A coffee podcast providing coffee shop owners and leaders, with insights, inspiration, and the tools you need to grow and advance your coffee business or coffee career. 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.
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SHIFT BREAK! The Necessary Death of the Superstar Barista
14:15
14:15
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14:15The search for a "superstar" barista seems to never die. It is a desire born from our tendency to attribute success and power to one person in-spite of the evidence around us that pretty obviously points to the opposite. But oh if we just hire a champion, a coffee person, a lightning rod of a personality, then all will be well! Today on Shift Break…
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522: Why Celebration and Specialization Make Coffee Better w/ Tim Williams of Fieldwork Coffee and The World Aeropress Championships
53:18
53:18
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53:18Over the years, our collective philosophy and approach to coffee has taken many forms as we learn more about what the industry needs to thrive. We as individuals evolve our thoughts and views of coffee often starting with hubris and a strict puritanical view, then opening up to a wider, simpler, generous, and maybe even humble stance on the various…
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521: Founder Friday! w/ Bow Smith of Rowan Coffee, Asheville, NC
48:45
48:45
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48:45Coffee shops are created through intention and reflect the values and often the personality of first the ones who begin them, and then those who work in them and the community that makes it their regular destination. There is a mix of service and transaction, with various layers of relationship built on trust. Today on Founder Friday we explore the…
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SHIFT BREAK! The Two Kinds of Margin You Need in the Cafe
12:52
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12:52We all know that in order for a business to be sustainable, it has to be profitable. We need financial margin in order to deal with the unexpected expenses and events, provide opportunities for others, fund growth as needed, and yes, pay ourselves! But what other kinds of margin are there in the cafe that can be just as important? Today on Shift Br…
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520: Tips For Great Workflow and Bar Presence
40:00
40:00
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40:00Workflow and bar presence are the necessary foundation on which coffee shines. Lately I have been doing a lot of cafe design and training work. One of the central themes of training and design is that both the space and the people using it are effective in their role. Once the bar is built, it falls on us to bring it to life with our actions. Havin…
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As most of you know, Starbucks has once again coopted a traditional drink and introduced it to their menu as a part of their "Back to Starbucks" campaign. The cortado, a 4 oz espresso and milk drink originating in Spain, has been a staple menu item in specialty coffee for decades. Only now it appears on the Starbucks menu as an 8oz drink. Of course…
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519: The World of Coffee People w/ Ryan Woldt of The Coffee People Podcast
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1:00:01
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1:00:01Many, dare I say, all of us, who fell in love with coffee can trace our beginnings to a moment when something we experienced in the cup surprised us with its depth and character. It was a catalyst that set us off in the pursuit of understanding and experiencing that kind of moment again and again. People are the same. Ubiquitous en mass, until you …
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RoR #31: New Season! Should You Pre-blend Your Green Coffee or Blend Post Roast? w/ Bryant Banker Scannell or Relative Coffee Co.
49:50
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49:50Whether it started purely as a quest for efficiency, or as a way to achieve consistency in a blend, pre-blending green coffee is a pretty staple practice for coffee roasters. The alternative, and perhaps original way of blending is the classic post-roast blend whose adherents tout its ability to give them ulitmate control of each coffee and thus be…
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Does this sound familiar? "You should shop here because we are local! ...or we support this cause! ...or we have this association!"? While our identity and associations in the community are beautiful and add depth to what customers might love about you, too often we can use these things as means to solicit support in ways that are as though we are …
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518: How to Run a Coffee Shop w/ Meaningful Hospitality
51:39
51:39
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51:39Even with all the conversations and tools available to us around the subject of hospitality, it is easy to engage in the pursuit of it in a way that ends up not resonating and lacks meaning. We can go through the motions, inspired as we are by the example of others, and not see the magic we assumed would follow our efforts. So, what does running a …
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The value proposition of a coffee shop is not a complicated one. Kind service and hospitality in a clean and well organized space serving consistently great coffee. Boooring! At least that what it seems like we must be thinking. Why else would we be so obsessed with the new and novel at the expense of mastering the basics? Today on Shift Break we w…
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517: Culture and Connection Through Coffee Spaces w/ Armen Alajian of Arto Brick
52:35
52:35
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52:35The act of creating a space is the core existence of the coffee shop operator. The way we set our minds to the task of serving through selecting colors, textures, material, ingredients, and of course our words and actions. This all creates a singular experience we call a cafe. Today's guest has a deep appreciation for and experience helping people …
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Delegation is a difficult, but necessary part of growing your coffee business. It is critical in helping you grow as well. Delegation of responsibility and authority is a response to the growth of the business that, while promising to expand your organizations capacity to steward that growth, tests your resolve. That is because of what we will call…
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516: The Impact of Home Coffee Culture on the Cafe w/ Justin Piercy of Daddy Got Coffee
53:52
53:52
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53:52How do you brew great coffee at home? That question is probably one of the most searched and asked questions that has unleashed what seems like a never ending stream of educational platforms, curated lists, videos, and blogs. It is honestly both exciting and overwhelming. The new question might actually be, "how do I make sense of all my options to…
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Let's face it, the look, feel, and functionality of the physical coffee shop will always be an important part of showing hospitality to our guests. The issues we are faced with is one as old as time. We meticulously set up our spaces when we first open, get busy, and then slowly allow them to fall apart. We don't notice it so much because we are bu…
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It's that time of year where we are collectively setting our sights on both the past and the future. What will this next year of 2025 hold for you and your coffee shop? The answer to that question is that your tends to be made up of the things you focus on most. So if we want to increase our chances of experiencing good things, we need to increase …
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SPECIAL! Interviews from Coffee Fest Minneapolis 2024 w/ Jaime Becker-Finn of Makwa Coffee, and Frederick Dubose of SunBean Coffee
51:18
51:18
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51:18Every Coffee Fest we get to sit down with some very cool presenters to chat about their businesses, area, of expertise, and insights that will help you run a better cafe. The last show of the year took place in Minneapolis, MN and was a wonderful time of sharing, community, and value. Even though my equipment decided (after 8 years of service) to d…
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514: Founder Friday! w/ Raoul Adwan of Thrd Coffee in Chicago, IL!
53:25
53:25
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53:25For this last Founder Friday of 2024 we are featuring a story that I believe really embodies the spirit of entrepreneurship that fuels so many coffee shops. From a cart in the pandemic, to a thriving cafe and catering business, Thrd Coffee, Lead by Raoul Adwan, has shown what is possible when you build with passion and focus. Raoul Adwan is a Chica…
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SHIFT BREAK: Adjusting Our View of Labor Cost
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13:53Labor cost is probably the number one most worried over metric in the cafe. Of course, like any other metric that signifies the health of the business, your labor cost needs to be something you pay attention to and control. But the way many cafes approach labor cost can be akin to sawing off the branch they sit on. Short term gain, long term detrim…
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513: Rock n' Roll, E-Commerce, and Opening a Coffee Shop w/ Acey Slade of Cat Fight Coffee!
46:09
46:09
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46:09Music and coffee seem to just go together. If you are into one, the other is not far behind. Both coffee and music inspire and create community that fuel's our lives. Today's guest began his coffee journey as a full time touring musician and was immediately hooked. His journey took him from e-commerce and pop-ups, to now his own brick and mortar st…
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SHIFT BREAK! The Good and Bad of a Training Lab
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13:43There is no doubt about it, having a training lab is a wonderful asset to have for elevating the quality of your training...until it isn't. Truthfully, much like any tool, it depends on how it is used and whether it is part of a bigger picture. Today on Shift Break we will be talking about the good and the bad of training labs. You don't necessaril…
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512: The 5 Non-Coffee Books You Need to Read!
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40:47Ideas are like green coffee seeds. They are bundles potential cultivated by earnest hands that are then received by others who take them and develop them further. The final rendering of that seed can and does often result in something beautiful. This is how I think of mediums like podcasts, videos, and, of course, books. Today I want to share with …
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SHIFT BREAK! How Not To Be a Jerk When Training Baristas
15:19
15:19
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15:19The title of today's episode sounds like a no brainer, but you may or may not be surprised to know that it is way easier than you think to be this way when traIning baristas. It is not something that we set out to do, but is born from a confluence of insecurities, myopic focus, passion, and assumption. I say this as someone who has certainly lived …
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SHIFT BREAK! How Long Should it Take To Train a Barista?
12:31
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12:31I feel as though this question is constantly on the mind of owners. It is a question born from a desire to have a well trained staff that makes the quality of the work more consistently great, as well as a desire to be an effective trainer and have the staff "get it" quickly. Throw in a little bit of owner insecurity as they are learning all this s…
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511: The Art of Designing Unique Coffee Bars w/ Scott Magic of Magic Architecture
48:56
48:56
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48:56Creating a cafe space is about finding a fitting home for the equipment and people behind the counter who will use it. It is about finding a synthesis, a flow, and a feeling that is functional and remarkable all at once. The life of the business is either helped or hampered by the decisions we make in designing the space. In the many choices and ac…
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510: Advancing Equity in Farmer-Consumer Relationships w/ Ethiopia's Beamlak Bekele!
48:56
48:56
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48:56One of the beautiful things about working in coffee today is the connectivity that is available to players in the value stream. Those who want to make the biggest difference, both use and innovate better versions of these various avenues for connection to build trusting and generous relationships that bring thriving and understanding. Today's guest…
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509 : Founder Friday! (Special 2 Part Before + After Episode w/ Nic and Krystal Tanaka of Kohiko Coffee House, Sugarland, TX!
1:28:33
1:28:33
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1:28:33It's Founder Friday! I am so thrilled to feature people who have become friends through getting to know them at coffee vents over the years. They have launched their own coffee house and made something as unique as they are themselves. Nicolas and Krystal Tanaka are siblings and the proud owners of Kohiko Coffee House, located in Sugar Land, Texas.…
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SHIFT BREAK! Engaging in the Right Conversations (or how not to accept undue guilt)
15:57
15:57
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15:57Did you know that, in spite of all the work you do for others, the sacrifices you make to run your business and do what you can for your staff, plus the positive impact on your community, the you are ACTUALLY evil and/or complicit in the demise of coffee and the people in coffee? Well, if you listen to the conversations, articles, and headlines bei…
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508: Fighting Exploitation and Human Trafficking Through Coffee w/ Jenny Barber and Jake Jiron of Talitha Coffee Roasters!
53:21
53:21
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53:21Coffee brings people together for all sorts of reasons. One of the beautiful ways coffee is used is as a vehicle for change in areas of our world that desperately need it. Nowhere is change more needed than in the realm of human trafficking and exploitation. I am thrilled to talk with a couple of professionals on the front lines of this fight. We a…
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SHIFT BREAK! With or Without Experience? Hiring the Best Baristas
15:32
15:32
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15:32Ah the age old debate. Should you hire someone who is experienced working in coffee? On onhand they have skills that may be helpful and on the other they might have bad habits you need to address. Or should you hire someone without experience? Their first exposure to coffee will be at your shop and you get to train them up on your standards from th…
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507: How High-Level Systems Help Your Cafe Thrive w/ Preston Lee, The 30% Rule
52:33
52:33
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52:33When you think about the things that make the biggest difference in culture, hospitality experience, staff morale and the profitability of your coffee shop, you would be forgiven for being overwhelmed. There are so many moving parts in food and beverage operations it's hard to know what lever to pull to make a difference. Well the good news is that…
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SHIFT BREAK! Should You Up-Charge for Alternative Milks?
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15:10In recent weeks Starbucks has announced it will no longer charge for plant-base alternative milks. This comes after efforts from activists claiming discrimination. Starbucks aside, the conversation about up-charging for alt milk has been going on for a while now with people who feel strongly on either side of the topic. Today on Shift Break we will…
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506 : Critical Workflows Every Coffee Shop Needs
36:58
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36:58The way customers and staff experience our cafes is based many experiences and moments taken together to form what they know as our culture or brand. Each experience can be broken down into many different parts that happen within even one visit and the smart operator knows that unless there is a plan set up ahead of time for how we want those momen…
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SHIFT BREAK: The Best Way for Every Shop to Train Baristas
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12:21Training your staff is easily one of the most important things to get right if you want to set them up for success and make sure your customers are getting a great experience every time. Every place has their own way of doing training and most of it is cobbled together from different sources in a desperate bid for a positive outcome. The result if …
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505: Maintaining Excellence in the Everyday Work of Coffee Shops w/ Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood
1:03:31
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1:03:31Innovation and an obsession with what is "new" has long been a primary force capturing the imagination of coffee pros and entrepreneurs. Trouble is that the novel and new, while it may be good at grabbing or capturing attention, is not great at keeping and sustaining us, or our businesses for that matter. In fact, innovation and constantly looking …
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504 : Founder Friday! w/ Parviz Dadashov of United Coffee Beans in Azerbaijan!
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48:50Today on Founder Friday we go to Azerbaijan to talk with the founder of a coffee shop and roastery that is at the heart of the national specialty coffee movement, Parvix Dadashov, of Untied Coffee Beans! Parviz is Founder and CEO of United Coffee Beans project, a trailblazing coffee business in the realm of specialty coffee in Azerbaijan. Parviz gr…
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SHIFT BREAK: Is Your Love for Coffee Sabotaging Your Success?
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10:04Coffee is great! Keeping it consistently great in the shop is a challenge and there are many tactics and tools to apply in learning more about coffee and applying what we learn in the shop. But what happens when we allow our pursuit of more coffee knowledge become a distraction from focusing on needed areas of improvement and maintenance in the caf…
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503 : 5 Coffee Industry Movements Your Shop Needs to Embrace
40:57
40:57
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40:57The coffee industry, specifically the coffee shop, has been changing. Trends and fads come and go, but movements are born from a collective need to evolve and mature toward a better way of operating professionally. It is not the trends that you need to worry about not getting in line with, but the movements. Today we will be covering five areas tha…
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SHIFT BREAK: Finding Time for Change in the Cafe
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14:50So many great ideas come from conversations, trade shows, podcasts, books, and videos. Ideas and epiphanies that will make your coffee shop better and solve problems that have plagued you and your team for too long. But how do you take the first step to apply those ideas why you feel you don't have the time. On today's episode of Shift Break we wil…
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502: Creating Meaningful Coffee Experiences
24:43
24:43
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24:43We all say that guest experience is the most important thing. I would agree, but exactly what do we mean by this? In today's marketplace we are hyper focused on efficiency over effectiveness. The result is that what passes for what we believe makes a great coffee experience, is something unsustainable, ineffective, but flashy and largely based on a…
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SHIFT BREAK: Why Your Shop Needs to Tell Stories
11:42
11:42
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11:42Every coffee shop hosts within its walls countless stories. The life that happens on the pltform of a cafe is just breath taking. This includes stories that showcase you and your team's values in action. Wil Guidara talks about these as legends that embody the and illustrate what we are all about. Be this as it may, stories somehow do not take up v…
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501: Teamwork, Mentorship, and Translating Coffee w/ 2024 Brewers Cup Champion of Turkey, Nida Fetullahoğlu
53:11
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53:11Translating coffee from one form to the next, and serving it in a way that further translates the value of that coffee into a rewarding experience for the drinker, is what the craft of coffee is all about. Today's guest has gone from translating languages to working full time in roasting and serving coffee and has some critically important insights…
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SHIFT BREAK: Want to be Effective? Don't Use Chat GPT
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13:24The allure of easily producing documents and processes for your coffee shop through AI is strong. Using tools to support your business in a thoughtful way is one thing, but too many times I hear about people all but completely outsourcing the task that should be taken on by those who can create with nuance, to software. On today's episode of Shift …
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500! Reflections and The Role of the Coffee Shop in the Industry
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31:44The impact of the coffee shop on the entire industry is astounding. The beauty and transcendence of a well run cafe offers excellence and care to staff and guests alike, and provides an accurate reflection and consistent channel through which people get to experience the work of farmers and all hands in the value stream. It is this idea, that the c…
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499: Founder Friday! w/ Kenzel and Tio Fallen of Three Keys Coffee, Houston, TX
59:25
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59:25Today on Founder Friday are exploring the story of Three Keys Coffee in a wonderful conversation with the founders, Kenzel and Tio Fallen! Kenzel Fallen is Co-Founder and CEO of Three Keys Coffee. Originally from Cincinnati, OH, Kenzel received a BA in Economics from Duke University and an MBA in Finance from Rice University. After building a caree…
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SHIFT BREAK : How to Design Cafe Station Responsibilities
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11:37
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11:37Workflow on the coffee bar is one of the most important things to design when considering how we will deliver excellent service and quality to our customers. Not only is it important to design your menu first and make the café design prioritize the production of that menu but you must also create clarity of responsibility within each station of tha…
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498: 10 Small Things to Fix in Your Coffee Shop This Week
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40:37Small things make a big difference in the coffee shop. Trouble is, that we tend to procrastinate addressing the natural falling away of doing small things well as we get busier, and those little actions and habits that create excellence end up atrophying causing big problems that are almost untraceable back to their small source. On today's episode…
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We all work hard and face challenges in the cafe. The way we interpret the effort put in to the work of running a coffee shop will determine both the quality of the shop and our own ability to sustain our energy and effort. The truth is consistent effort is a normal and necessary investment that keeps life flowing through the business. On today's a…
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497: Caught in the Middle: Answering Questions from Frustrated Management
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47:45The 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…
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Special Part 2 : Live from Coffee Fest LA! w/ Anna Gutierrez of Barista 22 and Sandra Elisa Loofborow of Loupe Coffee Consulting
47:28
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47:28Welcome 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 Eli…
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