Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders

The main job of leadership is to give people the resources they need to do the work. Generally speaking, I have simply stated that staff need the tools to do the job. Today I want to go a little deeper and cover 5 elements of resourcing that must be in place for your cafe to work well. If any one of these thing is out of whack it will show up big time in the final product and experience.

We will cover:

• Planning
• Time
• Information
• Tools
• Training

Related episodes:

• 179 : What you MUST Know About Employee Culture w/ Stan Slap
• 244 : Top 10 Ways to Lose Employees
• 158 : A Management Masterclass w/ Jon Felix Lund, VP of Operations for Coava Coffee Roasters / Portland, OR

Starting a shop -or-want to level up you operations? KTTS Consulting can help! | Email me: [email protected]

The BEST in commercial coffee equipment!

www.prima-coffee.com/keys

Want the best plant based beverage for your coffee drinks?

www.pacificfoods.com/food-service

Part of the work we do entails some pretty gross things. In today's episode I will be reading 8 selected stories submitted by listeners about the grossest things they have experienced while working to bring great coffee to the people.

Story order:

1. Dropping the Load
2. Backed Up Bar
3. Clean up in Everywhere Isle
4. Elbow Room
5. French Roach
6. "Take Out?" Coffee
7. Rabid Fire
8. When Urine Trouble

Links to related episodes:

Working Clean

Reasons to love the Customer

Other resources:

Resource 1

Resource 2

Resource 3

Resource 4

The best Kenyan coffee tends to be exported to other countries. Spring Valley Coffee flips this on its head by sourcing, roasting, and serving the best for themselves and the local Kenyan community. Today we are going to be exploring this wonderful company's history, evolution, and impact as we talk with Ritesh Doshi!

Ritesh is the CEO of Spring Valley Coffee, Kenya's oldest premium coffee roaster, a business he acquired in 2018. Having introduced the Flat White to Kenya, Ritesh wanted to combine his passion for coffee and his sense of purpose with his need to control his own supply.

Prior to Spring Valley Coffee, Ritesh founded Naked Pizza Kenya, a company he sold to Pizza Hut. Before becoming an entrepreneur, Ritesh worked in international finance in the US, Europe and Middle East for financial institutions such as Credit Suisse & HSBC.

In this conversation we not only get the overview of Spring Valley Coffee but we also explore how rites came to the company, the values and goals they are pursuing, why scaling, relationships, and integrity are cornerstones of success and much more.

I love the work they are doing at Spring Valley and I know you will as well!

In this episode:

• The coffee culture of Kenya
• Building resiliency and scaling
• Sourcing and serving Kenyan coffees
• Impact of relationships
• Challenges of politics
• Setting goals for the business
• Adding value in-origin
• The value of doing the right thing
• Kenyan coffee history
• Why company culture matters

Links:

www.springvalleycoffee.com

Instagram @springvalleycoffee

Related Episodes:

171 : Founder Friday w/ Matt Chitharanjan and Namrata Asthana of Blue Tokai Coffee Roasters in India

236 : Founder Friday! w/ Meil Castagna-Herrera & Curtis Herrera of Cafe Corazon!

108 : Founder Friday w/ Dorian Bolden of Beyu Caffe in Durham, NC

134 : Founder Friday w/ Jeremy Zhang of M2M Roasters & Uni Uni Coffee in Nanjing ,China

Starting a shop -or-want to level up you operations? KTTS Consulting can help! | Email me: [email protected]

The BEST in commercial coffee equipment!

www.prima-coffee.com/keys

Want the best plant based beverage for your coffee drinks?

www.pacificfoods.com/food-service

Stay in coffee long enough and it will happen to you. The assumptions and dogmas we make when we first get into coffee are challenged or destroyed, and we are sent into a dark place of wondering who we are, and what we really even know about coffee. Today we are talking about how this moment every professional goes through is critical to maturity and should be more common for the health of the industry.

*Stay tuned for a Halloween special where I read the grossest cafe stories sublimed by KTTS listeners!

Recommended episodes:

Taste the Rainbow

242 : A Conversation with James Hoffmann

Curbing their Enthusiasm

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Your business is built on partnerships. One of the most critical is the relationship between you and the coffee roaster you select. Entering into this relationship needs tp be done pretty methodically and the decision should be based on more than on just branding and your personal taste.

Today we are going to go over 10 things to consider when deciding on a wholesale coffee provider that will help you have the best chance at finding one that fits what your business and your customers need for the long term.

We cover:

1. Values
2. Cost
3. Forecasting and capacity
4. Variety
5. Regional tases vs personal
6. Flexibility
7. Support
8. Feedback
9. Checking references
10. Taking your time

Recommended episodes:

152 : Essential Advice for Starting a Roastery w/ Jen Apodaca

063 : What Your Roaster Wants you to Know w/ Rob Hoos, Author, Modulating the Flavor Profile of Coffee

026 : What Your Roaster want you to Know w/ U.S. Roasting Champion, Mark Michaelson, Onyx Coffee Lab

196 : Understanding Customer Preferences w/ Peter Giuliano

217 : Should you roast your own Coffee w/ Joe Marrocco of List & Beisler

Building an Accessible Coffee Menu w/ Joe Marrocco

Starting a shop or want to level up you operations? KTTS Consulting can help! | Email me: [email protected]

The BEST in commercial coffee equipment!

www.prima-coffee.com/keys

Want the best plant based beverage for your coffee drinks?

www.pacificfoods.com/food-service

BOGO! 10% off! Get any item of equal or lesser value free!

We love to offer promotions and discounts in the coffee retail space. When numbers are down we go for deals, offers, and discounts... maybe a little too often. Combine this with the fact that most of the time these offers are executed sloppily and create more confusion than excitement and you turn that BOGO into an OHNO. (sorry, not sorry)

In todays shift break we will talk about how you can approach promotions in an organized and clear way that actually benefits your business.

Related episodes:

080 : Changing things in the Cafe : A workflow for Refinement

You need SOPs

Introducing Chaos

Elevated batch brew and so much more!

Ground Control Cyclops Brewer

Your Own Branded App!

www.espressly.co

What an interesting and inspirational episode this was!

Frankie Volkema, at just 14 years old, is the world's youngest Q Grader and the founder of Joven Coffee, an organization that sources, roasts, and promotes coffee from young farmers around the world!

We are also joined by her father Tim Volkema, who is the CEO of Schuil coffee, Michigan's first specialty coffee roaster. Schuil also owners the boutique brand Sparrow Coffee.

In this conversation we discuss the backstory of how Frankie came into coffee, her road to becoming a Q Grader, and the founding of Joven Coffee. Tim also adds operational perspective as to how Schuil Coffee works with Joven Coffee.

This was a great conversation and one I hope will inspire you to support Joven Coffee, look into supporting young farmers through your business, and take big steps to create change where it is needed.

Enjoy!

In this episode:

• The challenge young farmers face
• How Frankie became the worlds youngest Q grader
• Founding Joven Coffee
• The relationship between Joven and Shuil Coffee
• Having big goals as a young person
• Partnering with existing organizations on the ground

Related Episodes:

• COVID-19 Focus: Perspective form Burundi w/ Jeanine Niyonzima-Aroian, JNP Coffee
• COVID-19 Focus : Impact on the Supply Chain w/ Ricardo Pereira , COO, Ally Coffee
• 020 Joe Marrocco : Transparency, Origin Knowledge,and Your Shop : How to approach and apply coffee origin information to enhance, not detract, from the cafe experience
• 180 : A Conversation with Rugid Grind Founders, Brian Washington and Averett Barksdale
• 106 : Changing Lives Through Coffee w/ Pamela Chng of Bettr Barista
• 153 : Exploring the Peace Trade in the Congo w/ Mighty Peace Coffee

Starting a shop or want to level up you operations? KTTS Consulting can help! | Email me: [email protected]

The BEST in commercial coffee equipment!

www.prima-coffee.com/keys

Want the best plant based beverage for your coffee drinks?

www.pacificfoods.com/food-service

"I wish they would just get it!" Does this sound familiar?

Whether you have said this out loud or just ruminate on this and similar ideas, the frustration is very real. In today's episode we will explore this thought that pits a quick learner against a slower one and why letting this attuned go unchecked may be holding your business back.

Interested it consulting? Reach out! - [email protected]

Related episodes you should listen to:

235 : 4 Tips for Training your Staff

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

130 : Anne Nylander | Training Principles for Specialty Coffee Professionals

123 : The 10 Essentials of a Barista Manual

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

066: Shaping and Developing your Team w/ Beth Garrison

025 : Mastering the Art of Training w/ Dave Stachowiak : Coaching, Leadership, education , and how to communicate your coffee and barista knowledge so it sticks

121 : Working from Your Strengths w/ Strengths Finder Guru, Lisa Cummings

Elevated batch brew and so much more!

Ground Control Cyclops Brewer

Your Own Branded App!

www.espressly.co

Now ore than ever coffee shops should be building stable and resilient teams to give them the best chance at success in an unstable market.

Unfortunately there are many needless problems and practices that plague cafes and are catalysts for unnecessary turnover.

Today we are going to cover what I believe are the top 10 reasons why we lose employees and what we should be doing to fix these problems. If we address these 10 things well then we will be on our way to creating an environment where staff never want to leave.

Links to related episodes:

221 : Building your People Program w/ HR Consultant Dana Goodwin

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

067 : 6 Truths About Power : The Responsible Approach to Power Dynamics in the Cafe

028 : Why it's Ok to be the Boss w/ Bruce Tulgan : A guide to defining and fighting the under management epidemic in your cafe so you can be the manager your staff need

Bridging the Values -Actions Gap

Need consulting? email me: [email protected]

The BEST in commercial coffee equipment!

www.prima-coffee.com/keys

Want the best plant based beverage for your coffee drinks?

www.pacificfoods.com/food-service

The truth can hurt. In our minds, when we thing about "keeping it real" we are usually about to engage in some form of uncomfortable, confrontational interaction.

In today's episode we will be exploring this idea and how an alternative way of approaching it will actually help us really keeping it real.

Related episodes to explore:

The Affirmation Vacuum

Stop Lying

Elevated batch brew and so much more!

Ground Control Cyclops Brewer

Your Own Branded App!

www.espressly.co