Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders

The future of staffing our cafes depends on how effectively we hire and set up our teams for success. Rather than having an unsustainably low or high number of staff working, we need to create lean and effective teams of thoroughly trained, resourced, and well paid professionals.  Today on Shift Break we will be talking about investing into and professionalizing the barista role and how we can cha...

A lot has changed in coffee over the last couple decades. As roasters and baristas, our understanding of the current landscape of coffee processing, its impact on flavor, and the possibilities it contains will greatly determine our success. Thankfully our industry has some very bright minds who create clarity around the ever complex world of coffee, and one of those voices is here with us today. ...

Professional development and opportunities for betterment and advancing are areas that operators must bake in to the business as much as possible. If you are a barista, manager, trainer etc and you want to take advantage of those things, create opportunities, or simply take charge of your own development for a better future then you must focus on adding value. Today on Shift Break we will be discu...

Running a coffee shop means you take on a fair degree of risk. This is why having and understanding of insurance that is appropriate for your shop is critical. On top of that you need to make sure the insurance you do have is optimized and that you are providing an environment that puts safety first.  Unfortunately, while all small businesses carry the required insurance, it is often not optimized...

Nobody is perfect. No coffee business is perfect. Therefore there will inevitably be complaints that staff have about the business. This could be anything from the schedule and state of the bar, to the performance of co-workers and even your own performance as a boss. Even the best companies deal with complaints. The trick is how to do so well.  In today's Shift break we will discuss a few ideas f...

As the 2023 begins it is a great time to take inventory of our cafes and roasteries and really look at what we have done and where we can not only improve, but what needs to change. How can we keep up with the changing industry while still serving our customers? Where do we need to innovate and what are the first steps to building a better business? Today we are discussing all of this and more wit...

Every year we have the opportunity to invest our time and attention into many different things. In a coffee shop it can be overwhelming and toward the end of the year we tend to look back and determine way to improve how we invest our time and attention for a better result.  In today's Shift Break we will be discussing a few very important and foundational areas where, if you consistently focus yo...

What a great year this has been! So many amazing people have graced KTTS with their presence, perspectives, and wisdom. It really is an embarrassment of riches when it comes to high value content that can transform your coffee business and career.  This makes it very hard to choose which lessons and insights to feature in this episode but I have assembled 8 clips from past guests that I believe of...

On this last Founder Friday of the year I am quite happy to feature a coffee shop founder story that is firmly rooted in service to the community. First as a pop up at farmers markets and now with a brand new brick and mortar, today we are talking with the founders of Last Mile Cafe in Grand Rapids, MI , Arick Davis and Sarah Layman! Arick and Sarah come with a lot of experience in non-profit and...

We all want our customers and staff to be enthused and exhibit what we tend to consider loyalty. Trouble with that word is that it is loaded with assumptions that go beyond reasonable expectations. In fact, many operators are guilty of trying to force loyalty through coercion and making things personal. This is toxic loyalty.  In today's Shift Break we will be discussing a better way to think abou...

There has been a resurgence of mobile coffee carts recently. A cart offers the owner flexibility, agility, and a less risky entry into the world of coffee retail. That said, there are many elements that need to be in place for you to be able to set up and run a successful coffee cart that serves you and your customers well. Today we are going to be digging into the details with special guest Sarah...

Sometimes it is hard to reconcile our desire for authenticity with the performance and responsibilities that we take on while working in the cafe.  In fact, for many baristas, their distaste and inability to embrace anything that seems prescribed leaves them incapable of delivering meaningful service and, consequently, incapable of advancing in their work.  Today on Shift Break we will be talking...

It is easy to assume that if you have found the right person for the manager role then they will not need very much investment or guidance from you to get the hang of things. After all, they are amazing and you trust their "can do" attitude will be enough to help them succeed.  Obviously this is not the case, but that doesn't stop this misconception from being repeated over and over again in cafes...

Cupping is as close to a sacred act as we get in the world of coffee evaluation. It is a ubiquitous ritual that comes with its own language, implements, and is considered by many to be THE way that we can determine what a coffee has to offer. But what if cupping is not the end all be all we assume it to be? What if certain aspects of cupping are not to be worried about so much allowing us to explo...

Boy oh boy this is a hard question. The initial reaction you might have to this will depend on your position in the cafe, your knowledge of the circumstances around the firing, and your ability to consider more than just the individual in question. In other words, it depends.  On today's Shift Break we will be talking about how to think about this question and what areas need to be considered befo...

Innovation in the coffee industry is no longer just about large companies tweaking their standard equipment, but it is becoming democratized through small companies bringing their ideas to market through networking, research, and good old fashioned hard work. Today we are going to be talking with 2 of the 3 founders of one such company who sought to create the brew they always wanted but could not...

It happens all the time. We create and conduct training sessions, programs, and systems that contain a lot, but do not produce a lot.  We end up with staff that are ill equipped for handling the day-to-day work and challenges that await them and as a result the customer receives an inconsistent experience.  On today's Shift Break we will be talking about the number one way we create ineffective tr...

How we perceive something impacts the decisions we make when buying or selling it. That in turn shapes consumers perceptions and then the market. Tea has long been a part of the coffeehouse, but has suffered from a severe lack of attention and intentionality. As a result the way we represent tea in many cafes has a negative impact of the tea farmer in effectively disappearing their work and craft....

How do you measure the impact of you business? We talk about metrics mostly related to finances and judge success accordingly. But the deeper and more fulfilling impact a coffee shop can have is based in relationship. You may ask yourself the question, does what I am creating or have created have "heart and meaning"? If your answer is yes and you stick to it long enough, you might end up with a le...

Thankfulness, positivity, affirming others, and seeking out the good can easily be things that get pushed aside in favor of the problems, stresses, and challenges of this life. As a result we develop a lob sided perspective in reality. On today's Shift Break we will be talking about how we can pursue thankfulness and seek out the positive in the midst of the challenge to have a full and truer view...

Communicating hard things is hard! The good news is that is does not have to be ineffective or worse yet, turn into something problematic or toxic. There are ways to deliver necessary feedback to employees (or anyone for that matter) that will not only show that person respect but also allow you your dignity as well.  I wanted to re-share this old episode today with our friend Tom Henschel because...

"Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good" This quote from Voltaire has been passed around a lot over the years, even still it seems we always find ways to procrastinate on starting things because we either want it to be perfect, feel fear of looking bad, don't think we have the time, or perhaps we jus don't feel the urgency.  On today's shift break we will be talking about how embracing the...

It is easy to assume that a managers main role is only to take on basic administrative tasks. At least this is the way I would argue most shop treat the role of manager. It is too often a "set and forget" scenario that inevitably leads to  managers being in the dark, ill equipped, and frustrated. Ultimately this is all due to a lack of development and a failure of ownership to play an active role...

It's wild to me that this still exists in coffee. The idea that we can throw a new hire in to the mix of a shift in a new cafe and expect that they will prove themselves as being valuable based on if they fail or thrive.  On today's Shift Break we will be talking about why this "sink or swim" mentality is glorified laziness, culturally dangerous, and what we should be doing as leaders to train our...

  Photography and coffee seem to just go together. There is something about creating moments and capturing moments that is a common drive where we can see the beauty in the mundane and get a whole new appreciation for our work and world. Today we are going to chat with of one of our industries great photographers, Rob Sykes.  Rob Sykes lives in Houston, TX with his wife and daughter. H practices Z...