Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders

The first place you're going to see burn out in the coffee bar is in the position of management. These lucky people are not only given the task to lead the team and serve them with their role, but they are also accountable to their bosses, creating a feeling of being caught between two different groups that they have to please in their work. Almost without fail I am asked by managers over email or at conferences some version of the same question related to being frustrated at the lack of action from their boss, or that their boss is taking actions that are frustrating to them and to the team. These folks want to figure out how to navigate these situations that can often be demoralizing and creates tension in the café. On today's episode, I am going to answer a few questions that have been sent to me that are related to this topic in hopes of creating some clarity and giving you some insights and next steps to take if you happen to find yourself in that place. Questions we address: How can a lead barista or shift lead effectively navigate a situation where an owner consistently undermines their authority? What strategies can help build trust between the owner and the staff?" What are some effective ways to communicate with an owner who is very particular about small details, to help them see the bigger picture and trust their team What are some constructive ways to address conflicts with an owner, especially when it feels like their approach is demotivating or causing unnecessary stress among the team? Related episodes: 141 : The 27 Challenges Managers Face w/ Bruce Tulgan 475: Essential Tools for Cafe Management 472: Why Technical Skill as a Leader is Not Enough w/ Jonathan Raymond, Refound, Author: Good Authority 067 : 6 Truths About Power : The Responsible Approach to Power Dynamics in the Cafe 373 : The Owner's Role: 5 Behaviors for Effectiveness 483: Encore: 6 Essential Qualities of Coffee Shop Leaders Study the Rules Get the best brewer and tool for batch espresso, iced lattes, and 8 minute cold brew! www.groundcontrol.coffee The world loves plant based beverages and baristas love the Barista Series! www.pacificfoodservice.com

Welcome to Part 2 of this special Coffee Fest live on the show floor episode! Interviews from Los Angeles 2024! Los Angeles was so amazing and we got to sit down with 4 amazing coffee professionals who were presenting at this show. Today we will be focusing on improving your coffee and training skills with two experts! Anna Gutierrez and Sandra Elisa Loofbourow! Anna Gutierrez Beginning her coffee career in 1997 as a barista, Anna currently manages the Barista 22 line of syrups, sauces and powders. Having extensive experience working with distributors and national coffee chains, she's an expert in product selection, marketing and branding, R + D of specialty coffee products, training and has a consistent passion for beverage development. Anna has presented at Coffee Fest shows since 2005, has been a certified United States Barista Championships and former Coffee Fest latte art judge, can be seen emceeing a variety of coffee events nationally and holds several Signature Drink Competition titles. She has also authored multiple coffee publication articles, is a Barista Guild of America member, is an SCA Level 1 Certified barista and was also co-featured on Barista Magazine's April, 2012 cover. Anna and got to talk on the show floor about barista basics. What has changed? What is the same? What is most effective? Anna is incredibly gifted and skilled in teaching so I know this will be a great value. Link: https://www.barista22.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annagutierrez/ Sandra Elisa Loofbourow Sandra Elisa Loofbourow is a certified Q Instructor through CQI, a seasoned green buyer, roaster, barista, and published author. She was a founding Director of The Crown: Royal Coffee Lab & Tasting Room, and am co-host of the bilingual podcast Cafetera Intelectual. Sandra is dedicated to creating a sustainable, ethical, and quality-focused coffee supply chain and offers numerous classes and workshops to help you learn to assess and describe coffee. At Coffee Fest she taught a class on expanding your coffee vocabulary and we got chat on the show floor all about how you can take steps to do that very thing in your coffee business. Links: https://www.sandraloofbourow.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandra-elisa-loofbourow-b8979333/ Related episodes: 048 : How to taste coffee w/ U.S. Cup Tasters Champion, Steve Cuevas! RoR #11 : Exploring Scent w/ Sandra Elisa Loofbourow 339 : What Good Barista Training Produces 313 : Coffee Education and Training w/ Michael Phillips of Blue Bottle Coffee Sponsor: www.coffeefest.com

Shanita Nichols, co-founder of the innovative Sip & Sonder, along with Elisa Hoyos and Leo Abularach of Picaresca Barra de Cafe, dive into the transformative power of coffee culture. They share their inspiring journeys from law professionals to coffee entrepreneurs, emphasizing community engagement and storytelling. Discover how Sip & Sonder creates a welcoming hub, and how Picaresca thrives despite challenges. Their commitment to quality and creativity highlights a revolutionary shift in coffee shops as places of connection and support.

We have to overcome many challenges in the day-to-day operations of the coffee shop. Some of these challenges are inevitable, and our ability to grow from our experiences with them is a mark of maturity that we can celebrate, but many challenges are unnecessary, and in celebrating our abilities to overcome them we unintentionally might be normalizing the dysfunction. On today's addition of shift break, we are going to be talking about why we should avoid celebrating wins that happened as a result of operational dysfunction or from toxic expectations and how to give our best energy to celebrating the functional and quickly addressing the dysfunctional. Related episodes: Stop Glorifying Chaos Introducing Chaos SHIFT BREAK: Respecting Your Barista's Professional Boundaries SHIFT BREAK: Don't Manage by Crisis SHIFT BREAK: You Don't Want Loyalty If you are a cafe owner and want to work one on one with me to bring your shop to its next level and help bring you joy and freedom in the process then email chris@keystothshop.com of book a free call now: https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min Key Holder Coaching Group Applications are Open! APPLY TODAY! If you are a cafe owner and want to work one on one with me to bring your shop to its next level and help bring you joy and freedom in the process then email chris@keystothshop.com of book a free call now: https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min Thank you to out sponsors! Everything you need for back of the house operations https://rattleware.qualitybystainless.com/ The best and most revered espresso machines on the planet: www.lamarzoccousa.com

Much of what gets written regarding the reasons behind declining standards in the coffee shop focuses on the leadership and what they can do to facilitate success. Here at KTTS there are dozens of interviews and solo episodes dedicated to this very thing. But what does not get so much air time is the reality that if we are to see a rise in standards of leadership, we must also call for a rise in personal professional work standards from staff. Culpability for the miserable state of coffee service goes both ways and often it is the leaders avoidance of dealing with toxic employees that keeps them employed thus allowing their negative influence to sabotage the success of the business, the team, and, in fact, the whole industry whose reputation is built from the interactions consumers have with "professionals". Today on this solo episode we will be exploring the reasons why so many owners refuse to deal with toxic employees in the cafe in favor of a misguided notion of giving perpetual grace that is more enablement than kind gesture. We will also talk about what is needed if we are to make progress in the business of coffee shops. High standards are not just for owners and managers, they are for all and it is time we started creating environments that reward and recognize great work, while also not tolerating corrosive behavior and attitudes, be ti from leaders or employees. Related episodes: 331 : The 7 Deadly Sins of my Career 031 : Essential Advice for New Baristas : Tips to help you successfully navigate and thrive in your new coffee career 194 : Encore Episode! Leadership in the Cafe: 10 Steps to being a People First Leader | Aired January 17 2017 109 : Leadership Abandonment Syndrome : Lack of development in senior staff and what to do about it 472: Why Technical Skill as a Leader is Not Enough w/ Jonathan Raymond, Refound, Author: Good Authority 483: Encore: 6 Essential Qualities of Coffee Shop Leaders 368 : Walking the Line Between Leadership and Friendship Things the Owner Can't do for You SHIFT BREAK : Candid Advice for Baristas, Managers, and Owners SHIFT BREAK: How to Take Criticism as a Barista SHIFT BREAK: Evil Owners and Lazy Baristas Key Holder Coaching Group Applications are Open! APPLY TODAY! Get the best brewer and tool for batch espresso, iced lattes, and 8 minute cold brew! www.groundcontrol.coffee The world loves plant based beverages and baristas love the Barista Series! www.pacificfoodservice.com

The things we learn in community with others can have a profound impact on both us and our businesses. Certainly learning by yourself is a good thing, but there's just something about having a group of people who have your back and have been where you are and are your peers that creates a different dynamic where you can have accountability encouragement insights and be challenged on your assumptions all in the same conversation. In short, it's transformational. Today in this brief recording I want to talk to you a little bit about the behind the Key Holder Coaching Groups that we launched last year how they work, and why joining us in these conversations in community might be the best thing for you as an owner to help you grow and gain clarity in the midst of an often chaotic and isolated existence. There is only one week left as of today's recording date of September 9, 2024 to sign up for the fall groups! You can find the link below that will take you to an application to fill out. From there we can have a conversation and you may just find yourself joining us in these dynamic conversations in the next six months. Click below to learn more or just reach out to chris@keystotheshop.com Key Holder Coaching Group Applications are Open! APPLY TODAY!

Marketing is designed to get you to buy. It is something we all do in our businesses. In fact, to not market is to do the customer a disservice in that they will not be aware of the possibilities your product may have for their business. That said, sometimes marketing goes too far and without a well exercised discernment muscle we can fall prey to claims that do not, or can not, come to fruition. Today on Shift break we will be breaking down the landscape of marketing promises and why it is critical for you to take it all with a gain of salt in order to make the right decision for your cafe and your people. Related episodes: 321 : Marketing and Moral Injury w/ Josh Tarlo of Kiss the Hippo 215 : Communication and Marketing Master Class w/ Spencer M. Ross, PH.D. 184 : Making Great Business Decisions w/ Dave Stachowiak 485: Your Shop vs The Industry - How to Free Yourself From Dependency If you are a cafe owner and want to work one on one with me to bring your shop to its next level and help bring you joy and freedom in the process then email chris@keystothshop.com of book a free call now: https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min Key Holder Coaching Group Applications are Open! APPLY TODAY! If you are a cafe owner and want to work one on one with me to bring your shop to its next level and help bring you joy and freedom in the process then email chris@keystothshop.com of book a free call now: https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min Thank you to out sponsors! Everything you need for back of the house operations https://rattleware.qualitybystainless.com/ The best and most revered espresso machines on the planet: www.lamarzoccousa.com

To me, there is something special about the closing shift. Yes there is a lot of work, but there is an honor in tending to the place that just that day made such impact on so many. For most though (including me) the closing shift is at first just hard work that feels far from the world of coffee that drew us to work in the shop or open the shop in the first place. But in this mundanity is an opportunity. Today we are going to be sharing a classic episode where we talk about how to not only love the closing shift but how to shift the way you think about the difficult, thankless, and common work that undergirds the whole of the cafe. Related episodes: Things the Owner Can't do for You Using Slow Times Well as a Barista Hard Work is Hard SHIFT BREAK: Focusing on the Whole, Not the Part Work Alchemy Key Holder Coaching Group Applications are Open! APPLY TODAY! Get the best brewer and tool for batch espresso, iced lattes, and 8 minute cold brew! www.groundcontrol.coffee The world loves plant based beverages and baristas love the Barista Series! www.pacificfoodservice.com

There are many great coffee shops and roasters in this world. What makes a great cafe in my mind is intentionality, a focus on kindness, consistency, hospitality, and quality as a pursuit in service of those things. Living in Louisville, KY I am fortunate to be only 2 hours away from one of my favorite places that I feel has consistently exemplified those virtues. Crema Coffee Roasters! Today on Founder Friday we get the pleasure of talking with the co-founder of Crema Coffee Roasters, Rachel Lehman. In 2008, Rachel Lehman, a coffee professional with over a decade of experience in barista and management work, along with her husband Ben, founded Crema Coffee. The beginnings of Crema was born from their shared midwestern work ethic and determination to carve out and cultivate something that would endure and have a lasting positive impact. From their first small cafe - to taking on roast - to now having 3 cafes, a thriving wholesale program, and many national and local awards to their name, the dream has been to create a business that provided hospitality and great coffee for their community and learning opportunities for baristas and staff. Crema has grown to not only fulfill those dreams multiple times over, but has also made a large impact on the greater industry with the example it sets as a zero-waste cafe and a roastery that exemplifies intentionality and consistent holistic focus on relationships. In this conversation we explore the early years and the start of Crema and learn about how this business has scaled and grown with integrity, consistency, and hospitality as the foundation We cover Starting and Growing a Coffee Business How coffee and music share similarities in terms of practice and discipline. Why defining a clear mission and values is crucial for a successful coffee business. Aligning company culture with the customer experience is essential. How building a strong team of leaders and coaching them is key to success. Alignment as a crucial component for effective cross-departmental leadership. Finding the right balance between bringing in outside talent and maintaining company culture is a challenge. Cleaning and Hospitality in the Coffee Industry Understanding Every Position in the Company Delegating Tasks and Hiring Managers Scaling the Company and Giving Opportunities Staying True to Company Identity Amidst Competition The Key to Crema's Success: Consistency and Reliability Links: www.crema-coffee.com @cremacrema Related Episodes: 380 : Founder Friday! w/ Cary and Cindy Arsaga of Arsaga's Coffee Roasters 273 : Founder Friday w/ Anne Lunnel and Charles Nystrand of Koppi Coffee Roasters, Helsingborg, Sweden 177 : Founder Friday w/ Jonathan Pascual of Taproom Coffee and Beer in Atlanta, Georgia 188 : Founder Friday w/ Jon Allen of Onyx Coffee Lab 156 : Founder Friday w/ Lauren Crabbe, Co-Founder of Andytown Coffee Roasters, San Fransisco 145: Founder Friday w/ Red Rooster Coffee Roasters co-founder, Haden Polseno-Hensley Insights, perspective, accountability, and growth are just a few of the benefits that have changed lives through consulting, workshops, and trainings. ​For the last few years I have wanted to bring to more people, that same kind of transformational experience in a small group setting and now we are now ready to begin! I have personally been in a group for podcasters for the last 6 years and have also hired coaches, consultant, and been a part of an online community. It has all been indescribably transformational. Key Holder Coaching Groups will be hosted by Chris and consist of a curated group of 5 coffee shop owners. We will meet together 2x per month for 2 hours over a 6 month period. This structured group will allow each member to have multiple hot seat opportunities to present specific issues to the group and gain insight, feedback and direction to help them develop themselves, their people, and their business. In addition we will be consistently updated on each others progress and have opportunity to speak into each others lives. Key Holder Coaching members will have access to each other via the Circle.so community app Key Holder Coaching Group Applications are Open! APPLY TODAY! Get the best brewer and tool for batch espresso, iced lattes, and 8 minute cold brew! www.groundcontrol.coffee The world loves plant based beverages and baristas love the Barista Series! www.pacificfoodservice.com

Designing your coffee shop can be one of the most exciting parts of the opening or scaling process. Exciting, that is, until we come up against resistance to our great ideas in the form of space limitations, quirks, historic preservations, zoning, etc. On today's Shift Break we will be talking about how we can embrace the limitations and constraints of our spaces in a way that moves us from frustration to actually being energized and confident in our unique cafe. You should listen to these episodes next: SHIFT BREAK : 2 Tips for Bar Design 367 : Designing Your Coffee Shop for Community w/ Dr. Lisa Waxman 240 : What to do before your Build your Bar Are You Open? 169 : Designing the Guest Experience w/ Dr. Lisa Waxman If you are a cafe owner and want to work one on one with me to bring your shop to its next level and help bring you joy and freedom in the process then email chris@keystothshop.com of book a free call now: https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min Key Holder Coaching Group Applications are Open! APPLY TODAY! If you are a cafe owner and want to work one on one with me to bring your shop to its next level and help bring you joy and freedom in the process then email chris@keystothshop.com of book a free call now: https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min Thank you to out sponsors! Everything you need for back of the house operations https://rattleware.qualitybystainless.com/ The best and most revered espresso machines on the planet: www.lamarzoccousa.com