Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders

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387: Innovation and Building a Better Coffee Business w/ Miranda Caldwell Jan 03, 2023

Show notes

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 what needs to change. How can we keep up with the changing industry while still serving our customers? Where do we need to innovate and what are the first steps to building a better business?

Today we are discussing all of this and more with our guest Miranda Caldwell!

Miranda Caldwell is a coffee business coach and the founder of The Coffee MBA, a community where she teaches business courses for the specialty coffee industry. Since 2000, she has held leadership positions at coffee roasting companies in roles spanning operations, procurement, quality, sales, retail, and education. In 2022 she completed her Masters of Business Administration from a joint program with The University of Manchester and Indiana University. Her primary goal is to improve profitability for coffee roasters, believing they're the key to unlocking profitability for the rest of the value chain.

In this conversation we will be discussing Miranda's bold approach to coffee business operation, innovation, and values based leadership and product development that will give you a head start on reaching the next level in your coffee biz.

We cover:

Discovering, leaving, and returning to the coffee industry
Professional development
Defining success
Profitability
Change perspective on our product
Where to start to build better
Curiosity and innovation
Values to rally around
What an MBA taught her about what our industry needs
Innovation pipelines and Learning from Nestle
Customer feedback

Links:

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Focus on These Areas in the New Year Dec 29, 2022

Show notes

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 the year we tend to look back and determine way to improve how we invest our time and attention for a better result.

In today's Shift Break we will be discussing a few very important and foundational areas where, if you consistently focus your energy with intention, you will find massive return for your customer's, your staff's, and your own happiness and well being.

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386 : A Look Back at the Lessons of 2022 Dec 27, 2022

Show notes

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 when it comes to high value content that can transform your coffee business and career.

This makes it very hard to choose which lessons and insights to feature in this episode but I have assembled 8 clips from past guests that I believe offer timeless wisdom and an opportunity to reflect and give you positive momentum for the new year.

So here is the line up in order of appearance and what they speak on:

EP:327 Phuong Tran | Lava Java: Embracing Simplicity
EP: 375 Roland Horne | WatchHouse: Having a specific value proposition
EP: 366 Chris Baca | Cat and Cloud: Finding your leadership style
EP: 336 Selina Viguera | Blue Bottle: Custom training and cafe management
EP: 337 Diana Martinez | Cafe Calle: Serving your community well
EP: 359 Nigel Price | Drip Coffee NYC: Accessible Excellence
EP: 328 Xavier Alexander | Metric Coffee: Resilience, stewardship, and legacy
EP 380: Cindy and Cary Arsaga | Arsagas Coffee Roasters: The key to developing a meaningful business

Links to guests websites:

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385: Founder Friday! w/ Arick Davis and Sarah Layman of Last Mile Cafe, Grand Rapids, MI Dec 22, 2022

Show notes

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 pop up at farmers markets and now with a brand new brick and mortar, today we are talking with the founders of Last Mile Cafe in Grand Rapids, MI , Arick Davis and Sarah Layman!

Arick and Sarah come with a lot of experience in non-profit and impact work as well as tech. Their love for coffee and people eventually guided them to begin Last Mile Cafe as a coffee business designed to make an impact through partnerships with charitable organizations and baking into the practice of donating 10% of all revenue to charities voted on by customers.

As of this recording Last Mile's brick and mortar was only 9 days in to being open and things have just been getting better from there.

In our conversation we will get an inside look at how they built this impact coffee business, their reasons behind decisions that shaped it, and how they have experienced the journey from mobile to brick and mortar and the road that lies ahead.

We discuss:

Leaving the corporate world
Building for sustainability and impact work
Setting out, pivoting and rebranding
Learning coffee as a consumer
Partnering with organizations
To roast or not to roast
Donating 10% to charity
Pop ups, farmers markets, and learning service
Next steps past 2 weeks open/refining

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Avoiding Toxic Loyalty Dec 22, 2022

Show notes

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 that go beyond reasonable expectations. In fact, many operators are guilty of trying to force loyalty through coercion and making things personal. This is toxic loyalty.

In today's Shift Break we will be discussing a better way to think about loyalty that builds healthy and sustainable relationships with staff and cultivates an environment where we are more likely to receive peoples advocacy beyond what is expected.

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384: How to Set Up a Successful Coffee Cart w/ Sarah Naylor of Daybreak Coffee Cart Dec 20, 2022

Show notes

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 retail. That said, there are many elements that need to be in place for you to be able to set up and run a successful coffee cart that serves you and your customers well.

Today we are going to be digging into the details with special guest Sarah Naylor of Daybreak Coffee Cart in Snohomish, WA.

After 11 year working in coffee and and 8 years in the pastry arts world, Sarah Naylor took all the hard earned knowledge and wisdom she acquired through the hospitality industry and ventured out on her own to found Daybreak Coffee Cart.

Daybreak is a mobile coffee cart and craft coffee catering service located in Snohomish County. Daybreak offers an elevated coffee experience for weddings, corporate events, conferences, and mitzvahs all around. They love serving others and aim to bring joy wherever we go. It is their mission to share kindness through coffee.

In our conversation we discuss her beginnings and the practical actions she took to start and run her cart in a way that serves her guests with excellence and most importantly, also serves her and her family well.

We cover:

Changing paths via life challenges
Putting family first and the "why"
True service and operating values
The first steps in starting the Coffee Cart
Ergonomics and set up
Setting, expectations, and forming an LLC
Drawing from past experience to inform the journey
The key business logistics and necessities
Saying no and growing responsibly
Menu design and Pricing
Marketing, networking , and promotion
Developing confident and positive thought patterns

Links:

IG: @daybreakcoffeecart

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Authenticity and Performance Dec 14, 2022

Show notes

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 many baristas, their distaste and inability to embrace anything that seems prescribed leaves them incapable of delivering meaningful service and, consequently, incapable of advancing in their work.

Today on Shift Break we will be talking about your role as a barista and how it is your job to take ownership of the duties of your job, which will in turn create the authenticity you seek.

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Custom branded mobile apps for your shop!

Interested in leveling up your coffee shop or setting up 1:1 coaching?

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383: How to Train a Manager Dec 13, 2022

Show notes

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 hang of things. After all, they are amazing and you trust their "can do" attitude will be enough to help them succeed.

Obviously this is not the case, but that doesn't stop this misconception from being repeated over and over again in cafes around the world.

Truth is that no matter who you hire you will need to have a structured plan for how they will be onboarded, trained, and invested into over a significant period of time so they are not only capable, but confident and trustworthy in their work as a true leader, not just a barista with a few extra admin tasks.

On today's show we will be going over some needed mindsets, approaches and methods for training up a manager that may challenge the way you have been doing things to this point, but will definitely set everyone up for success.

We cover:

Who is a good manager and what do they do?
The misconception of time
Your role in the relationship
Real investment and specificity
Developing beyond knowledge transfer
Committing to long term development
Co-creation and staying touch with the real needs of the shop

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