It is easy to talk about the things we want to improve, fix, and institute in the cafe. Trouble is that in all the talking of doing the how we need this or that, we tend to leave it there and wait until an opportune or ideal time comes along,…
Your customers count on you to create a wonderful cafe experience everyday. That is the implied or explicit promise of our marketing and what most of us aspire to deliver. The way we get there is by paying close attention to what our customers love…
In the cafe, it is easy to lapse into assuming that people who work for you, should also be available and responsive at all times even when off the clock. The lack of quick response from staff when off the clock to calls, emails, slack messages etc is…
Try as we might, the reality is that eventually even the best staff will leave our shops for another job or career. How they leave is largely up to us as leaders. Some will exit on bad terms for reasons related to bad management or their own personal…
The world of coffee and coffee shops is changing rapidly. The variations of business models that serve innumerable contexts globally require intentionality in how we pursue innovation and how we stay aware of the flavors and expressions that define…
Setting up and optimizing your roastery for compliance, efficiency, and sustainable quality output is not just something to be done once in the beginning. The disciplined pursuit of building and refinement should be the primary focus of operators in…
Numbers tell a story, but not the whole story. Though the number of times someone purchases an item on your menu may indeed mean that they prefer it to other options, what data cannot tell us is whether or not customers who generate those numbers are…
Two of the most important things that help coffee farmers are market access, and being able to invigorate the younger generation to work in and advocate for coffee farming. While at the SCA Expo in Chicago this year I tasted some amazing coffees…
Each one of our shops tell many stories. The story of our own arrival as owners, the story of the coffee and the efforts it has taken to get to a finished product, the story of our community and customers and the parts they play in shaping their world and shop itself. A coffee shop is at once a reflection …
Coffee shop owners, do you ever feel as though the entire world is on your shoulders and that one mistake will send the whole business crashing down? The pressures and expectations that cafe operators face drive many to pursue unrealistic standards…
