When it snows in Kentucky we have to take advantage of it! I am from upstate NY and snow is just a part of life there. Even though we got excited about the snow when it first falls, we hardly think of it as an urgent matter. That’s because it is reliable. It sticks.  In Louisville, where I live now, …

Most barista training is ineffective. The major reason for this is not because employees aren’t up to the challenge but because we who are doing the training are operating within a framework that makes mediocrity, miscommunication, and confusion an inevitability. Let dive into this just a bit. Most cafes set up their training to be done in intensely in the …

You go where you look. This is something they told me in driving school when I was 16. If you are going off the road and you look at a tree, you’ll tend to steer the car into the tree. If you look at the grass it is more likely you will steer onto the grass. This is true because …

When we hear this phrase we automatically think of the exemplary employee. They don’t just stop at what their job description says, they invent new ways to serve, create, support etc. We love this attribute in a barista, manager – anyone really. We love it so much that we begin to expect it from all of our employees. When we …

Leaders and managers are most effective when there is professional distance between them and the people they lead. Now this sounds pretty antithetical to the notion of gaining trust, leading with humility, and building and engaged team. All of these things seem like they require us to be close and highly involved. Yes and no. You see, as leaders we …

When it comes to how we serve people in the cafe, we will inevitably default to our true feelings about what it is we are doing. We can talk all day long about the vision mission and values of the company but if it does not make its way into our attitude both in and out of work then every …

Our job in leadership is to provide the conditions under which both staff and customers will succeed. For customers this means they are successful in their bid to have a great experience in your shop. The music, the coffee, the service, all of the details and parts that make up the whole are consistently there. They come to trust us. …

Generosity should be our default setting in the hospitality business. It is a people-based industry after all and relationships are at the heart of everything we do. That said, there is a very real need for intentionality in the midst of those relational dynamics. As we seek to treat people right and also reward our customers and staff, our good …

Today, more than ever, we are consumed by hacks, shortcuts, tips and advice to make our lives easier. When it comes to running a coffee shop and being a leader this might be helpful when dealing with things, but not necessarily helpful when dealing with people. I recently aired a Shift Break on the way we tend to unfairly prioritize …

The cafe is a high pressure environment and as we go about our work, the hunt for incongruities, mistakes that need correction, and opportunities to coach and guide people are usually at the top of our minds. The opportunities for affirmation abound, but are buried amidst the meetings, texts, and emails all designed to offer correction. Appropriately enough, when we …