Valor Coffee Podcast

JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more:⁠ ⁠ https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep179 A very special thank you to Justin Goodhart for joining us on the pod! A year after Justin first helped us decide whether to even try it , our catering program has grown from about 10 events a month to 38, and we brought him back to t...

JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more:⁠ ⁠ https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep178 A very special thank you to Chris for joining me on the pod! Why do your baristas stare at customers instead of engaging with them? Ross sits back down with Keys to the Shop founder Chris Deferio (almost 10 years into coaching coffee...

JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more:⁠ ⁠ https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep177 Tuesday POD!! Let's get it. We want our best employees to eventually quit, and we mean that. In this episode, we sit down with two former Valor baristas turned coffee shop owners and talk through why losing a great employee to the...

JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more:⁠ ⁠ https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep176 Why does the exact same Instagram Reel, like "don't be on your phone behind the bar" or "give guests water during a rush," get read by one barista as empowering and another as exploitative? We dig into the abun...

JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more:⁠ ⁠ https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep175 How do you actually find time to post on Instagram when you're running a coffee shop? We sat down again with our social media manager Lynden to break down what's really working: time-blocking, why your logo isn't your bran...

JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more:⁠ ⁠ https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep174 What if the thing making your coffee taste like watermelon or peach isn't fermentation at all? I sat down with my business partner Ethan, our green coffee buyer, to talk through what might be specialty coffee's biggest lie rig...

JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more:⁠ ⁠ https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep174 Lynden is the mastermind behind our social media at Valor, and this episode she finally breaks down how she does it. From posting store hours as an unpaid intern to building a brand that's pulled in 26k followers, Lynden shares wh...

JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more:⁠ ⁠ https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep173 So you want to open a coffee shop? Before you sign a lease, let us try to talk you out of it, or at least make sure you know what you're actually signing up for. In this episode we play devil's advocate on our own dream job: m...

JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more:⁠ ⁠ https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep172 Joey's been running our catering operation for a year and a half and has somehow not quit. In that time we went from 3 events a month to 30, hit $239k in revenue, and learned basically everything the hard way. We're breaking d...

JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more:⁠ ⁠ https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep171 We just celebrated 10 years of Valor Coffee with a trip to New York and dinner at Eleven Madison Park AKA the restaurant behind two of the most talked-about hospitality books in the industry. In this episode we break down the full exp...

JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more:⁠ ⁠ https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep170 What happens when two specialty coffee companies from opposite sides of the world sit down to talk about the future of coffee? In this extended episode, we're joined by Kirk Pearson from Project Zero in Australia to unpack one of...

JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more:⁠ ⁠ https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep169 Is automation helping specialty coffee or slowly replacing the craft that made people fall in love with it in the first place? We explore the growing trend of pre batched espresso, automated milk systems, and what these changes could...

JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more:⁠ ⁠ https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep168 Running a coffee shop in 2026 is more complicated than just making great coffee. In this episode, we talk about the real challenges behind raising prices, understanding margins, and building a coffee business that can actually survive...

JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more:⁠ ⁠ https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep167 Most people get into coffee because they love coffee, but what keeps you in it is learning how to truly care for people. In this episode, we sit down with our baristas to talk honestly about burnout, difficult guests, and what it take...

JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more:⁠ ⁠ https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep166 We just got back from World of Coffee in San Diego and honestly tried to answer a simple question: was it actually worth it? This episode is an honest breakdown of what the event is really like, from walking the show floor and testing...

JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more:⁠ ⁠ https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep165 What happened to third-wave coffee? Today, we unpack how the industry has shifted: from purist pour-overs and strict “rules” to flavored lattes, matcha, and a reality that most cafés are just elevated versions of Starbucks. We talk th...

JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more:⁠ ⁠ https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep164 We’ve signed five commercial leases since starting Valor Coffee in 2016 – and we’ve learned (painfully) how lease terms can make or break a café. In this episode, we break down the lease language that confuses everybody (CAM/TI, gross...

JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more:⁠ ⁠ https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep163 Thanks for listening, following/subscribing, giving us a good review, and sharing with your friends on social media. It goes a long way! Caleb and Haley from Makers Café (Pensacola, FL) are in the studio, and we’re talking about what...

JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more:⁠ ⁠ https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep162 Thanks for listening, following/subscribing, giving us a good review, and sharing with your friends on social media. It goes a long way! What does it actually take to take a coffee shop from six figures to seven? In this episode, we b...

JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more:⁠ ⁠ https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep161 Thanks for listening, following/subscribing, giving us a good review, and sharing with your friends on social media. It goes a long way! Your coffee shop can survive a lot, but these three mistakes will straight-up bury you if you mak...

JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more:⁠ ⁠ https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep160 Thanks for listening, following/subscribing, giving us a good review, and sharing with your friends on social media. It goes a long way! Back to back episodes? Happy Holidays. This final episode of the year is coming at you from our n...

JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more:⁠ ⁠ https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep159 Thanks for listening, following/subscribing, giving us a good review, and sharing with your friends on social media. It goes a long way! The podcast is BACK. This episode was recorded on a 7-hour drive through the mountains of Colombi...

JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more:⁠  ⁠https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep158 Thanks for listening, following/subscribing, giving us a good review, and sharing with your friends on social media. It goes a long way! Third-wave coffee and drive-thrus don’t usually mix, so we rolled across Atlanta to see how our f...

JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more:⁠  ⁠https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep157 Thanks for listening, following/subscribing, giving us a good review, and sharing with your friends on social media. It goes a long way! Join us behind the scenes of Valor Coffee's 2025 Nashville owners retreat where we get honest abo...

JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more:⁠  ⁠https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep156 Thanks for listening, following/subscribing, giving us a good review, and sharing with your friends on social media. It goes a long way! Time to spill the beans on our labor costs from the first five months of 2025 – we're showing you...