Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders

Writing the schedule is one of the hardest things a manager has to take on. It is also one of the primary ways to care for the staff and the success of the cafe. It determines labor cost, quality of service, consistency of standards and more. If there is one thing that I focus on a lot with my consulting clients it is scheduling well.

Today we will be discussing 6 tips that will aid you in the schedule writing process and save you and your staff from getting caught in the cycle of feeling perpetually unprepared, behind, and stressed out.

Links:

Working from your Strengths

One-on-ones

Hiring, Culture, and the Future of Your Shop

Founder Friday w/Casey and Jeremy Miller of The Mud House

Interested in Keys to the Shop Consulting services? Let's talk [email protected]

Get on the Keys to the Shop email list and get the transcripts, bonus audio, and extra resources! Click Here!

5% off your purchases at Prima Coffee form now until January 31st! Just use the code "HOLIDAY5" when you visit this link! www.prima-coffee.com/keys

Want the best plant based beverage for your coffee drinks?

www.pacificfoods.com/food-service

The idea of transactional is not what most of us have in mind when we think about hospitality. We tend to think of that more in relational terms and hold the transactional out as the antithesis to hospitality. What if we are wrong? What if we are mischaracterizing transactions and in the process failing to give our customers the hospitality they want and need?

Today we chat about these ideas and how our mindset surrounding this can help us through the business of the holidays and beyond.

Links:

Keys to the Shop Consulting

Related episodes:

• Simple, Powerful, Hospitality
• 10 Reasons to Love the Customer
• The Consumer Revolution

This Episode brought to you by ODEKO

Painless and accurate ordering and inventory

odeko.com/keystotheshop

While tea is a staple menu item in virtually every coffee bar around the world, our understanding of tea can be fairly limited and the selection of teas often stagnates over the years. Much of this maybe because we don't know where to start with tea and need some guidance in our approach and in setting up a dynamic tea menu. All this and more is what will be addressed on today's episode talking about tea with special guest, Jeffery Champeau, Vice President of Business Development at Rishi Tea!

Rishi Tea and Botanicals has been an importer of organic teas and botanicals from the very best sources since 1997. Their Direct Trade is founded upon long-standing, personal relationships with growers who cultivate ecologically sustainable gardens in remote locations around the world. They offer a highly curated. variety of teas and botanicals from Ooolong, green , white, and pu-erh - to matcha, chai, botanicals, and more.

Jeffery has been with Rishi since 2011 but has been fascinated by and immersed in the culture and world of tea for the better part of his life. He possesses a deep understanding of the history and culture of tea as well as its preparation and is passionate about advocating for the farmers who make it all possible.

As Jeffery has traveled the world experiencing tea in many different settings I am excited to talk with him specifically about where we stand coffee shops his advice to help us present tea with the same care and mindfulness we give to our coffee.

In this episode you will learn:

• A little history of Rishi and of Jeffery's path into tea
• How does Rishi curate their offerings?
• Building sustainable relationships with tea farmers
• Basics of tea and tasting tea
• What has changed in how coffee shops approach tea over the years
• What are we doing wrong
• Best practices should be adopted to make great tea
• How to build a great tea menu

Links:

www.rishi-tea.com

Instagram

Related Episodes:

037: Chocolate and Coffee w/ Brian Bykke

117 : Coffee and Cocktails w/ Amanda Whitt

039: Lessons from the Restaurant Industry w/ Eric Cattiatore

Prima Coffee:

Now listeners get 5% off their purchase (some restrictions apply) when they use promo code "HOLIDAY5"

Visit : www.prima-coffee.com/keys

Pacific Barista Series: Plant Based Performance Beverages

www.pacificfoods.com/food-service

In just 7 years, Onyx Coffee Lab has become one of the industry's most recognizable, respected, and progressive coffee companies. Whether you know them from their championship performances on the barista, brewers, or roasting competition stage - their multiple Good Food Awards and Golden Bean coffees - or their effort in transparency and exquisite retail shops, Onyx Coffee Lab is an inspiration in presentation AND in substance to the global community of specialty coffee.

Today we get to talk with one of the founders of this awesome company, Jon Allen, and dive into the details of how he and his wife, Andrea Allen, built, grew, and operate this business.

I am thrilled to have been able to talk with Jon and to present this very insightful conversation to you all!

Enjoy be sure to check the links below to learn more!

In this episode you will learn about their:

• Vision and business philosophy
• Early and current expansion
• Discovery of strengths and weakness
• Delegation and appointing of leadership
• Development of their roasting program
• Approaches to hospitality
• Who they are aiming to serve as their primary audience
• Hiring practices
• Marketing and branding

Links:

• Onyx Coffee Lab
• Onyx on Instagram
• Interview of Andrea Allen reflecting on her 2018 performance on "Legacy"
• What your Roaster wants you to Know w/ Mark Michaelson, Onyx Coffee Lab.

Interested in Keys to the Shop Consulting services? Let's talk [email protected]

Get on the Keys to the Shop email list and get the transcripts, bonus audio, and extra resources! Click Here!

5% off your purchases at Prima Coffee form now until January 31st! Just use the code "HOLIDAY5" when you visit this link! www.prima-coffee.com/keys

Shop Local! Small Business Saturday! Independently Owned! These are phrases we use to get people to come in to our stores and support the local economy. That's all well and good but do we deliver the quality people expect? Or do we rely a bit too much on being local to cover up for our shortcomings? Today we chat about this issue of using our small business status to excuse ourselves from improving and the better approach to delivering value where it counts.

Related Episodes:

• How we Ruin the Specialty Experience
• 10 Reasons to Love the Customer
• Toxic Traditions
• Customer Experience vs Coffee Quality
• Acceptance of Dysfunction
• Feedback Culture

This Episode brought to you by:

Painless ordering and inventory with ODEKO

odeko.com/keystotheshop

www.keystotheshop.com/consulting

Opening a pop-shop is one of a number of great ways to get started in specialty coffee retail. It is a lower start up cost, you get to test the concept, and you get to know your community (and they, you) in the process. Today's guest, Nikki Outlaw, has just wrapped up her first year running her pop-up coffee shop, Anecho Coffee.

In this conversation we get to hear about her journey into opening Anecho, her experiences in this first year, what she has learned about business, operations, and herself along the way.

I hope you are encouraged by Nikki's story and the dedication she has to improving the business and providing great hospitality experiences to those Anecho serves.

Enjoy!

Links:

• Anecho Coffee
• Instagram

Related Episodes:

115: Finding Success in Mobile Coffee

174: Saying yes to Business Opportunities

55: Personal Growth and Development w/ Jared Turby of Cat and Cloud

Interested in Keys to the Shop Consulting services? Let's talk [email protected]

Get on the Keys to the Shop email list and get the transcripts, bonus audio, and extra resources! Click Here!

5% off your purchases at Prima Coffee form now until January 31st! Just use the code "HOLIDAY5" when you visit this link! www.prima-coffee.com/keys

Want the best plant based beverage for your coffee drinks?

www.pacificfoods.com/food-service

Ignore your baristas, but listen to podcasters. Ignore your staff, but listen to authors. It is too easy for us to immediately turn to outside resources and , in the process, discount and overlook the resources we have under our very noses. Today we chat about the proper mindset to have when you pursue resources and the problem of being blind to what we have.

Related Episodes:

• 165: The Art of Deep Listening w/ Oscar Trimboli
• Shift Break: "I'm Sorry"
• Don't You Forget About Me

  Visit our sponsor Odeko to make inventory and ordering a breeze!

  odeko.com/keystotheshop

Growing and learning from the experiences of others is what this show is all about. A lot of growth and learning happened this past weekend in Tacoma during the Coffee Fest PNW trade show where I was able to record three interviews with people I met during my seminars.

In order of appearance we will be hearing from:

Scott Palmer who, along with his wife Alana is opening Palmer House in Grand Rapids, MI in the Spring of 2020.

Next we talk with Kristine McRae who owns Bering Tea and Coffee in Nome Alaska.

Finally we wrap up with Stephanie Kayser, Director Operations for Dalina in Vancouver, BC, Canada.

All three of of these interviews offer unique insights that will help and encourage you in your coffee journey and it was a joy to get to meet them and hear their stories.

Some of the things we will learn about are:

• Building a shop to truly serve the customer
• Listening to your staff
• Having empathy and the big picture in mind
• The importance of communication and constant learning

Expect another one of these Coffee Fest interview episodes next time for Coffee fest NYC. This time with even more interviews and tons of value.

Links:

Dalina

Bearing Tea and Coffee

Recommended past episodes:

079 : Interviews from Coffee Fest Baltimore 2018

142 : Entrepreneur Interviews from Coffee Fest NYC! 2019

157 : Four from the Floor : Interviews from Coffee Fest Indianapolis 2019

Go visit our awesome Sponsors!

Prima Coffee:

Now listeners get 5% off their purchase (some restrictions apply) when they use promo code "HOLIDAY5"

www.prima-coffee.com/keys

Pacific Barista Series: Plant Based Performance Beverages

www.pacificfoods.com/food-service

Managers are looked to all day long as agents of clarity. Questions are a constant and this aspect of management is core to being able to drive results in creating a great culture and a successful bar. That said, it can be frustrating since you don't always have the answers and the steady drip of questions and need for clarifying information can wear you down. Today we are going to chat about the importance of being the point of clarity and the issue around it.

Related episodes:

• Communicate, Duplicate, Repeat
• Creating a Feedback Culture
• Why it's OK to be the Boss w/ Bruce Tulgan

More great episodes on www.keystotheshop.com/episodes

Visit our sponsor Odeko to make inventory and ordering a breeze!

odeko.com/keystotheshop

One of the world's most compelling cafes is also run by one of the world most iconic and trusted espresso machine companies. Located in the lobby of KEXP, the La Marzocco Cafe in Seattle, WA has been operating for almost 4 years. Every 4-6 weeks the cafe is taken over by different world-renowned roasting companies who design a full experience that represents their brand to the guests visiting the shop.

La Marzocco Cafe staff and management are not only tasked with representing the coffee well in each residency, learning new workflows, and information - but they must also be able to communicate the ethos and vision of the resident roaster to the customers who come to experience what that particular roaster has has to offer.

When you are essentially opening a new cafe every month you need systems, communication, and the right people to work in this environment of constant change.

This is what we will be discussing today with the two people who head up this mammoth effort, Program Director, Amy Hattemer and Cafe Manager, Carolyn Reddy. Between the two of them we get an inside look at how the cafe came to be and how it operates such an amazing concept so successfully.

In this conversation you will learn about:

• The genesis of the La Marzocco Cafe
• Their hiring and training process
• Operation of a residency
• The values that drive the cafe
• The importance of feedback
• Managing change seamlessly

Links:

www.lamarzoccousa.com

La Marzocco Cafe on Instagram

LaMarzocco Blog

* Get the bonus audio and transcript! Get on the email list HERE! *

Related Episode:

089 : Andrew Daday, GM of La Marzocco USA : Leadership, Innovation, Service, Heritage

163 : Lessons from Crush the Rush w/ Josh Littlefield

084 : Crushing the Rush

Get amazing equipment from amazing people!

www.prima-coffee.com

Your cafe needs the plant-based beverage goodness of

www.pacificfoods.com/food-service