Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders

Back in 2018 at a Coffee Fest in Baltimore I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing Stephen Zinnerman, owner and founder of (along with his wife Natasha) The Coffee Enthusiast: A Brewing Company (TCE).

Back when we first met on the show floor, he was just starting TCE and since then they have experienced A LOT of growth both in their family and in the business, especially on the roasting side. Through the challenges, late nights, iterations, and lots of giving and receiving from the specialty coffee community TCE has emerged as a known and established industry presence that promotes connection and great coffee experiences.

On top of running TCE Stephen has recently joined the roasting team at Counter Culture Coffee and is also a board member of The Coffee Coalition for Racial Equity

Stephen's background outside of coffee is higher education, where he has worked for over 10 years in different areas, from University Housing to Environmental Research & Education. He is a graduate student, studying Environmental Policy & Management with a concentration in Environmental Sustainability.

Stephen is one of the most dedicated, hardworking, and (not surprisingly) enthusiastic people you can meet and it has been a pleasure to follow his progress over the years and now to get to have this conversation exploring his journey 3 years later.

In this interview we discuss:

• Starting small and getting feedback
• Beginning to focus on roasting
• Learning to listen and serve
• Creating something to give his kids
• Continuing to learn and invest in yourself
• Taking action as an individual
• Showing appreciation
• Taking on a commercial coffee roasting position while running TCE
• The hard work of commercial roasting
• Advice on how to learn and grow

Links:

www.tcecoffee.com

TCE on Instagram

Related Episodes:

079 : Interviews from Coffee Fest Baltimore (First interview w/ Stephen)

149 : Celina Velez, Head Roaster of Merit Coffee in Austin, TX

180 : A Conversation with Rugid Grind Founders, Brian Washington and Averett Barksdale

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233 : A Conversation w/ Anthony Ragler, Black and White

232 : Founder Friday w/ Blew Kind of Fanny Lou's Porch

Visit our amazing Sponsors!

www.prima-coffee.com/keys

www.pacficfoodservice.com

www.coffeefest.com

Where do we even start when choosing tools for our roastery? There are an incredible number of options from basic and inexpensive -to complex and costly. In the most recent issue of Roast Magazine, today's guest, Kat Melheim gives us an outline of tools and resources through the entire roasting process that can help clarify this dilemma.

Kat Melheim (she/her) is a roaster, barista, artist, and writer. She founded Coffee People Zine, a publication that celebrates the creativity of the coffee community, in 2018. Through her work in the coffee industry she has been fortunate enough to travel, meet exceptional people, and taste delicious coffees all over the world. Kat strives to connect with others, share what she's learning, and entertain with joy and enthusiasm.

On today's RoR episode we will be diving into the subject of getting the right tools for you specific roasting operation,how Kat's own career has been helped by having or lacking resources, and her advice to us on how we should approach developing ourselves as technicians and artists.

Lots of wonderful thoughts and insights here. Enjoy!

Links:

www.coffeepeople.org

Instagram: @coffeepeoplezine

Instagram: @coffeekatheryn

Instagram: @roasterkat

Kat's YouTube channel!

On this episode of RoR from Roast Magazine

• Her career path in roasting
• Resources and opportunities that helped her
• Prioritizing tools by impact
• Importance of roaster "Quality of Life"
• Discerning what is essential for your context
• Levels of need
• Importance of time on the roaster
• Being a taster
• Taking care of your body
• Kats Recommended tools
• The importance of feedback and communication
• Advice for growing as an artist and technician

Subscribe to Roast Magazine!

www.roastmagazine.com

Related Episodes:

RoR #1: A Conversation w/ Anne Cooper of Equilibrium Master Roasters

RoR #2: Exploring Quality Control w/ Spencer Turer of Coffee Enterprises

RoR #3: Making Contingency Planning a Reality w/ Andi Trindle Mersch of Philz Coffee

RoR #4: Practical Thermal Dynamics w/ Candice Madison of Royal Coffee / The Crown Oak

RoR #5: Time and Color in Roasting w/ Morten Munchow of Coffee Mind"

RoR #6: Buying Less and Doing More w/ Ever Meister

RoR #7 Illustrative Sample Roasting w/ Mike Ebert of Firedancer Coffee Consultants

ROR #8 How Post-Harvest Processing Impacts Flavor w/ Siva Subramanian and Byron Holcomb of Olam Food Ingredients

In competition we stress about the performance and we practice the skills repeatedly in order to be able to do well on the day. While this approach is needed, there is another approach to preparation that goes deeper and helps ensure that, no mater what you are wanting to do better in (Latte art, management, leadership, etc) you will show up consistently and with minimal stress.

Today we will be talking about how we show up at work and in life and how we should approach intentional practice to thrive in our roles.

Related episodes:

• Laziness & the Most Important Decision
• Study the Rules
• 243 : Encore Episode! "The Sleepwalking Barista (Owner)"
• Patience & Passivity : Career Advice for the Long Game
• 031 : Essential Advice for New Baristas : Tips to help you successfully navigate and thrive in your new coffee career

Elevated batch brew and so much more!

Ground Control Cyclops Brewer

The best espresso machines in the world!

www.lamarzoccousa.com

Do you feel like you need to be good at everything in order to be a good leader? That is a pretty common thought but the fact is that this way approach to leadership stifles both you and those you lead. Instead we should focus on what qualities will allow us to lead people with different skills than us effectively.

Today I want to talk about six things that we develop in succession as leaders in the coffee shop that allow us to lead a variety of people and ourselves sustainably.

Related Episodes:

228 : Cracking the Leadership Code w/ Alain Hunkins

194 : Encore Episode! Leadership in the Cafe: 10 Steps to being a People First Leader | Aired January 17 2017

109 : Leadership Abandonment Syndrome : Lack of development in senior staff and what to do about it

018: Hiring, Culture, and the Future of your Shop

173 : 5 Areas of Focus for Retailers

Visit our amazing Sponsors!

www.prima-coffee.com/keys

www.pacficfoodservice.com

www.coffeefest.com

Hustle culture teaches us that we should be working pretty much all the time. In order to succeed we need to sacrifice a lot and where the limit is nobody quite knows. What happens too often is we only really start to back off when we burn out but by then it's too late.

Recently I was ask by an attendee at Coffee Fest, "How can I get over feeling guilty for taking a day off?" That is a heart breaking question and today on shift break I want to talk with you all about this question and hopefully help anyone of you that might be wondering the same thing.

Related Episodes:

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176 : Harnessing Emotions at Work w/ Andrea Hoban of Oji Life Lab

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258 : Prioritizing your Mental Health in the New Year w/ Dr. Lara Pence

Interested in consulting or coaching? Reach out! [email protected]

Visit our awesome Sponsors!

Elevated batch brew and so much more!

Ground Control Cyclops Brewer

The best espresso machines in the world!

www.lamarzoccousa.com

Training and education is an ongoing process. Not just for those we are training but also for ourselves as trainers and educators. If we adopt the same type of "always learning" mentality we want to see in other, then the way we understand and conduct training will change over time. Today we will be exploring training and education through the career journey of someone who has crafted several training systems in world class coffee bars and talk about what he has learned from the mistakes and successes along the way.

I am thrilled to welcome to the show, Michael Phillips, of Blue Bottle Coffee!

Michael Phillips has worked in Specialty coffee since 2006 and was a co-founder of LA based Handsome Coffee Roasters before joining Blue Bottle Coffee. Throughout his career he has held Director of training positions at Handsome Coffee, Intelligentsia Coffee and Blue Bottle Coffee. His work at Blue evolved into supporting new cafe openings internationally helping to launch cafes and new markets from Boston and DC to Tokyo and Seoul. He also holds two United States Barista Championship titles from 2009 & 2010 and one World Barista Championship title from 2010. His current role at Blue Bottle Coffee is as the Global Director of Education & Engagement where he focuses on creating consumer facing educational content.

In our conversation we cover:

• Highlights of his completion career
• The things that shaped his outlook on training
• When training ideals go too far
• Importance of realistic and practical expectations
• How entrepreneurship helped set the stage for a new approach
• Shaping the training at Blue Bottle
• The 10/20/70 rule in training
• Logistics of training across borders and cultures
• Delegation / Centralized vs localized training
• Why training is a culture not an event
• Choosing what to focus on and the limitation of one-on-one training
• Calibrating your team and building something sustainable
• Creating a great cafe experience

Links:

Michael Phillips on Instagram @1shot4theroad

Blue bottle Coffee YouTube

Related Episodes:

296: Holistic Barista Training w/ David Castillo of Go Get Em Tiger , Los Angeles

191 : Retraining your Staff on new Standards

178 : Training Masterclass w/ Emma Haines of London School of Coffee and Caffeina Consulting

119 : Barista Training Masterclass w/ 2009 WBC Champion, Gwilym Davies

Visit our amazing Sponsors!

www.prima-coffee.com/keys

www.pacficfoodservice.com

www.coffeefest.com

How we think of money and its place in our coffee shop's culture will have huge implications for how your staff either engage or disengage with the success of the store. The first step is to examine our mindset and then connect the metrics to meaningful outcomes.

Today on shift break we will chat about how we can shift the conversation around metrics and money from secrecy to celebration.

Related episodes:

311 : Why Your Coffee Shop Needs Open Book Management w/ Larry Chase

302 : Data's Roll in the Success of your Shop w/ Mark Calhoun and Jim Strarcev of Perfect Cube

009 : How to Approach Data and Metrics w/ Simon Ouderkirk : Simon shows us how we should be thinking of numbers and their relation to our shops, baristas, and businesses

304 : Inside the Coffee Data Trends Breakout Report w/ Katie Von Der Lieth of the SCA

Interested in consulting or coaching? Reach out! [email protected]

Visit our awesome Sponsors!

Elevated batch brew and so much more!

Ground Control Cyclops Brewer

The best espresso machines in the world!

www.lamarzoccousa.com

Making a decision on an espresso machine can come with a lot of stress and uncertainty. With so many different options, configurations, styles, and promises made by manufactures it is hard to know that you will be happy with what you end up with. On top of that, will it be able to serve the needs of the business? Really it boils down to wants, needs, and the balance of the two. Today we are going to be exploring some very important mindsets to help you make the right decision for your situation with our guest, Chad Little of La Marzocco!

Chad Little handles sales and business development in the midwest for La Marzocco USA.

In the coffee world Chad has worn many of hats from technician and educator with Counter Culture Coffee, business developer and manager at Ipsento, along with a host of other roles in the world of fine dining and other coffee outfits since the late 90's. For five years Chad was also an owner/operator of an audacious restaurant called Arbor in Logan Square.

Professionally Chad enjoys helping people bridge the gap between knowing what they like and knowing what they want; and beyond that helping connect the dots for people who want to make a difference or be part of a solution, but don't know how or where to start. In addition, he uses these skills as an advisory board member for a workforce development and entrepreneurship organization for disadvantaged young people based in Chicago, called Workforce High and Meta 24.

In this episode we cover:

• Early career and finding his guiding values
• Prioritizing people
• Serving people through the user experience
• Listening to the community
• Common misconceptions of espresso machines
• Learning the right things to consider
• Balancing wants and needs
• Being decisive and a decision matrix
• Over and under estimation
• Humility's role and growing intelligently

Links:

www.lamarzoccousa.com

[email protected]

Related episodes:

089 : La Marzocco USA General Manager, Andrew Daday : Leadership, Innovation, service, heritage

042 : Supplying and Selecting Equipment w/ Steve Rhinehart: Prima Coffee

128 : Terry's Top 10 w/ Terry Ziniewicz : Best practices for how not to kill your espresso machine

240 : What to do before your Build your Bar

Visit our amazing Sponsors!

www.prima-coffee.com/keys

www.pacficfoodservice.com

www.coffeefest.com

"We are the only coffee shop in our town that serves this!" I will bet that you have thought or said this, or some version of this phrase, yourself as you have planned or run your business. Being the only one to have something is exhilarating at first, but then it tends to fade as the thing we thought would be our defining differentiator, becomes more available and common.

Today on Shift Break we will be talking about why exclusivity is a bad strategy and what we need to spend our energy on instead if we want to build a lasting and truly unique business.

Related Episodes:

215 : Communication and Marketing Master Class w/ Spencer M. Ross, PH.D.

Interested in consulting or coaching? Reach out! [email protected]

Visit our awesome Sponsors!

Elevated batch brew and so much more!

Ground Control Cyclops Brewer

The best espresso machines in the world!

www.lamarzoccousa.com

Have you ever wondered how you can get your staff energized and highly invested in the success of your business? This is one of the struggles that a lot of coffee shop owners have. Turns out the best solution for this challenge is to give your staff a real stake in the outcomes of the business and trust them like partners. Today we will be exploring Open Book Management and The Great Game operating system with Great Game coach and trainer, Larry Chase!

Since 1997 Larry Chase has been a craft brewer leading teams at some of the nations best breweries. All along the way he has studied finance eventually becoming a long time board member of the Brewers Association as the Treasurer and Finance Chair. His career has taught him how to break down complex topics into simple terms to train bring understanding to staff. He is now taking his decades of experience in both finance and leadership and helping businesses achieve success through Open Book Management as a Great Game of Business coach.

On today's show we will be talking with Larry about this operating system and it power to involve, activate, and engage staff in impacting the core financial levers of your business.

I find this way of management very promising for coffee shops and Larry does a masterful job of walking us through the what, why, and how of

Larry teaches, supports and coaches businesses wanting to build a lasting healthy culture and empower employees to make positive financial impacts on the business.

We Cover:

• Open book reporting vs Open Book Management
• Creating great work cultures
• What makes up OBM?
• Tapping into peoples desire to learn
• Financial literacy
• Unlocking employee innovation
• Line of sight to impact the business
• The importance of reward
• Servant leadership
• How to take the first steps
• The learning curve of implementation
• Involving others

Links:

www.greatgame.com

Larry Chase email: [email protected]

Related Episodes:

302 : Data's Roll in the Success of your Shop w/ Mark Calhoun and Jim Strarcev of Perfect Cube

009 : How to Approach Data and Metrics w/ Simon Ouderkirk : Simon shows us how we should be thinking of numbers and their relation to our shops, baristas, and businesses

304 : Inside the Coffee Data Trends Breakout Report w/ Katie Von Der Lieth of the SCA

Visit our amazing Sponsors!

www.prima-coffee.com/keys

www.pacficfoodservice.com

www.coffeefest.com