Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders

Curiosity is the reason we got into coffee. As we go on in our careers though, the world we thought was so big becomes much smaller. We learn the rules, the ropes, and we get busy with the business of coffee often at the expense of being fascinated by it.

Today we will be discussing the importance of curiosity and how it has a tremendous impact on our personal and professional lives. To do this I am joined by someone who's job it is to inspire curiosity in people around the world, Cody Gough!

Cody Gough is the executive producer and co-host of Curiosity Daily, an award-winning daily science podcast from Curiosity.com. Curiosity Daily was recognized as the Best Technology & Science Podcast in the 2019 Discover Pods Awards, and was recognized as the Best Science & Medicine Podcast at the 13th Annual Podcast Awards. Cody's broadcasting background includes more than a decade of experience working at Chicago's 720 WGN Radio in both on-air and production roles. He's also a seasoned podcaster with The GonnaGeek Podcast Network, an accomplished commercial actor, and former cooking show host.

I am so happy to have gotten a chance to speak with Cody. I really enjoy his podcast and believe that what we discuss here today will, not only ignite our curiosity, but will help us break out of our ruts and explore the world around us a bit more deeply. The return on investing in curiosity is immeasurable.

We will discuss:

• How Cody has developed more curiosity through the show
• What role curiosity plays in producing Nobel Prize winners
• Why curiosity makes you better at hospitality
• The importance of outside interests and hobbies
• Steps to take in igniting your curiosity
• Some of the coolest hangs Cody has learned from his show

Links:

www.Curiosity.com

Cody on Twitter

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The BEST in commercial coffee equipment

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www.pacificfoods.com/food-service

Problems come up all the time in the cafe. We deal with them as best we can but often we are leaving a lot of value on the table with the ways we attack the issues we encounter. Today we are chatting about how get your problems to work for your companies benefit and not let them go to waste.

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Links:

wwww.keystotheshop.com/consulting

[email protected]

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Navigating unforeseen change brings about a ton of challenges that, in the moment, seem insurmountable. Today we will be exploring this subject by hearing an incredible story going from tragedy to triumph with the ever-awesome, Talor Browne!

Talor Browne is a 20 year specialty coffee veteran and pastry chef that ended up in Oslo via Paris and Melbourne. Former head roaster of Tim Wendelboe and founder of Talor&Jorgen, she is currently on the cusp of opening the first of three stores of her new roastery and doughnut shop, Talormade. Talor was a guest on our show back in May of 2018 for Founder Friday. Talor&Jorgen was a force of nature that was massively successful and showed no signs of slowing. Not too long after our interview though, the 16 hour days and 300 hour months began to take their toll on Talor. This all culminated in her business partners trying to force her from her from the company she founded. After an ugly lawsuit, settlement, and the best interest of the employees in mind, Talor stepped away. Now, after 7 months of preparation and planning she has the best equipment in the industry and a renewed determination to do it all over again, just bigger and so much better. Talormade was born from the ashes of this tragedy. So many questions...How did she do it? What was this journey like? What mistakes did she make in the first company? What is different about this new venture? What insights and advice can Talor offer us that will help us navigate unforeseen changes that we may face? This interview answers those questions and much more. I can think of no better way to celebrate a 200 episodes than to share this real-life inspirational coffee story with all of you. Please listen with open hearts and minds as Talor shares her story and wisdom gained as a result.

Links:

www.talormade.no

Talormade on Instagram

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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

It's Founder Friday! Today we get to talk with Mario Jimenez one of the owners of Banana Dang Coffee in Oceanside, California!

Mario and his wife, Thanh-Thanh Dang started Banana Dang back in 2007 in Rincon, Puerto Rico before eventually relocating to Oceanside, California. Back on the island, they served Puerto Rican coffee and homegrown bananas in all their smoothies. Dubbed the "World's First ALL Banana Smoothie and Specialty Coffee Bar," Banana Dang became an institution in the Caribbean surf town. After selling the property in Rincon in 2014, they returned to California and opened the second Banana Dang shop in Oceanside in 2015.

Banana Dang is lovely and unique business in the specialty retail space with a simple mission and a lot to teach us. In today's interview we will be exploring the founding and evolution of Banana Dang in depth with Mario and learning all about the heart behind it and the insights gain from over 13 years of operation.

You will learn about:

• How Mario went form band leader to shop owner
• Why they are "Bananas about Coffee"!
• Why coffee is like music
• Winning with simplicity
• Standing out as a brand
• Staying true to your values
• Closing a successful store to re-opening stateside
• Cultivating culture
• The balance between discipline and fun
• Serving their community

Links:

www.bananadang.com

Instagram

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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

It is easy for us to be consumed with work. Especially if you are passionate about it and desire to achieve great things, to move the needle in the company, and to help those you lead. Trouble is hough, we tend to blur the lines between work and home and end up burning out for lack of clear borders. Today we will talk about three tactics that will help bring balance and ultimately keep you healthy and thriving at work and at home.

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Links:

wwww.keystotheshop.com/consulting

[email protected]

This Episode brought to you by ODEKO!

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Coffee and the coffee shop have an amazing history. From the Ottoman Empire to your favorite 3rd wave coffee bar, there have been many evolutions and critical pints in time that have led us to where we are today. In order to move forward well, we need to be well informed of our industry's past. To help us in this effort we are chatting with coffee historian, Prof. Jonathan Morris

Jonathan Morris is a Research Professor in History at the University of Hertfordshire, specializing in the history of coffee. His latest book Coffee: A Global History explains how coffee became popular the world over, and why tastes in coffee differ all over the world. Jonathan was the European Editor of Coffee: A Comprehensive Guide to the Bean, the Beverage, and the Industry (2013) and directed the Cappuccino Conquests research project which traced the history of Italian-style coffee from the origins of espresso through to the global coffee shop chains of today.

In this episode we are talking with Prof. Morris about some key points in the evolution of the coffee shop that impact us today.

We will discuss:

• The democratic intent of the cafe
• Eras of the cafe's evolution and why they were significant
• Alcohol's connection to the cafe and what is concerning about it today?
• The social importance and role of the cafe in society
• Coffee prices in the shop and politics
• Differentiating ourselves to the consumer
• Are we niching down too far?
• What things should we be focusing on now as we write this next chapter of cafe history

Links:

thecoffeehistorian.com

Buy the book on Amazon

[email protected]

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Want the best plant based beverage for your coffee drinks?

www.pacificfoods.com/food-service

On bar, things get stressful. We are not just managing the physical space but we are also managing and navigating our emotions. It's all too easy to let our pride keep us from asking for help when we most desperate need it. In this shift break I talk about a recent experience I had that inspired the episode and we dive into vulnerability, team support, communication, and ultimately allowing ourselves and others to be humans at work.

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Links:

wwww.keystotheshop.com/consulting

[email protected]

This Episode brought to you by ODEKO!

Painless and accurate ordering and inventory

odeko.com/keystotheshop

It's tech time! Equipment breaks, that is just a fact of life. How and why it breaks depends on the way we maintain (or don't maintain) it over the corse of its life. right now there are thousands of bars working on machines that are either about to break or are well on their way because of improper care. Today we are talking with Counter Culture Coffee NYC equipment tech extraordinaire, Melissa Vaiden. The goal of our conversation? To help us avoid an untimely demise for the equipment we depend on.

Melissa Vaiden is a service technician for Counter Culture Coffee in the NYC region. After working as a barista for years, she found a tech internship at Boxcar Coffee that sparked her love for fixing coffee equipment. She speaks on panels sharing her experience as one of the few women working in the technical field. She also is a stage manager for the Coffee Champ's Cup Tasters competition.

In this conversation e cover a LOT of information and best practices for your brewers, grinders, espresso machines and filtration. If you follow Melissa's advice here you will be sure to save yourself a world of suffering form needless maintenance issues.

We cover:

• Preventative maintenance for Espresso, brewer, grinders
• Why so many businesses get behind in their machine care
• Mindsets for getting the most from your equipment
• Budgeting for inevitable costs in machine care
• Filtration best practices
• Purchasing the right machine for your business

Links:

Counter Culture Coffee

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Got questions, comments, feedback? Want to work with KTTS Consulting? [email protected]

Visit our sponsors!

www.prima-coffee.com/keys

5% off your purchases at Prima Coffee until January 31st! Just use the code "HOLIDAY5" when you visit this link!

Want the best plant based beverage for your coffee drinks?

www.pacificfoods.com/food-service

How do you inspire people? This was a question I was asked recently while conducting a day-long workshop for a group of cafe managers. The answer is easy to give, but hard to live. You can think of this also as policy -vs- relationship.

Today we are going to talk about our tendency to try and force inspiration, why it falls short, and what to do instead.

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Reach out!

wwww.keystotheshop.com/consulting

[email protected]

This Episode brought to you by ODEKO!

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Learning about consumer trends and preferences keeps us sharp and relevant. How well our shops do will have a huge impact on everyone in the value stream of coffee and in order to do our best work we need to be paying attention to what the research says as well as doing our own research locally. Thankfully the SCA has been doing intensive consumer and retail research for over a decade and what they have found may shift the way you view your customers and your business.

To discuss the data with us today we are talking with the great Peter Giuliano, Chief Research Officer of the SCA and the Director of The Coffee Science Foundation. Peter has been in specialty coffee for over 30 years. In his long and illustrious career he has occupied almost every role both in the retail shop and roastery. You might also know him as being the former Director of Coffee and Co-Owner of Counter Culture Coffee. He has been deeply involved in SCA training programs, serving as Training Committee Chair from 2005-2007 and has been a volunteer for the Coffee Corps and other CQI programs.

Peter has always been a champion for coffee science and is truly thriving in his current role helping connect scientists, economists, sociologist, etc. with the coffee community to produce robust analytics to inform our moves into the future.

In this conversation we will dive into some of their findings from the consumer and retail research and discuss how it applies to what we do in the shop.

I hope you enjoy!

You will learn about:

• The importance of scientific research
• What "Specialty Adopters" and "Super Specialty" are
• How people get their taste preferences
• How to respond to large-scale studies
• The importance of local research
• What does the data show is encouraging and challenging

Find out more information here:

www.sca.coffee/research

Peter on Twitter

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Researching the Cafe w/ Dr. Jennifer Ferreira

Designing the guest Experience w/ Dr. Lisa Waxman

Joseph A. Rivera on Organic Acids & the Importance of Coffee Science

The Consumer Revolution w/ Kevin Sinnott

Got questions, comments, feedback? Want to work with KTTS Consulting? [email protected]

Visit our sponsors!

www.prima-coffee.com/keys

5% off your purchases at Prima Coffee until January 31st! Just use the code "HOLIDAY5" when you visit this link!

Want the best plant based beverage for your coffee drinks?

www.pacificfoods.com/food-service