Leadership in the coffee shop can either be the glue that holds it together and nurtures its growth, or it is the force that tears it apart and depletes it of vitality.
In order to make sure it is the former we need to make certain that we, and those placed in leadership possess key traits and qualities that create a people-first culture.
Today we are re-airing a vitally important episode highlighting character traits and qualities every cafe leader needs to possess and practice. In order to be a successful shop you need to have a people first disposition. This episode is
We cover:
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At the head of some of the most exciting brands in India's rapidly expanding specialty coffee scene is Subko. More than coffee, Subko has created a platform to show case the flavors, culture, and design of India through multiple disciplines. At it's heart is sourcing, roasting, and serving the best coffee the subcontinent has to offer and Mumbai is just the beginning. Today we get to hear the story and insights of Subko co-founder, Rahul Reddy
Rahul Reddy is the co-founder of Subko Specialty Coffee Roasters and Specialty Arabica Q Grader.
With Subko, Rahul intends to help reimagine the Indian Subcontinent as a legitimate contributor to the global specialty coffee movements. The conception of Subko began in December 2018, and cemented itself in February, 2019, when Rahul decided to leave behind careers in the technology, social enterprise, and risk analyst worlds to train as an apprentice at a specialty coffee company called City of Saints in Brooklyn, New York. There, he learned the art of profile roasting coffee as a roasting apprentice, learned specialty brewing, packaging, producing cold brew, and farm level green bean buying.
In this conversation we cover:
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We only have so much energy, time, and money to give to marketing our coffee shops. There is a lot of stress related to having the right strategy for getting people to become aware of you cafe and then visit and keep visiting. To make matters more worse, the consumer must wade through a sea of competitors who are applying similar social media and advertising strategies. So what do you invest into to give you a big return?
Today on Shift Break we will be discussing what I believe is an often overlooked and little implemented strategy that will gain you a lot of long term customers. Best of all, it is not able to be duplicated and helps you stand out from the rest in a way the usual methods a cannot.
If you are a cafe owner and want to work one on one with me to bring your shop to its next level and help bring you joy and freedom in the process then email chris@keystothshop.com of book a free call now:
https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min
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Tasting coffee is arguably one of the most important, yet subjective practices we engage in as coffee professionals. As our guest today will articulate, tasting and evaluating a coffee's Characteristics is done as a means of communicating to others. In order for us to communicate we need a common language and we need to contextualize as we go. That is where "The Coffee Rose" comes into play. Today we are diving into the world of sensory analysis and ways to create accesibity and understanding with special Guest, Ian Fretheim
Ian Fretheim has been the Director of Sensory Analysis at Cafe Imports for 13 years. He holds a certificate in sensory and consumer science from UC Davis and has studied wine assessment with the International Sommelier’s Guild. In 2018-2019 he began work on the foundations that would become the Coffee Rose with the goal of improving Cafe Imports’ sensory program.
As the Coffee Rose emerged, it became clear that it answered more questions and served greater needs than originally imagined. The Coffee Rose is an unprecedented pivot toward transparency and accessibility in specialty coffee cupping.
Today, Ian and Cafe Imports use the Coffee Rose to describe and assess thousands of coffees, teach cupping and coffee tasting, communicate with partners, and provide a path for experienced cuppers to return to tasting coffee without the filter of forms that abstract them away from the cups and reduce their experience to a series of numbers.
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Water Activity in Green Coffee Paper
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It is easy to talk about the things we want to improve, fix, and institute in the cafe. Trouble is that in all the talking of doing the how we need this or that, we tend to leave it there and wait until an opportune or ideal time comes along, rather than simply taking 1 small decisive step toward what we need.
Today on Shift Break we talk about why we need to default to taking action more vs simply talking about and planning the perfect next step Disciplining ourselves to do this creates in us and our team the identity and capacity needed to manage the shop well.
If you are a cafe owner and want to work one on one with me to bring your shop to its next level and help bring you joy and freedom in the process then email chris@keystothshop.com of book a free call now:
https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min
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Your customers count on you to create a wonderful cafe experience everyday. That is the implied or explicit promise of our marketing and what most of us aspire to deliver. The way we get there is by paying close attention to what our customers love and fortifying those element of the business through focused resourcing and training and improving as we go.
What are some of the most important areas to focus on that will truly communicate to your customers that you take their patronage seriously and that we are here to serve?
Today we are going to cover the main things customers love, why they are important, how to create a culture that maintains them, and what you can expect as a result.
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In the cafe, it is easy to lapse into assuming that people who work for you, should also be available and responsive at all times even when off the clock. The lack of quick response from staff when off the clock to calls, emails, slack messages etc is often considered some sign that the employee is not right for the organization and can have a negative impact on how that employee is perceived and invested into.
Today on Shift Break we talk about the importance of respecting the boundaries of personal and professional and how we should set healthy expectations for staff an ourselves in the coffee shop so we can avoid this toxic overlap.
If you are a cafe owner and want to work one on one with me to bring your shop to its next level and help bring you joy and freedom in the process then email chris@keystothshop.com of book a free call now:
https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min
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Try as we might, the reality is that eventually even the best staff will leave our shops for another job or career. How they leave is largely up to us as leaders. Some will exit on bad terms for reasons related to bad management or their own personal behaviors that are an ill fit. Others will have been wonderful team members and right fit for the role, but need to move on. In all cases there is much to learn that we miss out on when we don't conduct exit interviews.
Today on Shift Break we will be talking about why you need to strive to conduct exit interviews with all your employees when they leave your shop and how it will benefit you, the business, and especially your future staff.
If you are a cafe owner and want to work one on one with me to bring your shop to its next level and help bring you joy and freedom in the process then email chris@keystothshop.com of book a free call now:
https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min
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Everything you need for back of the house operations https://rattleware.qualitybystainless.com/
The best and most revered espresso machines on the planet: www.lamarzoccousa.com
The world of coffee and coffee shops is changing rapidly. The variations of business models that serve innumerable contexts globally require intentionality in how we pursue innovation and how we stay aware of the flavors and expressions that define the specialty coffee world.
Today we are joined by a perpetual champion of coffee experiences and resident industry optimist, Andre Eiermann!
Andre’s coffee journey started as a coffee trader in Switzerland. He moved shortly after to Kenya and Tanzania and spent most of his time on coffee farms, in cupping rooms and in dry mills. In the laboratory he cupped sometimes 800 cups of coffee a day. After his time at origin, Andre worked for several coffee roasters in marketing across Europe. He gained a deep understanding of the coffee industry – from whole beans, R&G, instant to the ready-to-drink category.
The last years have been especially exciting for him: once Andre entered the specialty coffee world, he founded a coffee academy, launched a specialty coffee range, worked as a trainer and competed and judged in barista competitions. In 2017 he reached the semifinals of the World Barista Championship in Seoul, while working as a marketing director. Afterwards Andre deepened his coffee science knowledge during a collaboration with the Zurich University. This research project culminated in the scientific publication “Extraction of single serve coffee capsules: linking properties of ground coffee to extraction dynamics and cup quality” in Nature Science Reports. In addition, André is a certified Arabica Q-Grader as well as an AST for the Specialty Coffee Association.
Andre published his book “INSPIRE and GET INSPIRED” to share his passion for specialty coffee. He then continue his coffee journey in Melbourne where he worked as the General Manager for Victoria Arduino. Finally Andre is back in his home country Switzerland, where he joined Eversys in the Swiss mountains.
We cover:
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Instagram: @andre_eiermann
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Setting up and optimizing your roastery for compliance, efficiency, and sustainable quality output is not just something to be done once in the beginning. The disciplined pursuit of building and refinement should be the primary focus of operators in order to best serve the business and all the people that rely on it.
Looking out at all the areas of the roasting space, it can be overwhelming to begin that journey, so today we are talking with one of the best practitioners of roastery engineering, Scott Stouffer, CSO of Probat!
As CSO at Probat SE, Scott Stouffer leads sales globally for Probat Coffee. Scott was previously the VP of Sales and Service for Probat Inc., the US subsidiary of Probat. Scott previously worked in supply chain operations for Starbucks Coffee Co and in R&D for Kraft General Foods (now Mondelez). Scott has a BS in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN.
In our conversation we discuss:
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Numbers tell a story, but not the whole story. Though the number of times someone purchases an item on your menu may indeed mean that they prefer it to other options, what data cannot tell us is whether or not customers who generate those numbers are truly enjoying what they receive or are they quietly tolerating it.
Today on Shift Break we will be talking about the need for cafes to fill in the details that numbers alone cannot and why our main focus should be to be connected to the customer experience in the real world of the shop over and above the digital record of their experience on a graph in the office.
If you are a cafe owner and want to work one on one with me to bring your shop to its next level and help bring you joy and freedom in the process then email chris@keystothshop.com of book a free call now:
https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min
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Yolima Taborda Rojas is the founder of Paisa Coffee and a native Colombian and daughter of coffee farmers. Her dream has always been to share the love she has for coffee with the world. I believe the best cup of coffee is achieved when both farmers and roasters work together to improve quality and add value.
Yolima was born and raised on Finca la Vega farm, which is currently one of Paisa's partner farms. At Paisa Coffee they have some of the most special coffees to offer to the world. Coming straight from origin gives Yolima the opportunity and honor to speak on behalf of her family and neighbor farmers to share with coffee roasters what they want to show and what they have to offer through long-standing relationships with coffee farmers in Colombia
We cover:
Links:
https://www.paisacoffee.net/about
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Each one of our shops tell many stories. The story of our own arrival as owners, the story of the coffee and the efforts it has taken to get to a finished product, the story of our community and customers and the parts they play in shaping their world and shop itself. A coffee shop is at once a reflection of the people and a light that guides us to the future. Today we are going to hear the story of one such shop, whose owners have had quite an adventure as writers of and participants in their coffee shop story.
Don Niemyer is the co-owner with his wife, Carissa, of Story Coffee Company in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Today you’ll hear how Don and his wife, along with their two daughters, moved into a 99 square foot Volkswagen Rialta and lived in it for 4 years, traveling the nation visiting coffee shops and getting insights and inspiration for their dream of opening something that would be compelling and elegant, yet simple and with minimal debt. In 2015 they built and opened a Tiny House Coffee shop where customers are served inside as opposed to only at a walk up window and to this day it’s the only one in the world that they are aware of.
Working with Robin Pasley of Pasley Commercial Interiors, they created a design that was named “Most Beautiful Coffee Shop in Colorado” by Architectural Digest Magazine and has been featured in books such as “101 Things to Do in Colorado Springs before you Die”.
Story Coffee has been featured in other national magazines such as Fresh Cup and Barista Magazine, and Don has written for Barista Magazine, detailing their adventures around the nation in a series called The Rialta Coffee Tour which is still available at BMAG online.
Don and Carissa are constantly chasing the idea and practice of simplicity, and today we’ll talk about how they work that principle into their business, and into their lives.
In this conversation we cover:
Enjoy!
Links:
https://www.storycoffeecompany.com/
https://www.facebook.com/storycoffeecompany/
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Coffee shop owners, do you ever feel as though the entire world is on your shoulders and that one mistake will send the whole business crashing down? The pressures and expectations that cafe operators face drive many to pursue unrealistic standards for themselves and others, which tends to multiply mistakes vs the intended avoidance of them.
Today on Shift Break we will be talking about why it is ok that you, and other leaders in the shop make mistakes, and how the work of creating the complex and rewarding world of a coffee shop actually thrives on us embracing a pursuit that includes imperfections.
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grace
positive
If you are a cafe owner and want to work one on one with me to bring your shop to its next level and help bring you joy and freedom in the process then email chris@keystothshop.com of book a free call now:
https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min
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Today we will be talking about several essential tools that a manager needs to employ in their daily and weekly schedule to care for the cafe, the team, the business and, of course, themselves. Owners, it is your responsibility to make sure you are tangibly supporting and resourcing manangers with the time and tools they need. This is a start.
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One of the most critical parts of leadership in a cafe is how you invest in developing those you lead. Depending on how it is done, evaluating and assessing performance can either inspire and encourage, or it can deflate and discourage.
Today on Shift Break we will be talking about how to think about and conduct assessments through a values framework that recognizes both the technical and relational aspects that make up the job of barista.
If you are a cafe owner and want to work one on one with me to bring your shop to its next level and help bring you joy and freedom in the process then email chris@keystothshop.com of book a free call now:
https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min
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Everything you need for back of the house operations https://rattleware.qualitybystainless.com/
The best and most revered espresso machines on the planet: www.lamarzoccousa.com
Learning to roast and hone one's skill in the craft is a difficult task. Add to that the pursuit of competition and leading an entire department of a to U.S. coffee business and you have yourself one very talented coffee professional.
Today I am thrilled to interview the new U.S. Roasting Champion, Eduardo Choza!
In our conversation we discuss Eduardo's journey on coffee, approach to roasting, the competition experience, how he leads and teaches, and the drive for representation in coffee that fuels his career.
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Too many times we confuse giving feedback with lecturing our staff which easily shuts down the person we were intending to communicate with. Feedback is critical to your culture but, As past guest and friend of the show,Tom Henschel has said, "Feedback is not a lecture, it is a conversation.
Today on Shift Break we will be breaking down this statement, what it means, and how to apply it in your cafe.
If you are a cafe owner and want to work one on one with me to bring your shop to its next level and help bring you joy and freedom in the process then email chris@keystothshop.com of book a free call now:
https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min
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Everything you need for back of the house operations https://rattleware.qualitybystainless.com/
The best and most revered espresso machines on the planet: www.lamarzoccousa.com
Developing the wholesale arm of your coffee roasting company boils down to the value can you offer your potential customers. Beyond the coffee itself, your wholesale customer needs assistance in their own coffee journey and your company, specifically the reps, need to be able to be equipped to deliver that help. At the heart of what makes a wholesale program successful is relationships. Todays guest has been doing this now for 13 years and walks the talk of delivering value through services and relationships with wholesale coffee clients with one of the nations best roasters.
Honor Forte has been the Director of Wholesale at Olympia Coffee since 2011. He has worked as a Barista, Delivery Driver, and Trainer at Olympia Coffee, in addition to working in coffee on the East Coast from 2009 until 2011. He also serves as a Head Judge and Competition Committee member at the US Barista Competitions since 2013.
In our conversation we discuss how Honor developed as a coffee professional to focus on sales, what it took to get clients and grow partnerships long term, what makes a good sales rep, and what you need to know to take the next step in building your own wholesale program either from the ground up, or to the next level.
Links:
Olympia Coffee Roaster : https://www.instagram.com/olympiacoffee/
Honor Forte IG: https://www.instagram.com/honorforte/
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Welcome to another episode in the live from Coffee Fest interview series!
This is a series of 4 conversations with presenters on the show floor at Coffee Fest NYC.
The topics range from how to connect with community, running a successful mobile coffee operation, getting your coffee into grocery stores, and how to approach roastery workflow and architecture.
Links:
Asia Bites Consulting" Sara Vettori
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How many times have we fallen prey to assumptions about one another in the cafe that end up creating needless strife and hold back progress at maybe the most critical point in the supply chain? Answer, too many times to count. We create these characterizations and generalizations at our own peril and wonder why there is toxicity in the coffee shop.
Today on Shift Break we will be talking why this type of thinking from both owners and baristas is so common and what we can do about moving past it to actually work together for a more positive coffee culture.
If you are a cafe owner and want to work one on one with me to bring your shop to its next level and help bring you joy and freedom in the process then email chris@keystothshop.com of book a free call now:
https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min
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Everything you need for back of the house operations https://rattleware.qualitybystainless.com/
The best and most revered espresso machines on the planet: www.lamarzoccousa.com
Being technically skilled as a leader is a small part of what makes one effective. The larger part of cafe effective leadership has to do with emotional skill and how we either create or destroy relationship in the daily life of our coffee businesses. The impact of our over-focus on technical skill leads to many cultural issues that eventually show up in the partial or total downfall of your business.
Today I am please to welcome back to the show Jonathan Raymond, who is the author of the book Good Authority, which we discussed on this show 5 years ago. He is back to help us learn about emotional leadership and the insights here are nothing short of revelatory.
Jonathan is best known for his book Good Authority, How to Become the Leader Your Team is Waiting For. The book, awarded the Axiom Business Book Award Silver Medal in 2018, delves into the psychology and leadership required to be a successful manager. It introduces the groundbreaking concept of the Accountability Dial — a five-step model for addressing performance issues while nurturing personal growth in team members.
Fueled by the book’s success, Jonathan establishing Refound. At its core, Refound seeks to empower modern managers by addressing the crux of workplace discord – leadership authority left untapped. Jonathan’s vision extended further with the inception of Refound Academy, a virtual learning platform designed to transform managers into confident people leaders. Refound most recently introduced “Ren” — an AI-powered on-demand coach, serves as a 24/7 mentor programmed with two decades of Jonathan’s leadership wisdom.
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In the world of cafes there are many ways to be excited about coffee. Some of those ways can alienate a customer instead of welcoming them into this magical world of sensory experiences. Today we are re-airing an episode with someone who exemplifies the kind of excitement we need more of in coffee. The kind that wants to share the love and joy of coffee in an approachable and sincerely caring way.
Emi Fukahori is the 2015 Swiss Barista Champion as well as the 2018 World Brewers Cup champion. Emi Fukahori and Mathieu Theis founded MAME Coffee in Zurich, Switzerland in 2016. The couple met at a coffee tasting in 2013 and became fascinated by the world of specialty coffee. They quit their corporate office jobs to start MAME, which means "beans" in Japanese, to promote specialty coffee and its flavors and terroirsShe and partner Mathieu. They serve excellent and refined coffees across a spectrum of flavors with a focus of welcome, care, warmth, and excitement to share coffee with others.
In this encore episode from 5 years back we explore Emi's professional evolution, winning Brewers Cup routine, founding and growing Mame, and the philosophy of care and focus on others that guides how and what they serve.
The lessons and ideas Emi shares are exactly the kind of things we should all strive for in our shops. Whether you are a champion matters not, what matters is championing the customers coffee experience.
Enjoy!
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Business success leaves clues. Metrics such as labor percentage, COGs, Employee Turnover Rate, and more are all measurements we use to both guide how validate past decisions and guide future decisions. But what about the intangibles that the numbers themselves have a hard time showing?
On this Shift break episode we will be talking about why we need to focus on the numbers as well as the deeper meaning and intangible areas of the life of the business that contribute in a way that often cannot be tracked, but NEED to be invested into for the coffee shop to thrive.
If you are a cafe owner and want to work one on one with me to bring your shop to its next level and help bring you joy and freedom in the process then email chris@keystothshop.com of book a free call now:
https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min
Listen to related episodes:
Everything you need for back of the house operations https://rattleware.qualitybystainless.com/
The best and most revered espresso machines on the planet: www.lamarzoccousa.com
The goal of business is ultimately to provide for people. Firstly a business is stared as a means for the owner to provide for themselves and their family by providing a service and product to customers and thereby providing a demand for the actors in the value chain of coffee that came before them. This is all carried out by the group of people we provide a wage to in that service. The barista.
The compensation that baristas receive can vary based on skill, experience, performance, and all of it is funneled through the constraints of two things. 1. The business model 2. The mindset of the owner. In order to retain the best staff we need to start with a generous mindset that asks the question, how do we raise barista wages?
Today I am airing an collaboration episode recorded during SCA Chicago with the guys at the Valor Coffee Podcast addressing and unpacking some of the nuances of this question. In this interview we discuss models, mindsets, actions and frameworks, and next steps to help you begin to raise wages in a way that helps you to continue to provide for all the people in your cafes circle.
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