Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders

Welcome to Part 1 of the Coffee Fest live on the show floor interviews from Anaheim, CA 2023!

It was a pleasure to kick things of with coffee legend and returning guest, Kenneth Davids!

Kenneth has been involved with coffee since the early 1970s and has published three books on coffee, including the influential Home Roasting: Romance and Revival, now in its second edition, and Coffee: A Guide to Buying, Brewing and Enjoying, which has sold nearly 250,000 copies in five editions. His latest book, 21st Century Coffee: A Guide, is an unprecedentedly thorough survey of specialty coffee in all of its aspects, authoritative yet engaging.

Ken's workshops and seminars on coffee sourcing, evaluation and communication have been featured at professional coffee meetings on six continents.

He is Professor Emeritus of Critical Studies at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco. In 1996 he was awarded a Special Achievement Award for Outstanding Contributions to Coffee Literature by the Specialty Coffee Association of America.

In our conversation we discuss emerging coffee processing, the evolution of consumer coffee culture and the inevitable adoption and accessibility of experimental coffee.

Links:

www.kennethdavidscoffee.com

Next we here from Madeleine Longoria Garcia of Pacific Coffee Research!

Madeleine is an owner of Pacific Coffee Research - a coffee roastery, education center, and consulting company based in Kailua Kona, Hawaiʻi. She has worked in coffee since 2010, filling a myriad of roles from barista to cafe manager to coffee picker! With Hawaiʻi as her home since 2014, she is active in the local coffee community as a committee chair with the Hawaiʻi Coffee Association and board member of the Synergistic Hawaiʻi Agriculture Council. Madeleine believes access to information and education is at the core of building a more resilient coffee industry.

We chat with Madeleine about the need for quality control programs both in the wider industry and right in your own coffee shop. This is a very useful conversation if you want to see your consistency and quality improve dramatically.

Links:

www.pcr.coffee

Related episodes:

• 349 : Talking About 21st Century Coffee w/ Kenneth Davids
• 339 : What Good Barista Training Produces
• ROR #23 : How to Close the Industry-Consumer Flavor Gap w/ Phil Beattie, Dillanos Coffee Roasters
• 296: Holistic Barista Training w/ David Castillo of Go Get Em Tiger , Los Angeles

Sponsor:

www.coffeefest.com

In the face of necessary reality checks and the inherent ups and downs of starting and running a coffee shop, there must always exist the foundational idea that "You can do this" and "It is possible". That belief in possibility is what drives today's guest whoI am honored to call a good friend, Michael Ryan of Threadbare Coffee Consulting.

Michael is a published author, international speaker, and Certified Business Coach. He is a Licensed Q Grader, SCA Certified Instructor, and Level 1 Wine Sommelier. He is also a Certified Health & Wellness Coach.

Michael has over 13 years of experience in the coffee industry during which he has worked everywhere from the headquarters of Starbucks to local coffee companies. He spent 8 years as the Operations Manager for a multi-location cafe + roastery that was doing $5MM+ in annual revenue.

Michael has been working with clients doing training, coaching, and consulting. His clients have included startups, importers, roasters, cafes, and companies doing all of the above.

Michael is an expert in building a healthy cafe + roastery business that takes great care of people, starting with the owner.

In our conversation we talk about Ryan's work to help people build great businesses and what the key principles and practices are to achieve success and fulfillment in the process.

Links:

https://threadbarecoffeeconsulting.com/

@Threadbarecoffeeconsulting

Related Episodes:

• 374: Opening a Coffee Shop: Fantasy vs Reality (w/ bonus commentary)"
• 414: Secret Ingredients for a Successful Coffee Shop
• 302 : Data's Roll in the Success of your Shop w/ Mark Calhoun and Jim Strarcev of Perfect Cube
• 129 : Founder Friday w/ Casey & Jeremy Miller of The Mudhouse, St. Louis, MO
• 108 : Founder Friday w/ Dorian Bolden of Beyu Caffe in Durham, NC
• 283 : 5 Bad Reasons to Open a Coffee Shop

Key Holder Coaching Group is launching in September!

🔑 Key Holder Coaching Groups will be hosted by myself and consist of a curated group of 5 coffee shop owners. ​ ​🔑 We will meet together 2x per month for 2 hours over a 6 month period. ​ ​🔑 This structured group will allow each member to have multiple hot seat opportunities to present specific issues to the group and gain insight, feedback and direction to help them develop themselves, their people, and their business. ​ ​🔑 In addition we will be consistently updated on each others progress and have opportunity to speak into each others lives. ​ ​🔑 Key Holder Coaching members will have access to each other via the Signal app as well. ​ ​I am very excited to begin what I believe will be the first of many groups!

CLICK HERE to fill out the application to join the group

Visit our awesome Sponsors!

GROUND BREAKING BREWING MADE SIMPLE!

www.groundcontrol.coffee

THE BEST PLANT-BASED BEVERAGES ON THE PLANET!

www.Pacificfoodservice.com

30 years of resourcing you with the best products and education!

www.coffeefest.com

Use Code: "KEYS" for 50% General Admission

Early on in the podcast (2019) I had Maxwell on to tell the story of Narrative and then 3 more times since then to discuss deeper topics related to running a great shop, dealing with challenges, and tools to success. I have known him for over a decade and believe he channels the kind of character and values the entire industry should aspire to.

Recently Maxwell made the decision to sell his ground breaking cafe, Narrative Coffee, to one of his long time baristas (Alex Sciarrotta...Himself an awesome leader and example) and move across the country to embark on a journey into the next chapter of his coffee career helping people open and run great coffee shops with Threadbare Coffee Consulting.

In this discussion of Maxwell's final chapter with Narrative we talk about what led to this decision, values that guide him, what he is most proud of after 7 years of Narrative Coffee, his thoughts on what is key for cafe owners today to focus on, and what have is doing now as a coach with Threadbare.

I am honored to have been able to feature Maxwell's story on this show and hope you are inspired by this and the other conversations we have had the pleasure of having with Maxwell.

Links:

@maxwellthreadbare

www.threadbarecoffeeconsulting.com

www.narrativecoffee.com

Related episodes:

• 011 : Founder Friday w/ Maxwell Mooney, Narrative Coffee : hospitality / building relationships / coffee quality
• 038 : Founder Friday / Narrative Coffee Part 2 w/ Maxwell Mooney : His experience after opening his first brick and mortar
• COVID-19 Focus w/ Maxwell Mooney, Narrative Coffee, Everette, WA
• 351 : Pro Tips for Using Spreadsheets w/ Maxwell Mooney, Narrative Coffee

Visit our awesome Sponsors!

GROUND BREAKING BREWING MADE SIMPLE!

www.groundcontrol.coffee

THE BEST PLANT-BASED BEVERAGES ON THE PLANET!

www.Pacificfoodservice.com

Reach out to KTTS!

[email protected]

What would you think if you went to a sit down restaurant an hour before close where, after seating you, they brought your food out in doggie bags "because we are closing soon and we don't want to have to do dishes". My guess is that it would seem pretty strange and even antithetical to the experience you were expecting. Hospitality is about serving people something that fulfills the promise our marketing makes to them. More than that it is about having a disposition of creativity, innovation, and focus on serving others above serving ourselves. Unless, of course, if it is inconvenient or means more dishes right?

Today on Shift Break we are not just talking about the common situation of for here order being made to-go to save work for staff whose job is allegedly to serve people, but what this practice tells us about the state of service in the average cafe and how we can correct it.

Related episodes:

Hard work is hard

Laziness & the Most Important Decision

Are You Open?

Things the Owner Can't do for You

The best espresso machines in the world!

www.lamarzoccousa.com

Custom branded mobile apps for your shop!

www.espressly.co.

While culture is a needed focus, today it has become the hottest buzz word that can mean almost anything. What is most useful these days as we rightly focus on culture is a lens through which to view it that brings clarity and helps guide us to take action in ways that serve our staff and ultimately the business.

Way back in the KTTS archives we had an interview with Stan Slap, author of one of my most recommended books, "Under the Hood : Fire up and Fine-tune your Employee Culture"

This book and Stan's perspectives are critical to understanding where we stand and how to work together to achieve great things.

Stan is the founder and CEO of SLAP company and has spent the last 3 decades specializing in achieving fierce support from manager, employee and customer cultures. They believe within each of these groups there is one problem that has the biggest impact on the enterprise and one solution that is most valuable, coveted and elusive. The SLAP company has cracked the code on these problems and their solutions are highest rated in many of the world's highest rated companies. They are currently working in 44 countries countries and ahave achieved amazing results in employee culture at companies like Oracle, CNN, Timewarner, Google, Starbucks, eBay, Viacom, and Microsoft among many others.

In this episode you will learn about:

• 4 of the "7 Deadly Sins of Cultural Engagement"
• How culture is formed and what it cares about
• Best practices for engaging and guiding a culture
• How do we fail our employees?
• Secrets to scaling culture
• How to create "cultural legends"
• Why you cannot coax a culture into giving you what you want
• Tactics for true communication
• How do customers factor into your employee culture?

Links:

www.slapcompany.com

Key Holder Coaching Group is launching in September!

🔑 Key Holder Coaching Groups will be hosted by myself and consist of a curated group of 5 coffee shop owners. ​ ​🔑 We will meet together 2x per month for 2 hours over a 6 month period. ​ ​🔑 This structured group will allow each member to have multiple hot seat opportunities to present specific issues to the group and gain insight, feedback and direction to help them develop themselves, their people, and their business. ​ ​🔑 In addition we will be consistently updated on each others progress and have opportunity to speak into each others lives. ​ ​🔑 Key Holder Coaching members will have access to each other via the Signal app as well. ​ ​I am very excited to begin what I believe will be the first of many groups!

CLICK HERE to fill out the application to join the group

Visit our awesome Sponsors!

GROUND BREAKING BREWING MADE SIMPLE!

www.groundcontrol.coffee

THE BEST PLANT-BASED BEVERAGES ON THE PLANET!

www.Pacificfoodservice.com

30 years of resourcing you with the best products and education!

www.coffeefest.com

Use Code: "KEYS" for 50% General Admission

Having an engaged staff that are motivated and inspired to not just get through the shift, but to truly invest into the cafe and help improve things is a dream shared by many owners. This culture where each individual team member takes ownership and finds creative ways to refine the operations, quality, and hospitality does not have to be just a dream!

Today we are going to be discussing what it takes to foster a culture of continuous improvement. What the looks like, doesn't look like, and some behaviors to both reward and watch out for along the way.

We discuss:

• Leading by example
• Praise and recognition
• Clear communication
• When is improvement not needed
• What is the goal?
• Values and actions

Related episodes:

• 080 : Changing things in the Cafe : A workflow for Refinement
• 414: Secret Ingredients for a Successful Coffee Shop
• 336: A Cafe Leadership Masterclass w/ Selina Viguera of Blue Bottle Coffee

Key Holder Coaching Group is launching in September!

🔑 Key Holder Coaching Groups will be hosted by myself and consist of a curated group of 5 coffee shop owners. ​ ​🔑 We will meet together 2x per month for 2 hours over a 6 month period. ​ ​🔑 This structured group will allow each member to have multiple hot seat opportunities to present specific issues to the group and gain insight, feedback and direction to help them develop themselves, their people, and their business. ​ ​🔑 In addition we will be consistently updated on each others progress and have opportunity to speak into each others lives. ​ ​🔑 Key Holder Coaching members will have access to each other via the Signal app as well. ​ ​I am very excited to begin what I believe will be the first of many groups!

CLICK HERE to fill out the application to join the group

Visit our awesome Sponsors!

GROUND BREAKING BREWING MADE SIMPLE!

www.groundcontrol.coffee

THE BEST PLANT-BASED BEVERAGES ON THE PLANET!

www.Pacificfoodservice.com

30 years of resourcing you with the best products and education!

www.coffeefest.com

Use Code: "KEYS" for 50% General Admission

So many things vie for our attention in the day-to-day work of the coffee shop. In the midst of the fires we need to put out, questions that need answers, and ideas everyone has (both good and bad) we have a general idea of what we are aiming for but sometimes lack specific actions that we can take to see the goal achieved.

Today on Shift Break we will be talking about how we can create urgency of action to achieve the vision and goal of the business by practicing concrete thinking. This helps clarify the chaos, and guides us to push things forward vs the procrastination that tends to result from overwhelm.

Related episodes:

Prioritizing your Work

Imperfect Action and Finding Time

Specific Expectations and Due Dates

The best espresso machines in the world!

www.lamarzoccousa.com

Custom branded mobile apps for your shop!

www.espressly.co.

Managers hold the key to the success of the shop. They are tasked with taking all the people, place, and processes and making them work well together day to day. When a manager is correctly supported by the owner then they are able to do a great job and your whole business benefits. Without proper support, operations, morale, and the manager themself can easily fall apart.

Today we will be discussing some ways to bring on, bringup, and support a manager in the coffee shop that allows for learning and growth for both you and the manager you lead.

Related Episodes:

• 378: 5 Areas to Develop in Managers
• 221 : Building your People Program w/ HR Consultant Dana Goodwin
• 261 : The Basics of Managing Managers

Key Holder Coaching Group is launching in September!

🔑 Key Holder Coaching Groups will be hosted by myself and consist of a curated group of 5 coffee shop owners. ​ ​🔑 We will meet together 2x per month for 2 hours over a 6 month period. ​ ​🔑 This structured group will allow each member to have multiple hot seat opportunities to present specific issues to the group and gain insight, feedback and direction to help them develop themselves, their people, and their business. ​ ​🔑 In addition we will be consistently updated on each others progress and have opportunity to speak into each others lives. ​ ​🔑 Key Holder Coaching members will have access to each other via the Signal app as well. ​ ​I am very excited to begin what I believe will be the first of many groups!

CLICK HERE to fill out the application to join the group

Visit our awesome Sponsors!

GROUND BREAKING BREWING MADE SIMPLE!

www.groundcontrol.coffee

THE BEST PLANT-BASED BEVERAGES ON THE PLANET!

www.Pacificfoodservice.com

30 years of resourcing you with the best products and education!

www.coffeefest.com

Use Code: "KEYS" for 50% General Admission

It is easy to get discouraged in running a cafe. There are a million things to do and the temptation to despair becomes worst when we hold an idealized version of ourselves and our work in our heads everyday. What are we working for and what are we working towards?

Today on Shift Break we will talk about two values and how to employ them in your work in the coffee shop so you can grow in a holistic and sustainable way, honestly and faithfully

Related episodes:

Authenticity and Performance

Emotions, Self-Sabotage, and Telling Ourselves the Truth

Vanity Metrics

Priorities and Deep Thankfulness

The best espresso machines in the world!

www.lamarzoccousa.com

Custom branded mobile apps for your shop!

www.espressly.co.

When it comes to our training and resourcing of staff we often have a desire for people to "get it" and to be detail oriented, but fail to give them much to "get" or to orient them to the details. This results in inconsistency and frustration in both customers and staff as baristas fill in the blanks that management should have all ready filled in. This is where a good guide comes in.

Today we will be chatting about developing a guide for the two most important areas in the cafe that need consistent excellence; the menu and hospitality

We Cover:

• Why we tend toward generality
• The reason menu and hospitality are most critical
• Embracing detail for quality internalization
• What to include and why
• Using and referencing your created tools

Related episodes:

• 057 : SOP's FTW! Success through Standard Operating Procedures
• 098 : Loving the Closing Shift : Problems, solutions, and philosophy on work
• 248 : The 5 Elements of Resourcing your Team
• 339 : What Good Barista Training Produces
• 235 : 4 Tips for Training your Staff

Key Holder Coaching Group is launching in September!

🔑 Key Holder Coaching Groups will be hosted by myself and consist of a curated group of 5 coffee shop owners. ​ ​🔑 We will meet together 2x per month for 2 hours over a 6 month period. ​ ​🔑 This structured group will allow each member to have multiple hot seat opportunities to present specific issues to the group and gain insight, feedback and direction to help them develop themselves, their people, and their business. ​ ​🔑 In addition we will be consistently updated on each others progress and have opportunity to speak into each others lives. ​ ​🔑 Key Holder Coaching members will have access to each other via the Signal app as well. ​ ​I am very excited to begin what I believe will be the first of many groups!

CLICK HERE to fill out the application to join the group

Visit our awesome Sponsors!

GROUND BREAKING BREWING MADE SIMPLE!

www.groundcontrol.coffee

THE BEST PLANT-BASED BEVERAGES ON THE PLANET!

www.Pacificfoodservice.com

30 years of resourcing you with the best products and education!

www.coffeefest.com

Use Code: "KEYS" for 50% General Admission