Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders

Nothing kills cafe culture like an a staff member who is a bad fit for their role. Often this manifests in work performance issues that are felt by customers, coworkers, and leaders alike. It brings people down.

The diabolical thing is that the most common response cafe leadership has is to simply wish it away and let it go on far too long. Meanwhile a toxic or ill fit employee continues (whether unwittingly or knowingly) to do damage to morale, service, and the reputation of the business.

Today on Shift Break we will be talking about how to approach this "Bad Apple" situation in a way that seeks the highest good for all parties involved and affords you the opportunity to develop more decisiveness and resilience in the face of these unfortunate situations.

KEYS TO THE SHOP® 1:1 CONSULTING AND COACHING

If you are a cafe owner and want to work one on one with me to bring your shop to its next level and help bring you joy and freedom in the process then email [email protected]

OR... book a free call now to talk about working together

https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min

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• Raising Your Hiring Standard
• 496: Hard Decisions and High Standards
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Every Coffee Fest we sit down with presenters and speakers to talk about their field of expertise and learn from their experience in coffee.

This last NYC Coffee Fest we were privileged to get to chat with four dynamic professionals and discuss everything from barista education and community, social media strategy, and how to run a world class bakery and coffee bar. We start with Ivana Chan and Rachel Apple of Raise the Bar! Ivana Chan is a marketing and e-commerce consultant who has spent the last seven years helping specialty coffee brands grow by bringing their hospitality online through thoughtful digital strategy.

She is also the co-founder of Raise the Bar Coffee, a nonprofit focused on accessible coffee education, mentorship, and community-building, best known for organizing Level Up, an event where baristas connect, learn, and build sustainable careers in coffee Rachel Apple is an esteemed figure in the specialty coffee industry, with over 19 years of comprehensive experience. Her extensive resume includes pivotal roles as Quality Control for George Howell Coffee, Coffee Buyer & Global Supply Chain Manager, Roaster, Educator, & Barista in addition to being a Legacy Q Grader. She is also the only woman, globally, who is a Cup of Excellence Head Judge & SET Course Instructor.

Rachel also serves as a US Barista Championship Head Judge, Sensory Lead, and Committee Member, investing years in volunteer work and leadership in the specialty coffee community – which has recently manifested in co-founding an education focused 501(c)(3) nonprofit Raise the Bar.

Links:

https://www.instagram.com/raisethebar_coffee/

Next we get to learn about winning social media strategy from Birch Coffee's Jeremy Lyman! Jeremy Lyman is the co-founder of Birch Coffee, a New York City-based coffee company. Since its first store opened in 2009, the company has grown to become one of New York City's premiere and most loved independent coffee shop chains. With more than a dozen locations throughout the city, the focus of Birch is on customer service.

Service is something Jeremy believed was lacking in the Specialty Coffee industry and being that both he and his partner Paul are consumers first and worked in bars and restaurants for years before, they realized that this was what was necessary to stand out in the industry. In order to grow the company, Jeremy has overseen the development of not only a high level of service, but methods in which to hone and develop those skills amongst his teams.

Jeremy, Paul, and their team have also figured out creative ways to stand out. From eliminating wifi and introducing conversation starters to designing extraordinarily unique napkins, they have caught the eye of the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and Forbes who have paid specific attention to these differentiators.

Links:

https://www.instagram.com/coffeedogguy/

www.birchcoffee.com

https://www.instagram.com/birchcoffee/

Finally we discuss baking, pastry, and coffee excellence with Lauren Tran! Lauren Tran is the chef-owner of Bánh by Lauren in Chinatown, New York City. She blends her Seattle upbringing and love for coffee culture with a deep-rooted passion for Vietnamese flavors and desserts. After working at fine-dining icons Canlis, Momofuku Ko, and Gramercy Tavern, Lauren started selling pastries out of her apartment during the pandemic.

Bánh by Lauren was hosted for pop-ups for four years before opening a brick and mortar bakery cafe in NYC's Manhattan Chinatown in June 2024. The New York Times ranked her shop among the top 22 bakeries in the U.S., T Magazine named her bánh bò nướng as one of the 25 essential pastries to eat in NYC, and Bánh by Lauren is a 2026 James Beard Award semifinalist for Outstanding Bakery.

Links:

https://www.instagram.com/banhbylauren/

Go check out Coffee Fest Trade Shows Today!

www.coffeefest.com

Habits we develop around work and leadership can serve to help us grow, or they can hold us back from growth. Many leaders unintentionally develop habits that feel like the right thing in the moment, but in the end actually undo progress and move things backwards in the cafe's operations, culture, and quality.

Today we are going to dive into five habits that I have seen damage and hold back businesses countless times over. These are things I have personally engaged in many times throughout my career. Our goal here is to get you to recognize these habits, and replace them with healthy and helpful ones.

We discuss:

• Blaming and Complaining
• Rationalizing bad behavior
• Procrastination of decisions
• Glorifying chaos and dysfunction
• Uninformed comparison

KEYS TO THE SHOP ALSO OFFERS

1:1 CONSULTING + COACHING!

If you are a cafe owner and want to work one on one with me to bring your shop to its next level and help bring you joy and freedom in the process then email

[email protected]

of book a free call now:

https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min

Related episodes:

• Self-Awareness and Honesty
• It's not You, It's Me
• 419: Behaviors That Establish Excellent Management Culture
• 373 : The Owner's Role: 5 Behaviors for Effectiveness

Our image of who we are as a business is not necessarily the same as that of our customer. We see all the inside gears and pulleys that hide beneath the surface. We see the scope and organizational diagram of the cafe, the roastery, mobile cart, online sales, and multiple locations. We see a brand, while they see just a small coffee shop.

Today on Shift Break we will be talking about how no matter the size of our operations, the individual customer will always see and experience your company within a small framework of their cafe, their drink, their seat etc.

This serves to give us pause and to help us consider just how much we can vouch for that singular experience that thousands of individual customers have in our cafes. Are we getting lax because the size and scope of our operations make us feel an undeserved sense of confidence?

My hope is that this episode will get you thinking about that one customer and how, no matter your size, you can run like a small shop. After all, thats how the customer experiences you.

KEYS TO THE SHOP® 1:1 CONSULTING AND COACHING

If you are a cafe owner and want to work one on one with me to bring your shop to its next level and help bring you joy and freedom in the process then email [email protected]

OR... book a free call now

https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min

Related Episodes:

• 505: Maintaining Excellence in the Everyday Work of Coffee Shops w/ Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood
• SHIFT BREAK! Considering the Future You When Making Decisions
• Hiring for Future Leadership
• What is Professionalism? Some thoughts for the future of service
• SHIFT BREAK! Why Won't My Baristas Engage Customers The Way I Want Them To?!
• SHIFT BREAK! What Customers Value and How to Deliver It
• 480: Focus on What Your Customers Love
• 591: The Problem w/ Focusing On The Numbers vs The Guest Experience

Thank you to out sponsors!

Everything you need for back of the house operations https://rattleware.qualitybystainless.com/

The best and most revered espresso machines on the planet: www.lamarzoccousa.com

The words "innovation" and "progress" are the favorite buzz words of our industry, but what do they mean? It is usually a lot of noise around the subject of technology, but rarely related to things that deliver lasting positive change in the cafe. The average shop owner has to wade through a sea of claims and sales pitches all making big claims about their products. In the end, they are left with less money and typically the same issues.

Well today we are going to cut through the noise of the industry and its extractive disposition toward business owners and give you a way to think about progress and innovation that simplifies, clarifies, and helps build confidence instead of nursing insecurities.

KEYS TO THE SHOP ALSO OFFERS

1:1 CONSULTING + COACHING!

If you are a cafe owner and want to work one on one with me to bring your shop to its next level and help bring you joy and freedom in the process then email

[email protected]

of book a free call now:

https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min

Related episodes:

• 500! Reflections and The Role of the Coffee Shop in the Industry
• 485: Your Shop vs The Industry – How to Free Yourself From Dependency
• 181 : Organizational Self-Knowledge
• 558: Digital Natives and the Future of Coffee Shops w/Kosta Kallivrousis
• SHIFT BREAK! "What's Next in Coffee"

Having a clean cafe and a clean bar is not just a surface level pursuit. The mindset it takes to keep things clean while busy is a discipline that have far reaching benefits extending to the quality of our products, depth of hospitality, and the health of our relationships behind and across the bar. Today on Shift Break we will be talking about the mindset baristas and owners need to have in order to work clean and how this focus is foundational to the building of a solid coffee shop business.

My hope is you can take this and practice entering into this mindset daily and watch as you and your team or co-workers start to become more calm, productive, effective, and fulfilled in working clean.

Related episodes on the YouTube channel:

• SHIFT BREAK: Detail Oriented Staff Starts With You
• Lessons From "America's Best Coffee House" | Ep 581
• Is That Character or Neglect? | Shift Break Series

  KEYS TO THE SHOP® 1:1 CONSULTING AND COACHING

  If you are a cafe owner and want to work one on one with me to bring your shop to its next level and help bring you joy and freedom in the process then email [email protected]

  OR... book a free call now

  https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min

  Related Episodes:

• 505: Maintaining Excellence in the Everyday Work of Coffee Shops w/ Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood
• SHIFT BREAK! Considering the Future You When Making Decisions
• Hiring for Future Leadership
• What is Professionalism? Some thoughts for the future of service

Thank you to out sponsors!

Everything you need for back of the house operations https://rattleware.qualitybystainless.com/

The best and most revered espresso machines on the planet: www.lamarzoccousa.com

The success of coffee globally is based on what coffee represents...community. A beverage that facilitates rootedness, growth, and fruiting of relationships through shared conversation over a cup in our shops or your home.

But today, we are an industry. And our concerns tend to be exclusively around just the business of specialty coffee.

Where is the heart? Today I am honored and excited to present an interview with someone who is actively and tenaciously pursuing the heart of coffee in her community by honoring coffees root and growing the fruit of what it can bring to people. We are talking with Head Roaster, Co-founder, and Chief of Staff for Cxffee Black, Renata Henderson! Renata Henderson is Memphis, Tennessee's first Black female roaster and the co-founder and Chief of Staff of Cxffeeblack, the community-oriented, education-based coffee company she built alongside her husband Bartholomew Jones. Founded in 2019 on a mission to return coffee to its African roots and build an equitable Black future, Cxffeeblack made history by creating the first entirely all-Black coffee supply chain from Ethiopia to Memphis — with direct-trade relationships extending to producers like Stephen and Margaret Kuria of Liwani Estate in Nakuru, Kenya. She serves as Head Roaster, Creative Director, and HR lead, Renata brings her deep background in curriculum, instruction, and education into every dimension of Cxffeeblack, from its Specialist-in-Training internship program to the Barista Exchange Program. Her connection to coffee is deeply ancestral — rooted in Ethiopian women's 2,000-year roasting tradition and a family legacy that includes her grandfather marching alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the 1968 Memphis sanitation workers' strike, canteen of coffee in hand. Under Renata and Bartholomew's leadership, Cxffeeblack has earned the 2023 Sprudgie Award for Best Film in Coffee, the 2024 Sprudgie Award for Global Notable Roaster of the Year, and the inaugural 2024 Coffee Coalition for Racial Equity Innovator of the Year award. Built with support from more than 500 community investors, Cxffeeblack's new flagship café and global roasting headquarters opened in December 2025 at 3386 Bowen Avenue in Memphis's Mitchell Heights neighborhood — celebrated with an East African coffee ceremony, live music, and a community brunch — and is now equipped with a new roaster tripling the company's capacity as it expands into Memphis grocery stores and new café partnerships across the city. Cxffeeblack has been featured in Vice, NPR, The Hill, and Black Enterprise, and has collaborated with Miir, Oatley, La Marzocco, NBA player JaeShawn Tate, and West African coffee entrepreneurs at the Black Star Line Festival. For Renata, coffee has always been more than a beverage — it is, as she says "an open air church to experience God and His goodness."

We discuss:

• Her Grandfather's coffee and community justice that inspired her
• Connecting with Coffee's Origin through Cxffeeblack
• How Cxffeeblack Is Redefining Coffee with Heart and Justice
• Living Among the People They Serve in Memphis
• The hard part and the joyful part of coffee work from the heart
• Navigating Authenticity and Business
• Guidelines Celebrating Individuality in Coffee Spaces
• Personal Growth and Community Impact

Links:

https://www.instagram.com/cxffeeblack/

https://cxffeeblack.com/

KEYS TO THE SHOP ALSO OFFERS 1:1 CONSULTING AND COACHING!

If you are a cafe owner and want to work one on one with me to bring your shop to its next level and help bring you joy and freedom in the process then email

[email protected]

of book a free call now:

https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min

Related episodes:

• 542: Founder Friday! w/ Nori and Tin Burmudez of Corridor Flow, Lomita, CA
• 488: Founder Friday! Honoring Coffee's Root w/ Bartholomew Jones of Cxffee Black!
• 230 : Making room for Community in your Shop
• 279 : Founder Friday! w/ Daniel Brown and Nephthaly Leonidas of Gilly Brew Bar
• 451: Business Growth, Integrity, and Coffee Farmer Equity w/ Martin Mayorga of Mayorga Coffee
• 530: Founder Friday w/ Aisha Bullard and Modou (MAD) Diongue of Original Drip in Dakar, Senegal
• 352: Music, Culture, and Coffee w/ Hip Hop Artist, Propaganda
• 139 : Founder Friday w/ Kusanya Cafe co-founder, Phil Sipka

The more we ask this question the more we tend to steal time and consideration away from what we have of value in the present. The coffee shop and the larger industry for that matter, are obsessed with not being left behind and therefore we must constantly disquiet our minds and worry. Today on Shift Break we will be talking about the danger of letting this question be the dominant question we answer. We will talk also about a healthier approach that pursues excellence in the now as a way to secure the future for ourselves, our staff, and the industry as a whole.

KEYS TO THE SHOP® 1:1 CONSULTING AND COACHING

If you are a cafe owner and want to work one on one with me to bring your shop to its next level and help bring you joy and freedom in the process then email [email protected]

OR... book a free call now

https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min

Related Episodes:

• 505: Maintaining Excellence in the Everyday Work of Coffee Shops w/ Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood
• SHIFT BREAK! Considering the Future You When Making Decisions
• Hiring for Future Leadership
• What is Professionalism? Some thoughts for the future of service

Thank you to out sponsors!

Everything you need for back of the house operations https://rattleware.qualitybystainless.com/

The best and most revered espresso machines on the planet: www.lamarzoccousa.com

Meetings can be a very useful part of running a cafe. The way we tend to use them though has become a real problem. In fact, rather than helping, even the most well intentioned of meetings, might actually hurt your business if it is being conducted improperly. Today we are going to be diving into why your staff meeting might be doomed to fail and what you can do to make sure that you are using meetings for the right things.

You might end up with fewer but better and more effective meetings as a result of today's episode.

KEYS TO THE SHOP ALSO OFFERS 1:1 CONSULTING AND COACHING!

If you are a cafe owner and want to work one on one with me to bring your shop to its next level and help bring you joy and freedom in the process then email

[email protected]

of book a free call now:

https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min

Related episodes:

• 463: Tips on Having the Right Meetings
• Tips for Conducting Great Staff Meetings
• 583: Unifying Teams Across Multiple Cafes
• Avoid These Cafe Meeting Mistakes

The world of specialty coffee today owes a lot of its success to those who helped build movements and create opportunities in earlier years. The times where new and actually meaningful advances in coffee shops, coffee craft, and service. There were many people and businesses that were at the forefront of the 3rd wave coffee movement and we get to talk with one of those people today! On this Founder Friday we get to sit down with my friend and coffee legend, Sammy Piccolo, of Caffe Artigiano, and now owner of Prado Cafe in Vancouver Washington. Sammy Piccolo has spend nearly 3 decades in the coffee world. A 4x Canadian Barista Champion, The firs World Latte Art Champion, and 3x top 3 finisher at World Barista Championships including coming in 2nd in After Sammy's brothers Vince and Mike founded Caffe Artigiano in 1999, Sammy immediately jumped on board. Artigiano championed progressive espresso culture, popularized latte art in Canada, and innovated service styles in their massively busy shops. Many future owners and champions came from that cafe. Sammy took over Prado Cafe in 2012 and has grown it to a fleet of almost 10 shops with a decidedly more simple and minimal approach with a heavy emphasis on hospitality and in house baking. Today we get to look back to the early days and talk with Sammy about his journey, the lessons he learned, his opinions and insights into the industry and competitions, and the things he believes are at the root of success for cafe operations.

Links:

https://www.instagram.com/pradocafe/

https://pradocoffee.com/

KEYS TO THE SHOP ALSO OFFERS 1:1 CONSULTING AND COACHING!

If you are a cafe owner and want to work one on one with me to bring your shop to its next level and help bring you joy and freedom in the process then email

[email protected]

of book a free call now:

https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min

Related episodes:

• 544: Love Coffee, Control Caffeine w/ 2013 WBC Champ Pete Licata of Caffeine Control Coffee
• 391 : Founder Friday! w/ Megan Wilson of Spuds Coffee in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
• 327: Founder Friday! w/ Phuong Tran of Lava Java