The Mud House stands as a am amazing representation of where passion, genuine love of people, and a consistent pursuit of quality can take you. For 10 years now Casey and Jeremy Miller have been operating one of St. Louis’ best coffee shops that gives their customers a taste of excellent coffee, food, and hospitality all under one roof. In …
128 : Terry’s Top 10 w/ Terry Ziniewicz : Best practices for how not to kill your espresso machine
Your espresso machine is probably the most expensive thing you have in the shop. It is also the heart of your cafe’s operation. Taking care of it should not be left to chance unless you want a pretty big repair bill or to have your ability to do business come to a complete stand still. To help us in …
127 : Passion and Curiosity: A conversation w/ Starbucks Global Sr. Project Manager, Major Cohen
No matter where we are in specialty coffee, we have all benefited in some way from the influence of Starbucks and their immense impact on the world stage. Today we get to learn from someone who has not only been in specialty coffee since it first came on the scene in the 70’s but has been at the forefront of …
126 : Kids in the Coffee Shop! An exploration of two different approaches
Kids! When you open a shop you are bound to be serving these little hot chocolate drinking future baristas right along side their single-origin cortado drinking parents. The question is, are they welcome?How do we view them? How do you serve them and still serve your older clientele well? What if we want to focus more on the grown ups? …
125 : Confidence in Conflict w/ Kwame Christian : A framework for Compassionate Curiosity
Negotiations…No matter what you do in coffee, you negotiate all the time. Whether it is for a raise, a better price from a supplier, or a lease for a new location. The question is not whether or not you negotiate, but do you do it well? Do you get taken advantage of? Do you put others on edge? The fact …
124 : Founder Friday w/ Emi Fukahori, World Brewers Cup Champion/Founder of MAME coffee in Zurich, Switzerland
It’s a very special Founder Friday. I am thrilled to welcome to the show the new World Brewers Cup Campion (and first female WBrC Champ!), Emi Fukahori!!! Not only is Emi the WBrC campion but she also runs the world-class cafe MAME Coffee in Zurich? Switzerland w/ her partner (and 2x Swiss Barista Champ Mathieu Theis. This conversation covers so …
123 : The 10 Essentials of a Barista Manual
The Barista Manual, The Book of Knowledge, That Binder That Never Gets Updated…whatever you call it there is usually some assortment of documents lurking in the cafe that is meant to be a resource but is more a source of frustration. Writing a high quality manual for the shop is absolutely critical to establishing a baseline of expectations nd equipping …
120 : Social Media 101 w/ Jenn Chen
Social media is a vast landscape filled with both great and terrible representations of people brands. At best we enhance a customer’s view of us and create an even bigger fan -At worst we introduce confusion, boredom, or anger into the relationship and drive people away. In order to give customers a truly excellent representation of your business on-line you need …
118 : Founder Friday w/ Phil & Sebastian Coffee Roasters founders, Phil Robertson and Sebastian Sztabzyb
It’s Founder Friday! Today we get to sit down and learn from the founders of Phil and Sebastian Coffee Roasters, Phil Robertson and Sebastian Sztabzyb! In the course of 11 years, Phil and Sebastian have gone from a small farmers market stall, to an award winning and internationally respected roaster retailer with 5 thriving cafes, a robust wholesale program, and …
116 : Understanding Gentrification w/ Dr. Stacey Sutton
Coffee shops have become a symbol of gentrification, a process that is made up of a mix of opportunism, policy, and politics resulting in the displacement of communities. As people who tout the love of community and people as being core in our values this issue should worry us. Understanding gentrification is key to being able to take steps in …
