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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: March, 2023
Mar 30, 2023

I was having a conversation with my wife and son about the practice of "decafing" customers and when anyone would take it upon themselves to do that. Ultimately it boils down to a decision we make in the moment to maintain integrity and hight standards for ourselves, or to create precedent within ourselves to let spite rule our actions. 

In today's Shift Break we will be talking about how we can and do easily fall into pettiness and spite and how we can avoid this trap that ultimately ends up, more than anything else, damaging us and the coffee industry.

 

Related episodes:

Managing Anger : Tips on how to deal with getting angry behind the coffee bar in a healthy way

Gossip: How this toxic element destroys community in the coffee shop and what to do instead


Visit our Sponsors!!!

The best espresso machines in the world!

www.lamarzoccousa.com

 

Custom branded mobile apps for your shop!

www.espressly.co

 

Mar 29, 2023

When you think about success in roasting coffee, you will more than likely be concerned first and foremost with quality. While quality is critical, it is not the only factor. And success itself is more than a measure of your businesses profit, but how your business profits others. A new and more expansive view of quality and success is one of the things that characterizes today RoR guest.

In this episode of Rate of Rise we are going to be talking with, David Lalonde of Rabbit Hole Roasters!

David is the co-founder (along with biz partner Sophie) of Rabbit Hole Roasters in Montreal, Quebec. Roasting tasty coffee is obviously important for him, but challenging the coffee status quo is what drives him. By learning about coffee’s inequalities, building long lasting relationships at origin and centering small holder farmers, he hopes to change the narrative, one that is not based primarily on cup score.

Rabbit Hole Roasters is known for hight quality coffee, accessible offerings, and a desire to create momentum for equity along the entire value stream. 

Rabbit Hole is also the Roast Magazine 2023 Mirco-Roaster of the Year!

In our conversation we will be talking about David's entry into coffee, starting rabbit Hole, and the mission to take on the important and hard topics of the coffee industry through conversation and through the operation of Rabbit Hole Roasters itself. 

In our conversation we cover:

  • Entering the coffee scene
  • Developing the ethos and values
  • choosing import partners
  • crafting an accessible and impactful offering
  • Longterm relationships and farmer commitments
  • Why quality is not the most important thing
  • Running a successful business 
  • Developed coffee and expanding our marketing
  • Asking the hard questions and giving a platform to needed conversations 

Links:


Related Episodes:

Visit our sponsor ROAST MAGAZINE and subscribe! 

Mar 28, 2023

In the hospitality industry, a guiding ethos that drives many successful coffee bars, restaurant, and bars alike, is the concept of generosity. When we operate with a heart to give and serve, we innovate ways to make that ethos a reality. Unfortunately there are many cafes that operate with the idea that they should only pay what they can get away with and have a less than generous disposition that leads to all sorts of problems. 

That fact that this later disposition is so common is one of the reasons today's guest started down the road to innovate a way to create a  generaous payment system that both challeneges the status quo and cares for the needs of the coffee shop's staff. 

Today we are talking with Mike Schroeder of Oddly Correct in Kansas City, MO. 

Mike Schroeder is a drummer turned aerospace engineer turned drummer turned co ffee roaster turned problem solver and business owner. Mike is brothers-in-law with Oddly’s founder Gregory Kolsto and Oddly’s first employee (in 2011) and is now being trusted to steer the ship.

In this conversation we dive into the story and values of Oddly Correct and how they flipped the script on the traditional way wages are viewed and can today provide their staff with a consistent living wage. 

We cover:

  • Beginning oddly
  • Crafting the values
  • Making decisions
  • Expanding mindfully
  • The why behind projects and initiatives
  • Valuing your team
  • Guaranteeing a living wage
  • Pushback from the industry
  • Rolling it our and seeing the impact
  • Continual improvement
  • Advice for how to apply this structure

Links: 

www.oddlycorrect.com 

Boss Barista interview w/Mike 

 

Related episodes:

 

Interested in leveling up your coffee shop or setting up 1:1 coaching?

Visit our amazing Sponsors!

www.groundcontrol.coffee

www.pacficfoodservice.com

www.coffeefest.com

 

 

Mar 27, 2023

Part 2 of 2023 Coffee Fest Live NYC interviews! 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.

This time we are joined by Jesse Harriott, Jenna Gotthelf, and Anu Menon!

To start us off on part 2 we are going to talk with Jesse Harriott of Copper Horse Coffee!

Jesse is a long time friend of mine and Co-founder of Copper Horse Coffee in Ithaca, NY. 
He has been serving coffee for 20 years, Roasting, training, and consulting for 18 years and has accumulated a lot of recognitions and awards at Coffee Fest, Golden Bean, and has amassed an incredible amount of wisdom and experience over these decades of coffee craft and leadership.
In this conversation we discuss what is at the core of a successful coffee shop's operations. 

​​Next we chat with Jenna Gotthelf of Counter Culture Coffee. 

Jenna Gotthelf is an advocate for creating progressive and approachable learning opportunities for anyone who brews coffee. Jenna is based in NYC and is the wholesale education manager for Counter Culture Coffee, where she oversees the barista training program carried out in Training Centers across the country. Jenna is also a long time US Coffee Championships competitor and has placed everywhere from first to last to somewhere in the middle in Brewers Cup and Barista Competitions

Jenna and I discuss the need for coffee bars to educate their customers in  ways that empower them and give them tools for success and how to meet them where they are in their coffee journey. 

Finally we are talking with Anu Menon of Driftaway Coffee. 

Anu Menon is a founder at Driftaway Coffee, a sustainability-focused direct-to-consumer coffee roaster based in Brooklyn, NY. An engineer-turned-marketing consultant, she leads Customer Experience & Sustainability at Driftaway and is passionate about building an approachable, equitable & transparent coffee value chain.

Anu sits down with me to talk about how we can reach out to our customers via digital platforms and what practical steps we can take to create access, change, and culture regardless of physical location. 

 

Links: 

www.copperhorsecoffee.com

www.counterculturecoffee.com

www.driftawaycoffee.com

 

Related episodes: 

162 : Discussing “Baristastainability” w/ Jenna Gotthelf of Counter Culture Coffee

SPECIAL: Coffee Fest Live! Chicago 2022 Part 1 w/ Luke Waite, Kris Christian, and Perfect Cube

SPECIAL: Coffee Fest Live! Chicago 2022 Part 2 w/ Marissa Childers, Jess Gulino, and Tony Dreyfuss

157 : Four from the Floor : Interviews from Coffee Fest Indianapolis 2019

142 : Entrepreneur Interviews from Coffee Fest NYC!

 

 

www.coffeefest.com

 

Mar 27, 2023

It is time for the first the 2023 series of Coffee Fest Live interviews! 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.

To start us off we are going to talk with Jordan Brown followed by Anand Patel

Jordan Brown has been on the distribution  side of Coffee for close to a decade. He is all about bringing products and helping shops. Reset culture . Currently he serves as the Vice President of sales for Shoreline Supply Co and hosts a podcast “ Drinking Coffee While Talking Coffee With Jordan Brown.” I got to talk with Jordan about how we can go about knowing what product are right for our shops and our values. 

​​Next we chat with Anand Patel. Anand is the co-founder of Hidden Grounds Coffee. Back in 2013, Anand and his team of coffee crusaders decided that the world had suffered enough from the scourge of bad coffee. They took it upon themselves to become the ultimate taste testers, sacrificing their taste buds so their customers don't have to suffer the same fate. They've been able to expand their coffee business to 7 retail locations and in our conversation Anand gives us his secrets to scaling mindfully in order to achieve lasting success. 

links: 

www.shorelinesupplyco.com

Drinking Coffee, while Talking Coffee Podcast

www.thehiddengrounds.com

 

 

www.coffeefest.com

 

Mar 23, 2023

Creating a moment of delight and excellence is what we all want to do when we set up our shops and make coffee for others. We also want to be delighted ourselves with the things we create and feel a sense of pride in each and every drink. Given the range of beverages we serve, that is pretty rare to find. But at least one place manages to strike this balance and has been doing so with singular focus for the past 8 years.

Today we get to talk with the owner of the Award winning cafe, Endorffeine in Los Angeles, CA, Jack Benchakul!

Jack is a biochemist who turned to small business to find more meaning and fulfillment in work. This set him on a path to pursue craft first through the pastry arts and finally in the coffee industry after one life changing cup of coffee. 

Jack learned all he could at home then as a barista before starting Endorffiene with his cousin Ttaya Tuparangsi in 2015 with the goal to pursue a balanced and refined coffee experience unlike any that was currently available. Jack's integrity, knowledge of craft and science, and constance in this pursuit has not only gained Edorffeine nority from famous food writers like Jonathan Gold and Bill Addison, gained Endorffeine, but also recognitions such as "Best Coffee Shops in the U.S. from Food and Wine and on of the "101 Restaurants, Dishes, People, and Ideas from The LA Times. Beyond these things, Endorffeine is firmly established in the coffee community and garners the respect of their industry peers world wide. 

In today's conversation with Jack we will be exploring the story of Endorffeine and their unique approach to creating beauty, balance, and community one cup of coffee at a time. 

We cover: 

  • Jacks Journey from Biochemistry to pastry to coffee
  • The coffee epiphany that set his course
  • Establishing Endorffeine and its mission
  • Staying consistent over time
  • Pursuing customer facing work as an introvert
  • Values based Menu curation and refinement 
  • What is the “deep fight”
  • Pride in operation and ownership
  • What the pandemic revealed
  • Connecting with customers
  • Advice to other owner on integrity and patience

Links:

www.endorffeine.coffee

Instagram: @endorffeine 

 

Related episodes:

 

Interested in leveling up your coffee shop or setting up 1:1 coaching?

 

Visit our amazing Sponsors!

www.groundcontrol.coffee

www.pacficfoodservice.com

 

 

 

Mar 22, 2023

Ever find yourself saying or hearing things like "Well, we go through it!" or "That was so crazy, welcome to Saturdays!" or "That's just the way it is here!" and many other phrases that draw attention to some very difficult situation of common happening on the bar? I certainly have and often these things are said with a ting of resignation by people in positions who may actually have the ability to do something about it. 

In today's Shift Break we will be talking about how we tend to glorify and resign ourselves to chaos and dysfunction and why we find ourselves embracing these problems as inevitable or even rites of passage, versus using our influence and abilities to try to innovate ways to alleviate needless stresses. 

Related Episodes:

 


Visit our Sponsors!!!

The best espresso machines in the world!

www.lamarzoccousa.com

 

Custom branded mobile apps for your shop!

www.espressly.co

 

 

 

Mar 20, 2023

The market place of coffee has seen rapid expansion of drive thrus and concepts focused on quick service. There is no doubt that customers appreciate speed when it comes to their coffee, better than speed though is speed plus service. These are the areas that today's guest is focused on delivering and continually enhancing in one of the country's fastest growing fast coffee concepts, Scooter's Coffee. 

Jaime Denney joined Scooter’s Coffee as the Vice President of Franchise Operations in November of 2022 to focus on initiatives aimed at increasing the speed and effectiveness of drive-thru service. Denney is a highly energetic and passionate, results-oriented operations leader with a proven record of achievement in the quick service restaurant industry. She has experience leading large cross-functional teams, delivering business results, and implementing foodservice solutions.

Prior to joining Scooter’s Coffee, Denney was Vice President of Brand Operations at Jamba, where she worked cross-functionally with teams to drive franchise operational excellence and deliver quality training and support. She helped successfully migrate Jamba to a new POS system and implemented digital enhancements to set franchisees up for success during the COVID-19 pandemic. Denney, who has 15 years of coffee industry experience, also held leadership roles with Starbucks, Tropical Smoothie Café and Aramark.

With 613 locations and no sign of slowing, there is a good chance you have a Scooters Coffee near you.

Today we are going to get an inside look into what makes this company tick,  the values that drive its drive thru empire, details about how Scooter's Coffee operates, and what we in the independent cafe community can learn from our corporate counterparts. 

I hope you all enjoy and learn a lot!

We cover:

  • Choosing markets for expansion
  • Training managers
  • Setting goals for speed
  • Competing in the local market place
  • Managing costs amid inflation
  • Keeping things simple to help speed and service
  • The limits of speed as a value
  • Service and consistency
  • Serving franchisees
  • Wages, benefits, and culture
  • Networking and tools for refinement

Links:

www.scooterscoffee.com

 

Related episodes:

 

Interested in leveling up your coffee shop or setting up 1:1 coaching?

Visit our amazing Sponsors!

www.groundcontrol.coffee

www.pacficfoodservice.com

www.coffeefest.com

 

 

 

 

Mar 15, 2023

Your staff need you to empower them. We like to think that we do this but many times it amounts to surface level communication and resourcing that is out of step with the day to day reality your staff live. 

In today's Shift Break we will be talking about a few questions you can ask yourself that will help you truly empower you staff to succeed in their work and give you peace of mind in the process. 

Related Episodes:


Visit our Sponsors!!!

The best espresso machines in the world!

www.lamarzoccousa.com

 

Custom branded mobile apps for your shop!

www.espressly.co

 

Mar 14, 2023

From the first day you open the doors to your coffee shop one thing confronts you as a constant. Change. 

In order to run a healthy business we have to embrace changing things in the cafe in order to provide for the needs of the people and the operations that support them. The problem we run into though is when we act as though change is a nusance and in response we either refuse to change things, or we rush changes in order to get them over with. Inevitably this results in a lot of needless frustration and lost potential. 

On today's episode we are re-airing an old episode (episode 80 for Feb of 2019) talking about how we should go about changing things in the coffee shop with respect to what your people need and in a way that makes the change actually stick. 

I would encourage you to listen to this episode and have in mind a couple changes that you know need to be made in your shop. After listening, take the first step to make these changes using the workflow and see the difference it makes!

Related Episodes:

 

 

Interested in leveling up your coffee shop or setting up 1:1 coaching?

Visit our amazing Sponsors!

www.groundcontrol.coffee

www.pacficfoodservice.com

www.coffeefest.com

 

Mar 9, 2023

This is not just a question asked by an over eager customer haunting the front entrance 10 minutes before you open the shop. It is also a question a customer asks to themselves when they encounter a lack luster, apathetic, and seemingly disengaged staff and space. 

In today's Shift Break we are going to discuss how the way we p[resent ourselves and our cafes to the customers will convey a lot about whether we are really and truly open. 


Related episodes:


Visit our Sponsors!!!

The best espresso machines in the world!

www.lamarzoccousa.com

 

Custom branded mobile apps for your shop!

www.espressly.co

 

Mar 8, 2023

Coffee shops can have everything going for them on paper, but it is what is practiced in the day to day that determines whether you are successful. The truth is, mistakes happen. They are  unavoidable. Certain mistakes, though, have a greater likelihood of causing damage and ruining what we have built. 

Today we will be talking about 5 things that I would consider some of the biggest mistakes that coffee shops make. Each of them are not simply isolated accidents, but practices that we are prone to develop if we don't work hard to avoid and replace them with something better.

We will discuss:

  • Comparison vs inspiration
  • Isolating and not evolving
  • Under resourcing the important things
  • Failing to develop intentionally
  • Passive leadership

Related Episodes:


Interested in leveling up your coffee shop or setting up 1:1 coaching?

Visit our amazing Sponsors!

www.groundcontrol.coffee

www.pacficfoodservice.com

www.coffeefest.com

 

Mar 2, 2023

Sustainability can become more of a reality if we determine to use the tools at our disposal wisely. Perhaps even more so if the tools we use to roast evolve to better address the many concerns we have in the coffee industry. That is what Bellwether hopes offer. With their all electric, ventless coffee roaster their goal is to empower any business to roast incredible coffee in-house and do so in a way that leads efforts in sustainability. 

In this episode of Rate of Rise we are going to be talking with, Arno Holschuh. 

Arno Holschuh is the Chief Coffee Officer at Bellwether Coffee, which manufactures the world's lowest-carbon coffee roaster. A veteran of the industry, he was one of the first employees at Blue Bottle and went on to manage their coffee operations and product. For the past eight years, he has been working with Bellwether to build a delicious, profitable, and sustainable future for coffee roasters, farmers and drinkers.

In our conversation we discuss important and direct questions about this new tech and its impact on both sustainability efforts and traditional coffee roasting. 

My goal is that you leave this conversation with more clarity and better informed about your options when it comes to creating better sustainability outcomes through technology. 

In our conversation we cover:

  • Scaling and wholesale
  • Trades offs and energy
  • Who the machine is for
  • What Bellwether aims to solve in coffee
  • Tackling objections
  • Responsible consist sourcing
  • Innovation and collective effort
  • Evolving traditional roasting

Links:


Related Episodes:

Visit our sponsor ROAST MAGAZINE and subscribe! 

Mar 2, 2023

You have heard this many times from managers and trainers alike. The idea being that if you want your work to go at a quick and consistent rate then you have to work with purpose. 

On today's Shift break we will explore this idea and its validity to produce results we want to see on the coffee bar,  as well as how it can be used to produce results that we do not want to see. 


Related episodes:


Visit our Sponsors!!!

The best espresso machines in the world!

www.lamarzoccousa.com

 

Custom branded mobile apps for your shop!

www.espressly.co

 

 

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