Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders

"I just want to make coffee!" That thought has crossed all our minds at some point in our barista careers. In fact I remember clearly being reprimanded for my hyper-focus on the espresso machine at the expense of pretty much everything else. In reality, there are tasks and areas of the shop that require excellence just as much as the coffee we serve

Today on Shift Break we will be talking about how we can foster a mindset of excellence toward the things we hate so the whole cafe is cared for and we get to keep doing what we love.

Related episodes:

• 085 : How we Ruin the Specialty Experience
• 307 : 10 Simple ways to Level Up your Coffee Shop
• The Impact of Absence
• The Currency of Urgency
• Working Clean : Tips for keeping the bar looking and working well while you work

Reach out for one-on-one consulting and coaching!

Book a 90 minute consulting Call now!

Visit these amazing sponsors!

The best espresso machines in the world!

www.lamarzoccousa.com

Custom branded mobile apps for your shop!

www.espressly.co

In the shop we serve people the product of our own training and understanding. We also sell them ideas of what coffee can be and our customers will frequently be frustrated at the gap of quality between the shop and their kitchen. This is where consumer coffee classes come in. Before the pandemic we were already seeing a rise in consumer education, but now it has truly gone from novel pursuit to an absolute necessity. I believe every shop should have some form of coffee class for their customers to help equip them to brew your roasted coffee well and also to deepen their appreciation for what you do every day.

In this encore episode from January of 2018 (the infancy of this show) we dive into this topic and I give you 7 tips for how to set up and conduct great coffee classes.

Please listen to the related episodes below for more on the importance of consumer education!

Related episodes:

• 092 : Tony "Tonx" Konecny of Yes Plz : Consumer Accessibility, roasting, 3rd wave, subscription
• 297 : Making Coffee Education Fun w/ Suneal Pabari of Leaderboard Coffee
• 349 : Talking About 21st Century Coffee w/ Kenneth Davids
• 333: Bridging the Professional and Home Barista Gap w/ Lance Hedrick of Onyx Coffee Lab
• 035 : The Consumer Revolution w/ Kevin Sinnott
• Sustainability Series #4 : Consumer
• BLOG: The Customer of Tomorrow

Visit our amazing Sponsors!

www.groundcontrol.coffee

www.pacficfoodservice.com

www.coffeefest.com

It's Founder Friday once again and I am thrilled to shine a light on someone who has built their business on a heart for people, relationships, and an offering of accessible quality coffees. Today we are talking with the founder of Drip Coffee NYC, Nigel Price!

Nigel left a career in finance to pursue opening his own coffee shop. Once he was immersed in the industry he realized there was much more to doing this successfully than just having a good business would prepare him for. He spent 10 years working in great coffee bars learning and growing his perspective, skills, and concept.

He launched Drip Coffee Makers NYC 3 years ago as a focused mobile multi-roaster cart popping up all over the city. From there he opened his first brick and mortar in 2020, thrived in the pandemic, and now has a fleet of 4 stores and a growing community of committed customers and fan across the city and the industry.

Nigel has a calm and clear passion for people and coffee that has been at the heart of Drip and it's success and today we are going to hear the story of how this all came to be along with some very important insights into entrepreneurship that you will be absolutely key to your own success and fulfillment in coffee.

We cover:

• Starting in coffee from finance
• Early false assumptions
• The real challenge of running a shop
• Prioritizing relationships
• Paying dues and Finding your voice
• Starting as a pop up multi roaster shop
• From mobile to brick and mortar
• Dealing with transition from barista to operator
• It's about the people and their experience
• What the future holds

Related Episodes:

• 145: Founder Friday w/ Red Rooster Coffee Roasters co-founder, Haden Polseno-Hensley
• 108 : Founder Friday w/ Dorian Bolden of Beyu Caffe in Durham, NC
• 305 : Founder Friday! w/ Andrew Sinclair of MadLab Coffee, Los Angeles, CA
• 194 : Encore Episode! Leadership in the Cafe: 10 Steps to being a People First Leader | Aired January 17 2017
• 314 : The 6 Essential Qualities of Coffee Shop Leaders

Visit our amazing Sponsors!

www.groundcontrol.coffee

www.pacficfoodservice.com

"We don't speak Starbucks" I cannot tell you how much damage phrases like this have done over the years. More than just creating hostility at the register with customers who don't speak the same "coffee language" as us, it also sets the stage for more hostility and misunderstanding with customers whose culture, language, or abilities are literally different from our own.

In today's shift break we will be discussing the importance of fostering a desire to serve through understanding and how we can overcome language barriers of all kinds with the right mindset and resourcing.

Related episodes:

• 122 : How to be a Cash Register Hero : 6 Essential Skills
• 282 : How to Listen to your Customers
• 165 : The Art of Deep Listening w/ Oscar Trimboli
• 196 : Understanding Customer Preferences w/ Peter Giuliano
• Up-selling and Hospitality: Helping Customers Make Good Decisions

Reach out for one-on-one consulting and coaching!

Book a 90 minute consulting Call now!

Visit these amazing sponsors!

The best espresso machines in the world!

www.lamarzoccousa.com

Custom branded mobile apps for your shop!

www.espressly.co

The system works exactly the way it was designed to work...and it needs to be broken. This is the goal of a new model of coffee trade introduced by Andy and Nanelle Newbom through their company Torque Coffee.

Andy and Nanelle Newbom are life long coffee professionals who have been foundational in helping establish the standards for transparency and excellence we know today. With their iconic roastery and retail company Barefoot Coffee they helped pioneer Direct Trade, Andy was a founding member of the Barista Guild, and they both have been work in roasting / importing companies since then where they are consistently pursuing equity and systemic change for an industry who's distribution of value is drastically lopsided.

Recently they have launched a new model of trade based the idea of what they call "Proportional Pricing" with their company Torque Coffee.

In this model they seek to give to break the system and replace it with a framework that pays the farmer a set percentage of the coffee's retail value upfront. It really is a great idea and in today's conversation we will get the inside scoop on how this came about, how it works, and what you can do to adopt this model in your roastery.

We discuss:

• Iterating models to address the issues
• Leaching value from farmers
• Double standards
• The Torque model: Proportional Pricing
• Starting at the ceiling
• You don't have as many coffees as you think
• Building the system and relationships needed
• Taking the risk off the producer
• unintentional impacts on producer
• Play to pay sucks
• The practice of tracking all your costs

Links:

www.torquecoffees.com

Instagram @torquecoffees

Related episodes:

• Sustainability Series #2 : Importing & Roasting
• 335: A Better Business Model for Coffee Farmers w/ Thaleon Tremain of Pachamama Coffee
• 328 : Relationships and Resiliency w/ Xavier Alexander of Metric Coffee
• 294 : At Origin Roasting Revolution w/ Luis Fernando, founder of Amor Perfecto!
• 288 : The Truth behind Cheap Coffee w/ Karl Weinhold

Visit our amazing Sponsors!

www.groundcontrol.coffee

www.pacficfoodservice.com

www.coffeefest.com

Welcome to part two of a live series of interviews conducted on the show floor of Coffee Fest Chicago in June of 2022! 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.

Today we will be talking with Marissa Childers, co-founder (along with Ethan Darla) of Tanbrown Coffee, a roastery dedicated to re-writing the narrative about Asian coffee and Asians in coffee. In our chat today we dive into the topic of the current narrative regarding asian coffees and other marginalized origins, and how roasters and shops can help make a difference through highlighting the nuances and complexities those origins have to offer.

To learn more about Tanbrown visit:

www.tanbrown.coffee

Instagram @tanbrowncoffee

Next we get to talk with Jess Gulino who wears many hats at La Terza Coffee. One of her focuses is in branding and helping shops create expressions that resonate with customers and the shops values. In this chat we discuss lots of relevant questions you might have when approaching branding and Jess helps us guide us to more clear understanding of what may be right for you.

Learn more about La Terza Coffee here:

• www.laterzacoffee.com
• IG @laterzacoffee

Finally we get to have a conversation with the great Tony Dreyfuss who, along with his father, founded the iconic Metropolis Coffee in Chicago! In this discussion we cover what goes into an effective training program and Tony gives us insight into how they have honed their own program from nearly 20 years of experience.

Learn more about Metropolis Coffee here:

• www.metroploliscoffee.com
• @metropoliscoffeeco

Be sure to tune in to listen to part 1 of this series if you have not already!

HEY THERE!

If you are looking for resourcing, clarity, inspiration, and just a really fun experience then I would suggest attending Coffee Fest Trades Shows!

You can get 50% off your registration by using the code KEYS when registering you and your team at www.coffeefest.com

Welcome to part on of a live series of interviews conducted on the show floor of Coffee Fest Chicago in June of 2022! 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.

Today we will be talking with Luke Waite of The Lev Co and Pomelo Coffee Consulting all about how roasting operations can increase profitability and clarity around their mission.

Learn more about Luke's work here:

• The Lev Co
• Pomelo Coffee Consulting

Next we chat with Kris Christian who is the founder of Chicago French Press. In our conversation we discuss her story of building a business to make coffee more accessible, black entrepreneurship, and the need for resourcing to continue to see that sector of small business thrive.

Learn more about Kris and Chicago French Press here:

• Chicago French Press
• IG @chicagofrenchpress

Lastly we get to sit down with Mark Calhoun and Jim Starcev of Perfect Cube. Mark and Jim have been on the show before to talk about data and metrics and in this interview we focus on how and where businesses can get started on the right track to financial tracking and health.

Learn more about perfect cube here:

• www.perfectcube.co
• 302 : Data's Roll in the Success of your Shop w/ Mark Calhoun and Jim Starcev of Perfect Cube

Be sure to tune in to part 2 of this series where we talk with another three wonderful coffee minds at Coffee Fest!

HEY!

If you are looking for resourcing, clarity, inspiration, and just a really fun experience then I would suggest attending Coffee Fest Trades Shows!

You can get 50% off your registration by using the code KEYS when registering you and your team at www.coffeefest.com

In coffee, we like to see ourselves making progress and we check our state against certain metrics and goals that we believe, once reached, will transform our business and as bring satisfaction.

Today on Shift Break we will be discussing vanity metrics and why some of the feedback and status we seek through them will more likely lead to stress and fear, than joy and fulfillment.

Related episodes:

• 317 : Encore Episode: Death by Comparison
• Who you are & What you Do
• Your Peers are not your Customers
• 253 : Mindsets that Sabotage Success

Reach out for one-on-one consulting and coaching!

Book a 90 minute consulting Call now!

Visit these amazing sponsors!

The best espresso machines in the world!

www.lamarzoccousa.com

Custom branded mobile apps for your shop!

www.espressly.co

Communicating, educating, and training boils down to how well you can connect with people to walk with them through information and transformation. If you want to be effective in these areas you need a whole lot of genuine passion and a desire to not just teach, but also to learn. Not many people in the industry embody this as much as today's guest, Michael Tan.

Michael is a 13 year industry veteran who rose up in the ranks from barista, manager, trainer, even opening his own coffee shop for a time. These days Michael is hosting events and educating scores of baristas in Malaysia as the wholesale trainer for JWC in Kuala Lumpur.

In our conversation today we get to trace Michael's journey in coffee with an emphasis on the lessons he has learned in communication, training, and customer education. We also discuss the importance of language, humility, context, and always learning.

Enjoy!

We discuss:

• Rising as a barista
• Conducting tastings
• Learning to teach and inspire
• The importance of language
• Early mentors
• Developing training presence and content
• Relating to your culture and context
• Ownership experience
• KISS concept of training
• 3 P's of wholesale training
• Passion and staying grounded
• Soft skills in coffee

Links:

JWC Roastery Malaysia

Instagram: @mike.talks.coffee

Related Episodes:

• 332: Founder Friday! w/ Iman Kusumaputra & Putri Yulandari of Kopikalyan, Jakarta, Indonesia
• 246 : Selecting a Wholesale Coffee Provider
• 133 : 5 Keys to Successful Wholesale w/ Sarah Richmond
• 339 : What Good Barista Training Produces
• 336: A Cafe Leadership Masterclass w/ Selina Viguera of Blue Bottle Coffee

Visit our amazing Sponsors!

www.groundcontrol.coffee

www.pacficfoodservice.com

www.coffeefest.com

It happens in cafe all over the world. Baristas are hired on a trial basis to see if they are a good fit for the business. On the surface, this practice seems logical and, no doubt, may yield some positive results. But...I believe the practice of trial basis hiring brings with it more negative results than positive.

On this Shift Break I will go over some of my thoughts on why trial basis hiring may be a bad idea and what you might want to practice instead.

Be sure to visit the links below to learn more about good hiring and training practices.

Recommended episodes:

• 301 : Hiring and Training for Excellence
• 278 : Making great Hiring Decisions
• 018: Hiring, Culture, and the Future of your Shop
• 235 : 4 Tips for Training your Staff
• 130 : Anne Nylander | Training Principles for Specialty Coffee Professionals
• 296: Holistic Barista Training w/ David Castillo of Go Get Em Tiger , Los Angeles

Reach out for one-on-one consulting and coaching!

Book a 90 minute consulting Call now!

Visit these amazing sponsors!

The best espresso machines in the world!

www.lamarzoccousa.com

Custom branded mobile apps for your shop!

www.espressly.co