The holiday rush is in full swing and many of us (most of us) are trying our best to just survive the frenzy. Shops are full of customers as well as friends and visiting family of our customers and it is a great time to not just survive the craziness but to increase our intentionality, presence of hospitality, and care for our staff and guest in spite of the pressure.
Today on Shift Break we will be talking about how we can plan our energy, presence, and lean into ways to make the holiday time more than just a profitable time for finances, but also a time where we are reinforcing our values and bringing the our best selves to the work of coffee.
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In my consulting work through KTTS Consulting, management and leadership structures are one of the main conversations we have. Working to create clarity, understanding, and systems for success in leadership has a compound effect on the rest of the business. Would you like to work with me 1:1 to help your cafe thrive in quality, operations, and people?
Click below for a discovery call and lets have a conversation!
https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min
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As the tools we use to craft coffee multiply, so too does the need for companies to keep the machines running well. Service techs are an essential segment of the industry and in an industry based on hospitality and service, it is important that a tech is able to not just diagnose and fix machines, but is able to work with people in a way that reflects the values of hospitality that equipment is meant to help produce.
I am thrilled to finally get an opportunity to talk with someone whose history in coffee and mission with his company has been focused on community and a people-first culture from the beginning. Excited to welcome the co-founder of Black Rabbit Service Co., Jason "Double J" Johnson!
Double J has been quite a while. Starting as a teenager in the mid 90's, he developed a deep passion for coffee, food, and hospitality. After moving to Portland Oregon in 2001 he worked for a handful of coffee houses (large and small) until finding work as a coffee technician for Stumptown Coffee. After a decade of honing his tech skills at Stumptown he is now a co-owner of Black Rabbit Service Co. Fast forward a few more years, Double J is now the writer, producer and host of Coffee Breath - A food and travel show based around coffee and cafe culture.
Today we will be chatting about Double J's career, how he learned the industry and began tech work, the founding and development of Black Rabbit, and how they serve both their clients and their team with empathy and expertise.
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We are obsessed with innovation that tends to solve problems that are increasingly inconsequential to the customer. A race to put coffee in virtually any context all in the name of convenience may bring coffee to more people, but what does it do to the value of the coffee when we remove virtually all customer generated investment into the process.
Today on Shift Break we will be talking about why a bit of inconvenience is ok and, in fact, may be a needed thing to allow the customer the buy in, personal investment, ritual, and connection with the product we are, in my opinion, rushing to devalue through wasteful mindless mass consumption.
In my consulting work through KTTS Consulting, management and leadership structures are one of the main conversations we have. Working to create clarity, understanding, and systems for success in leadership has a compound effect on the rest of the business. Would you like to work with me 1:1 to help your cafe thrive in quality, operations, and people?
Click below for a discovery call and lets have a conversation!
https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min
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Taking what you have learned over many years of working in coffee and creating your own roasting and cafe business is no easy task. It requires a strong enough "why" and a vision for the people that the roastery and shop wil serve. Cody Gordon did just that with the founding of Cerberus Coffee in Jacksonville, Oregon.
In this conversation Cody and I discuss the journey taken from barista, manager, wholesale manager, and finally roaster and owner. We talk especially about the recent scaling of Cerberus, and the impact it has on how Cody and the team can serve their community and make a difference through community, good business, and great coffee.
Links:
https://cerberuscoffeeco.com/pages/the-wizard-cat-project
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The magic baristas can render from coffee relies on not just their skill and the incredible efforts from producers and roasters, but also on the quality of the equipment they have to work with.
Over the past couple decades the quality and consistency of machines has improved in massive ways. Much of the reason for this lies with the way machine manufacturers and baristas have evolved their relationship on to the other. Today we will explore this evolution with the VP of Synesso Espresso Machines, Ryan Willbur!
Ryan Willbur has been working within the Specialty Coffee Industry for over 15 years. His career has taken him from barista, to Account Management, Marketing, Sales, and Leadership. Along the way, Ryan has been a competitive barista, a coffee roaster, and has spent many hours learning and sharing about the technical workings of espresso and coffee equipment.
Ryan is currently the Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Synesso Espresso Machines. In this role, he travels the world, building relationships with customers, and working to understand coffee culture in various markets.
From his perspective, people are the core of the coffee industry, and Ryan believes wholeheartedly in building relationships as the best means of doing business.
Today we are talking about the how machines, barista culture, and the industry have been shaped by the way we communicate and serve each others needs along the value chain.
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Between the moment a farmer hands over their crop, to the moment a barista hands a customer a cup of that same coffee, there is a complex system that will either bring hope and equity to those most vulnerable, or reinforce the hopelessness that is too common with those who cultivate the coffee we love. Today's guest grew up seeing this hopelessness on her families farm and decided to do something about it.
I am so excited to welcome to the podcast a leader in innovative trade models and the owner of Peixoto Coffee, Julia Peixoto Peters!
Julia Peixoto was born and raised in a coffee farming-family in Southern Brazil watching her father and relatives give their lives to produce the best coffees they could but, when it was time to sell those coffees, they were at the mercy of the ups and (mostly) downs of the commodities market.
Julia wanted to do better for her family and farmers in her region, changing the equity of the coffee trading game from the middleman to the farmers, who bear the brunt of the risks involved in farming and harvesting coffee.
Julia and her husband Jeff left their promising corporate careers to start Peixoto Coffee in Arizona in 2015 to produce, import, roast, and bring to the market coffees farmed at their own family-farm, challenging the status-quo of the market and the traditional profiles expected of Brazilian coffees.
We discuss:
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The coffee shop environment is filled with more that just coffee. It is a swirling mix of emotions, thoughts, expectations, communication, action, interpretation of actions, and everything in between. In other words...Relationships. The hardest part of coffee is the people they say. And while it may be true, it is also true that people are integral to coffee and to the joy and fulfillment of the experience.
On today's annual thankfulness themed Shift Break we will be talking about how the relationships and resources we have now are both a weight of responsibility but also a necessary fuel that we and the business are designed to run on in order to find sustainable success.
Happy Thanksgiving!
-Chris
In my consulting work through KTTS Consulting, management and leadership structures are one of the main conversations we have. Working to create clarity, understanding, and systems for success in leadership has a compound effect on the rest of the business. Would you like to work with me 1:1 to help your cafe thrive in quality, operations, and people?
Click below for a discovery call and lets have a conversation!
https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min
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Custom branded apps for your coffee shop: www.espressly.co
The best and most revered espresso machines on the planet: www.lamarzoccousa.com
Why do we overcomplicate things? Certainly details matter with SOPs , recipes, etc...but communication to our customers and staff can often be more confusing than helpful in delivering the impact and purpose we intend. The coffee shop is a dynamic place with a ton of inputs and noise swirling together. Having a simple clear way to communicate will help cut through the noise.
Today we will be exploring how to do just that, and in turn how simple communication and messages can bring big results for cafes. I am happy to be joined today by author and expert in simple messaging, Ben Guttmann!
Ben Guttmann is a marketing and communications expert and author of Simply Put: Why Clear Messages Win — and How to Design Them. He’s an experienced marketing executive and educator on a mission to get leaders to more effectively connect by simplifying their message. Ben is former co-founder and managing partner at Digital Natives Group, an award-winning agency that worked with the NFL, I Love NY, Comcast NBCUniversal, Hachette Book Group, The Nature Conservancy, and other major clients.
Currently, Ben teaches digital marketing at Baruch College in New York City and consults with a range of thought leaders, venture-backed startups, and other brands.
In our talk we cover:
Links:
Buy the book : Simply Put! www.Benguttmann.com
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Thank you to our amazing sponsors!
Get the best brewer and tool for batch espresso, iced lattes, and 8 minute cold brew! www.groundcontrol.coffee
The world loves plant based beverages and baristas love the Barista Series! www.pacificfoodservice.com
Do we care what our customers think? If so, how do they know? When you talk to almost any operator of a cafe you will hear them say that they value the customer and their feedback. The question though is how are the customers supposed to deliver it and are you making it easy for them to do so?
On today's Shift break we will be talking about how we can pursue customer feedback in a clear and meaningful way that builds trust, connection, and a sustainable coffee shop.
Listen to these next!
In my consulting work through KTTS Consulting, management and leadership structures are one of the main conversations we have. Working to create clarity, understanding, and systems for success in leadership has a compound effect on the rest of the business. Would you like to work with me 1:1 to help your cafe thrive in quality, operations, and people?
Click below for a discovery call and lets have a conversation!
https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min
Thank you to out sponsors!
Custom branded apps for your coffee shop: www.espressly.co
The best and most revered espresso machines on the planet: www.lamarzoccousa.com
You hear it everywhere. Owning and running a business is hard, taxing, a battle even. And while there is truth to this, it is not the whole truth. In the entrepreneurial journey we have accepted, with no degree of irony, that it is a miserable business bringing joy to our communities through coffee. Don't buy it.
Today we are going to be talking about the transformational role that confidence, celebration, and joy play in not only helping your business succeed, but in allowing you to find fulfillment and life through the running and growing of it.
This is an incredibly important truth that needs to be given priority in our daily lives. Lets embrace confidence, celebration, and joy together through coffee!
Listen to these next:
Hire Keys to the Shop Consulting to work with you 1:1 to transform your operations, quality, and people. Schedule a free discovery call now!
https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min
Thank you to our amazing sponsors!
Get the best brewer and tool for batch espresso, iced lattes, and 8 minute cold brew! www.groundcontrol.coffee
The world loves plant based beverages and baristas love the Barista Series! www.pacificfoodservice.com
High expectations are fine as long as they are coupled with the resources and tools to actually achieve them. No position in the cafe gets the short end of the stick of resourcing than the cafe manager. As baristas watch their manager lose their mind, they in turn pass on the opportunity. Come be a manager where there is more stress, more work, less time to do it, and more expectation. No thanks.
Today on Shift Break we will be discussing how you can set up your manager with the structure and time they need to thrive in the role. Who knows, maybe people will actually see the position as an attractive role to aspire to rather than one that receives their pity.
In my consulting work through KTTS Consulting, management and leadership structures are one of the main conversations we have. Working to create clarity, understanding, and systems for success in leadership has a compound effect on the rest of the business. Would you like to work with me 1:1 to help your cafe thrive in quality, operations, and people?
Click below for a discovery call and lets have a conversation!
https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min
Keep the conversation going! Listen to these episodes next:
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A coffee shop cannot survive without having excellent operational systems and tools that bring together and make consistent all the craft, values, and magic we want from a cafe experience
Just like the work of a barista, 75% of what we do in ownership and leadership has to do with the things that happen off bar. The foundations of business. How we create, employ, and refine structures means the difference e between realizing potential and courting disaster.
Today we are going to be talking with the great Laila Ghambari. An expert in operations and coffee shop training and management, all about achieving what she calls operational excellence.
Laila Ghambari has nearly 20 years of specialty coffee experience. She won the prestigious title of United States Barista Champion in 2014 and was elected member of the Executive Counsel for the barista guild from 2012-2016. Her experience is in running multi-unit retail operations, training and education, as well as team and organizational leadership.
This year Laila founded "by Laila Ghambari", her coffee and consulting business that is Providing Simple Tools Every Coffee Shop Needs to Achieve Operational Excellence.
In this conversation we cover:
🔑Laila’s family legacy of coffee
🔑Pursuing education and training
🔑How winning the US barista championship helped her mindset approach to achievement and
🔑Lean management and the role of gemba kaizen
🔑managment of multi-unit retail
🔑Defining operational excellence
🔑Tools to begin and tools
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Quality is subjective. What is not subjective though, is that quality matters. That begs the question, how should we define quality and pursue it in an age of coffee where we want both excellence and inclusivity of expression of preference.
Today on Shift Break we will be talking about why quality still matters and how we should think about what, how, and for whom are we crafting these coffee experiences.
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Working in coffee, you come across a lot of unexpected career pitfalls. Things that you may not have expected that can lurk just around the corner and lead us off track in our careers and our businesses. That should scare us. At least it should make us vigilant to pay attention and walk out our careers in a way that avoids these dangers.
Today on this slightly Halloween themed episode we will be talking all about what I believe are the major coffee career and business pit falls to look out for and what to do to protect yourself from getting caught in their trap.
We cover:
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More than 23k youth age out of the foster care system each year. Many of these young people, because of the trauma and instability, end up at higher risk of addiction, homelessness, financial instability and worse.
One man whose own past parallels those he seeks to serve, has been working to change this seemingly hopeless cycle through founding a coffee business that serves these youth and gives them a better chance for a brighter future.
Miah Sommer is a social entrepreneur and the founder and Executive Director of Astute Coffee (formerly The Bike Union), a non-profit coffee shop that provides workforce development and life skills to youth who have been impacted by the foster care. Sommer is the past recipient of the Donna Tubach Davis Children’s Advocate Award from Child Saving institute. He was also a speaker with TEDxOmaha, and has taught a workshop at Homeboy Industries’ Global Homeboy Network in Los Angeles, CA. The Bike Union is a winner of the Excellence in Innovation through the Omaha Chamber of Commerce. Sommer Lives in Omaha with his wife Katie and their sons Henry and Charlie.
Today we will be getting deep into the story of Astute Coffee, the stories of the people in it, and how it has evolved and made a real difference. An astute observer will see , that hospitality is about empathy, seeing in others a sameness and using this perspective to serve their needs with every cup we make.
I hope this episode inspires you to reach out, pay attention, and soften your heart to all the humans we serve and serve with.
(-This episode has potentially sensitive content -)
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It can be difficult to tell the difference between and employee who is not the right fit for your business, vs a barista who is is simply not the right fit for the role they are in. Many great employees have been unduly let go, passed over, or simply remain in ill-fitted positions because their boss is not able to tell the difference or may to even be paying enough attention to notice and take the right next action.
On todays Shift Break we will be talking about how to discern between employees who need opportunity and shifting to flourish and those whose performance is not just a problem of execution but a sign of a deeper cultural and values clash. Knowing the difference could not only save their job but also your business.
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Opening a running a successful cafe is no easy task. I requires passion as well as attention to the details around systems, relationships, and being able to grow yourself as a leader in that environment. Today we are going to be exploring one owners journey who not only has done this well, but has just published a book about her experience that gives others insights and tools to find success in their shops!
Erin Young is the founder and CEO of Red Buffalo Cafe in Silverthorne, CO. A passionate small business owner and advocate, Erin has actively worked to build kind, conscious, and responsible communities. She has experienced the challenges and opportunities faced when considering improvements to business planning, recruitment and hiring, and other features that contribute to long-term business success. In addition to being a business owner, Erin is an active community leader who has served on several local non-profit boards and as a local elected official for various jurisdictions. Erin loves the outdoors and spending time with her family. Erin holds a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Colorado Denver, School of Public Affairs.
Erin's new book, The CEOwner, is the chronicle of Red Buffalo Cafe from inception to today. Additionally, it is a checklist for starting and succeeding in a small business. The CEOwner will approach business ownership using the lens of conscious business techniques and community improvement. In it she also covers the process of building and planning your business profile from the very beginning; moves along to suggestions in ethical business management; and finishes with how to create a legacy beyond you as the business owner.
In this conversation we talk about Erin's journey and dive into the books main message and insights. I know this will be an encouraging episode!
Links:
https://redbuffalocafe.com/order-shipped-1/ols/products/the-ceowner
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Once we see that there are changes that need to be made tyo improve our shops, we can tend to either freeze under the enormity of the task, or we can respond by going all out in a fast and intense bid to fix that area. In reality, neither of these approaches lead to great results.
On today's Shift Break we will be talking about how we should be approaching making changes in the cafe by making Minimum Viable Changes over time and in the direction of our goals.
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What does it take to be successful as a barista or even just a coffee professional today? I believe the main differentiator for cafes is the experience and the main differentiator for baristas is how they approach their role. This will determine what they can glean from their current position and who they become in the process of carving out a career in coffee beyond the barista role.
In this episodes I will be exploring some critical habits, attitudes, and mindsets that baristas must embrace to be successful and fulfilled as baristas in today's cafe landscape. Owners, managers, and leaders take note, even though I believe we all must hold ourselves accountable, the things we discuss are 100% things that your can help facilitate.
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As we focus this week on balance and taking stock of the levels of energy and effort we put into our cafes, we must also consider the type of work we are taking on and how it alligns with our values and how we find meaning in it.
On today's Shift Break we will be talking about the place rest and meaningful work has in helping us find fulfillment in the midst of the efforts
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How many times have we heard that we are supposed to give work our all? Give 100% or even 110%? And then we wonder how it is that professional baristas, managers, and owners burn out on a regular basis. I'd say it is high time we look at how we take on the work of the cafe work so that we can care for the health of ourselves, our people, while at the same time achieve even greater results. Too good to be true? Well today we will be talking with returning guest, author, speaker, and the world's leader in the subject of meaningful work, Greg McKeown!
Greg McKeown has dedicated his professional life to uncovering counterintuitive ways to be very successful–without burning out.
In this pursuit he has written two New York Times bestsellers, “Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less”, which has sold over one million copies and been voted by Goodreads as “The #1 Leadership and Success Book to Read in a Lifetime” and “Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most”. Together they have been published in 37 languages.
McKeown is an exceptional public speaker and has spoken to hundreds of audiences as he has traveled to 40 countries around the world, including Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Nike as well as TED Fellows, SXSW and more
He’s the host of The Greg McKeown Podcast which has been ranked in the Top 5 of all Self Improvement podcasts and Top 10 in all Educational podcasts
His work has been covered in print media including in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Time, Fast Company, Fortune, Politico, Inc., and Harvard Business Review. It’s been covered on NPR, NBC, FOX and many times on The Steve Harvey Show.
McKeown served for 7 years as a Board Member for Washington D.C. policy group Resolve and as a mentor with 2 Seeds, a non-profit incubator for agricultural projects in Africa. He has also been a speaker at non-profit groups including The Kauffman Fellows, Net Impact and Stanford University where he co-created the popular class, Designing Life, Essentially.
He serves as a Young Global Leader for the World Economic Forum. He recently moderated a session at the Summer Davos in China called, Unpacking Social Innovation Models for Maximum Impact, and served as a panelist at the Sharpening Your Creative Edge working session at the Forum.
McKeown did his Masters of Business Administration at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, his Global Leadership and Public Policy certificate at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and is currently doing doctoral research at the University of Cambridge.
In this episode we discuss:
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Whether or not you are familiar with the 80's anti-pot commercial this episode references or not, the fact is that those who we lead are looking at the example we give them in our own performance. Even if we are not doing the same work. It is the way we conduct ourselves in any work that will influence the way others do their work.
On today's Shift Break we will be exploring why your example is the primary way we can either inspire people to excellence, effectiveness and growth, or give them permission to allow low performance and standards for themselves and their work.
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Fully stepping into your authority is an act of service. Your position as a leader is meant to serve those you lead. But if you do not think it is ok to be the boss, you will simply be a bad an ineffective boss vs one that takes a strong, caring, and clear approach to the position.
One of my favorite authors on management is Bruce Tulgan who wrote the book "It's OK to be the Boss. We had him on the show back on episode 28 in 2017 and I believe his work and message is an absolute must for us in specialty coffee retail.
Bruce is the founder of Rainmaker Thinking and the author of more than 20 books including the best selling "It's OK to be the Boss" and "The 27 Challenges Managers Face" He is regarded the world over as a leading authority on management and leadership and is a regular contributor to Harvard Business Review and many other international publications.
In this encore episode you will here both the original episode from 2017 as well as som commentary from myself on how to digest and apply these principles.
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Tanzania is well known the world over for growing and exporting wonderful and iconic coffees. Mostly every coffee professional has enjoyed a Tanzania Peaberry coffee. Yet, much like most coffee farming countries, Tanzanias internal consumption nd availability of great roasted coffee to locals was limited at the very best. Enter Leo Ferreira and Puzzle Coffee Shop.
For the past 8 years now Leo, his wife, and team have been running and growing Puzzle Coffee as a hub of coffee education, excellence in roasting, quality, and hospitality. In those years Puzzle has been a catalyst for change in Tanzania as they source great local coffee, and origins beyond to expand horizons invest in the community.
Leo is a certified AST in both roasting and Barista, a Q-Grader, a post graduate of the Coffee Excellence Program, and a sought after consultant/trainer.
In this discussion we talk about the journey of putting it all together, lessons learned, keys to success, and what pieces of the puzzle Leo and the team are currently working on putting together.
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Fine robusta has been the hot topic of conversation in the specialty industry these last few years and for good reason. What was once relegated to the sidelines has been showing up on offering sheets and coffee menus of some of the world's best importers and roasters.
With this in mind, knowing how to approach and roast this species of coffee is critical. As robusta secures its place in specialty coffee we need to do our part to do it justice when we bring it into our roastery and offer it to our customers.
On this Rate of Rise we will be talking all about fine robusta with Cleia Junqueira!
In 2005, Cleia’s coffee passion ignited in Brazil, as she owned and operated her independent café training baristas. She partnered with the Beehive Institution Young Service, offering training to underprivileged youth and later produced an educational coffee DVD. Joining the Brazilian Association of Coffee Baristas (ACBB) in 2007, she judged barista championships and enhanced her coffee knowledge until late 2012. Cleia then coordinated at the Coffee Preparation Centre at Sindicafé-SP, earning a CQI Licensed Q-Grader Certificate in 2012 and becoming a Q-Robusta Grader in 2017.
From 2017 to 2019 Cleia served on the SCA-UAE board of directors and spent six years, as a WCE Certified Judge. As Coffee Planet’s Head of Coffee, she managed quality control and became well-versed in Middle East Coffee Industry Trends and Consumption while actively supporting the International Women’s Coffee Alliance (IWCA).
In this conversation we talk about our changing perceptions of robusta, how does it behave differently from arabica, what goes into roasting it well, and how can we ensure we are doing it justice with the tools at our disposal both in the roastery and the shop.
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