Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders

Creating a new role in a coffee shop is often done when we face the prospect of losing on of our key staff members. We scramble and promise the world if they would just stay. This is missing the mark in several ways and today we will be chatting about a better approach that will actually serve the business and your staff better long term.      Visit our sponsor!   Painless ordering and inventory w...

Running a successful business is all about the quality of your decisions. Whether large or small, each one plays a part in shaping the company and either strengthening or compromising it. To help give us a frame-work and foundation for making quality decisions we welcome back to the show, Dave Stachowiak. Dave is the host and founder of Coaching for Leaders, a top-rated management podcast download...

This is a truly scary reality that so many cafe employees have had to deal with. Symptoms of getting bit by these bosses looks like overloaded schedules, no boundaries, burnout, stress, and unhealthy self-sacrifice to "prove" yourself to the company.  Today we are going to chat about this reality and what we can do to avoid it, deal with it , and not to be a blood sucking boss ourselves. Be carefu...

Creating a coffee bar and working in retail all boils down to practicing hospitality. We want to practice this on behalf of our guests and our staff but without taking a critical look at how and who we welcome in, we are not really showing hospitality. We need to look at our thoughts, behaviors, and actions critically in order to grow in any area of life and it is in that spirit that we are going...

Today we are talking about scaling and transitions with the founder of Indie Coffee Roasters, Alec Tod!  Founded in 2013 with a home roaster on his back patio, the business has undergone several stages of change and growth over the years to get them to where they are today in their new retail / roasting facility serving the people of Indianapolis, IN. Today we are not only hearing the story of Ind...

Sometimes we can overestimate how bad the customer is and in the process make ourselves out to be so very righteous. It is a reality in every bar I have seen that we are blind to the double standard for what we accept from the customer vs what we allow for ourselves. Today we talk about this pesky little habit and how we should move forward and away from our tendency to think we are always right....

How well do you know your business? I'm not talking about the numbers and the stuff that is accessible through the POS or spreadsheets. I am talking about the life of the business and the people and cultures that make it up. The incredible number of intangibles that create the life of an organization. A lot of us assume we know well enough and instead to being curious and diving deeper into what w...

We tend to have a mindset toward systems that breeds a lack of clarity, break downs in communication, and generally an unpleasant and even toxic environment in the work place. Today we are going to chat about viewing systems as a primary form of showing care to staff and where to start in embracing them as such.  Related episodes: SOPs FTW The Broken Chair 4 Keys to and Effective Checklist Buildin...

Coffee is more than just a drink. It can also be a vehicle for change. Ending teen homelessness through coffee is the vision of today's guests, Brian Washington and Averett Barksdale, the founders of , Rugid Grind.  Established in 2019, Rugid Grind is a for-profit coffee provider that, as of now, acts as the sole supporter and funder of The Oneighty Project, a nonprofit dedicated to ending teenage...

Bringing a new employee onto the bar is often a hasty effort. Unfortunately, when we do this, we end up paying for it in the long run.  Today we chat about the sink or swim mentality of on-boarding and what managers need to practice in order to mitigate the negative consequences such a mentality produces.      Sponsored by:   Painless ordering and inventory with ODEKO! odeko.com/keystotheshop   Cl...

As goes the culture, so goes the company. This is just a fact. All of us want to be able to say that our employee cultures are strong, vibrant, and dedicated to the vision we have set   for the company. Unfortunately though, it aint that easy. Today we are addressing this with what I believe may be the most powerful series of insights you've ever heard on employee culture and how to work for and w...

There are many qualities that contribute to being a solid professional in the coffee shop. Today we are going to focus on two particular qualities that are very critical to get right in the beginning and can set you up for success in the future. Please share this and the related episodes below with your barista staff!    Related episodes: ep14: A Barista's Guide to Advancing  ep31: Essential Advic...

We all know that training is one of the most critical skills to master in the professional coffee world. Entire careers are made or broken by the influence of a great or a terrible training experience. It stands to reason then that we would go out of our way to find the best examples of training done right and learn from their sucCess in helping others grow their skills. Today that is exactly what...

Coffee! Beer! Founder Friday! Today we get to talk with founder and owner of Tap Room Coffee and Beer in Atlanta, GA. Jonathan founded Tap Room in 2014 and since then has seen great success creating amazing coffee and beer experiences for both his staff and customers. As an Atlanta native he and the shop have been embraced by the community very well and have a deep passion to serve that community...

There is a little problem we need to talk about that may not seem like a biggie but can wear away at morale and breed needless frustration. The bar area can sometimes attract a variety of staff members who are not on shift or are from other departments. Over time the bar starts to be treated as a pantry or lounge and not a professional work environment. Today we are chatting about this devolutiona...

We will always have our emotions with us at work. In the fast-paced customer facing work of coffee retail we can cycle through a whole host of emotions in just one shift and not all of them are helpful to the situations we find ourselves in. One way we have tried to deal with it is by denying our emotions and detaching. Today's guest is going to challenge us to become emotion scientists and embrac...

When it comes how we divide our attention and energy we can tend to skew to one side or another. This leaves us with too much focus on one area and not enough in another which ultimately makes a sustainable coffee job impossible. Today on Shift Break we are going to talk about the importance of recognizing the need for balance and how to achieve it on shift for a great career.    Effortless Invent...

When the fridge goes down, the ice machine is not making ice, and the display case is making weird sounds...it's time to call a tech ASAP! Well that is exactly what we did in this episode. Today we get to talk to master refrigeration technician, Luke Peterson of The Maintenance Dept.  The point of this conversation today is to give you the knowledge and tools you need to properly care for the othe...

Bar backing is one of the most important roles in the cafe. Either as a dedicated position or as a set of responsibilities shared, when it is embraced and executed well, it makes the whole shift successful.  Today we chat about this critical part of the bar and some mindsets and best practices for bringing it into focus and working as a bar back with joy and pride.   

How do you decide which opportunity for expansion is good and which one is not for you? If you are in business you will get offers to open a location in many different contexts but when you are knee deep in operating your first store it can be challenging to see the next step clearly.  Today we are getting the perspective of one entrepreneur who is expanding to a second location within the first y...

Customers impression of your business is going to be filtered through the lens of their past experiences in coffee.   Unfortunately that is too often a bad thing and the memory of bad experiences far outlasts the memory of a good one. Today we chat about the important role we play in delivering positive experiences to re-write the script for our customers and their default view of coffee and servi...

To be successful in retail coffee today you need to be able to give your time and attention to the things that will truly make a difference. The standards for what makes a truly great and sustainable shop is as high as it has ever been. Today we are going to be talking about five areas that are critical for you to focus on in today's retail coffee industry. I cannot tell you how strongly I feel ab...

It is easy to be so focused on comparing yourself and your business to what you see in the industry that you end up ignoring your customers and the community your shop serves. Today we are chatting about this all to common mentality and what it looks like to be put the priority on serving your actual customers.     

This is absolutely critical! One of cornerstones of running a coffee bar is the ability to stay in tune with the performance of the people that work in it.   Having a system for tracking behavior that is either   praise worthy or in need of correction is a must. Many shops that just shoot from the hip when it comes to correction or affirmation end up seeing their best people frustrated and their p...

The Indian specialty coffee market is growing by leaps and bounds. Today's guests Matt Chitharanjan and Namrata Asthana  and their company, Blue Tokai Coffee Roasters, are part of the reason why Indian people are switching from instant and drink more amazing Indian coffee at home and in cafes.  From humble beginnings working shoulder-to-shoulder packaging their roasted coffee in a home's 2 spare r...