Emotions, Self-Sabotage, and Telling Ourselves the Truth

Chris DeferioPodcast

The coffee shop is a can be a stressful place. There are no shortage of challenges big and small that confront us daily whether you are a barista of cafe owner. The trouble we run into is when our confirmation bias kicks in with every challenges and…

375 : Founder Friday! w/ Roland Horne of WatchHouse

Chris DeferioFounder Friday, Leadership, Podcast

I am so happy to share with you this Founder Friday episode that takes a hard look at what is possible when you want to offer excellence at scale in a cafe setting. I am joined by the founder of the iconic and standard setting company, WatchHouse, Roland Horne. Roland founded WatchHouse in 2014 after extensive experience running small-to-medium-size businesses, including …

Some Tips on Signature Drinks

Chris DeferioPodcast

It is that time of year where cafes are all but expected to have the ubiquitous PSL in their menus. But there is so much more. Beyond this staple drink specialty cafes around the world have developed both wonderful signature creations and others that…

What Sanding Taught Me About the Cafe Refinement Process

Chris DeferioPodcast

The work of running a cafe seems to never be quite complete. While we know that chasing “ perfection” is not the goal, we would do well to embrace the idea of dial in and refinement in our work. Today on Shift Break we will be talking about what a…

373 : The Owner’s Role: 5 Behaviors for Effectiveness

Chris DeferioBusiness, Leadership, Podcast

The coffee shop is made up various tasks and roles that all work together to create something magical. Wen those roles are not clear or followed through on then the we lose the magic and gain frustration. No role in the cafe is as important than that of the owner (arguably managers but that’s another topic), yet we rarely see …

A Shift Break…on Shift Breaks

Chris DeferioPodcast

Finally. It is time to get meta and have a Shift Break conversation about…shift breaks.  We all go to work with a finite amount of energy to use on that days tasks and responsibilities. Trouble is that we also tend to work well beyond the point…