The Coffee Experts Club Podcast

Summary: Every coffee shop owner has a great idea, but not every great idea should launch tomorrow. In this episode, Aaron Hovivian and Ben Clatterbuck share hard-earned lessons on rolling out promotions, products, and grand openings the right way Free Masterclass & Tools: myfirstdrivethru.coffee Coffee Experts Academy: coffeeexpertsacademy.com Minute-by-Minute: 00:00 The Journey of Collaboration...

SUMMARY: How do you actually know if your coffee shop is performing well, or just feels busy? Aaron, Drew, and Ben walk through the real baseline numbers every shop owner should track, from car times at the window to labor cost percentage and cost of goods sold. They share the benchmarks that separate a healthy shop from one quietly bleeding money, and how to start measuring yours this week. Want...

Summary: In this episode of Coffee Experts Club, Aaron Hovivian, Drew Moody, and Ben Clatterbuck discuss why successful coffee businesses need systems for everything. From grand openings and employee training to maintenance issues and unexpected operational challenges, the team explains how documented processes reduce stress, prevent costly mistakes, and create consistency as businesses grow. Draw...

Summary: In this episode of Coffee Experts Club, Aaron, Ben, and Drew reflect on their experiences helping grow Roasters Coffee from a single coffee shop into a multi-location operation and discuss the unique culture that fueled that growth. Looking back at old grand opening footage, they explore the excitement, camaraderie, and sense of purpose that made employees want to stay, grow, and invest i...

Summary: In this episode of the Coffee Experts podcast, Aaron Hovivian, Drew Moody, and Ben Clatterbuck tackle a major question every growing coffee business eventually faces: should you invest in opening a new location, or should you put that money into improving your current operation? Drawing from real conversations happening inside Coffee De Los Mayas and with consulting clients across the cou...

Summary: In this episode of the Coffee Experts podcast, Aaron Hovivian, Drew Moody, and Ben Clatterbuck dive into the importance of getting back to the basics in running a successful coffee business. From slow drive thru times to inconsistent drink quality and customer experience, the team discusses how easy it is for core systems to slip when owners and operators become focused on growth, expansi...

In this episode of the Coffee Experts podcast, Aaron Hovivian, Drew Moody, and Ben Clatterbuck dive into the realities of building and protecting company culture in the coffee industry. Drawing from recent firsthand experiences in Belize, the team opens up about the challenges of leadership, employee turnover, generational shifts in work ethic, and the emotional weight of investing deeply into peo...

SUMMARY: Aaron, Ben, and Drew dig into what it actually takes to go from running a good coffee shop to running a great one. The conversation gets honest about why success can be the very thing that keeps owners stuck, and why bravery is the ingredient most people overlook. From niching down to serve a specific cultural demographic to making your own horchata, cutting dead cogs lines when you add s...

SUMMARY: Aaron and Drew get into one of the most overlooked levers in a coffee shop's profitability: cost of goods sold. Drawing from hard-won lessons running three locations in Belize without the safety net of US infrastructure, they break down how producing their own syrups dropped their COGs dramatically and why paying by the bottle instead of by the hour changed everything. It is a raw, practi...

SUMMARY: Aaron, Ben, and Drew tackle a question most coffee shop content never touches: what do you actually do when your business starts winning? Inspired by a client running a $1.7 million location, they break down the smartest moves to make when the money is rolling in, from keeping your eyes on every line item no matter how fat the bank account gets, to knowing exactly which season your busine...

SUMMARY: Aaron and Drew get into one of the most important questions every coffee shop owner eventually has to answer: what kind of experience do you actually want to create, and who are you creating it for? Picking up from last week's P!ng episode, they explore the spectrum from fully automated robotic coffee to handcrafted Belizean expressions, and everything in between. From kiosk-style orderin...

SUMMARY: Aaron and Ben welcome Rob Whitten and Jane Lo, co-founders of Ping, a fully automated drive-through coffee concept that is changing what speed and convenience can look like for coffee customers. The robot-powered pod makes a drink every 30 seconds, adjusts to the height of your car window, and times your order to arrive fresh exactly when you pull up. No waiting, no scanning, no tipping....

SUMMARY: Aaron, Ben, and Drew tackle a problem that quietly kills team culture and operational clarity in coffee shops: communication chaos. From the dreaded group text that everyone eventually mutes to building out a smart, scalable WhatsApp structure, they walk through what actually works when you are managing multiple locations and cannot be everywhere at once. Drew breaks down the simple daily...

SUMMARY: Aaron, Ben, Drew, and bookkeeping specialist Faith dig into why so many coffee shop owners are flying blind when it comes to their finances and what it actually costs them. From dairy vendors quietly hiking prices to invoices that never get cross-checked, the crew breaks down how clean, detailed books give you the visibility to catch what is slipping through the cracks, negotiate better d...

SUMMARY: Aaron, Ben, and Drew dig into a question every coffee shop owner needs to ask: are you still doing things the best way, or just the only way you know how? From duct-taped iPod ordering systems to AI-built digital menu boards, they walk through how to spot your breaking points before they break you, why small iterational upgrades beat giant system overhauls, and how to start by tackling wh...

SUMMARY:  This episode breaks down what to do when customer spending drops and it feels like your clientele is tightening their wallets. The hosts emphasize the importance of identifying whether you're dealing with normal seasonal slowdowns, like January dips, or more serious economic trends that require immediate action. From there, they walk through practical strategies to stabilize revenue, inc...

SUMMARY: In this episode, the Aaron & Ben discuss one of the most overlooked but critical aspects of running a successful coffee shop: understanding your numbers. They break down why many coffee shop owners avoid looking at their financials—especially profit and loss statements—and how that avoidance can quietly erode profitability. From rising vendor costs to minimum wage increases and outdated m...

SUMMARY: This episode focuses on one of the hardest responsibilities in managing a coffee shop: knowing when it's time to fire a barista or employee . The hosts discuss how common turnover is in the coffee industry and the constant tension managers feel between keeping someone who is underperforming and the operational stress of being short-staffed. They explain that many managers delay letting so...

SUMMARY: In this episode of Coffee Experts Club, the hosts tackle a universal pain point for coffee shop owners: staff turnover and unreliable employees—especially in an industry largely staffed by young, first-time workers. They argue there's no silver bullet for preventing people from quitting last-minute, but owners can mitigate the damage by structuring shorter shifts, hiring with redundancy,...

SUMMARY: In this episode, Aaron, Drew, and Ben break down what it really takes to relocate and reopen a coffee shop during peak season—after their building was torn down. They walk through the strategic decision to add a café lobby (despite preferring drive-thru models), the tradeoffs of higher overhead versus deeper community engagement, and how the new location performed compared to past grand o...

SUMMARY: In this episode of Coffee Experts Club , the hosts reflect on how far they've come since launching the podcast and the importance of zooming out to recognize progress amid the daily grind of running a business. They share a candid look at the realities of scaling coffee shops in Belize—opening multiple locations with limited capital, navigating slow seasons, and racing toward a grand open...

SUMMARY: In this episode, the hosts share the story behind relocating their first coffee shop in Belize after learning the original building would be torn down. Instead of treating it as a setback, they used the move as an opportunity to re-launch the location with a community-focused grand opening. By partnering with local businesses, artists, and vendors, they created a market-style event that b...

SUMMARY: This episode is a replay from a few years back, but the conversation is just as relevant today. Aaron Hovivian and Drew Moody dig into what really makes the coffee industry (and any service business) better: humility, shared learning, and healthy competition. Drawing from experiences across independent shops, larger brands, and new market launches, they talk about why seeing the "underbel...

SUMMARY: This episode focuses on the practical side of manager accountability and why clear, measurable expectations are critical as a business grows. Ben and Drew explain how vague feedback leads to confusion and turnover, while metric-based systems give managers clarity, confidence, and a clear path to improvement. They share how a quarterly manager report card—built from weekly checklists, audi...

SUMMARY:  In this episode, Ben and Drew discuss the simple systems that help coffee shops stay consistent as they grow. From checklists and aesthetic walk-throughs to customer feedback, they explain how small tools prevent details from slipping and protect the customer experience when owners can't be in every shop every day. They also share how clear SOPs and manager tools empower teams to run sto...