In the world of cafes there are many ways to be excited about coffee. Some of those ways can alienate a customer instead of welcoming them into this magical world of sensory experiences. Today we are re-airing an episode with someone who exemplifies the kind of excitement we need more of in coffee. The kind that wants to share the love and joy of coffee in an approachable and sincerely caring way. 

Emi Fukahori is the 2015 Swiss Barista Champion as well as the 2018 World Brewers Cup champion. Emi Fukahori and Mathieu Theis founded MAME Coffee in Zurich, Switzerland in 2016. The couple met at a coffee tasting in 2013 and became fascinated by the world of specialty coffee. They quit their corporate office jobs to start MAME, which means "beans" in Japanese, to promote specialty coffee and its flavors and terroirsShe and partner Mathieu. They serve excellent and refined coffees across a spectrum of flavors with a focus of welcome, care, warmth, and excitement to share coffee with others. 

In this encore episode from 5 years back we explore Emi's professional evolution, winning Brewers Cup routine, founding and growing Mame, and the philosophy of care and focus on others that guides how and what they serve. 

The lessons and ideas Emi shares are exactly the kind of things we should all strive for in our shops. Whether you are a champion matters not, what matters is championing the customers coffee experience. 

Enjoy!

Links:

www.mame.coffee

Related Episodes: 

• 196 : Understanding Customer Preferences w/ Peter Giuliano Transcript
• 411 : Excellence, Approachable Coffee, and Always Learning w/ Kenneth Thomas of Umble Coffee and Coffee 101 Podcast
• 430 : Embracing “Unreasonable Hospitality” w/ Will Guidara | Thank You NYC + The Welcome Conference
• 282 : How to Listen to your Customers
• 318 : Why Your Shop is Key to the Success of Coffee

Thank you to our amazing sponsors!

Get the best brewer and tool for batch espresso, iced lattes, and 8 minute cold brew! www.groundcontrol.coffee

 

The world loves plant based beverages and baristas love the Barista Series! www.pacificfoodservice.com

 

Business success leaves clues. Metrics such as labor percentage, COGs, Employee Turnover Rate, and more are all measurements we use to both guide how validate past decisions and guide future decisions. But what about the intangibles that the numbers themselves have a hard time showing?

On this Shift break episode we will be talking about why we need to focus on the numbers as well as the deeper meaning and intangible areas of the life of the business that contribute in a way that often cannot be tracked, but NEED to be invested into for the coffee shop to thrive. 

If you are a cafe owner and want to work one on one with me to bring your shop to its next level and help bring you joy and freedom in the process then email [email protected] of book a free call now: 

https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min

Listen to related episodes: 

• 227 : Connecting with Hearts and Minds
• 302 : Data’s Roll in the Success of your Shop w/ Mark Calhoun and Jim Strarcev of Perfect Cube
• 009 : How to Approach Data and Metrics w/ Simon Ouderkirk : Simon shows us how we should be thinking of numbers and their relation to our shops, baristas, and businesses
• 405: Beyond the Schedule w/ Wil Brawley of Schedulefly
• 311 : Why Your Coffee Shop Needs Open Book Management w/ Larry Chase
• Vanity Metrics
• 341: How to Think About Success

  Thank you to out sponsors!

Everything you need for back of the house operations https://rattleware.qualitybystainless.com/

 

The best and most revered espresso machines on the planet: www.lamarzoccousa.com

 

 

 

The goal of business is ultimately to provide for people. Firstly a business is stared as a means for the owner to provide for themselves and their family by providing a service and product to customers and thereby providing a demand for the actors in the value chain of coffee that came before them. This is all carried out by the group of people we provide a wage to in that service. The barista. 

The compensation that baristas receive can vary based on skill, experience, performance, and all of it is funneled through the constraints of two things. 1. The business model 2. The mindset of the owner.  In order to retain the best staff we need to start with a generous mindset that asks the question, how do we raise barista wages? 

Today I am airing an collaboration episode recorded during SCA Chicago with the guys at the Valor Coffee Podcast addressing and unpacking some of the nuances of this question. In this interview we discuss models, mindsets, actions and frameworks, and next steps to help you begin to raise wages in a way that helps you to continue to provide for all the people in your cafes circle. 

Links:

Valor.Coffee

Valor Coffee Podcast

Related episodes:

• 437 : The New Age of the Barista: Mindsets + Habits for Success
• 339 : What Good Barista Training Produces
• 172 : Why Tracking Performance is a Must!
• Investing in Financial Education
• 402 : Innovating a Generous Wage Structure w/ Mike Schroeder of Oddly Correct

 

Want to run an amazing coffee shop?

Hire Keys to the Shop Consulting to work with you 1:1 to transform your coffee shop operations, quality, and people.

Custom consulting for your unique business.

Schedule a free discovery call now!

https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min

 

Thank you to our amazing sponsors!

Get the best brewer and tool for batch espresso, iced lattes, and 8 minute cold brew! www.groundcontrol.coffee

 

The world loves plant based beverages and baristas love the Barista Series! www.pacificfoodservice.com

 

How do we help? A few thoughts have been swirling in my mind since the SCA expo in Chicago, and one of them has to do with the best contribution we can make to help each other in the industry with our respective parts of the supply chain. It seems that many are majoring in things that are not directly related to their business, and therefore letting their business slip into disrepair.  

On this Shift break episode we will be talking about the power of tending to the effectiveness of our businesses, in particular, the café, as a means to truly help the farmer, and everyone in between in a sustainable way.

If you are a cafe owner and want to work one on one with me to bring your shop to its next level and help bring you joy and freedom in the process then email [email protected] of book a free call now: 

https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min

Listen to related episodes: 

• Sustainability Series #1 : The Farm
• Sustainability Series #2 : Importing & Roasting
• Sustainability Series #3 : The Cafe
• Sustainability Series #4 : Consumer
• 301 : Hiring and Training for Excellence
• 447: Understanding the Business of Coffee w/ Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood
• 453 : The Craft of Operations

  Thank you to out sponsors!

Everything you need for back of the house operations https://rattleware.qualitybystainless.com/

The best and most revered espresso machines on the planet: www.lamarzoccousa.com

 

 

 

When we read about amazing hospitality stories in restaurants, it can (and should) inspire us to pursue hospitality in our our coffee shops. Trouble comes though, when in our pursuit of the next level hospitality experience we can easily start to generate an unhealthy fascination  with singular experiences at the expense of celebrating and maintaining good and normal, maybe even "unremarkable" moments of hospitality that make up much of our day. In addition to this, there is a push for cafe owners to build their spaces according to the market vs their environment and context. There is wisdom in some of this for sure, but often, like fixating on luxury examples of hospitality, it can rob us of the joys one gets being rooted in place and in regular relationships. 

Today we will be exploring what I am calling unremarkable hospitality and cafe terroir (a taste of place) and why in an ever connected industry, focusing on our place, people, and the consistency of our care, can itself be remarkable. 

 

Links to related episodes:

• 430 : Embracing “Unreasonable Hospitality” w/ Will Guidara | Thank You NYC + The Welcome Conference
• 424: Developing Menu and Hospitality Guides
• 421: Encore Episode: Simple, Powerful, Hospitality w/ Philip Paul Turner
• 343 : Founder Friday! “Curated Edition” | Hospitality + Meeting People Where They Are
• 337: Founder Friday w/ Diana Martinez of Cafe Calle, Los Angeles

Want to run an amazing coffee shop?

Hire Keys to the Shop Consulting to work with you 1:1 to transform your coffee shop operations, quality, and people.

Custom consulting for your unique business.

Schedule a free discovery call now!

https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min

 

Thank you to our amazing sponsors!

Get the best brewer and tool for batch espresso, iced lattes, and 8 minute cold brew! www.groundcontrol.coffee

 

The world loves plant based beverages and baristas love the Barista Series! www.pacificfoodservice.com

 

In order to progress, you need to let go. For coffee shop owners this is hard to do because so much on the initial business is based on personal work and many "firsts" that bring with them a sense of nostalgia and preciousness that can actually hold you back. The struggle to let go and allow for an evolution and progression might be behind why we can sometimes fail to see things through that we know are good but encounter some deeper personal resistance. 

On this Shift break episode we will be talking about why letting go is key for allowing the business to grow beyond the initial stages and into something even better. 

I help my clients move through these important stages of growth in our coaching sessions. If you are a cafe owner and want to work one on one with me to bring your shop to its next level and help bring you joy and freedom in the process then email [email protected] of book a free call now: 

https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min

Listen to related episodes: 

SHIFT BREAK: Making Minimum Viable Changes

SHIFT BREAK : Evolution Through Small Steps

Embrace the Fallout

 

Thank you to out sponsors!

Everything you need for back of the house operations https://rattleware.qualitybystainless.com/

The best and most revered espresso machines on the planet: www.lamarzoccousa.com

 

 

 

Today, if you are a roaster, you need to be able to navigate a pretty wide range of options in equipment, varieties of coffees and processes, as well as being able to roast a wide range of styles from light, dark, blends and everywhere in between.    Thankfully technological resources abound, but the fundamentals of taste and skill in knowing the coffee as a crafts person remains a cornerstone of what will enable you to truly roast well across the ever expanding spectrum of specialty coffee.    Perhaps no professional knows this better than today's Rate of Rise guest, the legendary Willem Boot.

From a very early age Willem was intrigued and captured by coffee in every sense and all facets. He roasted his first batch of coffee at the age of 14 and after obtaining a masters-degree in business economics at the University of Amsterdam he co-owned his family’s specialty coffee business in The Netherlands. When Willem moved to the USA in 1998, he founded Boot Coffee and since then he advised coffee companies, coffee associations, development banks and governments around the world. As a consultant, Willem has been involved in coffee quality programs in countries like Ethiopia, Colombia and Honduras. He also designed extensive marketing programs for coffee industries in Ethiopia and El Salvador. In 2006, a dream was realized. He bought 5 ha. of land on the slopes of the Baru volcano in the Chiriqui province of Panama and planted 6,500 Geisha coffee trees. The farm was named "La Mula". In 2009, a second farm "Finca Sophia" was established at an elevation of 6,000 feet and up. In 2014 the natural processed La Mula won first place at the Best of Panama coffee competition. In 2015, La Mula maceration washed Geisha earned the Coffee of the Year recognition by Coffee Review with the highest ever score of 97 points. In 2016 his coffees won multiple Good Food awards and in 2017 Finca Sophia washed Geisha won first place at the Best of Panama. Willem is also a co-founder of a third farm in Panama: Finca La Cabra and he helped start a 400 hectare estate in western Ehiopia: Gesha Village Estate. Willem has extensive experience as a coffee roasting consultant and trainer. He wrote many articles about coffee roasting techniques in trade magazines. In addition, he educated hundreds of aspiring coffee professionals around the world in the sensory evaluation of coffee. In 2016 Willem started Boot Coffee Campus, a leading training institute located near San Francisco, CA, servicing the coffee industry in the entire Pacific region

 In this episode we talk with Willem about:

• The course coffee has taken in his over 25 years of roasting and teaching, 
• What is fundamental for roasters to master
• Are processing methods in coffee a distraction or asset
• How can we make sure we are roasting a coffee well and not being blinded by the overwhelming process flavors?
• How can sample roasters help us develop our range?
• how should this generation of roasters focus their energies in order create consistently delicious coffee in this sea of options and variety.   

Links:

  www.bootcoffee.com 

Related episodes:

 

The Shift Lead position is one of those roles that is very misunderstood. Often a title given to baristas for whom the boss wants to retain or established as a position to police a shift that has problems that run deeper than merely following to standards, a shift lead can feel confused, forgotten about and conflicted due to a lack intentionality in establishing this role in the cafe. 

Today we are going to talk to owners and baristas alike. For owners, about how to determine is a lead role is needed, how to establish it well if it in fact is necessary, and what you need to follow through on ton resource and lead the lead well. For baristas, if you find yourself in this role, what are ways you can work well for the benefit of your barista peers, how can you make sure you get what you need from management, and what can this role do to help your career. 

There are a lot of thoughts here about this misunderstood and often misapplied role and I hope some of this really lands for you and helps you thrive. 

Links to related episodes:

• 420: Design Meaningful Roles in the Cafe
• 373 : The Owner’s Role: 5 Behaviors for Effectiveness
• Professionalize, Specialize, Expand—How to Build Your Reputation and Career, No Matter What Your Role
• 392 : Cafe Management and the Importance of Team w/ Justin Duenne of Quills Coffee
• 383 : How to Train a Manager
• Leaner Teams, Better Results
• SHIFT BREAK : Candid Advice for Baristas, Managers, and Owners
• Build it for the Business, not the Person

 

Want to run an amazing coffee shop?

Hire Keys to the Shop Consulting to work with you 1:1 to transform your coffee shop operations, quality, and people.

Custom consulting for your unique business.

Schedule a free discovery call now!

https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min

 

Thank you to our amazing sponsors!

Get the best brewer and tool for batch espresso, iced lattes, and 8 minute cold brew! www.groundcontrol.coffee

 

The world loves plant based beverages and baristas love the Barista Series! www.pacificfoodservice.com

 

A mentor to Danny Meyer once told him "Business is Problems". This was said to point out that challenges are not only inescapable, they are actually a part of the fabric of what we do. Unfortunately many of us are consider the problems of business as nothing more than a nuisance to be eliminated vs an opportunity to be embraced.

Today on Shift Break we will be talking about how and why we should embrace problems in the cafe and see them as blessings that allow us to grow our business and ourselves. 

Listen to these related Shift Break episodes next:

• When Small Problems Grow Up
• Don't Waste Problems
• The Conversational Reality of Your Business : Thought on how to approach creative projects in the new year
• 044 : Navigating Mistakes and Failure : Best Practices for overcoming the problems we bring with us to the cafe

 Would you like to work with me 1:1 to help you thrive in coffee?

Click below for a discovery call and lets have a conversation! 

https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min

Thank you to out sponsors!

Everything you need for back of the house operations https://rattleware.qualitybystainless.com/

The best and most revered espresso machines on the planet: www.lamarzoccousa.com

 

 

The wonder and beauty of coffee is a catalyst for countless career coffee professionals and customers alike. The flavors and creation of special moments that draws us in, satisfy some sense of adventure as well as nurtures a need for belonging. On the business side of coffee it can be very easy for those elements to be lost and replaced with conformity, safety, and a sole focus on numbers that sucks the life out of what was once a joyous thing. 

For today's guest, reanimating the industry with creativity, passion, and the joy of telling stories through drinks has been a 7 year long pursuit that has shifted the minds and hearts of thousands.

Ryan is the Founder and Creative Director of Discourse Coffee, one of the world's most innovative coffee shops, and Agency Cocktail Lounge, the nation's first fully hybrid cocktail bar, offering each cocktail both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. He is also the best-selling author of “The New Art of Coffee: From Morning Cup to Caffeine Cocktail” (Rizzoli, 2023), resident mixologist at Fox 6 News, and Creator / Co-Host of the podcast “Hot Coffee for the Creative Soul”.    Ryan has served as a brand ambassador for Espro, Barfly, Apothekary, and Free Spirts, and has hosted workshops on drink-making and creative thinking throughout the US, France, and Canada. His drinks have been enjoyed coast to coast, twice featured on the Emmy nominated PBS show “Wisconsin Foodie”, and covered in print in Forbes, Food & Wine, Barista Magazine, Punch Mag, Plate Magazine, Fresh Cup, Daily Coffee News, and many others.

In today's episode we are going to talk all about the spark that lit the flame of Ryan's businesses and approach to coffee, the need for baristas to express their craft using coffee, how this sometimes crazy, always fun business works, and what YOU can do to create menu magic for your staff and customers. 

 

Links:

www.discourse.coffee

@discoursecoffeemke

@ryan.castelaz

"The New Art of Coffee" book

 

Related episodes:

• RoR # 21 : Data, Community, and the Art of Roasting w/ U.S. Roasters Champion Andrew Coe of Elevator Coffee
• 410 : A Conversation w/ 2023 U.S. Barista Champion, Isaiah Sheese of Archetype Coffee
• 036 : A conversation with WBC ’14 champion, Hidenori Izaki
• 191 : Retraining your Staff on new Standards
• 307 : 10 Simple ways to Level Up your Coffee Shop
• 339 : What Good Barista Training Produces

 

Want to run an amazing coffee shop?

Hire Keys to the Shop Consulting to work with you 1:1 to transform your coffee shop operations, quality, and people.

Custom consulting for your unique business.

Schedule a free discovery call now!

https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min

 

Thank you to our amazing sponsors!

Get the best brewer and tool for batch espresso, iced lattes, and 8 minute cold brew! www.groundcontrol.coffee

 

The world loves plant based beverages and baristas love the Barista Series! www.pacificfoodservice.com

 

There is no neutral. Only forward or backward. Your coffee shop is not a static thing that will simply take care of itself. The people, space, product, and culture all need to be given care and attention to prevent breaking down over time. The best way to do this is to always be fine-tuning the cafe.

Today on Shift Break we will be talking about why fine-tuning, optimization, and efficiencies matter in the shop and how you can approach the process in a way that is effective and fulfills your business's larger mission and goals.

Listen to these related Shift Break episodes next:

• Fix the Small Stuff! : Management, Morale, Coffee Bar Culture
• The Impact of Absence
• SHIFT BREAK: Making Minimum Viable Changes
• 307 : 10 Simple ways to Level Up your Coffee Shop

 

 Would you like to work with me 1:1 to help you thrive in coffee?

Click below for a discovery call and lets have a conversation! 

https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min

Thank you to out sponsors!

Everything you need for back of the house operations https://rattleware.qualitybystainless.com/

The best and most revered espresso machines on the planet: www.lamarzoccousa.com