The KTTS Blog

The Counterbalanced Barista

ByChris DeferioJun 9, 20263 min read

It’s early. You sleepily approach the door and fumble for the keys to the shop knowing that you have 30 seconds to run across the place and turn off the alarm…

Shifting Our Mindset

ByChris DeferioJun 4, 20267 min read

It happens all too often… Baristas become disillusioned with their work. The shift starts and ends before you know it and even though you were physically there making drinks, cleaning creamer…

Two Customers Every Barista Serves

ByChris DeferioMay 26, 20264 min read

  We serve two Customers: The community to whom you are serving coffee (the cafe’s customers)  The community that brought you that coffee (farmer, importers, roasters, et al)    What a…

Growth is Not Just For The Buisiness

ByChris DeferioFeb 11, 20262 min read

Looking back on the years spent honing my skills related to coffee service, leadership, and management, I am struck by how much I have changed as a person. You would think…

Instagram as the Enemy?

ByChris DeferioJan 16, 20262 min read

You may have noticed that there is always an account on Instagram that seems to represent something you wish you had in your cafe. They look like they are having fun,…

5 Keys to Coffee Shop Staff Retention

ByChris DeferioNov 20, 20255 min read

In our industry, losing staff is part of what we can expect. Even though turnover is a fact of running a cafe, how we lose people is largely up to us.…

The Customer of Tomorrow

ByChris DeferioApr 8, 20212 min read

When we talk with customers in the shop and communicate to with them through our messaging and marketing, we are creating the customer of tomorrow. We create the demand we seek…

Simplicity is the MVP of the Cafe

ByChris DeferioMar 27, 20212 min read

We have this tendency in the coffee shop to either not have much of any system or structure, or have incredibly complex of convoluted systems and structures. In both cases we…

Spiders and Customer Service

ByChris DeferioMar 14, 20212 min read

Spiders get a bad rap. It’s true that they are generally creepy. Also true that some could even kill you…BUT!…forgetting the fact that the usual visiter to a spider’s web is…

Accountability goes both Ways

ByChris DeferioFeb 12, 20212 min read

When we think about accountability we tend to think about holding others accountable for the work and ideas that we want them to practice. After all, we are paying them money…

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