Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders

On a daily basis we have opportunities to take a customer's genuine curiosity and excitement and either affirm it and guide them or to stamp it out and push them away. In coffee shops all over the world the former scenario play out but what we see too much of these days is the latter. Customers being essentially scolded for their budding enthusiasm for coffee.

Today on Shift Break I am re-airing an old episode called "Curbing Their Enthusiasm". In it we explore the problem, what it causes, and how to fix our mindsets so we can be effective and genuinely excited guides for our customers.

Related Episodes:

Making the customer the Enemy

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

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

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A big issue with coffee education is accessibility. Much of the practical information that leads customers and coffee professionals alike to understanding, buying, and brewing great coffee is either locked away in our roasteries and cafes or hurried in a sea of misinformation. That's where Leaderboard Coffee comes in.

Today we are going to talk with the founder of Leaderboard Coffee, Suneal Pabari. Suneal is the co-founder of The Roasters Pack, Matchmaker Coffee, This Coffee Co. & Leaderboard Coffee, based out of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He's passionate about creating interesting coffee experiences and elevating specialty coffee. Leaderboard is a subscription based tasting competition that brings together passionate consumers and professionals to taste some of the best coffees in the world and win a place on the leaderboard at Leaderboard.coffee

In our conversation we discuss the origins and logistics of Leaderboard as well as the state of coffee education today and what it can be, and needs to be moving into the future.

We cover:

• Origins of Leaderboard
• The importance of accessibility
• Connecting consumers with professionals
• How gamification aids education through urgency
• How to approach coffee duration in the future
• Logistics
• Experimental coffee vs conventional
• Sustainability
• Creating community

Links:

www.leaderboard.coffee

Instagram

Youtube

Related Episodes:

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

282 : How to Listen to your Customers

250 : Planning better Events w/ Steven Moloney of The Barista League

242 : A Conversation with James Hoffmann

196 : Understanding Customer Preferences w/ Peter Giuliano

168 : How to get the Best from your Coffee w/ WBC 2013 Champ, Pete Licata

163 : Lessons from Crush the Rush w/ Josh Little Field

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www.pacficfoodservice.com

www.coffeefest.com

How do I motivate my staff? This was a question I received at Coffee Fest regarding managers and I believe the answer is applicable both to baristas and to managers. Heck, it's pretty much true for anyone. It starts with culture.

In today's Shift Break we will be talking about a few of the usual ways we motivate staff in the coffee shop and then discussing why creating a great culture is the primary way to motivate and incentivize and see people really engage.

Related episodes:

139 : Founder Friday w/ Kusanya Cafe co-founder, Phil Sipka

179 : What you MUST Know About Employee Culture w/ Stan Slap

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

105 : Leadership & Management Masterclass w/ Maria Cleaveland

074 : The Life Changing Power of Good Authority w/ Jonathan Raymond

004: Leadership in the Cafe : 10 Steps to Being a People First Leader

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Ground Control Cyclops Brewer

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Training staff to become productive, competent, and confident members of the team is a massive challenge all coffee shops face. In spite of our best efforts we often end up with baristas who have completed training but are still not ready to work the bar effectively and this brings about frustration for everyone. There is a better way and today we are going to explore that way with one of the nations top barista trainers, David Castillo.

David has worked in specialty coffee for the past decade as a barista, manager, and trainer, and has competed in a few barista competitions along the way. Originally from New York, he moved to Los Angeles in 2018 and is now the Training Manager for G&B Coffee and Go Get Em Tiger.

David's philosophy and best practices in training have come about through a massive amount of focused experience in the field. Through failures and success he has honed in on what I think are the most critical element to successfully train baristas and the and create the professionals we need in our coffee shops.

We cover:

• Early experiences + Connecting music to coffee
• Learning to learn and train
• Biggest mistakes
• Training lab vs reality
• The role of the manager + Effective feedback
• The "why" and the "how"
• Becoming open minded
• Revamping the training process
• Training the whole professional
• Redefining success in training

Links:

• www.gget.com
• GGET Instagram
• David IG

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www.coffeefest.com

It's Founder Friday! I am very pleased to be presenting a conversation with someone who I have wanted to have on a Founder Friday for quite a while. Not just because he has been quite successful, but because in the course of achieving that success he has created a model of a healthy and resilient business through rooted and wise decision making, refinement, expansion, and putting values into action. Today we are talking with Justin Shepherd of Spencer's Coffee in Bowling green, KY!

Justin left a career in journalism to purchase a coffeeshop, along with his wife, Shelley, back in 2005. In the years since, he and his team have transformed Spencer's Coffee from a quaint downtown cafe to a sustainable and ever-growing company, boasting two locations and a third set to open this fall). In addition to a full menu of coffee and espresso, house-made pastries and made-to-order breakfast items are served at both locations, and the original downtown location also features a full lunch menu, along with a rotating selection of craft beer.

In our conversation we will be taking you through the whole story of how Justin started, early and hard lessons, navigating change, and building a firm foundation with the community in mind.

We cover:

• Early lessons taking over an existing business
• Getting through initial challenges
• Learning about coffee and business
• Asking for help and becoming confident
• Serving what is right for your community
• Managing customer retention and changing standards
• Knowing the numbers and profitability
• Stages of expansion
• Hiring and Managing
• Keeping the community as your center
• Justin's proudest accomplishment
• Advice to other owners/entrepreneurs

Links:

www.spencerscoffee.com

Instagram

Related Episodes:

146 : How to Host a Throwdown w/ Justin Shepherd of Spencers Coffee, Bowling Green, KY

145: Founder Friday w/ Red Rooster Coffee Roasters co-founder, Haden Polseno-Hensley

083: 6 Essential Books for your Professional Growth

196 : Understanding Customer Preferences w/ Peter Giuliano

223 : Building a Financially Resilient Business w/ Andrew Carroll

230 : Making room for Community in your Shop

Visit our sponsors!

www.prima-coffee.com/keys

www.pacficfoodservice.com

Here's some good news...Burnout is usually a result of a long string of unaddressed stressors that build up until they reach critical mass. Why is that good news? It's good because it means with a few shifts of our thinking and approach we can address the issues that lead to burnout before it happens.

Today on Shift Break we will be discussing a few of the ways we can either set managers up for failure or success based on how we create roles, expectations, and the degree to which we practice being agents of clarity and resourcing.

Episodes to listen to next:

248 : The 5 Elements of Resourcing your Team

244 : Top 10 Ways to Lose Employees

229 : 7 Tips for New Managers

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

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We generally assume that roasting happens once green coffee leaves its county of origin taking much of the coffee's value along with it. But there is a growing movement of entrepreneurs who are keeping their coffee's value right at home by roasting at origin and shipping direct to shops and consumers. 25 years ago that movement was catalyzed and led by today's very special guest, Luis Fernando, Founder of Amor Perfecto in Colombia.

Luis' quest was to bring the freshest, best tasting Colombian coffee to the world and he started by breaking the law. It was illegal at the time to roast and/or sell quality beans locally but through his passion, championing roasted at origin Colombian coffee, Luis not only was able to get the law changed but has today built global team of FNC-affiliated growers, agricultural technology companies, master roasters, baristas, packagers, chefs and coffee aficionados all brining the finest Colombian Coffee to the entire world.

Luis and his team at Amor Perfecto have won a host of awards for their coffee, barista skill, and business. The most impressive result of all Luis' work though is his legacy and the impact Amor Perfecto has had on countless professionals, farmers, and like minded entrepreneurs.

In this episode we cover:

We cover:

• From flowers to coffee
• Adding value at origin
• From illegal operation to trail blazer
• Changing laws to revolutionize coffee culture in Colombia
• Barista competitions and networking
• Learning to roast and developing the business
• True local coffee
• Exporting origin roasted coffee
• Advice to other entrepreneurs at origin
• Developing professional barista culture
• Partnering with growers
• Sustainability legacy and future farmers

Links:

www.amorperfecto.com

Episodes to listen to next:

288 : The Truth behind Cheap Coffee w/ Karl Weinhold

265 : Gaining Clarity on Transparency w/ Jonas Lorenz of The Pledge

061 : You Don't Know Beans about Brazil w/ Kelly Stein, Coffea Podcast

Visit our sponsors!

www.prima-coffee.com/keys

www.pacficfoodservice.com

www.coffeefest.com

It is a blessing and a curse. Being in a position of management or any type of authority means you likely can see when things are wrong or don't quite fit the ideal. That is a valuable skill set that is worth cultivating. As a result we tend to skew negative and become primarily focused on what is wrong which inevitably leads to an anemic and rather bleak outlook in the coffee shop.

Today on Shift Break we will be talking about how we can balance our natural tendencies with mindsets and actions that skew positive.

Related episodes:

The Affirmation Vacuum

Visit our sponsors!

Elevated batch brew and so much more!

Ground Control Cyclops Brewer

The best espresso machines in the world!

www.lamarzoccousa.com

What is professionalism? Is it aprons? Using the right greeting? The way the space looks? When it comes to coffee shops and coffee professionals we often use metrics that are more surface than substance and the result is that we create an experience that misses the mark when it comes to making real connections and, I would argue, misses the mark on what true professionalism is.

Today we will be chatting about what professionalism is, what it is not, and how to create an authentic expression of hospitality through your craft that matters.

I am pretty passionate about this subject and hope that this helps inspire some deep thoughts on how we seek to present ourselves and build our industry.

We will cover:

• What we believe about professionalism
• Why it is problematic
• The results of pursuing synthetic expressions on staff, customers, and business
• The universal values of true professionalism
• How to build with substance and grow with grace
• The future we and our customers want

Visit our sponsors!

www.prima-coffee.com/keys

www.pacficfoodservice.com

www.coffeefest.com

On some level we all can justify ignoring customers in our coffee shop. Seems pretty crazy right? I mean, why would we do that knowing how important it is to give a great experience to the one keeping the lights on?And yet it happens all the time. What starts out as a one time act of giving into convenience, turns into a full blown culture.

On today's Shift Break we will be talking about an experience I had recently that illustrates this and thinking through why it happens, why it hurts us, and what to do about it.

Episodes to listen to next:

019 : 10 Reasons to Love the Customer w/ Chris Deferio

Spiders! What they can Teach us About Hospitality

045 : Simple, Powerful Hospitality w/ Philip Turner

016: Raising the Bar on your Customer Experience w/ Michael Butterworth

For consulting reach out to: [email protected]

Visit our sponsors!

Elevated batch brew and so much more!

Ground Control Cyclops Brewer

The best espresso machines in the world!

www.lamarzoccousa.com