How to ruin a Game of Telephone

Chris DeferioPodcast

Most everyone has had fun playing this game as kid. While it’s a great game parties, it’s not so great for the coffee shop. Today we talk about how this game gets started in the cafe and what we can do to “ruin” it before it creates major…

191 : Retraining your Staff on new Standards

Chris DeferioPodcast, Training

  Has it been a while since you last trained the staff and practices are outdated or ineffective? As a business grows the need for raising the standards in the shop becomes an absolute necessity.  The new year is approaching and if you seek to bring in a new level of quality to you operation then making the right steps …

High Expectations + Low Control

Chris DeferioPodcast

In the coffee shop there are so many expectations placed on us but often the results of the work are not fully within our control. When you combine these two things it is a recipe for stress and burnout. Today we are talking about how we can approach…

190 : 6 Tips for better Scheduling

Chris DeferioManagement, Podcast

Writing the schedule is one of the hardest things a manager has to take on. It is also one of the primary ways to care for the staff and the success of the cafe. It determines labor cost, quality of service, consistency of standards and more. If there is one thing that I focus on a lot with my consulting …

In Praise of the “Transactional”

Chris DeferioPodcast

The idea of transactional is not what most of us have in mind when we think about hospitality. We tend to think of that more in relational terms and hold the transactional out as the antithesis to hospitality. What if we are wrong? What if we are…

188 : Founder Friday w/ Jon Allen of Onyx Coffee Lab

Chris DeferioFounder Friday, Podcast

  In just 7 years, Onyx Coffee Lab has become one of the industry’s most recognizable, respected, and progressive coffee companies. Whether you know them from their championship performances on the barista, brewers, or roasting competition stage – their multiple Good Food Awards and Golden Bean coffees – or their effort in transparency and exquisite retail shops, Onyx Coffee Lab …

187 : A Conversation with Nikki Outlaw of Anecho Coffee

Chris DeferioBusiness, Podcast

Opening a pop-shop is one of a number of great ways to get started in specialty coffee retail. It is a lower start up cost, you get to test the concept, and you get to know your community (and they, you) in the process. Today’s guest, Nikki Outlaw, has just wrapped up her first year running her pop-up coffee shop, …

Source vs Supplement

Chris DeferioPodcast

Ignore your baristas, but listen to podcasters. Ignore your staff, but listen to authors. It is too easy for us to immediately turn to outside resources and , in the process, discount and overlook the resources we have under our very noses. Today we…