I got a great question in from a listener. “How should managers be appraising staff?” I love it because it gets beyond the trope of the holy trinity of delegation (Schedule + Inventory/ordering + Shift coverage) and assumes correctly that a manager…
We all are susceptible to the siren song of trying to fix a place or a person to our own detriment. In the moment it seems like the right move and there is a sense higher calling an nobility pushing us forward. The reality though is that for certain cafes and bosses, there is no reformation only resistance and a …
I am excited to present to you another great interview with an inspirational founder! This time we get to hear the story of the founding an development of a business that has long been a pillar of specialty coffee in the U.S.. We are talking with Tony Dreyfuss, Co-Founder of the award winning Metropolis Coffee Company! Tony started Metropolis Coffee …
One of the top questions I get asked is about how to improve employee morale. As someone who has conducted and sat through his fair share of meetings designed around this issue, I can tell you with a fair degree of certainty what does not…
It goes without saying, but I will say it anyway – first impressions matter a lot! When a customer enters your business the person that sets the tone for them is usually the barista working the cash register. With this fact in mind you’d think most bars would then invest heavily in training and equipping their staff to work this …
There is always a general sense of anxiety present when it comes to running a coffeehouse. Part of the reason for that is that problems are always popping up and we need to then deal with them. The other reason for why this anxiety seems perpetual has…
We have a problem. There are plenty of people in leadership positions but many of them are afraid to step into their role and opt instead to try to avoid the difficulty by being friends with everyone. I’ll bet you know a manager or owner like this and I’ll also bet it was not necessarily an endearing quality. In an …
When we promise our customers a specialty experience in our shops they would logically assume that promise of quality might extend to the bathroom. Alas, it is not so. Not at least for many shops. On today’s Shift Break we are going to be…
It goes without saying that most of us want our shops to be a place that attracts and fosters community. The question though is how exactly to we intentionally build our spaces to accomplish that. If we are honest, probably not as much thought or effort get put into setting up a space to purposely create community as is necessary. …
It is critical to pay baristas and staff from a place of generosity. We like to say “Pay what you can, not what you can get away with”. In many cases though there is a lack of knowledge of how to manage income once it is paid. If we want to pay our…