

Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
Chris Deferio
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.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Oct 17, 2019 • 10min
Systems as Care
We tend to have a mindset toward systems that breeds a lack of clarity, break downs in communication, and generally an unpleasant and even toxic environment in the work place. Today we are going to chat about viewing systems as a primary form of showing care to staff and where to start in embracing them as such. Related episodes: SOPs FTW The Broken Chair 4 Keys to and Effective Checklist Building Empathetic Systems Visit Our Sponsors! Painless ordering and inventory with ODEKO! odeko.com/keystotheshop Clean that equipment with the best! www.urnex.com

Oct 15, 2019 • 1h 7min
180 : A Conversation W/ Rugid Grind Founders, Brian Washington and Averett Barksdale
Coffee is more than just a drink. It can also be a vehicle for change. Ending teen homelessness through coffee is the vision of today's guests, Brian Washington and Averett Barksdale, the founders of , Rugid Grind. Established in 2019, Rugid Grind is a for-profit coffee provider that, as of now, acts as the sole supporter and funder of The Oneighty Project, a nonprofit dedicated to ending teenage homelessness around the world. Through rigorous studying of the process and the building of their headquarters in Houston, Texas, they quickly built their branding into one that serves a greater purpose while also serving a quality cup of coffee. Rugid Grind is dedicated to giving our customers a quality beverage they can count on, but the goal they have committed ourselves to is much bigger than the beverage they serve. As pastors and frequent leaders of mission trips and outreach projects, Washington and Barksdale have seen the epidemic of teenage homelessness firsthand. Over a million American teenagers will go to sleep tonight without a home, and countless others are teetering on the verge of homelessness. The direct funding we provide to Oneighty helps them execute their vision of ending teenage homelessness and giving the at-risk teens of the next generation a greater chance at success. By purchasing, leasing, and developing houses and finding caretakers who are fit for roles of mentorship and parental guidance, Oneighty seeks to create safe, nourishing environments for homeless adolescents not only in Houston, but all around the world. In todays episode you will learn: What it took to found Rugid Grind and the vision behind it Their coffee learning curve and their adventures in trying to source coffee form Haiti What Brian and Averett experienced when introduced to the specialty community. How they plan to use coffee to end teen homelessness The value of action and having a vision that is bigger than yourself How a community can come together to support a worthy goal What shops can do to take action in their own towns Buy Rugid Grind coffee and support their vision! www.rugidgrind.com Instagram: @rugidgrindcoffee Related episodes: 106 : Changing Lives Through Coffee w/ Pamela Chng of Bettr Barista 139 : Founder Friday w/ Kusanya Cafe Co-Founder, Phil Sipka Thank you to our sponsors! The right equipment for your situation! www.prima-coffee.com The best plant based beverages on the planet! www.pacificfoods.com/food-service

Oct 10, 2019 • 12min
Sink or Swim
Bringing a new employee onto the bar is often a hasty effort. Unfortunately, when we do this, we end up paying for it in the long run. Today we chat about the sink or swim mentality of on-boarding and what managers need to practice in order to mitigate the negative consequences such a mentality produces. Sponsored by: Painless ordering and inventory with ODEKO! odeko.com/keystotheshop Clean that equipment with the best! www.urnex.com

Oct 7, 2019 • 52min
179 : What you MUST Know About Employee Culture w/ Stan Slap
As goes the culture, so goes the company. This is just a fact. All of us want to be able to say that our employee cultures are strong, vibrant, and dedicated to the vision we have set for the company. Unfortunately though, it aint that easy. Today we are addressing this with what I believe may be the most powerful series of insights you've ever heard on employee culture and how to work for and with it to amazing success. I am so pleased to be talking with the amazing, Stan Slap, author of one of my most recommended books, "Under the Hood : Fire up and Fine-tune your Employee Culture" Stan is the founder and CEO of SLAP company and has spent the last 3 decades specializing in achieving fierce support from manager, employee and customer cultures. They believe within each of these groups there is one problem that has the biggest impact on the enterprise and one solution that is most valuable, coveted and elusive. The SLAP company has cracked the code on these problems and their solutions are highest rated in many of the world's highest rated companies. They are currently working in 44 countries countries and ahave achieved amazing results in employee culture at companies like Oracle, CNN, Timewarner, Google, Starbucks, eBay, Viacom, and Microsoft among many others. I don't know of a more potent example of what good and bad employee cultural engagement than the elbow-to-elbow laboratory that is the coffee bar. This episode is absolutely a game changer and foundational listening if you want to create and lead an amazing employee culture. In this episode you will learn about: 4 of the "7 Deadly Sins of Cultural Engagement" How culture is formed and what it cares about Best practices for engaging and guiding a culture How do we fail our employees? Secrets to scaling culture How to create "cultural legends" Why you cannot coax a culture into giving you what you want Tactics for true communication How do customers factor into your employee culture? There is honestly so much more here and I implore you to get the book "Under the Hood", listen to this episode several times, take notes, and see how big of an impact these insights have on your company. Links: www.slapcompany.com Remember to sign up to be put on the Keys to the Shop email list to get weekly resources, bonus audio from todays guest, transcripts, and more. Just click HERE to sign up! Related Episodes: 083: 6 Essential Books for your Professional Growth 6 Essential Books for your Professional Growth 018: Hiring, Culture, and the Future of your Shop Visit our awesome Sponsors! The right equipment for your situation! www.prima-coffee.com The best plant based beverages on the planet! www.pacificfoods.com/food-service

Oct 3, 2019 • 11min
2 Qualities of Quality Baristas
There are many qualities that contribute to being a solid professional in the coffee shop. Today we are going to focus on two particular qualities that are very critical to get right in the beginning and can set you up for success in the future. Please share this and the related episodes below with your barista staff! Related episodes: ep14: A Barista's Guide to Advancing ep31: Essential Advice for New Baristas ep56: The Sleepwalking Barista Sponsored by: Painless ordering and inventory with ODEKO! odeko.com/keystotheshop Clean that equipment with the best! www.urnex.com

Sep 30, 2019 • 1h 6min
178 : Training Masterclass w/ Emma Haines of London School of Coffee and Caffeina Consulting
We all know that training is one of the most critical skills to master in the professional coffee world. Entire careers are made or broken by the influence of a great or a terrible training experience. It stands to reason then that we would go out of our way to find the best examples of training done right and learn from their sucCess in helping others grow their skills. Today that is exactly what we are doing as we talk with the amazing, Emma Haines of London School of Coffee and Caffeina Consulting. Emma is a SCA AST Barista Skills, Sensory & Brewing and has worked in hospitality and catering training for the last twelve years. For the last eight years, she has focused on coffee training, in particular specialty coffee training and how to incorporate specialty elements into commercial environments. She works all over Europe and beyond and is a resident trainer at London School of Coffee.She has a strong passion for inclusivity, as reflected in her role on the SCA Equity, Diversity & Inclusivity Taskforce. Emma's delivery of training ensures that the ability to grow to love coffee and turn it into a passion is available to all, regardless of background. The heart of what drives Emma is summed up in how she describes her role as trainer, "Facilitating a students learning journey" and in this conversation you will be given many insight into how you can better facilitate your students learning journey. I am so excited to share this interview with you all! We discuss: Emma's unique road to training Her philosophy and approach Methods for facilitating true learning Being confident and caring Providing a safe place for questions How to encourage learning vs rote memorization How to balance what people want vs what they really need Managing outcomes Links: www.londonschoolofcoffee.com www.caffeinaconsulting.com Related Episodes: Training Masterclass w/ Gwylim Davies Mastering the Art of Training w/ Dave Stachowiak Training Principles for Specialty Coffee w/ Anne Nylander Visit our awesome Sponsors! The right equipment for your situation! www.prima-coffee.com The best plant based beverages on the planet! www.pacificfoods.com/food-service

Sep 27, 2019 • 1h 6min
177 : Founder Friday w/ Jonathan Pascual of Taproom Coffee and Beer in Atlanta, Georgia
Coffee! Beer! Founder Friday! Today we get to talk with founder and owner of Tap Room Coffee and Beer in Atlanta, GA. Jonathan founded Tap Room in 2014 and since then has seen great success creating amazing coffee and beer experiences for both his staff and customers. As an Atlanta native he and the shop have been embraced by the community very well and have a deep passion to serve that community with all they have. In addition to running Tap Room, Jonathan serves as a coach and consultant for entrepreneurs and coffee startups. He has a passion for genuine personal connection and helping others discover and fulfill their life's calling. As you will see in this interview, Jonathan strives to maintain a healthy balance between business, being involved in the community and church, and living a joy-filled life with his wife and four kids. This conversation dives into the story of what led Jonathan to start Tap Room and the details of operating the shop, recent expansion, balancing life and work, and managing all the relationships and responsibilities that come with owning your own coffee retail business. In our conversation we cover: Risk and business relationships Customer retention Hospitality to staff Building relationships Balancing life and entrepreneurship Funding the shop Different set up and build out for beer and coffee Advice to other coffee business people Don't sleep on this interview! It is sure to inspire, inform, and get you thinking about ways you too can create more margin for life amidst work while still having excellence in you shop. Links: www.taproomcoffee.com Taproom on Instagram Sprudge Feature on Ground Floor Coffee Ours Sponsors! www.prima-coffee.com www.pacificfoods.com/food-service

Sep 26, 2019 • 12min
Should You be Behind the Bar Right Now?
There is a little problem we need to talk about that may not seem like a biggie but can wear away at morale and breed needless frustration. The bar area can sometimes attract a variety of staff members who are not on shift or are from other departments. Over time the bar starts to be treated as a pantry or lounge and not a professional work environment. Today we are chatting about this devolutionary phenomenon and some solutions to aid in developing respect for the bar and the people who are tasked with its upkeep. Please take a moment to visit our sponsors! Inventory & Ordering Magic with ODEKO! odeko.com/keystotheshop Clean that equipment with Urnex! www.urnex.com

Sep 23, 2019 • 55min
176 : Harnessing Emotions at Work w/ Andrea Hoban of Oji Life Lab
We will always have our emotions with us at work. In the fast-paced customer facing work of coffee retail we can cycle through a whole host of emotions in just one shift and not all of them are helpful to the situations we find ourselves in. One way we have tried to deal with it is by denying our emotions and detaching. Today's guest is going to challenge us to become emotion scientists and embrace the emotions we have at work to harness them for both great business outcomes and our over-all health as we engage in daily emotional labor. I am so pleased to welcome to the show, Andrea Hoban! Andrea is Co-Founder and head of learning at Oji Life Lab, and has more than twenty years of experience in leading large teams and building business. She is a certified executive coach and leadership development practitioner who has helped hundreds of professionals learn to harness their emotions to achieve their goals. At Oji, she is reimagining the way we learn skills like emotional intelligence to directly impact the quality of our lives. I believe this episode is one of the most important ones you can listen to. Emotional intelligence has such a profound impact on not only our careers and personal lives, but on those we lead and the people we serve. If we want strong people, teams, and businesses then harnessing our emotions at work is the first step in that direction. In this episode you will learn about: The correlation between emotions and achieving business outcomes How the leaders emotions impact the company How to use negative me potions for good Mood regulation Increasing self-awareness Noticing blindspots and biases Healthy approaches to emotional labor and much more! Links: www.ojilifelab.com Andrea Hoban on LinkedIn Related Episodes: Deep Listening w/ Oscar Trimboli Self Care 101 Dealing with Stress in the Cafe w/ Joe Sanok Need reliable equipment and even more reliable service? Check out our sponsor, Prima Coffee! www.prima-coffee.com

Sep 19, 2019 • 10min
The Counterbalanced Barista
When it comes how we divide our attention and energy we can tend to skew to one side or another. This leaves us with too much focus on one area and not enough in another which ultimately makes a sustainable coffee job impossible. Today on Shift Break we are going to talk about the importance of recognizing the need for balance and how to achieve it on shift for a great career. Effortless Inventory with ODEKO! odeko.com/keystotheshop Clean that equipment with Urnex! www.urnex.com


