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
394 : Happy Coffee People w/ Wendelien van Bunnik
Why so serious? Coffee is a beverage that inspires a wide range of emotions but within the specialty industry in organizations, competitions, and businesses it…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
Two Tips on Hiring an Outside Manager
The ideal for cafe management is that you can raise up and promote a barista from within the shop. Unfortunately that cannot happen in all circumstances and…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
393 : The Tyranny of Taste w/ Kosta Kallivrousis
Specialty coffee has been defined by a difference in quality and taste for a very long time. It is the central value that creates the markets that we currently…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
Community as Avoidance
Community is an incredibly important part of our industry. In fact it is the number one thing cited by professionals as the main reason they love coffee…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
392 : Cafe Management and the Importance of Team w/ Justin Duenne of Quills Coffee
The journey of a barista often will lead to management. That particular role of leadership in the cafe comes with a host of changes that call on people to not…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
391 : Founder Friday! w/ Megan Wilson of Spuds Coffee in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
It is Founder Friday and boy is this a wonderful conversation with a wonderful person. You simply cannot underestimate the importance of what an owner brings…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
RoR #18 : Expert Tips on Avoiding Tipping w/ Rob Hoos
Even though it is one of the most objectively identifiable defects, the presence of tipping seems to continue to plagues roasters. With the end result ruining…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
Values At The Heart of KTTS
I am helping my clients establish values all the time. Having a clear understanding of what is important to you and your business is incredibly important…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
390 : 7 Ways to be Consciously Competitive
Being competitive in business is often thought of in the same vein as being aggressive, leading with fear, and creating an us vs them scenario that is…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
Leaner Teams, Better Results
The future of staffing our cafes depends on how effectively we hire and set up our teams for success. Rather than having an unsustainably low or high number of…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
389: How to Approach Modern Coffee Processing w/ Christopher Feran
A lot has changed in coffee over the last couple decades. As roasters and baristas, our understanding of the current landscape of coffee processing, its impact…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
Making Yourself More Valuable
Professional development and opportunities for betterment and advancing are areas that operators must bake in to the business as much as possible. If you are a…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
388 : Coffee Shop Insurance and Risk Mitigation w/ Brennan Pothetes of Butter Insurance
Running a coffee shop means you take on a fair degree of risk. This is why having and understanding of insurance that is appropriate for your shop is critical…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
Handling Staff Complaints
Nobody is perfect. No coffee business is perfect. Therefore there will inevitably be complaints that staff have about the business. This could be anything from…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
387: Innovation and Building a Better Coffee Business w/ Miranda Caldwell
As the 2023 begins it is a great time to take inventory of our cafes and roasteries and really look at what we have done and where we can not only improve, but…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
Focus on These Areas in the New Year
Every year we have the opportunity to invest our time and attention into many different things. In a coffee shop it can be overwhelming and toward the end of…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
386 : A Look Back at the Lessons of 2022
What a great year this has been! So many amazing people have graced KTTS with their presence, perspectives, and wisdom. It really is an embarrassment of riches…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
385: Founder Friday! w/ Arick Davis and Sarah Layman of Last Mile Cafe, Grand Rapids, MI
On this last Founder Friday of the year I am quite happy to feature a coffee shop founder story that is firmly rooted in service to the community. First as a…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
Avoiding Toxic Loyalty
We all want our customers and staff to be enthused and exhibit what we tend to consider loyalty. Trouble with that word is that it is loaded with assumptions…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
384: How to Set Up a Successful Coffee Cart w/ Sarah Naylor of Daybreak Coffee Cart
There has been a resurgence of mobile coffee carts recently. A cart offers the owner flexibility, agility, and a less risky entry into the world of coffee…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
Authenticity and Performance
Sometimes it is hard to reconcile our desire for authenticity with the performance and responsibilities that we take on while working in the cafe. In fact, for…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
383: How to Train a Manager
It is easy to assume that if you have found the right person for the manager role then they will not need very much investment or guidance from you to get the…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
RoR #17 : Evolving Our Approach to Cupping w/ Charlie Habegger of Royal Coffee
Cupping is as close to a sacred act as we get in the world of coffee evaluation. It is a ubiquitous ritual that comes with its own language, implements, and is…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
Should You Hire Back a Fired Barista?
Boy oh boy this is a hard question. The initial reaction you might have to this will depend on your position in the cafe, your knowledge of the circumstances…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
382 : Hospitality, Innovation, and the Birth of a Brewer w/ Etkin Design Co-founders, Michael Butterworth and Ozgur Jerdan
Innovation in the coffee industry is no longer just about large companies tweaking their standard equipment, but it is becoming democratized through small…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
Ineffective Training
It happens all the time. We create and conduct training sessions, programs, and systems that contain a lot, but do not produce a lot. We end up with staff that…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
381 : Changing our Perspective on Tea in the Cafe w/ Annie Xiang of Volition Tea
How we perceive something impacts the decisions we make when buying or selling it. That in turn shapes consumers perceptions and then the market. Tea has long…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
380 : Founder Friday! w/ Cary and Cindy Arsaga of Arsaga's Coffee Roasters
How do you measure the impact of you business? We talk about metrics mostly related to finances and judge success accordingly. But the deeper and more…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
Thankfulness and Giving Energy to the Positive
Thankfulness, positivity, affirming others, and seeking out the good can easily be things that get pushed aside in favor of the problems, stresses, and…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
379 : Encore Episode! How to Deliver Difficult Feedback w/ Tom Henschel : Plus Bonus Content
Communicating hard things is hard! The good news is that is does not have to be ineffective or worse yet, turn into something problematic or toxic. There are…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
Imperfect Action and Finding Time
"Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good" This quote from Voltaire has been passed around a lot over the years, even still it seems we always find ways…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
378: 5 Areas to Develop in Managers
It is easy to assume that a managers main role is only to take on basic administrative tasks. At least this is the way I would argue most shop treat the role…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
The Insult of Sink or Swim Training
It's wild to me that this still exists in coffee. The idea that we can throw a new hire in to the mix of a shift in a new cafe and expect that they will prove…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
377 : Coffee, Mindfulness, and the Art of Observation w/ Rob Sykes
Photography and coffee seem to just go together. There is something about creating moments and capturing moments that is a common drive where we can see the…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
Emotions, Self-Sabotage, and Telling Ourselves the Truth
The coffee shop is a can be a stressful place. There are no shortage of challenges big and small that confront us daily whether you are a barista of cafe…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
376: Career, Coffee Quality, and Advancing the Industry w/ Mat North, of Raw Material
Some interviews we have on the show touch on so many deep, important, and impactful subjects that it is hard to stop the conversation. This was one of those. I…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
375 : Founder Friday! w/ Roland Horne of WatchHouse
I am so happy to share with you this Founder Friday episode that takes a hard look at what is possible when you want to offer excellence at scale in a cafe…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
Some Tips on Signature Drinks
It is that time of year where cafes are all but expected to have the ubiquitous PSL in their menus. But there is so much more. Beyond this staple drink…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
374: Opening a Coffee Shop: Fantasy vs Reality (w/ bonus commentary)
Should you open a coffee shop? How hard could it be anyway? Thousands of people around the globe have a dream to open a cafe. Once open however that dream can…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
RoR #16 : Ideal Resting Times for Roasted Coffee w/ Joey Stazzone of Cafe Kreyol
How long should you let your coffee age after roast? Is freshest always best? How can we ensure our customers get the coffee at its peak? These are some of the…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
What Sanding Taught Me About the Cafe Refinement Process
The work of running a cafe seems to never be quite complete. While we know that chasing " perfection" is not the goal, we would do well to embrace the idea of…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
373 : The Owner's Role: 5 Behaviors for Effectiveness
The coffee shop is made up various tasks and roles that all work together to create something magical. Wen those roles are not clear or followed through on…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
A Shift Break...on Shift Breaks
Finally. It is time to get meta and have a Shift Break conversation about...shift breaks. We all go to work with a finite amount of energy to use on that days…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
372 : Milk Steaming Master Class: Science + Craft w/ Morten Munchow and Emilee Bryant!
Every day on bars across the globe baristas are using milk to create amazing drinks. For almost as long as coffee has been served in coffee shops, milk has…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
How Should Managers be Appraising Staff?
I got a great question in from a listener. "How should managers be appraising staff?" I love it because it gets beyond the trope of the holy trinity of…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
371: Baristas, Don't be a Hero
We all are susceptible to the siren song of trying to fix a place or a person to our own detriment. In the moment it seems like the right move and there is a…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
370: Founder Friday! w/ Tony Dreyfuss of Metropolis Coffee Company, Chicago, Illinois
I am excited to present to you another great interview with an inspirational founder! This time we get to hear the story of the founding an development of a…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
The Wrong Way to Improve Morale
One of the top questions I get asked is about how to improve employee morale. As someone who has conducted and sat through his fair share of meetings designed…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
369: Encore Episode! How to be a Cash Register Hero
It goes without saying, but I will say it anyway - first impressions matter a lot! When a customer enters your business the person that sets the tone for them…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
Make Your Problems More Specific
There is always a general sense of anxiety present when it comes to running a coffeehouse. Part of the reason for that is that problems are always popping up…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
368 : Walking the Line Between Leadership and Friendship
We have a problem. There are plenty of people in leadership positions but many of them are afraid to step into their role and opt instead to try to avoid the…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
Your Bathroom Stinks
When we promise our customers a specialty experience in our shops they would logically assume that promise of quality might extend to the bathroom. Alas, it is…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
367 : Designing Your Coffee Shop for Community w/ Dr. Lisa Waxman
It goes without saying that most of us want our shops to be a place that attracts and fosters community. The question though is how exactly to we intentionally…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
Investing in Financial Education
It is critical to pay baristas and staff from a place of generosity. We like to say "Pay what you can, not what you can get away with". In many cases though…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
366 : A Conversation w/ Chris Baca of Cat and Cloud Coffee
We all want leadership and cafe culture that inspires. Through personal and professional development we can learn how to create an environments where our…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
On "Quiet Quitting"
There has been a lot of publicity around the phrase "Quiet Quitting" in the last few weeks. In short this is explained as employees doing bare minimum and as…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
365 : Spilling the Beans on Global Coffee Culture w/ Lani Kingston
Coffee is more than just a drink. It is an expression of cultural values and a vehicle through which we experience many different facets of this rich life. No…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
364 Founder Friday! w/ Sarah Alakeel of Hjeen Coffee, Saudi Arabia
I am so excited for this month's Founder Friday! Today we are talking with someone who has not only taken a passion and turned it into a thriving business that…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
Why You Need to Back up Your Policies
One of the most common complaints I hear from owners and managers is related to staff not following policies of the shop. In many cases it is not just a simple…
- Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
363 : Setting Boundaries in the Coffee Shop w/ Tom Henschel
Working in a coffee bar means working in close quarters with your fellow baristas, managers, and owners. In this daily work we will eventually begin to feel…