Shows / Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
A coffee podcast providing coffee shop owners and leaders, with insights, inspiration, and the tools you need to grow and advance your coffee business. We learn from experts both in and outside the coffee industry as they deliver specific, practical, and actionable advice about ownership, optimization, profitability, barista work, employee culture, management, scaling, leadership, personal development, and anything else that will help you achieve success in the coffee shop.
Episodes
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
480: Focus on What Your Customers Love
Your customers count on you to create a wonderful cafe experience everyday. That is the implied or explicit promise of our marketing and what most of us aspire…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
SHIFT BREAK: Respecting Your Barista's Professional Boundaries
In the cafe, it is easy to lapse into assuming that people who work for you, should also be available and responsive at all times even when off the clock. The…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
SHIFT BREAK: Why You Need Exit Interviews
Try as we might, the reality is that eventually even the best staff will leave our shops for another job or career. How they leave is largely up to us as…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
479: Automation and the Future of Coffee Shops w/ Andre Eiermann, Eversys
The world of coffee and coffee shops is changing rapidly. The variations of business models that serve innumerable contexts globally require intentionality in…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
478: Building Efficiencies Into Your Roastery w/ Scott Stouffer of Probat Coffee
Setting up and optimizing your roastery for compliance, efficiency, and sustainable quality output is not just something to be done once in the beginning. The…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
SHIFT BREAK: When Numbers Lie
Numbers tell a story, but not the whole story. Though the number of times someone purchases an item on your menu may indeed mean that they prefer it to other…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
477: Inspiring the next generation of Coffee Farmer w/ Yolima Taborda Rojas of Paisa Coffee, Colombia
Two of the most important things that help coffee farmers are market access, and being able to invigorate the younger generation to work in and advocate for…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
476: Founder Friday! The Story of Story Coffee w/ Don Niemyer of Story Coffee Co.
Each one of our shops tell many stories. The story of our own arrival as owners, the story of the coffee and the efforts it has taken to get to a finished…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
SHIFT BREAK: Owners, It's OK to Make Mistakes
Coffee shop owners, do you ever feel as though the entire world is on your shoulders and that one mistake will send the whole business crashing down? The…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
475: Essential Tools for Cafe Management
Being a manager in a coffee shop may be one of the most difficult jobs in the cafe. Not only do you bear the responsibility of the daily operations, you also…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
SHIFT BREAK: How to Assess a Barista's Performance
One of the most critical parts of leadership in a cafe is how you invest in developing those you lead. Depending on how it is done, evaluating and assessing…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
474 : On Roasting and Representation w/ 2024 U.S. Roasting Champion, Eduardo Choza | Mayorga Coffee
Learning to roast and hone one's skill in the craft is a difficult task. Add to that the pursuit of competition and leading an entire department of a to U.S…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
SHIFT BREAK: Feedback is Not a Lecture
Too many times we confuse giving feedback with lecturing our staff which easily shuts down the person we were intending to communicate with. Feedback is…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
473: A Master Class in Wholesale Coffee w/ Honor Forte of Olympia Coffee Roasters
Developing the wholesale arm of your coffee roasting company boils down to the value can you offer your potential customers. Beyond the coffee itself, your…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
SPECIAL! Grocery, Community, Roasting, and Mobile Coffee | Live Interviews fromCoffee Fest NYC 2024!
Welcome to another episode in the live from Coffee Fest interview series! This is a series of 4 conversations with presenters on the show floor at Coffee Fest…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
SHIFT BREAK: Evil Owners and Lazy Baristas
How many times have we fallen prey to assumptions about one another in the cafe that end up creating needless strife and hold back progress at maybe the most…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
472: Why Technical Skill as a Leader is Not Enough w/ Jonathan Raymond, Refound, Author: Good Authority
Being technically skilled as a leader is a small part of what makes one effective. The larger part of cafe effective leadership has to do with emotional skill…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
471 Founder Friday! Encore Episode w/ Emi Fukahori of Mame Coffee in Zurich Switzerland!
In the world of cafes there are many ways to be excited about coffee. Some of those ways can alienate a customer instead of welcoming them into this magical…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
SHIFT BREAK: Beyond the Metrics
Business success leaves clues. Metrics such as labor percentage, COGs, Employee Turnover Rate, and more are all measurements we use to both guide how validate…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
470: SPECIAL! Raising Barista Wages | KTTS x Valor Coffee Podcast Recorded Live at SCA Chicago!
The goal of business is ultimately to provide for people. Firstly a business is stared as a means for the owner to provide for themselves and their family by…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
SHIFT BREAK: Minding Our Business
How do we help? A few thoughts have been swirling in my mind since the SCA expo in Chicago, and one of them has to do with the best contribution we can make to…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
469: Unremarkable Hospitality and Cafe Terroir
When we read about amazing hospitality stories in restaurants, it can (and should) inspire us to pursue hospitality in our our coffee shops. Trouble comes…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
SHIFT BREAK: The Art of Letting Go
In order to progress, you need to let go. For coffee shop owners this is hard to do because so much on the initial business is based on personal work and many…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
RoR #31 : Improve your Roasting Range by Focusing on the Fundamentals w/ Willem Boot of Boot Coffee
Today, if you are a roaster, you need to be able to navigate a pretty wide range of options in equipment, varieties of coffees and processes, as well as being…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
468: How to Be a Shift Lead
The Shift Lead position is one of those roles that is very misunderstood. Often a title given to baristas for whom the boss wants to retain or established as a…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
SHIFT BREAK: Embracing Problems as Blessings
A mentor to Danny Meyer once told him "Business is Problems". This was said to point out that challenges are not only inescapable, they are actually a part of…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
467: How to Create Coffee Magic with Your Menu w/ Ryan Castelaz of Discourse Coffee, Milwaukee, WI
The wonder and beauty of coffee is a catalyst for countless career coffee professionals and customers alike. The flavors and creation of special moments that…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
SHIFT BREAK: How to Fine Tune Your Coffee Bar
There is no neutral. Only forward or backward. Your coffee shop is not a static thing that will simply take care of itself. The people, space, product, and…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
466: The Relentless Pursuit of Perfection w/ 2024 U.S. Barista Champion, Frank La, Be Bright Coffee
The craft of coffee and cafes is as much a personal pursuit as it is a service to others. Providing a remarkable coffee experience to guests through coffee is…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
465: Founder Friday! w/ John Piquet of Caffe D'bolla in Salt Lake City, UT
Creating a fine dining level experience in a coffee shop is no easy task. I requires discipline, focus, and a view of coffee that assumes that it is not just a…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
SHIFT BREAK: Detail Oriented Staff Starts With You
Being detail oriented is one of those traits we look for in baristas as proof that they are the right for our coffee shop. What we don't think about very much…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
464: Encore : Making Order Out of Chaos, Handling Groups in the Cafe
There is no time where it is more critical to make a good impression than when you have a full and busy cafe. One of the main ways our coffee shops get filled…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
SHIFT BREAK: Managers, You Don't Need To Do It All
Now that you are a manager that means you have the ability to do all the things you know will make the cafe a better place right? Well, no necessarily. A least…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
463: Tips on Having the Right Meetings
If there is one thing most people agree upon, it is that they hate meetings. Have you ever considered why that is? Usually we hate meetings because they seem…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
SHIFT BREAK: You Don't Want Loyalty
Many people want their customers to be loyal to their shop without providing much incentive for that loyalty. In fact we often will all but demand loyalty by…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
462 : What a New Children's Book Teaches About Mistakes in Coffee and Life w/ David Foster, Kiln Coffee Bar and Author of Jett Goes to Work With Dad
Hospitality, patience, and giving grace to others and yourself are lessons we can learn from many areas of life. The coffee shop presents a unique opportunity…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
SHIFT BREAK : Trends You Can Ignore
Marketing can be good, and bad. At it's best it exposes you to resources that help you mindfully build your business. At its worst it takes advantage of your…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
RoR #30 : Challenging Dogma With Data w/ Coffee Roaster and Chemical Engineer Mark Al-Shemmeri
Roasting has historically been shaped by the experiences of crafts people and their experiments with what works, or does not work, in their roastery. These…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
461: A Conversation With 2023 World Barista Champion, Boram Um, Um Coffee Co
When you think about quality coffee and what it takes to help usher in change in both how it is rendered and then how it is perceived globally, you would…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
Special Interview! Ian Williams of Deadstock Coffee talks about marketing staying true to your culture, and leading in hard times | Live interview from Coffee Fest 2023
Last year we did many interviews live at Coffee Fest. I got to chat with Ian WIlliams of the famed sneaker/coffee concept Deadstock Coffee in Portland Oregon…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
SHIFT BREAK: How to Take Criticism as a Barista
It is very difficult to take criticism. Especially when you may be fully aware of the imperfections of those offering the feedback on your performance. Trust…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
Special Announcement: 2024 Key Holder Coaching Groups May be the Key to Unlock the Next Level in Your Business
Special announcement! Applications are still open for the next round of Key Holder Coaching Groups! The Key Holder Coaching Group is a select group of coffee…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
460: What to Look for in a Manager
People don't leave jobs, they leave managers. This is an old but still true saying that, for me, underscores the importance of selecting the right person to…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
459 : Founder Friday! w/ Kymme Williams-Davis of Bushwick Grind Cafe in Brooklyn, NY
When some people see a need or an opportunity, they dream about who will meet it or make it happen. Others, like today's guest on Founder Friday, task it upon…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
SHIFT BREAK : 2 Tips for Bar Design
There is nothing as frustrating as working on and getting served from a busy bar that was not designed appropriately. From size, placement, equipment…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
458: Encore Episode! My Wife Interviews Me about My Career and How Coffee Brought Us Together
Looking back is not only a great way to take stock of how you have developed professionally and as a person, but also to bring back into focus what we have to…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
SHIFT BREAK: No Cell Phones
It's the age old question, "Should we be able to use our phones behind the bar?". Simple right? Well, yes in some ways but the way we approach answering this…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
457: Finding Your Place in Coffee w/ John Luke Robertson | Kings Lane Coffee
John Luke Roberston is the founder and roaster at Kings Lane Coffee in West Monroe, LA. You may be familiar with the TV show Duck Dynasty that follows the…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
SHIFT BREAK: Too Many Managers!
Can you have too much of a good thing? When it comes to managers and bosses in the coffee shop the answer is a resounding and exasperated YES! Why do we do…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
456: Competitions and What Makes a Good Barista w/ Scott Conary, Carborro Coffee / WCE Judge
Coffee competitions have grown to be a dominant force for how professionals and consumers alike view the role of a barista, the industry, and coffee itself…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
455 : Founder Friday! w/ Nick Kassouf of Tru Bru Organic Coffee
Caring for people and their experience, both as employees and as customers, is at the heart of a successful coffee shop. In order to consistently pursue that…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
SHIFT BREAK : The Scourge of Nitpicking Bosses
If I could pick one way to absolutely decimate your culture and drive your employee's morale into the dirt, while also making your customer's squirm, it would…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
454: Creating a Vibrant Coffee Bar w/ Charles Babinski of Cafe 143 in Sydney, AUS
In our quest for success in the coffee shop business we embrace the busy and frenetic pace that is assumed as necessary to bring us fulfillment. As we work we…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
SHIFT BREAK: Questions Are Not Threats
In order to have engaged baristas, owners and managers must first be willing to engage. Unfortunately we have a habit of stifling questions and feedback from…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
453 : The Craft of Operations
When we think of the craft of coffee we tend to think only in terms of the bean and beverage itself. The whole value chain of coffee has benefited greatly from…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
RoR #29 : A Coffee Roaster's Career Journey, Leigh Wentzle, Cedar Coffee
As a roaster your career can go through many different unique phases, all of which will tech you different things about the craft, the business, leadership…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
SHIFT BREAK : Candid Advice for Baristas, Managers, and Owners
The most important thing in coffee...is people. More to the point, managers and owners prioritizing hiring and caring for the right people, and baristas…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
452: Championing the Customer Experience in Coffee w/ 3x SA Barista Champion, Winston Douglas Thomas of Cedar Coffee
The world of professional specialty coffee can be both inspiring and intimidating with many customers and new baristas feeling lost in the mix of rules…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
SHIFT BREAK : Setting and meeting Standards in the Coffee Shop
Having high standards is part of what it means to be in specialty coffee. While it is true that we need to have reasonable tolerances built into our…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
451: Business Growth, Integrity, and Coffee Farmer Equity w/ Martin Mayorga of Mayorga Coffee
When Martin Mayorga first entered the coffee industry it was not as someone whose singular passion was the product, but the people and communities behind it…