I don’t think there has been a time in the history of coffee shops where we have been so distracted by things that promise to bring value but turn out to be simply distractions. Noise vs signal, image vs substance, and so forth. In my year of coffee I…
How do you know if you are doing a good job? Who are you looking to serve and how do you measure success? For many of us the proof of our doing great work lies in the validation of our industry before it we are happy with the praise and fulfillment of…
Investment is what creates value. There are many other investments beyond the financial that customer must make in the coffee experience that make the act of going to get coffee worth it. In today’s Shift Break we will be talking about the…
I have talked to many clients as well as Key Holder Coaching Group members who employ seasonal staff. There is a big challenge when looking to hire, train, and manage them since the term of their employment is short and they are either new, or they…
The landscape of retail is cluttered with messages, distractions, gimmicks, and desperate bids for scraps of customers attention. After a while, it all starts to look, sound, and feel the same. How do you stand out for the right reasons and engage…
It’s Founder Friday! Today we are chatting with the professional Rugby player turned specialty cafe owner, Jake Heenan of Burra Bristol! Jake has played professional rugby for over 13 years and started Burra, an antipodean café in Bristol, while…
If you are a manager or leader on shift, or the owner of the cafe, how you spend your time really matters. You have been given authority as a tool to help those you serve and they are counting on you to be organized and purposeful in the use of your…
In this ever cluttered world of tips, tricks, methods, eqipment, and tools it can be hard to know what to employ in the cafe to really make a difference. I am of the opiniion that the best tools are not necessarily physical, but are frameworks and…
“If you’re not growing, your dying”, phrases like this tend to drive us pursue a path of growth that often prevents us from slowing down or finding margin in which we can see that something, or even we ourselves, need to stop. Today on Shift Break we…
Have you ever walked into a shop and noticed right away, this place is different. The hospitality, the quality, the feel, the energy, and the comfort and confidence you and the staff feel together is a synergy born from purposeful work behind the…
