Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders

When we onboard new baristas we usually schedule them for a "Shadow Shift". he intent is that they are to learn the ropes, observe and absorb how things are done, which will help prepare them for work on the bar. That's the hope.

In reality it often turns out to be chaotic, stressful, and produces more confusion than clarity.

Today we will be discussing how to approach the shadow shift with what I call "Structured Shadow Shifts" and how they can deliver the amazing value for you and the new hire.

Related Episodes:

172 : Why Tracking Performance is a Must!

235 : 4 Tips for Training your Staff

Your Employee Handbook is Worthless

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Ground Control Cyclops Brewer

Solid, cafe quality espresso for an accessible price:

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Whether you employ in-house techs or you need to work with outside coffee tech services, today's episode is a must listen!

The cafe is a complex mix of many different professional relationships. The relationship between a shop and the coffee tech can be a tense one because it is centered around emergencies. In order to work well with the techs we hire, led our in-house techs, and serve our wholesale clients tech needs well, we need to explore the realities and perspectives of both parties. Today we are going to be talking with Hylan Joseph of Espresso Partners and the SCA's Coffee Technicians Guild.

Hylan Joseph is West Coast Service Manager for Espresso Partners. He is also one of the founders and current chairs for the Coffee Technicians Guild through the Specialty Coffee Association. Hylan's career in coffee started in San Francisco in 1985 at a small café named the Blue Parrot Café. He was a dishwasher and training barista. For the last 16 years he has worked as a service operations manager serving both large and small customers through Espresso Partners. Through the Coffee Technician Guild, he wants to show baristas, store managers and people passionate about coffee that there can be career for them beyond the café.

In this episode we will cover:

• Managing owner expectations
• Common issues in the field
• Mindsets under pressure
• Practicing hospitality as a tech
• Having your techs represent you brand well
• Service agreements
• Curating culture through subcontractors
• What does it mean to be "professional"
• How to communicate
• Choosing / hiring a tech that fits your needs
• Being detailed and keeping records

Links:

• Espresso Partners
• Coffee Technicians Guild

Related episodes:

076 : Talking Tech! w/ Tom Ritz of Workhorse Customs : Best Practices for Machine Maintenance

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

197 : Getting the most from your Equipment w/ Melissa Vaiden of Counter Culture Coffee

175 : How to Keep your Cool : A Fridge, Cooler, and Ice Machine Masterclass w/ Luke Peterson of The Maintenance Department!

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

Stories from the Ground is a series of episodes that are designed to give you insights and guidance on how to thrive in the midst of the COVID crisis by hearing from amazing cafe owners and learning from their stories and experiences dealing with the shutdowns, caring for their staff, serving their customers, and keeping their businesses going.

In our first installment of Stories from the Ground we are going to be talking with the owner of the award winning Sump Coffee, Scott Carey.

Scott gives us a very vulnerable look into the life and thoughts of an owner in the middle of the biggest challenge most of us have ever faced. We learn about Sump's beginnings then dive into how Scott and his team experienced and are still experiencing the crisis and what tools, measures, and tactics they have used to continue their day-to-day.

There is a lot of great wisdom here and I hope you are equipped and encouraged by it!

Be sure to down load the "Spec Sheet" for this episode at the link below!

"Stories from the Ground" is brought to you by Ground Control. Visit them to learn more about their amazing Cyclops Brewer.

www.Vogacoffee.com

• Download the "Take Aways" from this episode. A PDF of all the takeaways and major points made by our guest!
• Visit Sump Coffee's Website
• Instagram

Hiring is already a daunting process. There is a lot at stake for both the employer and prospective employee. That said, we tend to find ways to make make it harder to find the right person than it has to be.

In today's Shift Break we will be going into what I believe is the #1 mistake I and lots of other have made while interviewing people and how to do the opposite.

Related episodes:

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

165 : The Art of Deep Listening w/ Oscar Trimboli

My Favorite Interview Question

The Right People?

Elevated batch brew and so much more!

Ground Control Cyclops Brewer

Solid, cafe quality espresso for an accessible price:

www.flairespresso.com

There are a ton of opportunities to create resiliency and a better normal through how we approach out our mindset, leadership, staff, business, and customers. As the COVID crisis is still upon us, the question remains, "What happens after this?"

In today's epiodes I am presenting something I presented to the SCA on Post-COVID Coffee and outlining various areas and opportunities we have to improve and come out better than before. Preparation is key and viewing this time as an opportunity is essential.

Some of the things we will cover are:

• Vulnerability and trust
• Crisis as an amplifier
• Building future proof operations
• Creating a positive culture
• Retaining emotional connections
• Don't forget about mutual empathy
• Rebooting your systems
• And a lot more...

Links:

223 : Building a Financially Resilient Business w/ Andrew Carroll

232 : Rebuilding your Staff with Excellence w/ Dave Stachowiak

All COVID-19 Focus and Relevant Episodes:

On a Resilient Coffee Community

Hope in Difficult Times w/ Kathy Turiano

General Guidance on Talking with Banks and Landlords w/ Marshall Fuss, Attorney at Law

Erica Escalante, The Arrow Coffeehouse

Karl Purdy, Coffee Angel in Dublin, IrelandÂ

The Future of Retail w/ Doug Stephens

Impact on the Supply Chain w/ Ricardo Pereira, COO, Ally Coffee

Straight Talk for Coffee Retailers w/ The Retail Doctor, Bob Phibbs

Jonathan Pascual of Taproom Coffee and Beer, Atlanta, GA

Refining your Leadership and Systems in a Crisis

Shift Break: Development in a Crisis

Shift Break: Grace and Hight Standards

Shift Break: Keep or Throw Away

Maxwell Mooney, Narrative Coffee

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 little cafe, with a big heart." These words were spoken by Curtis Herrera who, along with his wife Miel, own Cafe Corazon in Kansas City, MO. Cafe Corazon is vibrant homage to Miel and Curtis' Latin roots (Argentina and Mexico respectively) and in the last year it has been open has quickly garnered praise for their warm hospitality, traditional drink including a wide selection of Yerba-mate, and their dedication to showcasing their culture in everything they set their hand to.

In our conversation today we will hear their story and the passion and challenges that went into creating this unique space, the lessons they have learned, and their advice to others in the industry. Cafe Corazon is the epitome of authenticity and a fine example of what the future of the cafe space can look like when we celebrate our diversity and dedicate ourself to serving our communities while being true to ourselves all along the way.

We discuss:

• Creating a safe place for the latin community
• Educating on culture
• Overcoming hurdles as minorities
• Staying true to your roots
• Building a traditional and creative menu
• Experiencing the hurdles of racism
• Hiring and training
• Growing as coffee professionals
• Eliminating pretension
• Dealing with COVID

Links:

http://cafecorazonkc.com

Instagram

Related Episodes:

097 : Founder Friday w/ Erica Escalante of The Arrow Coffeehouse

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

225: Encore Founder Friday! Dorian Bolden of Beyu Caffe, Durham, NC

199 : Founder Friday w/ Mario Jimenez of Banana Dang Coffee, Oceanside, CA

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

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

" Hey! Did you see what so-and-so is doing?" "Oh! look at what _______ is starting to sell?" It's comments like these that are often a sign that we are a bit too obsessed with our competition. What do we gain from this preoccupation? Not much. What do we lose? A lot.

Today we will be talking about how you are not your competition and a healthy way to work toward betterment.

Related Episodes:

• 046 : Death by Comparison : How we practice it and ways to avoid getting caught up in it
• Your Peers are not your Customers

Elevated batch brew and so much more!

Ground Control Cyclops Brewer

Solid, cafe quality espresso for an accessible price:

www.flairespresso.com

How do you ensure that what you teach in training is effective for both the employee and the business? Well, there are many different elements but amongst those element are four foundational mindsets and practices that serve to hold everything together. Today we are going to be exploring how focusing on minimum viable skills, patience, real-life training, and tracking/follow-up will completely transform your training program and build better baristas.

Related episodes:

• 025 : Mastering the Art of Training w/ Dave Stachowiak : Coaching, Leadership, education , and how to communicate your coffee and barista knowledge so it sticks
• 191 : Retraining your Staff on new Standards
• 178 : Training Masterclass w/ Emma Haines of London School of Coffee and Caffeina Consulting
• 130 : Anne Nylander | Training Principles for Specialty Coffee Professionals
• 053 : Training, Trust, and Community w/ Reggie Elliott
• Drink Drills! : Guidelines for using this powerful training tool in the coffee shop to get baristas ready for anything

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

We have developed a mentality that if we can just get the right manual, the best onboarding, the most effective hiring process then all will be well and staff will magically fall in line and our shops will run smoothly. The truth? It's not that easy, no matter how hard you work on those things. Today we will be discussing this propensity, why it is dangerous, and how the real work begins and ends with hands-on leadership.

Recommended episodes:

123 : The 10 Essentials of a Barista Manual

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

Systems as care

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

Don't You forget About Me

194 : Encore Episode! Leadership in the Cafe: 10 Steps to being a People First Leader

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

Visit our awesome sponsors!

Elevated batch brew and so much more!

Ground Control Cyclops Brewer

Solid, cafe quality espresso for an accessible price:

www.flairespresso.com

You are unique, but are you just marketing everyone else? How do you differentiate yourself as a business when the market has become so saturated with everyone saying the same things? Customers need clear messaging that delivers meaning, sets you apart, and drives loyalty to your shop. In a time where more than half of the ways we communicate with existing and potential customers is remote, having solid messaging is an absolute must. Today we are going to be discussing all of this with coffee marketing pro, Garrett Oden!

Garrett is a coffee industry native who left the cafe to pursue coffee marketing as a freelance copywriter and content strategist. He helps brands like Caffe Nero, Amavida Coffee, Alternative Brewing, and others across the industry find and communicate meaningful messages to customers through website writing, content marketing, packaging, and beyond.

Get ready to do a deep dive into actions and strategies that will help you make long term improvements to the way you represent your brand to the world.

You will learn about:

• The problem with our messaging
• True differentiation
• Connecting with your core audience
• Clarity of mission and focus
• Holistic branding
• 3 core actions to take
• Where to put your message
• Actions and values
• Hierarchy of messaging intensity

Links:

www.coffeemarketingschool.com/keys

Garret on LinkedIn

Garrett on Twitter

Related Episodes:

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