sure to tune in to part 2 of this series where we talk with another three wonderful coffee minds at Coffee Fest!
HEY!
If you are looking for resourcing, clarity, inspiration, and just a really fun experience then I would suggest attending Coffee Fest Trades Shows!
You can get 50% off your registration by using the code KEYS when registering you and your team at www.coffeefest.com
In coffee, we like to see ourselves making progress and we check our state against certain metrics and goals that we believe, once reached, will transform our business and as bring satisfaction.
Today on Shift Break we will be discussing vanity metrics and why some of the feedback and status we seek through them will more likely lead to stress and fear, than joy and fulfillment.
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Communicating, educating, and training boils down to how well you can connect with people to walk with them through information and transformation. If you want to be effective in these areas you need a whole lot of genuine passion and a desire to not just teach, but also to learn. Not many people in the industry embody this as much as today's guest, Michael Tan.
Michael is a 13 year industry veteran who rose up in the ranks from barista, manager, trainer, even opening his own coffee shop for a time. These days Michael is hosting events and educating scores of baristas in Malaysia as the wholesale trainer for JWC in Kuala Lumpur.
In our conversation today we get to trace Michael's journey in coffee with an emphasis on the lessons he has learned in communication, training, and customer education. We also discuss the importance of language, humility, context, and always learning.
Enjoy!
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It happens in cafe all over the world. Baristas are hired on a trial basis to see if they are a good fit for the business. On the surface, this practice seems logical and, no doubt, may yield some positive results. But...I believe the practice of trial basis hiring brings with it more negative results than positive.
On this Shift Break I will go over some of my thoughts on why trial basis hiring may be a bad idea and what you might want to practice instead.
Be sure to visit the links below to learn more about good hiring and training practices.
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Many shops make sense on paper but in practice there is something missing. There are lot's of unseen barriers to progress and success in your shop that get in the way of the best plans no matter how you rearrange the staff, equipment, hours, ingredients, etc.
Today you and I will be chatting about five barriers to progress that are present in a ton of cafes around the world and how once addressing and removing them will not only throw the doors to progress in your business but will bring you and your staff to the next level of fulfillment in your work.
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I have heard many times from owners that they need to be the best barista in the shop. The idea is that if they are not, then the staff will not respect them and it would compromise their leadership. As you might guess, this is a bit misguided.
In this shift break we get into the details of how to think about your skill level in the work you oversee vs the work that your role as a leader requires you to do and why knowing the difference will save you from putting all your effort into areas that do not produce the kind of return you want to see.
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Reach out for one-on-one consulting and coaching! chris@keystotheshop.com
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What are some of the qualities that potential employers most value in a barista and why are they important? Today you and I will chat about the answers and how they make a significant difference in how you are perceived and how you find fulfillment in a job. These are not just qualities that let you stand out in a sea of applicants but they are traits that maximize your opportunities in your coffee career. Certainly we could talk about far more than six but these are truly foundational and led to you developing many other traits that create magic in the cafe.
Be sure to take time to listen to the related episodes below, follow @keystotheshop on Instagram and Subscribe!
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