Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders

Sustainability is a collaborative effort that relies on solid networks, relationships, and communication. This is mainly the responsibility of importers and roasters whose job it is to provide connection, accurate representation, and to realize the potential of the now harvested coffee and the farmers who grow it. While providing these platforms to those they serve, importers and roasters must also look out for the stability and sustainability of their own businesses in order to make progress long-term. In this episode we will be talking with some seriously inspiring importers and roasters to discuss their practices, perspectives, accomplishments on what it means to be holistically sustainable. From commited importing relationships, balancing the needs of roasters and farmers, and exploring the roasters role in the value chain -- to roaster cooperatives, creating values based culture, and navigating supply challenges, there are some incredible points and actionable insights in these conversations. I hope this inspires you to take consistent action, even in small ways, to add to the positive momentum! Our Guest for this Episode include: Jeanine Niynzima-Aroian: Owner of JNP Coffee / Founder of Burundi Friends International James Tooill: North American Sales Manager, Ally Coffee Joe Marrocco: VP of Coffee Sourcing and Product Development at FairWave Coffee Collective Monica Firl: Director of Sustainability, Coop Coffees Lee Wallace, CEO, Peace Coffee Andi Trindle Mersch: Director of Coffee, Tea, and Sustainability with Philz Coffee Guest Links: JNP Coffee Ally Coffee FairWave Coop Coffees Peace Coffee Philz Coffee Show Links: www.biocaf.com Download the Free PDF Program Guide Series Link: All Episodes of The Sustainability Series Related Keys to the Shop Episodes: COVID-19 Focus: Perspective form Burundi w/ Jeanine Niyonzima-Aroian, JNP Coffee 020 Joe Marrocco : Transparency, Origin Knowledge,and Your Shop 078 : Exploring Green Buying and Sensory Analysis w/ Amanda Juris Special! "Thinking Differently" Series | Radical Sustainability w/ James Combs of Combs' Coffee 152 : Essential Advice for Starting a Roastery w/ Jen Apodaca "Rate of Rise: Elevated Conversations on Roasting" RoR #6: Buying Less and Doing More w/ Ever Meister 265 : Gaining Clarity on Transparency w/ Jonas Lorenz of The Pledge Remember! Visit www.biocaf.com for more resources on sustainability! Visit www.keystotheshop.com for hundreds of episodes focused on helping you and your coffee business thrive! Follow @keystotheshop on Instagram!

Welcome to the Sustainability Series from Biocaf and Keys to the Shop! To kick off this series we will be exploring sustainability where all the potential of a coffee and the foundation of our industry is concentrated. The farm. How we define and understand sustainability here creates a ripple effect that impacts every action we take along the value chain. As we explore sustainability on the coffee farm we will be discussing everything from organic production, farmer cooperatives, and climate change - to legacy, genetic/crop diversity, and organic production. All of this with the aim to create clarity on the issues and highlight the movements currently making positive change that we can be inspired by, work along side of, and support in their big for sustainability on the farm. Our Guest for this Episode include: Marcos Croce: Owner of Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza (FAF) Brazil Esperanza Dionisio: General Manager of the Pangoa Cooperative in Peru Erika Koss : SCA instructor and Sustainability Consultant at "A World in your Cup" Kim Elena Ionescu: The Chief sustainability Officer for the SCA Vern Long: CEO of World Coffee Research Stefanie Tye: Climate Resilience Researcher with The World Resources Institute Guest Links: F.A.F. Brazil Pangoa Cooperative Erika Koss "A World in your Cup" SCA World Coffee Research The World Resources Institute Show Links: www.biocaf.com Download the Free PDF Program Guide Series Link: All Episodes in this Series Related Keys to the Shop Episodes: 294 : At Origin Roasting Revolution w/ Luis Fernando, founder of Amor Perfecto! 265 : Gaining Clarity on Transparency w/ Jonas Lorenz of The Pledge 288 : The Truth behind Cheap Coffee w/ Karl Weinhold 060 : Serving the Coffee Plant w/ Hanna Neuschwander, World Coffee Research COVID-19 Focus: Perspective form Burundi w/ Jeanine Niyonzima-Aroian, JNP Coffee 072: Taking an Origin Trip w/ Kim Elena-Ionescu : How to go to origin in a mutual beneficial way 020 Joe Marrocco : Transparency, Origin Knowledge,and Your Shop : How to approach and apply coffee origin information to enhance, not detract, from the cafe experience Remember! Visit www.biocaf.com for more resources on sustainability! Visit www.keystotheshop.com for hundreds of episodes focused on helping you and your coffee business thrive! Follow @keystotheshop on Instagram!

How do we gauge the markets our coffee shops serve? On top of being engaged in our own local ecosystems we must also pay attention to large scale trends as they influence the perception and habits of our customers. The SCA and NCA have recently teamed up to produce a robust, first of its kind report called, "The National Coffee Data Trends Break Out Report" that is free to the public and chock full of very useful and actionable information. Today we will be discussing many of this reports findings and how they impact our shops with the SCA's Katie Von Der Lieth! Katie von der Lieth is a Research Program Manager at the Specialty Coffee Association and Coffee Science Foundation, where she supports and grows the coffee research program. Prior to joining the SCA, Katie earned master's degrees in International Agricultural Development and Agriculture Resource Economics from the University of California, Davis. She also helped design and teach an undergraduate course about coffee and has conducted small-scale coffee research projects in Brazil and Ecuador. In this conversation we will cover: The making of the report and its goal Defining specialty and non-specialty Exposing customers to options Definitions and How report was compiled Trends in socio-economic, ethnicity, geographic distribution Surprising results of the study Relationship of consumers to home vs cafe experiences Discussing causes, impact, and customer trust Reason for the study Implications of the findings on marketing Links: SCA.COFFEE Download the free Report! Related Episodes: 196 : Understanding Customer Preferences w/ Peter Giuliano Transcript 069: Hosting Consumer Coffee Classes : 7 Guidelines 092 : Tony "Tonx" Konecny of Yes Plz : Consumer Accessibility, roasting, 3rd wave, subscription 035 : The Consumer Revolution w/ Kevin Sinnott 297 : Making Coffee Education Fun w/ Suneal Pabari of Leaderboard Coffee 270 : A Conversation w/ Mark Michaelson of Michaelson Consulting! 196 : Understanding Customer Preferences w/ Peter Giuliano Transcript 048 : How to taste coffee w/ U.S. Cup Tasters Champion, Steve Cuevas! Visit our amazing Sponsors! www.prima-coffee.com/keys www.pacficfoodservice.com www.coffeefest.com

Exciting news! On Wednesday, September 22nd, Keys to the Shop along with Biocaf, will be releasing a 4 part narrative series focused on exploring sustainability all along the value chain. Throughout the series will be talking to 20 of the most inspiring farmers, roasters, managers, importers, thinkers, and academics to both understand what real sustainability looks like, and how their ideas and work is making an impact. We will be focused on: The Farm Importing and Roasting The Cafe The Consumer Through this journey of arranging, conducting, compiling, and editing these interviews into their final form, this much is clear - This is just the tip of the iceberg. I hope that what you hear is surprising, encouraging, educational, and ultimately inspires you to dive deeper yourself into how you and your company can continue to pursue and refine what it means to be a sustainable specialty coffee industry. You can download a PDF program guide that highlights all of the guests that are featured on the series. A huge and humble thank you to my friends Jesse Hartman of The Coffee Podcast and Kojin Tashiro for their priceless help on the storyboarding and editing respectively. This series will be release in total on Wednesday the 22nd at 12am EST Visit Biocaf for more valuable content on sustainability and be sure to tune in on Wednesday the 22nd for the Keys to the Shop Sustainability Series!

Baristas are obsessed with it! The question we have to ask is, why?Most of us don't need to get people interested in latte art. In fact many of you probably wish your baristas would focus on other things. Contrary to what we might assume, baristas that gravitate toward latte art are not trying to avoid work so much as they are compelled by what latte art offers. Today we will be talking a little about why, if we want staff to engage holistically with the cafe, we will make all work like latte art. Related episodes: 248 : The 5 Elements of Resourcing your Team 172 : Why Tracking Performance is a Must! 162 : Discussing "Baristastainability" w/ Jenna Gotthelf of Counter Culture Coffee 047 : Mastering Latte Art : Some of the worlds best latte masters weigh in! Visit our awesome Sponsors! Elevated batch brew and so much more! Ground Control Cyclops Brewer The best espresso machines in the world! www.lamarzoccousa.com

Ideally, the nature of your relationship with your wholesale customers is less like a transaction and more like a partnership. How do we approach caring for those who have decided to serve our coffee in a way that is true to our values, supports their success, and creates growing trust and mutuality? In this episode these questions and more are answers as we talk with the Partner Program manager for Cat and Cloud Coffee, Marc Gessler! Marc has been in coffee now for 7 years. Born and raised in Santa Cruz, he began his career at Verve and after following the progress of Cat and Cloud he landed a job as a barista and quickly moved into working in the wholesale partnership program. Marc now leads this program that seeks to build authentic and values based relationships with all the people who partner with Cat and Cloud. In this conversation we will talk a bit about Marc's own journey into coffee, then dive into the work he does in supporting all the Cat and Cloud wholesale partners on a day to day basis, how they manage challenges, and continue to improve their standards and communication. I love the passion Marc brings that absolutely resonates with what I know about the whole team over there at Cat and Cloud. You are sure to gain some very valuable insight that you can apply to your wholesale department after listening to today's episode. We cover: Where do leads come from Values and authenticity as prerequisites Managing partner relationships Training and customization Trusting your clients Meeting people where they are Dealing with difficulties and when to part ways Keeping track of partner progress and needs Links: www.catandcloud.com Related Episodes: 246 : Selecting a Wholesale Coffee Provider 133 : 5 Keys to Successful Wholesale w/ Sarah Richmond 233 : A Conversation w/ Anthony Ragler, Black and White 235 : 4 Tips for Training your Staff 191 : Retraining your Staff on new Standards Visit our amazing Sponsors! www.prima-coffee.com/keys www.pacficfoodservice.com www.coffeefest.com

If you want to do well in competition you have to study the rules. Without this you are flying blind and will probably get a less that stellar result for your effort. The same thing is true for your career. Today on Shift Break we will be talking about the importance of learning the "rules" as it applies to your professional journey in coffee and why doing this will give you a much better chance of success. Related episodes: Laziness & the Most Important Decision 243 : Encore Episode! "The Sleepwalking Barista (Owner)" 031 : Essential Advice for New Baristas : Tips to help you successfully navigate and thrive in your new coffee career Patience & Passivity : Career Advice for the Long Game 014 : A Barista's Guide to Advancing: How to take full advantage of where you are and set yourself up for success in coffee The Barista Slump Visit our awesome Sponsors! Elevated batch brew and so much more! Ground Control Cyclops Brewer The best espresso machines in the world! www.lamarzoccousa.com

There is a lot of information available to us through our POS systems that show us the numbers behind the business. Owners and managers read these numbers to get a sense of not only how the business is doing, but also to get an idea of where it needs to go and what decisions need to be made to make that happen. So it is quite important that we have a sensible way to approach and use the data so the conclusions we come to and actions we take benefit the business long term. Today I am so pleased to be talking with Mark Calhoun and Jim Strarcev of PerfectCube! After they sold their financial technology business to Charles Schwab, Mark and Jim pivoted to the retail space by opening a gelato shop. They ultimately wanted to learn the retail business so they could create a better software solution for mom-and-pop stores and small franchises. The result is PerfectCube, an online platform that allows small retailers to easily track their performance and even forecast the near future. In the space of a few minutes, users can get a read on sales, inventory levels and other important metrics. PerfectCube can assess what hours of the day have the highest sales and which individual products sold fastest, not just today, but last week, last month and last year. Mark and Jim give a great work shop at Coffee Fest trade shows called -Real Number in Your Cafe- and today they are going to be discussing with us their path to retail, approach to the numbers, and how owners and operators should be managing the metrics to make the best choices for how they run their cafes. We cover: From big data to gelato Learning the key points of focus for retail Taking care of customers Looking at what was behind the data Short term thinking, long term damage False positives and confirmation bias Iportance of easy visualization Metrics to pay attention to Next steps to get and use data well Links: www.perfectcube.co PerfectCube on Facebook Related episodes: 009 : How to Approach Data and Metrics w/ Simon Ouderkirk 170 : Why your Inventory Counts w/ Albert Amar and Pierre-Francois Rio of SwiftCount 172 : Why Tracking Performance is a Must! 184 : Making Great Business Decisions w/ Dave Stachowiak Visit our amazing Sponsors! www.prima-coffee.com/keys www.pacficfoodservice.com www.coffeefest.com

If your shop does not have specific standards for the products your serve and the way you serve them, then you are leaving a lot of the success of your coffee shop up to chance. Question is, how do you go about setting standards? Where do the parameters come from? In today's Shift Break we will be discussing an equation for how to set up the basics of your cafe's quality standards in a fashion that is informed, practical, and flexible. Related Episodes: 298 : A Trophy, or Atrophy? 235 : 4 Tips for Training your Staff 172 : Why Tracking Performance is a Must! 123 : The 10 Essentials of a Barista Manual Communicate, Duplicate, Repeat Your Peers are not your Customers How to ruin a Game of Telephone Visit our awesome Sponsors! Elevated batch brew and so much more! Ground Control Cyclops Brewer The best espresso machines in the world! www.lamarzoccousa.com

These are the two most important and intensive processes in the cafe yet they often are the most rush and poorly thought through. The preparations we make and the actions we take when hiring and training staff will and does create a ripple effect that is felt by everyone who interacts with your business for years to come. Maybe more than ever, a proper focus on hiring and training with excellence is the key to creating resilience and sustainability in our coffee shops. Strong investment in the beginning helps alleviate issues down the road. Today we will be going through a detailed presentation I delivered at Coffee Fest that dives into some very practical advice to equip you to bring on, and care for well, the right people for your coffee shop and customers. We cover: Values based hiring and the problem of false-promises Building the role and job description Steps of the interview process and the role of feedback Ways to attract staff Proper views toward training and onboarding Structures to equip baristas Patience, follow through and intentionality Manuals and teach trainers to teach Related Episodes: Hiring Friends and Making Enemies 278 : Making great Hiring Decisions Hard Work is Hard Training TMI Shifting the Shadow Shift 296: Holistic Barista Training w/ David Castillo of Go Get Em Tiger , Los Angeles 123 : The 10 Essentials of a Barista Manual 130 : Anne Nylander | Training Principles for Specialty Coffee Professionals Visit our sponsors! www.prima-coffee.com/keys www.pacficfoodservice.com www.coffeefest.com

New York City is undoubtedly one of the coffee capitals of the world. With a seemingly endless number of options to choose from, it is hard to stand out and create something that makes people notice and even hard to keep their attention and patronage. Birch Coffee in NYC was founded with the intention to level up the hospitality and customer service one can expect in a coffee house and has been busy building and making this a reality since 2009. Today on Founder Friday we get to talk with the Co-Funder of Birch Coffee, Jeremy Lyman! Jeremy Lyman is the co-founder of Birch Coffee, a New York City-based coffee company. Since its first store opened in 2009, the company has grown to become one of New York City's premiere and most loved independent coffee shop chains. With more than a dozen locations throughout the city, the focus of Birch is on customer service. Service is something Jeremy believed was lacking in the Specialty Coffee industry and being that both he and his partner Paul are consumers first and worked in bars and restaurants for years before, they realized that this was what was necessary to stand out in the industry. In order to grow the company, he has overseen the development of not only a high level of service, but methods in which to hone and develop those skills amongst his teams. Jeremy, Paul, and their team have also figured out creative ways to stand out. From eliminating wifi and introducing conversation starters to designing extraordinarily unique napkins, they have caught the eye of the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and Forbes who have paid specific attention to these differentiators. In this conversation we will not only her the story of Birch Coffee's founding and growth but we will also be hearing about Jeremy's journey as an owner through the years as he owns up about hard lessons, values, the impact of vulnerability, and what we considers the most valuable thing owners can focus on at any stage of their cafes development. I loved this talk and was greatly moved by Jeremy's honesty and candor. I hope you enjoy this episode but more than that I hope it helps inspire you to new levels of personal and professional excellence. Excellent customer service First steps and lessons learned early Overcoming arrogance What makes a great partnership Recovery and Vulnerability Being honest and self aware Making good decisions Healthy and unhealthy fear The vital role of feedback and observation Training baristas for real world scenarios Looking for the lessons in everything Advice for entrepreneurs Links: www.birchcoffee.com Follow Birch on Instagram Email: [email protected] Related episodes: 177 : Founder Friday w/ Jonathan Pascual of Taproom Coffee and Beer in Atlanta, Georgia 228 : Cracking the Leadership Code w/ Alain Hunkins 181 : Organizational Self-Knowledge 145: Founder Friday w/ Red Rooster Coffee Roasters co-founder, Haden Polseno-Hensley 017 : Founder Friday w/ Jonathan Rubinstein of Joe Coffee: Entrepreneurship | Coffee Business | Hiring | Barista Culture | Growth Visit our sponsors! www.prima-coffee.com/keys www.pacficfoodservice.com

At work there is unnecessary difficulty and then there is just…necessary difficulty. The trouble is that sometimes we can blur the line between the two and generally will default the thinking all difficulty is to be avoided or is a sign of something wrong with the system, ourselves, or the people we lead. On this Shift Break I channel my inner old man (kinda) as we will be discussing the necessary difficulty of work and how to avoid blaming others, and why embracing hard work as a blessing and not a curse can change you and your business. Interested in consulting services? Reach out to : [email protected] Listen to these episodes next: Laziness & the Most Important Decision 056 : The Sleepwalking Barista Patience & Passivity : Career Advice for the Long Game 6 Truths about Power 283 : 5 Bad Reasons to Open a Coffee Shop 226 : The Art of being Indispensable at Work w/Bruce Tulgan Visit our awesome Sponsors! Elevated batch brew and so much more! Ground Control Cyclops Brewer The best espresso machines in the world! www.lamarzoccousa.com

What makes a successful coffee bar? This whole show is dedicated to exploring the depths of the question and yet there are a few fundamental elements that, if practiced, will greatly help your coffee bar succeed. Were are not going to be talking about the common things you might associate with success such as location, Cost of Goods, and great customer service. Those things and many like them are definitely important but even if you have the major pieces in place, there are aspects of your shop that are quite nuanced and are responsible for hold those big pieces in place. Today we will be exploring the top 5 rules for a successful coffee shop, why they are important, and what it looks like to implement them to make your cafe sustainable for you and everyone associated with it. We cover: Doing the right thing facing reality Celebrating staff and community People-first systems Pursuing humility, empathy Iterating your business Passion and realism Feedback and communication Accepting different means to and end Values in various contexts Recommended episodes related to this: 173 : 5 Areas of Focus for Retailers 276 : Six Ideas for Increasing your Revenue 269 : What to Focus on after you Launch 194 : Encore Episode! Leadership in the Cafe: 10 Steps to being a People First Leader | Aired January 17 2017 057 : SOP's FTW! Success through Standard Operating Procedures 108 : Founder Friday w/ Dorian Bolden of Beyu Caffe in Durham, NC 043 : Founder Friday w/ Kathy Turiano: Joe Bean Coffee Roasters Visit our sponsors! www.prima-coffee.com/keys www.pacficfoodservice.com www.coffeefest.com

Quality control and assurance is common in most well established coffee shops. Even if it is not a dedicated position, it at least is an area where we invest a lot of time and effort. What we don't see very much of is a focus on care. How do the staff and customers experience the business and what are we doing to make sure we are dialing in that experience? Today on Shift Break we will talk about how investing in care assurance is a critical to success. Related episodes: Fear and Trust Systems as Care 208: Building a Company that Cares w/ Kyra Kennedy of Baratza 162 : Discussing "Baristastainability" w/ Jenna Gotthelf of Counter Culture Coffee 085 : How we Ruin the Specialty Experience 248 : The 5 Elements of Resourcing your Team Visit our awesome Sponsors! Elevated batch brew and so much more! Ground Control Cyclops Brewer The best espresso machines in the world! www.lamarzoccousa.com

Winning coffee awards and competitions is pretty cool. There are many benefits to pursuing accolades for your coffee shop through such as marketing opportunities, sharpening skills, energizing staff, and networking. The question we have to ask ourselves though is, just how critical are competitors and awards tot he success of our shops and what metric should we be using to gauge the health of our businesses? In today's episode we will be talking about how the pursuit of awards can often become a means to ignore the more foundational issues within the shop and actually contribute to further disfunction by prioritizing external validation over internal health. We discuss: Benefits and place of competition Where we go astray Why "Best of" doesn't mean what you think The consequences Feeding our ego Mindset for ROI no matter what Escaping responsibility through community Focus on "first things" and internal health Related Episodes: Icing on the Cake: Competitions vs. the Shop Accurate Reflection 010: How Are Competitions Relevant? w/ Jess Steffy: Barista competitions / Coffee Shops / Employee engagement / Professional growth 045 : Simple, Powerful Hospitality w/ Philip Turner 173 : 5 Areas of Focus for Retailers 158 : A Management Masterclass w/ Jon Felix Lund, VP of Operations for Coava Coffee Roasters / Portland, OR 296: Holistic Barista Training w/ David Castillo of Go Get Em Tiger , Los Angeles Visit our sponsors! www.prima-coffee.com/keys www.pacficfoodservice.com www.coffeefest.com

On a daily basis we have opportunities to take a customer's genuine curiosity and excitement and either affirm it and guide them or to stamp it out and push them away. In coffee shops all over the world the former scenario play out but what we see too much of these days is the latter. Customers being essentially scolded for their budding enthusiasm for coffee. Today on Shift Break I am re-airing an old episode called "Curbing Their Enthusiasm". In it we explore the problem, what it causes, and how to fix our mindsets so we can be effective and genuinely excited guides for our customers. Related Episodes: Customer Experience - vs - Coffee Quality Making the customer the Enemy Gossip: How this toxic element destroys community in the coffee shop and what to do instead Managing Anger : Tips on how to deal with getting angry behind the coffee bar in a healthy way Visit our awesome Sponsors! Elevated batch brew and so much more! Ground Control Cyclops Brewer The best espresso machines in the world! www.lamarzoccousa.com

A big issue with coffee education is accessibility. Much of the practical information that leads customers and coffee professionals alike to understanding, buying, and brewing great coffee is either locked away in our roasteries and cafes or hurried in a sea of misinformation. That's where Leaderboard Coffee comes in. Today we are going to talk with the founder of Leaderboard Coffee, Suneal Pabari. Suneal is the co-founder of The Roasters Pack, Matchmaker Coffee, This Coffee Co. & Leaderboard Coffee, based out of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He's passionate about creating interesting coffee experiences and elevating specialty coffee. Leaderboard is a subscription based tasting competition that brings together passionate consumers and professionals to taste some of the best coffees in the world and win a place on the leaderboard at Leaderboard.coffee In our conversation we discuss the origins and logistics of Leaderboard as well as the state of coffee education today and what it can be, and needs to be moving into the future. We cover: Origins of Leaderboard The importance of accessibility Connecting consumers with professionals How gamification aids education through urgency How to approach coffee duration in the future Logistics Experimental coffee vs conventional Sustainability Creating community Links: www.leaderboard.coffee Instagram Youtube Related Episodes: 296: Holistic Barista Training w/ David Castillo of Go Get Em Tiger , Los Angeles 282 : How to Listen to your Customers 250 : Planning better Events w/ Steven Moloney of The Barista League 242 : A Conversation with James Hoffmann 196 : Understanding Customer Preferences w/ Peter Giuliano 168 : How to get the Best from your Coffee w/ WBC 2013 Champ, Pete Licata 163 : Lessons from Crush the Rush w/ Josh Little Field Visit our sponsors! www.prima-coffee.com/keys www.pacficfoodservice.com www.coffeefest.com

How do I motivate my staff? This was a question I received at Coffee Fest regarding managers and I believe the answer is applicable both to baristas and to managers. Heck, it's pretty much true for anyone. It starts with culture. In today's Shift Break we will be talking about a few of the usual ways we motivate staff in the coffee shop and then discussing why creating a great culture is the primary way to motivate and incentivize and see people really engage. Related episodes: 139 : Founder Friday w/ Kusanya Cafe co-founder, Phil Sipka 179 : What you MUST Know About Employee Culture w/ Stan Slap 109 : Leadership Abandonment Syndrome : Lack of development in senior staff and what to do about it 105 : Leadership & Management Masterclass w/ Maria Cleaveland 074 : The Life Changing Power of Good Authority w/ Jonathan Raymond 004: Leadership in the Cafe : 10 Steps to Being a People First Leader Visit our sponsors! Elevated batch brew and so much more! Ground Control Cyclops Brewer The best espresso machines in the world! www.lamarzoccousa.com

Training staff to become productive, competent, and confident members of the team is a massive challenge all coffee shops face. In spite of our best efforts we often end up with baristas who have completed training but are still not ready to work the bar effectively and this brings about frustration for everyone. There is a better way and today we are going to explore that way with one of the nations top barista trainers, David Castillo. David has worked in specialty coffee for the past decade as a barista, manager, and trainer, and has competed in a few barista competitions along the way. Originally from New York, he moved to Los Angeles in 2018 and is now the Training Manager for G&B Coffee and Go Get Em Tiger. David's philosophy and best practices in training have come about through a massive amount of focused experience in the field. Through failures and success he has honed in on what I think are the most critical element to successfully train baristas and the and create the professionals we need in our coffee shops. We cover: Early experiences + Connecting music to coffee Learning to learn and train Biggest mistakes Training lab vs reality The role of the manager + Effective feedback The "why" and the "how" Becoming open minded Revamping the training process Training the whole professional Redefining success in training Links: www.gget.com GGET Instagram David IG Visit our sponsors! www.prima-coffee.com/keys www.pacficfoodservice.com www.coffeefest.com

It's Founder Friday! I am very pleased to be presenting a conversation with someone who I have wanted to have on a Founder Friday for quite a while. Not just because he has been quite successful, but because in the course of achieving that success he has created a model of a healthy and resilient business through rooted and wise decision making, refinement, expansion, and putting values into action. Today we are talking with Justin Shepherd of Spencer's Coffee in Bowling green, KY! Justin left a career in journalism to purchase a coffeeshop, along with his wife, Shelley, back in 2005. In the years since, he and his team have transformed Spencer's Coffee from a quaint downtown cafe to a sustainable and ever-growing company, boasting two locations and a third set to open this fall). In addition to a full menu of coffee and espresso, house-made pastries and made-to-order breakfast items are served at both locations, and the original downtown location also features a full lunch menu, along with a rotating selection of craft beer. In our conversation we will be taking you through the whole story of how Justin started, early and hard lessons, navigating change, and building a firm foundation with the community in mind. We cover: Early lessons taking over an existing business Getting through initial challenges Learning about coffee and business Asking for help and becoming confident Serving what is right for your community Managing customer retention and changing standards Knowing the numbers and profitability Stages of expansion Hiring and Managing Keeping the community as your center Justin's proudest accomplishment Advice to other owners/entrepreneurs Links: www.spencerscoffee.com Instagram Related Episodes: 146 : How to Host a Throwdown w/ Justin Shepherd of Spencers Coffee, Bowling Green, KY 145: Founder Friday w/ Red Rooster Coffee Roasters co-founder, Haden Polseno-Hensley 083: 6 Essential Books for your Professional Growth 196 : Understanding Customer Preferences w/ Peter Giuliano 223 : Building a Financially Resilient Business w/ Andrew Carroll 230 : Making room for Community in your Shop Visit our sponsors! www.prima-coffee.com/keys www.pacficfoodservice.com

Here's some good news...Burnout is usually a result of a long string of unaddressed stressors that build up until they reach critical mass. Why is that good news? It's good because it means with a few shifts of our thinking and approach we can address the issues that lead to burnout before it happens. Today on Shift Break we will be discussing a few of the ways we can either set managers up for failure or success based on how we create roles, expectations, and the degree to which we practice being agents of clarity and resourcing. Episodes to listen to next: 248 : The 5 Elements of Resourcing your Team 244 : Top 10 Ways to Lose Employees 229 : 7 Tips for New Managers 194 : Encore Episode! Leadership in the Cafe: 10 Steps to being a People First Leader | Aired January 17 2017 Visit our sponsors! Elevated batch brew and so much more! Ground Control Cyclops Brewer The best espresso machines in the world! www.lamarzoccousa.com

We generally assume that roasting happens once green coffee leaves its county of origin taking much of the coffee's value along with it. But there is a growing movement of entrepreneurs who are keeping their coffee's value right at home by roasting at origin and shipping direct to shops and consumers. 25 years ago that movement was catalyzed and led by today's very special guest, Luis Fernando, Founder of Amor Perfecto in Colombia. Luis' quest was to bring the freshest, best tasting Colombian coffee to the world and he started by breaking the law. It was illegal at the time to roast and/or sell quality beans locally but through his passion, championing roasted at origin Colombian coffee, Luis not only was able to get the law changed but has today built global team of FNC-affiliated growers, agricultural technology companies, master roasters, baristas, packagers, chefs and coffee aficionados all brining the finest Colombian Coffee to the entire world. Luis and his team at Amor Perfecto have won a host of awards for their coffee, barista skill, and business. The most impressive result of all Luis' work though is his legacy and the impact Amor Perfecto has had on countless professionals, farmers, and like minded entrepreneurs. In this episode we cover: We cover: From flowers to coffee Adding value at origin From illegal operation to trail blazer Changing laws to revolutionize coffee culture in Colombia Barista competitions and networking Learning to roast and developing the business True local coffee Exporting origin roasted coffee Advice to other entrepreneurs at origin Developing professional barista culture Partnering with growers Sustainability legacy and future farmers Links: www.amorperfecto.com Episodes to listen to next: 288 : The Truth behind Cheap Coffee w/ Karl Weinhold 265 : Gaining Clarity on Transparency w/ Jonas Lorenz of The Pledge 061 : You Don't Know Beans about Brazil w/ Kelly Stein, Coffea Podcast Visit our sponsors! www.prima-coffee.com/keys www.pacficfoodservice.com www.coffeefest.com

It is a blessing and a curse. Being in a position of management or any type of authority means you likely can see when things are wrong or don't quite fit the ideal. That is a valuable skill set that is worth cultivating. As a result we tend to skew negative and become primarily focused on what is wrong which inevitably leads to an anemic and rather bleak outlook in the coffee shop. Today on Shift Break we will be talking about how we can balance our natural tendencies with mindsets and actions that skew positive. Related episodes: The Affirmation Vacuum Are you Excited? Bridging the Values-Actions Gap Visit our sponsors! Elevated batch brew and so much more! Ground Control Cyclops Brewer The best espresso machines in the world! www.lamarzoccousa.com

What is professionalism? Is it aprons? Using the right greeting? The way the space looks? When it comes to coffee shops and coffee professionals we often use metrics that are more surface than substance and the result is that we create an experience that misses the mark when it comes to making real connections and, I would argue, misses the mark on what true professionalism is. Today we will be chatting about what professionalism is, what it is not, and how to create an authentic expression of hospitality through your craft that matters. I am pretty passionate about this subject and hope that this helps inspire some deep thoughts on how we seek to present ourselves and build our industry. We will cover: What we believe about professionalism Why it is problematic The results of pursuing synthetic expressions on staff, customers, and business The universal values of true professionalism How to build with substance and grow with grace The future we and our customers want Visit our sponsors! www.prima-coffee.com/keys www.pacficfoodservice.com www.coffeefest.com

On some level we all can justify ignoring customers in our coffee shop. Seems pretty crazy right? I mean, why would we do that knowing how important it is to give a great experience to the one keeping the lights on?And yet it happens all the time. What starts out as a one time act of giving into convenience, turns into a full blown culture. On today's Shift Break we will be talking about an experience I had recently that illustrates this and thinking through why it happens, why it hurts us, and what to do about it. Episodes to listen to next: 019 : 10 Reasons to Love the Customer w/ Chris Deferio Spiders! What they can Teach us About Hospitality 045 : Simple, Powerful Hospitality w/ Philip Turner 016: Raising the Bar on your Customer Experience w/ Michael Butterworth For consulting reach out to: [email protected] Visit our sponsors! Elevated batch brew and so much more! Ground Control Cyclops Brewer The best espresso machines in the world! www.lamarzoccousa.com

Who is driving our career? Most of the time we attribute our careers current state to outside forces or fate. Rarely will we consider that we ourselves are the primary driver of our success. The good news is that there are lot's of things that we can both do to take control and start really steering thing in the direction we want to go. Lucky for us today's special guest has written a couple books on this subject, one of which we will be discussing in depth. I am very pleased to welcome to the show, Ed Evarts, Author of the new book "Drive your Career: 9 High-Impact Ways to Take Responsibility for your Own Success" Ed Evarts is the founder and president of Excellius Leadership Development, a Boston-based coaching organization. He works with successful leaders to increase their self-awareness so they can manage themselves more productively; with successful teams to ensure their time together is as productive as possible; and with smaller organizations, at a pivot point in their evolution, to help them plan strategically and purposefully. Ed is also the author of "Raise Your Visibility & Value: Uncover the Lost Art of Connecting on the Job" and the host of Be Brave@Work, a weekly podcast in which leaders share stories about bravery—or the lack of it—in their careers, and the impact their choices have had on their career progression. In today's conversation we will be going in depth on several of the tactics from the book Drive your Career and discussing how to apply them in your context. We cover: Passenger vs driver Creating a positive relationship with your boss Being a helper Self awareness and action Writing yourself back into the equation Feedback Understanding vs being understood Curiosity and culture of fear Bell curves and personal resiliency Empathy Links: Website: www.excellius.com See Ed in action: https://bit.ly/2Zr29Kp Episodes to listen to next: 260 : Wait! Is your current Job actually the right Job? 258 : Prioritizing your Mental Health in the New Year w/ Dr. Lara Pence 203 : Empowering Women in Business w/ Katherine Knapke 165 : The Art of Deep Listening w/ Oscar Trimboli 226 : The Art of being Indispensable at Work w/Bruce Tulgan Visit our sponsors! www.prima-coffee.com/keys www.pacficfoodservice.com www.coffeefest.com

Don't hire someone with experience! At least that is what I hear quite often. The idea being that you won't have to untrained old habits. I many people's mind experienced employees are more of a pain than they are willing to deal with. But where does this assumption come from? Is this a fair rule to have for hiring? I honest don't think so. The truth is that experience is only a liability in the hands of certain people. On today's Shift Break we will be exploring just how experience can turn into a liability and how to approach baristas with experience in a fair way. Related episodes: 235 : 4 Tips for Training your Staff 194 : Encore Episode! Leadership in the Cafe: 10 Steps to being a People First Leader | Aired January 17 2017 121 : Working from Your Strengths w/ Strengths Finder Guru, Lisa Cummings 031 : Essential Advice for New Baristas : Tips to help you successfully navigate and thrive in your new coffee career 018: Hiring, Culture, and the Future of your Shop For consulting reach out to: [email protected] Visit our sponsors! Elevated batch brew and so much more! Ground Control Cyclops Brewer The best espresso machines in the world! www.lamarzoccousa.com

Have you ever thrown your hands up in frustration and said something like, "Why won't my staff listen to me?!" I get this type of question a lot from people attending my lectures at Coffee Fest. Managers and owners alike have this moment often. I know I have. We desire nothing more than generating buy-in and to be at peace knowing that our employees are not only listening but will faithfully carry out what has been communicated. Unfortunately this just is not the case and today we will be exploring what some possible causes and suggesting some fixes to help you finally be able to trust your staff, and yourself. We will cover: Your approach to communication Expectations and engagement Approach to Leadership and communication Feedback and honesty A culture of ignoring the boss Your focus and energy Hiring the wrong people Systems of support Episodes to listen to next: 194 : Encore Episode! Leadership in the Cafe: 10 Steps to being a People First Leader | Aired January 17 2017 248 : The 5 Elements of Resourcing your Team 244 : Top 10 Ways to Lose Employees Visit our sponsors! www.prima-coffee.com/keys www.pacficfoodservice.com www.coffeefest.com

Sample roasting is a critical part of any roasting operation. But sample roasting is not simply used for finding defects or even just for making purchasing decisions. It is also very important to use as a tool to illustrate what a coffee can do and where it fits in your line up according to your's and your customers tastes. Today we are going to be exploring what our guest, Mike Ebert calls, "Illustrative Roasting", and giving you tools, insights, mindsets, and best practices to use your sample roaster to its fullest capacity in helping your coffee reach its highest potential. As the founder of Firedancer Coffee Consultants, Mike is dedicated to helping clients create a personalized strategy to ensure long-term success. He works primarily with roasters, producers and retailers, drawing from his extensive experience in all facets of the specialty coffee supply chain to guide clients in reaching their potential. Ebert is an Authorized SCA Trainer; holding the professional level certificates in Green Coffee, Sensory Skills, Roasting and Brewing. He has had a hand in many positions up and down the supply chain and continues his volunteer work with the Specialty Coffee Association's Education Advisory Council as Co-Chair of the Education Content Committee. In our conversation we cover: Sample roasting for defect vs Illustrative Roasting with Objectivity and planning use of coffee Priorities of sample roasting frequency Sample roast and cupping for buying vs development Taking into consideration the end user Translating from sample roasting to production roasting Selecting the right sample roaster Assumptions that get you in trouble SOPs and System for any and all roasters Links: www.firedancercoffee.com www.roastmagazine.com Subscribe to Roast Audio Articles! https://www.roastmagazine.com/audioarticles/ Related Episodes: RoR #1: A Conversation w/ Anne Cooper of Equilibrium Master Roasters RoR #2: Exploring Quality Control w/ Spencer Turer of Coffee Enterprises RoR #3: Making Contingency Planning a Reality w/ Andi Trindle Mersch of Philz Coffee RoR #4: Practical Thermal Dynamics w/ Candice Madison of Royal Coffee / The Crown Oak RoR #5: Time and Color in Roasting w/ Morten Munchow of Coffee Mind" RoR #6: Buying Less and Doing More w/ Ever Meister 286 : Coffee Roasting Best Practices w/ Scott Rao

Turnover is inevitable. Even though we expect it, it's not easy. When it comes to replacing managers though, it becomes 10x as difficult because they occupy a specialized position and typically possess a certain skill set that made them effective. On today's shift break we are answering a question posed by a listener on how to go about replacing a manager who is moving on. This is a great episode for both managers and bosses of managers alike. Succession planning for your admin positions is critical and I hope this episode helps guide you down the right path. Related episodes: For consulting reach out to: [email protected] Visit our sponsors! Elevated batch brew and so much more! Ground Control Cyclops Brewer The best espresso machines in the world! www.lamarzoccousa.com

Today we get to explore the ever growing Central African coffee farming industry with some one who's company is creating inroads, resources, and opportunities to improve farmers lives and the global demand for their product. Keith White Jr. is the founder of Paraiso Trading. Paraiso Trading was created to connect Central African Farmers and their high quality organic produce directly to world markets. The company initially focuses on organically produced Coffee, and Cocoa. However as it grows and adds more farmers to the network it will expand the product portfolio. Working with women farmers, as well as priding ourselves on only working with farms and Cooperatives that we have actually visited and exceed our social and transparency standards in accordance with those required to be apart of the global economy. They work hard to promote the product at a higher price, work with farm owners and managers to assist in obtaining certifications, educate farmers and others on the benefits of improved sustainability and environmental consciousness, as well as educating consumers on the history behind their cups of coffee and who is producing it. Having grown up the son of a sharecropper in the south and a farmer himself, company owner Keith White has lived the frustration of growing some of the highest quality products on the market yet still struggling to make a living while others became wealthy from the very same product. We aim to be a part of the change happening in the specialty coffee industry! In our conversation today we talk all about how the company was founded, the opportunities, challenges, and needs associated with bringing central African farming to the greater market, and what we need to know about what goes on behind the scenes in getting providing a stable and thriving life for farmers. We cover: Getting started in coffee and founding pqraiso Finding the potential and ways to help farmers in Cbetral Africa Brining the coffee to market Partnering with farmers Certifications and the role they play What goes into creating stability for farming communities Importance of organic and responsible farming Helping shift methods Improving land management Addressing concerns about supply Links: www.paraisotrading.com Related episodes to listen to next: 288 : The Truth behind Cheap Coffee w/ Karl Weinhold 103 : The Colombian Coffee Connection w/ Ervin Liz 078 : Exploring Green Buying and Sensory Analysis w/ Amanda Juris 265 : Gaining Clarity on Transparency w/ Jonas Lorenz of The Pledge Visit our sponsors! www.prima-coffee.com/keys www.pacficfoodservice.com www.coffeefest.com

It's Founder Friday and we are talking with the founder of Chariots Coffees in Uganda, Ochen Simon Eidodo! Chariots coffees and Barista Academy was established in 2018 by Ochen Simon Eidodo one of the most renown Ugandan professional barista and 2018 Ugandan Barista Champion, whose experience in coffee brings a high level of quality in the coffee value chain in Uganda helping to promote the highest level of coffee quality from farm to cup. Chariots Coffees and Barista Academy was designed to be the best buyer and seller of high quality coffees in Uganda. They also are training up a highly professional and passionate barista community in Uganda who will brew the best quality their very own Ugandan coffee. The result is the promotion and boosting of the rate of domestic consumption of Ugandan coffee. In today's conversation we are going to hear the story of both Simon and Chariots Coffees and the incredible impact they are having on the coffee industry in Uganda. I love hearing about producing countries creating change, increasing internal consumption, and building a stronger coffee community right where the coffee grows. Enjoy! We cover: Beginnings in hospitality industry in Uganda Simon's shift in perspective on coffee His competition experience Influence on Ugandan barista and coffee scene Adding value at origin Starting Chariots Coffee Challenges in starting and running the business Expanding services How the Ugandan barista and coffee scene has changed Learning the roasting process Passion, purpose, love Advice to entrepreneurs at origin Related Episodes: 247 : Founder Friday! w/ Ritesh Doshi, CEO of Spring Valley Coffee, Nairobi, Kenya 171 : Founder Friday w/ Matt Chitharanjan and Namrata Asthana of Blue Tokai Coffee Roasters in India 256 : Founder Friday w/ Varat Vichit-Vadakan of Roots Coffee Roaster in Bangkok, Thailand 153 : Exploring the Peace Trade in the Congo w/ Mighty Peace Coffee www.chariotscoffees.com Instagram Visit our sponsors! www.prima-coffee.com/keys www.pacficfoodservice.com

The day is full of issues calling for your attention. Most of the time there are a few urgent problems that need to be addressed and once they are, new ones seem to rush in to fix the void. Where do big problems come from? On today's shift break we will be discussing the origin of most big problems, why we miss them, and what do do about it. Related episodes: 278 : Making great Hiring Decisions The Impact of Absence 244 : Top 10 Ways to Lose Employees Fix the Small Stuff! : Management, Morale, Coffee Bar Culture For consulting reach out to: [email protected] Visit our sponsors! Elevated batch brew and so much more! Ground Control Cyclops Brewer The best espresso machines in the world! www.lamarzoccousa.com

The problem of cheap coffee keeps producers trapped in cycles of poverty and keeps the power in the hands of those least impacted by what is at best a global crisis. What has led to this current state of the industry and how can we be informed and equipped to make changes with the power we each posses to create a better future and tip the scales in favor of those whose lives are literally on the line? Well that is the subject of the new book "Cheap Coffee" by today's guest, Karl Weinhold. Karl Wienhold is a consultant, researcher and organizer of postcolonial rural development. He is dedicated to trying to better understand and undo extractive economic power structures that have oppressed people and degraded ecosystems to enrich others since colonial times. He studies coffee, microeconomics, agroforestry, circular economies, and generally fitting square pegs through round holes. He spent several years working as a management consultant specializing in international trade, later shifting to rural development economics and focusing on improving agricultural value chains of tropical cash crops for public, private, and third sector clients. Since founding the farmers' collective Cedro Alto in 2013, he has been supporting smallholder coffee farmers in Colombia, advocating for them in export markets, and moving physical coffee around the world. He has an MBA in global management, resides in Colombia, and is the author of the book "Cheap Coffee. In our conversation today we talk about Karls journey in coffee and how his experiences, research, and philosophies have developed and contributed to this book. We explore many facets of Cheap Coffee and discuss questions related to the mechanisms behind the crisis and what we need to be aware of in order to take more informed actions as individuals and business owners. We cover: Sustainability and the need for definitions Power structures Changing for long term benefit How we market and what we practice The complexity of both the problem and the solutions The mechanisms at work behind the scenes Perpetuating poverty porn Ownership of images and the supply chain Better business models Helping without condescension Curiosity, investigation, and purposeful partnerships Links: www.cheapcoffeebook.com Karls Youtube Channel Related episodes to listen to next: 265 : Gaining Clarity on Transparency w/ Jonas Lorenz of The Pledge 072: Taking an Origin Trip w/ Kim Elena-Ionescu : How to go to origin in a mutual beneficial way 061 : You Don't Know Beans about Brazil w/ Kelly Stein, Coffea Podcast 020 Joe Marrocco : Transparency, Origin Knowledge,and Your Shop : How to approach and apply coffee origin information to enhance, not detract, from the cafe experience RoR #6: Buying Less and Doing More w/ Ever Meister Visit our sponsors! www.prima-coffee.com/keys www.pacficfoodservice.com www.coffeefest.com

Baristas are often the subject of much complaining from leadership. "They just don't get how hard it is" we hear them say. We talked about this last week in the Shift Break "Understanding and Bitterness". Baristas however, are also just as likely to construct the same type of unreasonable expectations of owners and leaders that they don't want put upon them. Today we are going to be chatting about the barista's role in all this and continuing to emphasis the need for mutual empathy, boundaries, and communication. Related episodes: Understanding and Bitterness Who you are & What you Do 031 : Essential Advice for New Baristas : Tips to help you successfully navigate and thrive in your new coffee career 044 : Navigating Mistakes and Failure : Best Practices for overcoming the problems we bring with us to the cafe 077 : How you can Happen to your Career w/ Scott Anthony Barlow : A frame work for finding the right work 111 : Self Care 101: Taking care of yourself while taking care of others 125 : Confidence in Conflict w/ Kwame Christian : A framework for Compassionate Curiosity Visit our Sponsors! Elevated batch brew and so much more! Ground Control Cyclops Brewer The best espresso machines in the world! www.lamarzoccousa.com

Whether you are behind the bar making drinks, or behind a laptop making the schedule for your baristas you cannot rely on just one mindset to achieve the best results in your coffee shop. Just like building an agile business that can pivot well in a variety of situations, our minds must be able to shift between preparation and performance. Today we are going to be exploring some of the most critical mindset shifts with the author of the book "Shift your Mind", Brian Levenson! Brian Levenson is the founder of Strong Skills, which provides executive coaching and mental performance coaching, speaking and consulting to elite organizations, performers and leaders. He has been fortunate to work with CEO's, professional athletes and with teams in the NBA, NHL, and MLS, Division 1 athletic departments, the Federal Reserve, the Department of Homeland Security, Hilton, Young Presidents Organization (YPO) and many other organizations. He also has a weekly podcast, Intentional Performers, where he interviews a diverse group of elite high performers. His new book, Shift Your Mind, is taking the performance and mindset world by storm! On this episode we are going to be discussing the concept of minds shifts, why they are necessary, and how to practice them. We cover: The preparation mind and the performance mind Humility vs Arrogance Perfectionism vs Adaptability Analysis vs Instinct Fear vs Fearlessness Present vs Future Selfish vs Selfish Links: www.strongskills.com Intentional Performers Podcast Related episodes o listen to next: 253 : Mindsets that Sabotage Success 243 : Encore Episode! "The Sleepwalking Barista (Owner)" 221 : Building your People Program w/ HR Consultant Dana Goodwin 211 : Straight Talk from the Retail Doctor, Bob Phibbs 135 : Stay Motivated in the midst of Difficulty 121 : Working from Your Strengths w/ Strengths Finder Guru, Lisa Cummings Visit our sponsors! www.prima-coffee.com/keys www.pacficfoodservice.com www.coffeefest.com

On this show we have talked about how leaders are typically seen by staff with some degree of skepticism and/or suspicion due to leaders having authority and how, over time, that gap is closed through building trust and empathy. If that does not happen then that usually leads to bitterness. What we haven't hit on yet is how bitterness can be generated from owners to the staff due staff not understanding what owners or leaders are responsible for. On today's shift break we are going to chat about how the desire for understanding can breed bitterness and what we should expect and do to keep things professional and build more trust in our business relationships. Episodes to listen to next: 248 : The 5 Elements of Resourcing your Team 244 : Top 10 Ways to Lose Employees 179 : What you MUST Know About Employee Culture w/ Stan Slap 067 : 6 Truths About Power : The Responsible Approach to Power Dynamics in the Cafe Visit our Sponsors! Elevated batch brew and so much more! Ground Control Cyclops Brewer The best espresso machines in the world! www.lamarzoccousa.com

Roasting practices have come a long way in the past few decades. Today enjoy an incredible wealth of information, resources, and sharing of technique to help us be better roasters. With all these tools a techniques available to us it can be hard to sort out the most helpful and practical bits to apply to our coffee roasting operations. This is precisely the problem today's iconic guest, Scott Rao, set out to solve with his latest book, "Coffee Roasting: Best Practices" Scott Rao has been in the coffee business for over 25 years as a cafe owner, roaster, consultant, and author. The Coffee Roaster's Companion and Coffee Roasting: Best Practices have influenced a generation of roasters and shaped the global roasting vocabulary and conversation. Scott's popular Instagram account @whereisscottrao offers expert-level tips and discussion about coffee brewing and roasting. I have known Scott for a long time and he has truly been a catalyst and force for deeper exploration of coffee brewing and roasting inspiring a lot of conversation and adoption of techniques that push the industry forward to higher levels of consistency and quality. In this conversation we are not only going to be diving deep into technical aspects of his new book, "Coffee Roasting: Best Practices" but we will also be talking about the philosophies and mindsets toward roasting that we have had in the past and need to have in the future if we are to grow and faithfully represent a coffee's potential to our customers. We will cover: Major shifts in roasting over the years What roast curves can and cannot tell you Most common mistakes roasters make How software revolutionized roasting Defining "Best Practices" 2 most important factors in approaching a new coffee Factoring in moisture levels Setting reasonable parameters How our roasting impacts the producer Sample roasting Development Time Ratio (DTR) How to cup others coffees to assess Scotts thoughts on what closely held beliefs will change in the future Links: www.scottrao.com Instagram : @whereisscottrao Related episodes to listen to next: RoR #1: A Conversation w/ Anne Cooper of Equilibrium Master Roasters RoR #5: Time and Color in Roasting w/ Morten Munchow of Coffee Mind" 242 : A Conversation with James Hoffmann 168 : How to get the Best from your Coffee w/ WBC 2013 Champ, Pete Licata Visit our sponsors! www.prima-coffee.com/keys www.pacficfoodservice.com www.coffeefest.com

We have an incredible range of options available to us when it comes to the green coffees we purchase. Right now our habit as an industry is to spot purchase small amounts of coffee from a wide variety of producers in hopes of getting the pest of the best. The trouble with this is that, while we might believe our method is helping promote great coffee, it is actually undermining the success of the producer and the process. On this 6th edition of RoR we will be exploring how buying from fewer producers but with a commitment to buy more from the ones we partner with, does more for them AND for the sustainability and thriving of specialty coffee. To do that we are talking with the author of the Roast Magazine article, "Buy Less, Do More", Ever Meister! Ever Meister has worked in the coffee industry for 20+ years in a wide range of capacities, but primarily she is a journalist, educator, and communicator whose work focuses on issues of access, equity, and ethics. She is the author of New York City Coffee: A Caffeinated History (The History Press, 2017) and the host of the coffee-marketing podcast In Good Taste on the Sprudge media network. In our conversation today we are going to explore the shifts in mindsets and actions needed to create lasting, long term, quality partnerships with producers that will truly do more good for all involved. We will cover: Why we buy so little from so many? Transactional vs relationship based buying Owning our behavior Commitment, Compromise, Communication Conflict resolution Risk distribution and mitigation Making incremental shifts Choosing partners through values Setting standards and expectations Utilizing a wider range of coffee form fewer producers Remaining competitive Links: Ever's email: [email protected] www.roastmagazine.com Subscribe to Roast Audio Articles! https://www.roastmagazine.com/audioarticles/ Related Episodes: RoR #1: A Conversation w/ Anne Cooper of Equilibrium Master Roasters RoR #2: Exploring Quality Control w/ Spencer Turer of Coffee Enterprises RoR #3: Making Contingency Planning a Reality w/ Andi Trindle Mersch of Philz Coffee RoR #4: Practical Thermal Dynamics w/ Candice Madison of Royal Coffee / The Crown Oak RoR #5: Time and Color in Roasting w/ Morten Munchow of Coffee Mind" Interested in coffee consulting? Let's talk! Email me: [email protected]

Hiring your friends or relatives can seem like a very convenient solution to the problem of staffing. After all, you know them well and trust them right? What more is there to consider? Well, as it turns out, a lot more. On today's shift break we are going to be discussing why hiring friends and family can breed toxicity and how you can build preventative measures to guard against it. Episodes to listen to next: 018: Hiring, Culture, and the Future of your Shop 125 : Confidence in Conflict w/ Kwame Christian : A framework for Compassionate Curiosity 121 : Working from Your Strengths w/ Strengths Finder Guru, Lisa Cummings 066: Shaping and Developing your Team w/ Beth Garrison 221 : Building your People Program w/ HR Consultant Dana Goodwin Visit our Sponsors! Elevated batch brew and so much more! Ground Control Cyclops Brewer The best espresso machines in the world! www.lamarzoccousa.com

If there is one thing that is certain it is that, as you grow your roastery, you become pulled in a thousand different directions. The need to maintain the operation, drive sales, maintain relationships, improve quality, etc becomes overwhelming to the point where you are not sure if growing is a blessing or a curse. Luckily for use, as the industry of roasting continues to expand too too do the resources we have at our disposal to help us beat overwhelm and recapture time and energy. In this category RoastTools is leading the charge to help you streamline, optimize, prioritize and focus on the right things for your roastery to truly thrive, Today we are going to be talking with the founder of Roaster tools Jon Ewald. As the founder of the award-winning sales and operations software platform for coffee roasters, RoasterTools, Jon Ewalt spends his days strategizing, coding and talking with coffee roasters on how they can get more coffee out the door. Jon isn't just another developer who got the coffee bug; he spent eight years building a successful roastery with his wife in the tiny community of Bayfield, Wisconsin, where he developed systems that helped his small team roast, package and deliver thousands of pounds of coffee per week. They sold that business to focus on building (software) tools that help the roasting community achieve that same level of success. Jon is passionate about helping others avoid the mistakes he made, and freeing up founders to spend more time with the things that drive real change in their businesses: their team, their customers and the coffee itself. In today's conversation we will be covering: Entrepreneurship and Improving operations Developing systems and inventing RoasterTools Solution to burn out Scaling through automation and delegation Clarifying your identity and focus Current shifts in the industry How Roaster Tools helps roasters Managing Sales channels Curse of over optimization Episodes to listen to next: 217 : Should you roast your own Coffee w/ Joe Marrocco of List & Beisler 270 : A Conversation w/ Mark Michaelson of Michaelson Consulting! 152 : Essential Advice for Starting a Roastery w/ Jen Apodaca RoR #1: A Conversation w/ Anne Cooper of Equilibrium Master Roasters Visit our sponsors! www.prima-coffee.com/keys www.pacficfoodservice.com www.coffeefest.com

I am very excited for this Founder Friday! When we talk about coffee shops we often talk about culture, authenticity, and relationships. I have the immense pleasure of presenting to you a conversation with someone whose business and way of operating in the world of coffee exemplifies those things. Today we are talking with the dynamic Jackie Nguyen, founder of Cafe Cà Phê, a ground breaking Vietnamese coffee shop based in Kansas City, MO. Jackie is a first generation, Vietnamese American, daughter of a refugee. Born and raised in sunny San Diego, California. After graduating California State University, Fullerton with a BFA in Musical Theatre, she moved to New York City to pursue a career on Broadway. Some of her favorite jobs were performing on stage with Reba McIntyre, Ashlee Simpson, many holiday seasons with How The Grinch Stole Christmas the Musical and most recently traveling the country with the Broadway Revival Tour of Miss Saigon. After ten years of being a New Yorker, ten International and National Broadway tours, she decided to take a career pivot, relocate to KCMO and pour her heart into Cafe Cà Phê. Spending 8 years of being a barista, a trip to Vietnam last year, and a yearning for entrepreneurship, the idea of a Vietnamese coffeeshop was born. I have had the honor of having Jackie as a client since the start of her business and am so excited for you to hear the story of Jackie and Cafe Cà Phê's mission, development, and impact on the KCMO community and beyond. In this conversation we cover: Her unique way of researching the concept Pivoting from the world acting to coffee Responding to changes in the plan due to COVID The difference of the Vietnamese cafe culture Overcoming huge operational challenges Making a place for the KC Asian community Learning to run a coffee trailer from scratch Networking and building relationships Finding locations to pop-up and a long term residency Authentic expression and vulnerability What is next for Cafe Cà Phê Links: Instagram https://www.cafecaphe.com Episodes to listen to next: 281 : The Vietnamese Coffee Revolution w/ Sahra Nguyen of Nguyen Coffee Supply 279 : Founder Friday! w/ Daniel Brown and Nephthaly Leonidas of Gilly Brew Bar 199 : Founder Friday w/ Mario Jimenez of Banana Dang Coffee, Oceanside, CA 086 : Founder Friday w/ JoEllen Depakakibo / Pinhole Coffee 097 : Founder Friday w/ Erica Escalante of The Arrow Coffeehouse Visit our sponsors! www.prima-coffee.com/keys www.pacficfoodservice.com

Systems, efficiencies, and optimizations of your business are needed elements to make sure it is healthy and thriving. There is, however, a dark side of optimization. When taken too far and left unchecked it becomes obsessive and starts to drain the life from the very thing it was meant to serve. In today's shift break we will discuss over optimization and how to balance your pursuit of systems and efficiencies with the heart of what makes your coffee shop run. Visit our Sponsors! Elevated batch brew and so much more! Ground Control Cyclops Brewer The best espresso machines in the world! www.lamarzoccousa.com

People open coffee shops for many reasons. Some good and some-not so good. It really all depends on how you approach the "why" behind your business that determines your success. In a time where the barrier to enter the coffee house space is quite low we see a deluge of new cafes opening and quickly struggling then closing due to a lack of proper preparation born from a lack of proper mindset going into it. On today's episode we will be chatting about five of the most common reasons people open a coffee shop and why they might not be the best reasons for beginning this journey. 1. The Dream 2. My Own Business 3. The Money Maker 4. The Community Hangout Space 5. The Vanity Shop Episodes to listen to next: 223 : Building a Financially Resilient Business w/ Andrew Carroll 239 : 5 Best Practices for the Best Small Business w/ Henry Lopez 202 : Mastering your Finances and Accounting w/ Keila Hill-Trawick of Little Fish Accounting 202 : Mastering your Finances and Accounting w/ Keila Hill-Trawick of Little Fish Accounting 022 : Founder Friday w/ Colin Harmon of 3fe Coffee, Dublin Ireland & Author of the new book, "What I know About Running Coffee Shops" 242 : A Conversation with James Hoffmann Visit our sponsors! www.prima-coffee.com/keys www.pacficfoodservice.com www.coffeefest.com

Every shop has that one barista that seems to attract more attention the the rest. The comment is made by customers often about this person that they are my "favorite" barista. The question is, is this a good thing or a bad thing? Well as with any situation involving people-it depends. Today we are going to be discussing how we should approach and react to the issue of the "favorite barista" in a way that creates an improved experience for staff and customers alike. Listen to these episodes next: Exceptions to the Rule : Toxic Traditions Good Baristas aren't born, they're Made Visit our Sponsors! Elevated batch brew and so much more! Ground Control Cyclops Brewer The best espresso machines in the world! www.lamarzoccousa.com

Running a coffee house is all about making sure you are able to serve the needs of your customers and to do so consistently. In order to do that you need to be able to not only listen to them but you need to know how to then respond to what they say. For a ton of coffee shops there is either not enough listening going on causing the cafe to miss out on service opportunities, or there is too much where the shop ends up doing everything they hear the customer say out of fear they might lose them. There is a better way. Today we will be discussing the art of listening to your customers and how to determine what to put into action so that it serves both their interest as well as the interest of your shop. We cover: Market awareness Co-creation Asking for feedback Listening to the right things Dangers of listening Service and surprise Episodes to listen to next: Scaling Values 227 : Connecting with Hearts and Minds Source vs Supplement Building an Accessible Coffee Menu w/ Joe Marrocco 165 : The Art of Deep Listening w/ Oscar Trimboli Visit our sponsors! www.prima-coffee.com/keys www.pacficfoodservice.com www.coffeefest.com

We like to be in control. The shop is your baby and you have all the authority in the world to assert yourself into the operations and correct things you see that are off. Trouble is that this is not always helpful and often can create more problems and confusion. Today on shift break we will be discussing the need to exercise self control and create structured communication in order to effectively solve problems, address concerns, and support your staff. Listen to these episodes next! 109 : Leadership Abandonment Syndrome : Lack of development in senior staff and what to do about it 261 : The Basics of Managing Managers Don't You Forget About Me Visit our Sponsors! Elevated batch brew and so much more! Ground Control Cyclops Brewer The best espresso machines in the world! www.lamarzoccousa.com

"Vietnam is the future of specialty coffee!" Today we are going to unpack this statement and discuss how the Vietnamese coffee movement is creating opportunity for a marginalized coffee variety and people with our very special guest, Sahra Nguyen! Sahra Nguyen is the founder & CEO of Nguyen Coffee Supply the first-ever specialty Vietnamese coffee company importing and roasting in Brooklyn, New York. On a mission to transform the coffee industry through diversity, inclusion, and transparency, Nguyen Coffee Supply has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, VICE, New York Magazine, New York Times, Forbes, Fortune, and honored with the 2019 StarChefs Rising Star Award. Early January 2020, Imbibe Magazine featured Sahra Nguyen as one of the #Imbibe75 -- people, places, and directions that will shape the way you drink in 2020. She is a Gold House Collective Founder for Spring 2020 cohort, a leading network to celebrate and elevate the Asian American community. In this conversation we get to hear the story of how Sahra founded, grew, and now leads Nguyen Coffee Supply on a mission to flip the script, change the narrative, and create a place in specialty coffee for Vietnamese coffee and coffee culture. We cover: The current marginalization Vietnamese coffee Why Vietnam and robusta are the future of coffee The people behind the coffee Learning to import and roast and start her own supply chain Creating opportunity to improve Feedback to farmers and long term relationships Vietnam coffee culture Holistic perspectives on coffee origins Making room in our community for diverse expressions and origins Related Episodes to listen to next: 256 : Founder Friday w/ Varat Vichit-Vadakan of Roots Coffee Roaster in Bangkok, Thailand 247 : Founder Friday! w/ Ritesh Doshi, CEO of Spring Valley Coffee, Nairobi, Kenya 236 : Founder Friday! w/ Meil Castagna-Herrera & Curtis Herrera of Cafe Corazon! 209 : Founder Friday! w/ Linda Thach of Little Skips, Brooklyn, NY 171 : Founder Friday w/ Matt Chitharanjan and Namrata Asthana of Blue Tokai Coffee Roasters in India 279 : Founder Friday! w/ Daniel Brown and Nephthaly Leonidas of Gilly Brew Bar Visit our sponsors! www.prima-coffee.com/keys www.pacficfoodservice.com www.coffeefest.com

Time and color in the roasting process are inextricably linked. We are fairly used to using time as a tool but what about color? Turns out that the color of your coffee is actually one of the most important but under-utilized, and poorly tracked metrics for determining flavor in the final roasted coffee. On this 5th edition of the Rate of Rise series we are going to be talking with Morten Munchow, the co-author of the Roast Magazine article: Flavor Development-The Relationship Between Time and Color in Coffee RoastingMorten Munchow To help us dive into this Morten Munchow is the Founder of Coffee Mind a coffee roasting academy, research, and consultancy company based in Denmark. Morten is a scholar of biology who through over ten years of intense practical and scientific research and application gained a unique insights that have pushed the specialty coffee industry forward worldwide. He is a sought after speaker and presenter having published several papers in scientific journals. In our conversation today we will be discoing the relationship between time and color and how we as an industry need to start regarding color and its subsequent tracking as a primary tool in creating consistency, quality, and serving a product that delights our customers We will cover: Obsessing about minutia Reaching wrong conclusions Sensory impact of color Relationship between Tim and color Tracking color in your production Determining a starting color and your roasters range Developing intelligent intuition Investing in equipment Links: www.coffee-mind.com Instagram Example of color meter www.roastmagazine.com Subscribe to Roast Audio Articles! https://www.roastmagazine.com/audioarticles/ RoR #1: A Conversation w/ Anne Cooper of Equilibrium Master Roasters RoR #2: Exploring Quality Control w/ Spencer Turer of Coffee Enterprises RoR #3: Making Contingency Planning a Reality w/ Andi Trindle Mersch of Philz Coffee RoR #4: Practical Thermal Dynamics w/ Candice Madison of Royal Coffee / The Crown Oak Interested in coffee consulting? Let's talk! Email me: [email protected]

When we seek to change things in our coffee shops we often underestimate the amount of time and investment it will take to actually turn things around. I have experienced this both in my consulting as well throughout my career in cafe management helping cafes scale and refine operations. On this shift break we will be discussing how to approach making big changes to your company in a sustainable and effective way. Episodes to listen to next: Communicate, Duplicate, Repeat : Key habits that make information stick 025 : Mastering the Art of Training w/ Dave Stachowiak : Coaching, Leadership, education , and how to communicate your coffee and barista knowledge so it sticks 191 : Retraining your Staff on new Standards Visit our Sponsors! Elevated batch brew and so much more! Ground Control Cyclops Brewer The best espresso machines in the world! www.lamarzoccousa.com