Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders

Which one best describes how staff react to your presence in the cafe? The problem is that, no matter what, management will always be seen in a different light than a barista. The authority managers carry creates a certain tension and that tension either will lead to people fearing you, or being inspired by you. Today we will chat about embracing your authority, breaking down needless tension, and...

What you have on your shelf is of the utmost importance. Tracking it and evaluating its performance is key to being able to make good decisions that will increase the health of your business. Unfortunately we in coffee tend to rely on either our own personal knowledge of what we can see on our shelves or on very rudimentary systems that don't give us enough information. Today we are going to be ex...

Being self-aware is over-rated. Why? Because without action following it up, self-awareness becomes useless and quickly creates a situation where we seek scoring status points for being aware and then never do anything about it the thing we are aware of. In short, our self-awareness becomes a vanity virtue and we, and those we lead, suffer for it. Today we chat about this problem and what actions...

The design of your shop communicates the level of care you have for your customer and the community. Crafting the details of your space to evoke a sense of connection to place and a feeling of hospitality that matches the quality is absolutely critical. Today we are going to learn about the specific physical and social dynamics that guests look for in a coffee shop with special guest, Dr. Lisa Wax...

We communicate either care or apathy depending on how we conduct ourselves on the bar. The way we expertly handle all the work necessary to provide a great experience in the cafe is by nurturing a sense of urgency in all we do. This means the difference between run of the mill, low expectation experiences - and amazing service and quality that wins customers and gives life to your work. Today we a...

Dialing in your coffee can be hit or miss. There are so many factors to consider for the extremely large variety of coffees we are tasked with brewing. Methods, recipes, and philosophies abound yet still the complexity of brewing remains a barrier to getting the best from your coffee. That is the problem that todays guest, 2013 WBC Champ, Pete Licata has set out to solve in his new book, "How to g...

When a customer comes into our bar they expect that they will be taken care of and the best cafes strive to get the details of the guests visit right. Over time though, there is a migration away from the details. The customer begins to be familiar and with that familiarity there is a falling off of the vigilance and attention to detail that was what made them a customer in the first place.  Today...

The most confusing moments in the day are when the shifts switch. People finishing tasks, gathering items to leave, and others coming in tying to get caught up to speed, get situated, and find their place. It can get chaotic and customers are often left wondering which one of the haired people behind the bar is going to notice that thy are waiting to be served. It rarely goes very well Unless of c...

From the Founder Friday vault we are diving into the subject of how to care for your staff, staff culture, and setting up yourself and your people for success with amazing past guests Lauren Crabbe of Andytown Coffee Roasters San Fransisco, Dorian Bolden of Beyu Caffe and Beyu Blu,Durham, NC -Jonathan Rubinstein of Joe Coffee Company NYC, and Kathy Turiano of Joe Bean Roasters in Rochester, NY.  I...

Sometimes it seems like everything is crashing down around you. You break a cup, your co-workers are annoying you, customers are frustrating, you're tired, you can sense that your are 2 seconds away from biting someone's head off, and it's only 8am! In short you feel like you're about to lose it.  We have all been there. The question is, how do we get ourselves out? How do we overcome this thing t...

When we listen, we tend to stay on the surface of what is being said but rarely ever venture into the deeper meaning of what is being communicated. This means we enter into dialogue with staff and customers only hearing a fraction of what can be perceived and as a result our personal and business relationships fall short of their potential.  Today we are going to take our listening skills to the n...

This phrase is rarely heard in the cafe, especially not from leaders. Too many shop cultures are void of genuine and humble apologies as those with authority wrongly suppose that doing so would compromise their position. Nothing could be further from the truth. Today we will chat about the power of a good, heart felt apology, and three do when measures to take if you want it to make a difference. ...

For so many people cold brew is the first step into the world of specialty coffee. In order to truly serve our customers well we need to make sure that, when we offer cold brew, we do it in a way that is engaging, fun, relatable, and helps showcase to them the vast possibilities of specialty coffee. Well, today we get the privilege to talk with the someone who has spent year exploring, tasting, an...

Huge problems come up for staff and customers when we are not on top of the may unique situations that spring up on the bar. In spite of trying to be preemptive and plan for all possible scenarios you will have baristas who make drinks differently, customers who are not charged for things they should be charged for, and many other types of exceptions that will be made on the bar without your knowl...

There is no better feeling than when the cafe gets busy, the pressure is on, and you and your fellow baristas dig deep, communicate well, get orders out quickly, accurately, and keep the bar clean in the process. You just crushed it!  This is the idea behind La Marzocco USA's amazing team based competition, Crush the Rush. A competition who's aim is to re-create a rush in a cafe under but with eve...

Caring for staff is one of the main functions of leadership. Unfortunately, the reality experienced by baristas the world over is that of a dysfunctional, ambivalent, sometimes toxic, or even abusive culture that disregards the welfare and voice of the employee and safe guards the disfunction of the system and the people who run it. Today we chat about how to approach this problem in a proactive w...

The sustainability of the barista profession is a subject that needs to be talked about more. Trouble is that we have accepted that the kind of turn-over we see within the ranks of baristas is how it will always be and cannot be helped. In truth, much of what contributes to a barista leaving their job or leaving coffee is entirely preventable by focusing on "Baristastainability" My guest today, Je...

Drive-Thru coffee stands play a huge part in spreading the good word of specialty coffee. The convenience they offer makes both consuming coffee and getting into the business of coffee more accessible. Today on Founder Friday we are talking with a real drive-thru success story,  Jasmine Diedrich Wilson, Owner of the Diedrich Espresso !  Jasmine started the company at 19 years old and has been at i...

As your competition increases, standing out becomes more of a struggle. We chase ways to be unique and often we grab hold of trends, products, and concepts that end up looking more like desperation than authentic expressions of your business and brands. Today we chat about the fact that differentiation, the kind that matters most, comes with time and is well worth waiting for.   __________________...

Managing money can be super stressful. This is especially true when you own and operate a coffee shop, the margins are thin, and there seems to be more going out than coming in. To help us work through our approach to our money we are talking with the Emmy Award nominated and Gracie Award winning financial analyst for CBS News, Jill Schlesinger!  Jill is the host of the "Jill on the Money Podcast"...

Coffee is too cheap, and we all want customers to pay more for specialty coffee. How can we more effectively shift customers over to paying more, is it through higher quality or better experiences? Today we chat about why elevation of the customer experience is the ultimate leveraging tool for creating sustainable value and ultimately will be what determines whether people will consistently pay mo...

What we think and how we act are inextricably linked. In the world of hospitality how our views and assumption about others influences everything form how we serve customers -to who we promote to leadership positions in the cafe. A large part of what contributes to our behavior is actually under the radar and as such goes unaddressed. Today we making a conscious effort to tackle and talk about unc...

Everyday we have the opportunity to act on thoughts we have that would benefit others and never follow through. There is a whole world of encouragement lying dormant inside each of us that could greatly contribute to harmony within the bar and ease the relational tension that is such so prevalent in cafes around the world.  Today we discuss the concept of self-betrayal and how not engaging in it c...

Being a manager in coffee ain't easy. There is no end to the number of different issues vying for your attention on any given day and it can seem like you are constantly trying to keep your head above water. Managers are the most important leaders in specialty retail and in order to do our best work we need to learn from the example of others. Today get to learn from the experiences of someone who...

Sometimes we can give ourselves a pass when it comes to being the type of professional that we want employees to be. Practicing self-awareness is tricky when the work continually distracts you but it is necessary in order to not become a hypocrite at work. Today we talk about why it is important to ask yourself this question and what to do once you have answered.