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 …

In recent interviews I got to talk about self-awareness and have been stewing on the concept for a bit. Self-awareness is not just a personal development side project. It is literally the difference between whether your business is steeped in life or steeped in death. If I don’t know myself then I will be unaware of my impact on others …

Work in a cafe is not easy. There is a never ending string of mental and emotional hurdles that must be dealt with in a way that is not normal to the average social experience. When choosing to enter the hospitality industry, not many of us are prepared for this pressure and we immediately grasp for the nearest thing that …

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” – George Bernard Shaw This sentiment is, for me, at the heart of what plagues most coffee shops and holds us back from being as excellent as we can be in the retail space. In the latest Shift Break we discussed the idea of communication before …

I just released a Shift Break discussing the concept of poaching employees from other shops. The definition of poaching is basically that you, as an owner or manager, enter a business and initiate an offer to a current employee to come work for you. So basically the sleaziest thing you could do. The premise was basically – don’t do that! …

The last 7 months have proven one thing. We are more than what we do. Our very means of expression and provision has been stripped from us and we are now left to pick up the pieces and try to reassemble everything from processes, menus, staff, schedules, and every other component that collectively creates the whole of our coffee shops. …

By Bruce Tulgan If you only work hard, you’ll only get overcommitted, resentful, tired, and under siege. That’s no way to be a go-to person. So, you’d better work smart: First, professionalize whatever you do. Whatever your job is, make sure you do it really, really well. Some organizations have effective, timely training to prepare you—and good systems and tools …