Time and color in the roasting process are inextricably linked. We are fairly used to using time as a tool but what about color? Turns out that the color of your coffee is actually one of the most important but under-utilized, and poorly tracked…
When we seek to change things in our coffee shops we often underestimate the amount of time and investment it will take to actually turn things around. I have experienced this both in my consulting as well throughout my career in cafe management…
Questions and conversation. They are powerful tools to bring clarity and inspire action. Perhaps nobody knows this better than those of us whose job it is to ask questions of experts across our industry to bring understanding to a global audience. Today I am so please to be sitting down for a conversation with one such person. He is the …
It’s Founder Friday! Today we get the honor of hearing the story of Gilly Brew Bar in Stone Mountain, GA from Daniel Brown and Nephthaly Leonidas. Started by Daniel Brown who was quickly joined by Nephthaly Leonidas, Gilly Brew Bar was founded with the mission to help people re-imagine coffee culture. This mission serves their main purpose, which is to disrupt …
Ever get frustrated that your staff are not doing things the way you want? I’m guessing you have. In fact if you are like most leaders presented with an issue in the shop you have probably also said, “That “should” not be like that.” or “They “should”…
A lot of how successful a shop is depends on the people who work in it. In the specialty coffee retail industry we can tend to hire based desperation, convenience, or nepotism. What we end up with then is problems in the work and culture that manifest themselves either immediately or down the road. Instead we need to prioritize the …
Even though you might want to, you can’t just chuck items in the garbage willy-nilly. I have been there, done that, and suffered the wrath. There is a better way to keep the menu fresh and get rid of items humanely and with deference to…
How we respond to negative feedback will have a big impact on how our business grows. The trouble is that we tend to not take kindly to negative feedback and respond with either dismissiveness, avoidance, or defensiveness. We leave a lot of value on the table when we don’t embrace critique and use it to our advantage. Today we are …
In conversation with employees we are often too quick to accept the first answer or the first explanation of and issue. In order to help we need to have the right information. Unfortunately, often due to the power difference between boss and employee,…
Welcome to the last episode in the “Thinking Differently” series brought to you by Ground Control! We are ending on an amazing episode this week as we are going to be talking with the amazing, James Combs of in Corinth, Texas! James Combs founded…
