Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders

Jan 22 2025 952 ep. 37 mins 254

Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders Podcast artwork

A coffee podcast providing coffee shop owners and leaders, with insights, inspiration, and the tools you need to grow and advance your coffee business or coffee career. We learn from experts both in and outside the coffee industry as they deliver specific, practical, and actionable advice about ownership, optimization, profitability, barista work, employee culture, management, scaling, leadership, personal development, and anything else that will help you achieve success in the coffee shop.

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SHIFT BREAK! Cortado Confusion

Jan 22 2025 12 mins

As most of you know, Starbucks has once again coopted a traditional drink and introduced it to their menu as a part of their "Back to Starbucks" campaign. The cortado, a 4 oz espresso and milk drink originating in Spain, has been a staple menu item in specialty coffee for decades. Only now it appears on the Starbucks menu as an 8oz drink. Of course we are all bracing for the wave o

519: The World of Coffee People w/ Ryan Woldt of The Coffee People Podcast

Jan 20 2025 60 mins

Many, dare I say, all of us, who fell in love with coffee can trace our beginnings to a moment when something we experienced in the cup surprised us with its depth and character. It was a catalyst that set us off in the pursuit of understanding and experiencing that kind of moment again and again. People are the same. Ubiquitous en mass, until you get to know the individual and th

RoR #31: New Season! Should You Pre-blend Your Green Coffee or Blend Post Roast? w/ Bryant Banker Scannell or Relative Coffee Co.

Jan 18 2025 49 mins

Whether it started purely as a quest for efficiency, or as a way to achieve consistency in a blend, pre-blending green coffee is a pretty staple practice for coffee roasters. The alternative, and perhaps original way of blending is the classic post-roast blend whose adherents tout its ability to give them ulitmate control of each coffee and thus better quality. Whether you do one

SHIFT BREAK: Don't Rely on Brand Identity

Jan 15 2025 8 mins

Does this sound familiar? "You should shop here because we are local! ...or we support this cause! ...or we have this association!"? While our identity and associations in the community are beautiful and add depth to what customers might love about you, too often we can use these things as means to solicit support in ways that are as though we are guilt trip on people. There are ma

518: How to Run a Coffee Shop w/ Meaningful Hospitality

Jan 13 2025 51 mins

Even with all the conversations and tools available to us around the subject of hospitality, it is easy to engage in the pursuit of it in a way that ends up not resonating and lacks meaning. We can go through the motions, inspired as we are by the example of others, and not see the magic we assumed would follow our efforts. So, what does running a coffee shop with meaningful hospit

SHIFT BREAK: Back to the Basics

Jan 06 2025 8 mins

The value proposition of a coffee shop is not a complicated one. Kind service and hospitality in a clean and well organized space serving consistently great coffee. Boooring! At least that what it seems like we must be thinking. Why else would we be so obsessed with the new and novel at the expense of mastering the basics? Today on Shift Break we will be talking about why we shoul

517: Culture and Connection Through Coffee Spaces w/ Armen Alajian of Arto Brick

Jan 06 2025 52 mins

The act of creating a space is the core existence of the coffee shop operator. The way we set our minds to the task of serving through selecting colors, textures, material, ingredients, and of course our words and actions. This all creates a singular experience we call a cafe. Today's guest has a deep appreciation for and experience helping people build these spaces, quite literall

SHIFT BREAK: The Delegation Dip

Jan 01 2025 8 mins

Delegation is a difficult, but necessary part of growing your coffee business. It is critical in helping you grow as well. Delegation of responsibility and authority is a response to the growth of the business that, while promising to expand your organizations capacity to steward that growth, tests your resolve. That is because of what we will call the "delegation dip". Today on Sh

516: The Impact of Home Coffee Culture on the Cafe w/ Justin Piercy of Daddy Got Coffee

Dec 30 2024 53 mins

How do you brew great coffee at home? That question is probably one of the most searched and asked questions that has unleashed what seems like a never ending stream of educational platforms, curated lists, videos, and blogs. It is honestly both exciting and overwhelming. The new question might actually be, "how do I make sense of all my options to make great coffee at home?" That

SHIFT BREAK: Keeping the Shop

Dec 24 2024 13 mins

Let's face it, the look, feel, and functionality of the physical coffee shop will always be an important part of showing hospitality to our guests. The issues we are faced with is one as old as time. We meticulously set up our spaces when we first open, get busy, and then slowly allow them to fall apart. We don't notice it so much because we are busy with other things, but the cust