Talking about, even announcing to our staff, what we are going to do and what we intend to do is a behavior displayed by leaders under the title of “Casting Vision”. The question must be asked though, how many of those plans actually come to fruition…
Starting a coffee bar means you have to focus on several hundred different things at once. It can be maddening! All of this to get to the point where you can open the doors and finally let people enjoy what you and your team have created. But what happens after you launch? Where do you put all that energy you …
I am so excited to share this interview with Adam Obrátil, the co-founder of one of the Czech Republic’s most well known and foundational cafes, Industra Coffee! Founded in 2013, Industra brought a newer specialty coffee experience to the Czech coffee scene that was just beginning to get established. Both Adam and his partner Petra Střelecká are long …
How people experience the service we provide them has a lot to do with the pace we keep in the process. Sometimes we go too fast! Sometimes we go too slow! What is the balance here? Today we are going to talk about how to properly apply speed…
We have a control problem. Specifically we don’t like to give up our control of the processes and operations of our cafes out of fear for what might happen when others take the wheel. The difference between a successful shop that has capacity to both care for its people and grow and one that is stifled and limited, comes …
I hear all the time how we want baristas to be excited, motivated, up-selling, engaged etc. Those are all great ideals and goals. The problem is that we tend to expect that to just appear out of thin air. How we invest into those who we rely on…
The health of our bodies plays a huge role in determining the quality of our life both at work in the shop and outside of work. When we are pursuing our health holistically we are making an investment that pays us back immeasurably. The question is, how do you begin to approach caring for our physical health in a …
One of the most needed but conspicuously missing pieces of the coffee shop puzzle is accountability. Both leaders and baristas need accountability in order to thrive but we neglect to put in place as a real process because we are afraid of what it…
Transparency. We see it increasingly being used as a tool to signify responsible commerce and trade among coffee roasting companies. But what is it exactly? Are we approaching it in a meaningful way? How do we define and practice transparency in a way that will actually make the difference we want to see it make? These are questions that will …
What is it we mean when we refer to “Quality?” If we take that a step further we might ask, how can we control quality? These questions are top of mind for most coffee roasters who, amidst a sea of complexity and moving parts, are desperately interested in providing a consistently excellent end product to their customers. Today we are …
