Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders

"If only the boss would listen to my ideas this coffee shop would be so much better!" We all have ideas for how to improve different aspects of the cafe. Many times I have been frustrated when my really great ideas were not met with the same enthusiasm I had. What gives?!

On today's Shift Break we will be talking about why your ideas may not be received well and how to pitch your ideas with the consideration, planning, and empathy it takes to make get buy-in and be taken more seriously.

Related episodes:

• Doing What You Want -vs- Doing What is Needed
• Using Slow Times Well as a Barista
• Taking Offense to Critique
• How to Talk to Each Other
• Proactivity in the Owner - Manager Relationship

Visit our Sponsors!!!

The best espresso machines in the world!

www.lamarzoccousa.com

Custom branded mobile apps for your shop!

www.espressly.co

Creating in depth, engaging, and ultimately helpful educational content is no easy task. Today the number of options we have for gear, techniques, and the coffee itself are daunting to say the least. It is this vast field of options that energizes the home enthusiast to passionately pursue coffee and for some they get into it so much, they turn pro. That is the case with today's special Guest, Youtube and TikTok creator and now coffee roastery owner at September Coffee, Kyle Rowsell.

For years now Kyle has been inviting his followers along his journey humbly pursuing knowledge and know how around coffee, gear, and brewing. As Kyle has been growing his platform and help countless people achieve tasty coffee at home , he has also created and now launched with his wife a new roastery called September Coffee

In this conversation Kyle breaks down his journey, coffee philosophy, goals with his platforms, and the story of launching his new roasting business, September Coffee.

We cover:

• Finding coffee and following a nw career path
• Content creation and representing the coffee industry to consumers
• The evolution of how consumers view coffee at home
• How cafe need to embrace the prosumer and why it matters
• Starting a Roastery
• Making decisions on what kind of coffee to roast
• How the professional role as biz owner differs from the creator role
• How does consumer purchasing in small amount impact green demand

Links:

www.september.coffee

Kyle Rowsell YouTube

Kyle Rowsell's IG @kyle.rowsell

Related episodes:

• 242 : A Conversation with James Hoffmann
• 372 : Milk Steaming Master Class: Science + Craft w/ Morten Munchow and Emilee Bryant!
• 347 : Brewing Coffee and a Career w/ U.S. Brewer's Cup Champion, Elika Liftee
• 035 : The Consumer Revolution w/ Kevin Sinnott
• 282 : How to Listen to your Customers
• 069: Hosting Consumer Coffee Classes : 7 Guidelines

Interested in leveling up your coffee shop or setting up 1:1 coaching?

• Click here to schedule a free consulting discovery call with KTTS
• Click here to book a formal one-on-one consulting call!

Visit our amazing Sponsors!

www.groundcontrol.coffee

www.pacficfoodservice.com

www.coffeefest.com

There are no shortcuts to creating something meaningful, dynamic, and sustainable. But that does not stop us from thinking that that there are! Whether you are leaning on the idea that you just need the perfect or award winning barista and then you will be successful, or if you can just get the right template, tool, or menu all will be well, you will be sorely disappointed.

On today's Shift Break we will be talking about the impulse we have to want this magic thinking to be true and what kind of thinking we need to employ instead that will actually work over time.

Related episode:

• Grass Roots Improvement: Tapping into the power of your staffs observations and ideas
• Patience & Passivity : Career Advice for the Long Game
• The Miracle of the Mundane: How curiosity helps our sustainability
• Learning -vs- LEARNING

Visit our Sponsors!!!

The best espresso machines in the world!

www.lamarzoccousa.com

Custom branded mobile apps for your shop!

www.espressly.co

Most all of us are driven by a desire to create something that makes an impact. Be it through food, or through coffee, we craft an experience and hope that the values and culture that drives us shines through with each plate and cup served. In many ways, we are relaying a story through our craft in hopes that that story and experience will be accurately captured and told by others. Through his writing, that is exactly what today's guest does in the culinary world.

Today we are talking with award winning author and founder of TASTE, Matt Rodbard.

Matt Rodbard is a writer, editor, and author of food and culture books with more than two decades of experience working in television, magazines, book publishing, and online media. He's the author of Koreatown: A Cookbook, a New York Times Bestseller, Food IQ, a Publishers Weekly Bestseller, and the Founding Editor of online food and culture magazine TASTE, winner of two James Beard Foundation Awards. He's the host of the long-running podcast TASTE, a show featuring conversations with the most interesting people in food, cookbooks, media, and more.

In this conversation we explore Matt's career, what he has learned writing about food, chefs and the culinary industry, how coffee can learn from the world of restaurants, and how the craft of cooking, writing, and coffee are connected.

We cover:

• Matt's development as a writer and storyteller
• The deeper meaning of food and culture
• The difficulty of writing to effectively reflect heart and soul
• What the biggest issues are in the restaurant world today
• Awards and staying in touch with pleasing guests
• Accessible luxury and rooted experiences
• Why the flavor wheel in coffee needs to be thrown out
• What coffee needs to do to improve and learn from our culinary counterparts

Links:

https://tastecooking.com/

https://www.instagram.com/taste/

Related episodes:

• 219 : Building a Winning Food Program w/ Marilei Denila, Culinary R&D Manager, Go Get em Tiger
• 393 : The Tyranny of Taste w/ Kosta Kallivrousis
• Coffee and Cocktails
• Coffee and Chocolate

Interested in leveling up your coffee shop or setting up 1:1 coaching?

• Click here to schedule a free consulting discovery call with KTTS
• Click here to book a formal one-on-one consulting call!

Visit our amazing Sponsors!

www.groundcontrol.coffee

www.pacficfoodservice.com

www.coffeefest.com

I was having a conversation with my wife and son about the practice of "decafing" customers and when anyone would take it upon themselves to do that. Ultimately it boils down to a decision we make in the moment to maintain integrity and hight standards for ourselves, or to create precedent within ourselves to let spite rule our actions.

In today's Shift Break we will be talking about how we can and do easily fall into pettiness and spite and how we can avoid this trap that ultimately ends up, more than anything else, damaging us and the coffee industry.

Related episodes:

Managing Anger : Tips on how to deal with getting angry behind the coffee bar in a healthy way

Gossip: How this toxic element destroys community in the coffee shop and what to do instead

Visit our Sponsors!!!

The best espresso machines in the world!

www.lamarzoccousa.com

Custom branded mobile apps for your shop!

www.espressly.co

When you think about success in roasting coffee, you will more than likely be concerned first and foremost with quality. While quality is critical, it is not the only factor. And success itself is more than a measure of your businesses profit, but how your business profits others. A new and more expansive view of quality and success is one of the things that characterizes today RoR guest.

In this episode of Rate of Rise we are going to be talking with, David Lalonde of Rabbit Hole Roasters!

David is the co-founder (along with biz partner Sophie) of Rabbit Hole Roasters in Montreal, Quebec. Roasting tasty coffee is obviously important for him, but challenging the coffee status quo is what drives him. By learning about coffee's inequalities, building long lasting relationships at origin and centering small holder farmers, he hopes to change the narrative, one that is not based primarily on cup score.

Rabbit Hole Roasters is known for hight quality coffee, accessible offerings, and a desire to create momentum for equity along the entire value stream.

Rabbit Hole is also the Roast Magazine 2023 Mirco-Roaster of the Year!

In our conversation we will be talking about David's entry into coffee, starting rabbit Hole, and the mission to take on the important and hard topics of the coffee industry through conversation and through the operation of Rabbit Hole Roasters itself.

In our conversation we cover:

• Entering the coffee scene
• Developing the ethos and values
• choosing import partners
• crafting an accessible and impactful offering
• Longterm relationships and farmer commitments
• Why quality is not the most important thing
• Running a successful business
• Developed coffee and expanding our marketing
• Asking the hard questions and giving a platform to needed conversations

Links:

• www.rabbitholeroasters.com
• Rabbit Hole Roasters in IG: @RABBITHOLEROASTERS

Related Episodes:

• Sustainability Series #2 : Importing & Roasting
• RoR #17 : Evolving Our Approach to Cupping w/ Charlie Habegger of Royal Coffee
• 376: Career, Coffee Quality, and Advancing the Industry w/ Mat North, of Raw Material
• 393 : The Tyranny of Taste w/ Kosta Kallivrousis
• 223 : Building a Financially Resilient Business w/ Andrew Carroll
• RoR #6: Buying Less and Doing More w/ Ever Meister

Visit our sponsor ROAST MAGAZINE and subscribe!

In the hospitality industry, a guiding ethos that drives many successful coffee bars, restaurant, and bars alike, is the concept of generosity. When we operate with a heart to give and serve, we innovate ways to make that ethos a reality. Unfortunately there are many cafes that operate with the idea that they should only pay what they can get away with and have a less than generous disposition that leads to all sorts of problems.

That fact that this later disposition is so common is one of the reasons today's guest started down the road to innovate a way to create a generaous payment system that both challeneges the status quo and cares for the needs of the coffee shop's staff.

Today we are talking with Mike Schroeder of Oddly Correct in Kansas City, MO.

Mike Schroeder is a drummer turned aerospace engineer turned drummer turned co ffee roaster turned problem solver and business owner. Mike is brothers-in-law with Oddly's founder Gregory Kolsto and Oddly's first employee (in 2011) and is now being trusted to steer the ship.

In this conversation we dive into the story and values of Oddly Correct and how they flipped the script on the traditional way wages are viewed and can today provide their staff with a consistent living wage.

We cover:

• Beginning oddly
• Crafting the values
• Making decisions
• Expanding mindfully
• The why behind projects and initiatives
• Valuing your team
• Guaranteeing a living wage
• Pushback from the industry
• Rolling it our and seeing the impact
• Continual improvement
• Advice for how to apply this structure

Links:

www.oddlycorrect.com

Boss Barista interview w/Mike

Related episodes:

• 227 : Connecting with Hearts and Minds
• 329 : How to Teach Company Values to Your Staff
• 162 : Discussing "Baristastainability" w/ Jenna Gotthelf of Counter Culture Coffee
• 291 : What to do if Your Baristas Wont Listen to You
• Bridging the Values-Actions Gap
• Scaling Values

Interested in leveling up your coffee shop or setting up 1:1 coaching?

• Click here to schedule a free consulting discovery call with KTTS
• Click here to book a formal one-on-one consulting call!

Visit our amazing Sponsors!

www.groundcontrol.coffee

www.pacficfoodservice.com

www.coffeefest.com

Part 2 of 2023 Coffee Fest Live NYC interviews! In these interviews I sit down with stellar presenters and lecturers to dig deep into a range of relevant and important topics that will help make you and your coffee business better.

This time we are joined by Jesse Harriott, Jenna Gotthelf, and Anu Menon!

To start us off on part 2 we are going to talk with Jesse Harriott of Copper Horse Coffee!

Jesse is a long time friend of mine and Co-founder of Copper Horse Coffee in Ithaca, NY. He has been serving coffee for 20 years, Roasting, training, and consulting for 18 years and has accumulated a lot of recognitions and awards at Coffee Fest, Golden Bean, and has amassed an incredible amount of wisdom and experience over these decades of coffee craft and leadership. In this conversation we discuss what is at the core of a successful coffee shop's operations.

​​Next we chat with Jenna Gotthelf of Counter Culture Coffee.

Jenna Gotthelf is an advocate for creating progressive and approachable learning opportunities for anyone who brews coffee. Jenna is based in NYC and is the wholesale education manager for Counter Culture Coffee, where she oversees the barista training program carried out in Training Centers across the country. Jenna is also a long time US Coffee Championships competitor and has placed everywhere from first to last to somewhere in the middle in Brewers Cup and Barista Competitions

Jenna and I discuss the need for coffee bars to educate their customers in ways that empower them and give them tools for success and how to meet them where they are in their coffee journey.

Finally we are talking with Anu Menon of Driftaway Coffee.

Anu Menon is a founder at Driftaway Coffee, a sustainability-focused direct-to-consumer coffee roaster based in Brooklyn, NY. An engineer-turned-marketing consultant, she leads Customer Experience & Sustainability at Driftaway and is passionate about building an approachable, equitable & transparent coffee value chain.

Anu sits down with me to talk about how we can reach out to our customers via digital platforms and what practical steps we can take to create access, change, and culture regardless of physical location.

Links:

www.copperhorsecoffee.com

www.counterculturecoffee.com

www.driftawaycoffee.com

Related episodes:

162 : Discussing "Baristastainability" w/ Jenna Gotthelf of Counter Culture Coffee SPECIAL: Coffee Fest Live! Chicago 2022 Part 1 w/ Luke Waite, Kris Christian, and Perfect Cube SPECIAL: Coffee Fest Live! Chicago 2022 Part 2 w/ Marissa Childers, Jess Gulino, and Tony Dreyfuss 157 : Four from the Floor : Interviews from Coffee Fest Indianapolis 2019 142 : Entrepreneur Interviews from Coffee Fest NYC!

www.coffeefest.com

It is time for the first the 2023 series of Coffee Fest Live interviews! In these interviews I sit down with stellar presenters and lecturers to dig deep into a range of relevant and important topics that will help make you and your coffee business better.

To start us off we are going to talk with Jordan Brown followed by Anand Patel

Jordan Brown has been on the distribution side of Coffee for close to a decade. He is all about bringing products and helping shops. Reset culture . Currently he serves as the Vice President of sales for Shoreline Supply Co and hosts a podcast " Drinking Coffee While Talking Coffee With Jordan Brown." I got to talk with Jordan about how we can go about knowing what product are right for our shops and our values.

​​Next we chat with Anand Patel. Anand is the co-founder of Hidden Grounds Coffee. Back in 2013, Anand and his team of coffee crusaders decided that the world had suffered enough from the scourge of bad coffee. They took it upon themselves to become the ultimate taste testers, sacrificing their taste buds so their customers don't have to suffer the same fate. They've been able to expand their coffee business to 7 retail locations and in our conversation Anand gives us his secrets to scaling mindfully in order to achieve lasting success.

links:

www.shorelinesupplyco.com

Drinking Coffee, while Talking Coffee Podcast

www.thehiddengrounds.com

www.coffeefest.com

Creating a moment of delight and excellence is what we all want to do when we set up our shops and make coffee for others. We also want to be delighted ourselves with the things we create and feel a sense of pride in each and every drink. Given the range of beverages we serve, that is pretty rare to find. But at least one place manages to strike this balance and has been doing so with singular focus for the past 8 years.

Today we get to talk with the owner of the Award winning cafe, Endorffeine in Los Angeles, CA, Jack Benchakul!

Jack is a biochemist who turned to small business to find more meaning and fulfillment in work. This set him on a path to pursue craft first through the pastry arts and finally in the coffee industry after one life changing cup of coffee.

Jack learned all he could at home then as a barista before starting Endorffiene with his cousin Ttaya Tuparangsi in 2015 with the goal to pursue a balanced and refined coffee experience unlike any that was currently available. Jack's integrity, knowledge of craft and science, and constance in this pursuit has not only gained Edorffeine nority from famous food writers like Jonathan Gold and Bill Addison, gained Endorffeine, but also recognitions such as "Best Coffee Shops in the U.S. from Food and Wine and on of the "101 Restaurants, Dishes, People, and Ideas from The LA Times. Beyond these things, Endorffeine is firmly established in the coffee community and garners the respect of their industry peers world wide.

In today's conversation with Jack we will be exploring the story of Endorffeine and their unique approach to creating beauty, balance, and community one cup of coffee at a time.

We cover:

• Jacks Journey from Biochemistry to pastry to coffee
• The coffee epiphany that set his course
• Establishing Endorffeine and its mission
• Staying consistent over time
• Pursuing customer facing work as an introvert
• Values based Menu curation and refinement
• What is the "deep fight"
• Pride in operation and ownership
• What the pandemic revealed
• Connecting with customers
• Advice to other owner on integrity and patience

Links:

www.endorffeine.coffee

Instagram: @endorffeine

Related episodes:

• 375 : Founder Friday! w/ Roland Horne of WatchHouse
• 359 : Founder Friday! w/ Nigel Price of Drip Coffee Makers NYC
• 252 : Founder Friday w/ Klaus Thompson of the Coffee Collective, Denmark

Interested in leveling up your coffee shop or setting up 1:1 coaching?

• Click here to schedule a free consulting discovery call with KTTS
• Click here to book a formal one-on-one consulting call!

Visit our amazing Sponsors!

www.groundcontrol.coffee

www.pacficfoodservice.com