Keys To The Shop : Podcast For The Coffee Service Professional | Barista | Management | Leadership | Career | Business

It's the 50th Episode of Keys to the Shop and I had the opportunity to interview 5 people live at the Kentuckiana Coffee Champs Pre-lims this past weekend. In this 2nd edition of Baristas Speak Nathan Quillo, Sam Miers, Cimara Dunn, Matt Park, and Rita Kaminsky join me to give their thoughts on the role of the barista, lessons they have learned, and advice to current and future baristas all of which you will definitely want to hear. Let me just say...Thank you for listening to Keys to the Shop! 50 episodes later and there is still so much to talk about. It's been great to grow and learn along with you and I'm looking forward to what the next 50 holds! Links: - Nathan Quillo / Quills Coffee - Sam Miers / Kaldi's Coffee - Cimara Dunn / Quills Coffee - Matt Park / Plus Coffee - Rita Kaminsky / Snowdrift Coffee & Workspace  

Are you wanting to start something in your town based a shared passion for coffee? Do you want to invest more into your existing community and want some tips from a seasoned pro? Today's guest will address those question and more. Jason Card is the founder of Journeyman Coffee in Tallahassee, FL and in today's Founder Friday episode we get to talk with him about building community where there is none, founding Journeyman, the importance of enthusiasm, humility, and lessons he has learned along his journey.  Jason is such a wise soul and I hope you find this conversation helpful and inspiring.  Enjoy!   LINKS: www.journeymancoffee.com jouneymancoffee@gmail.com  

Steve Cuevas of Black Oak Coffee Roasters is the 2017 U.S. Cup Tasters Champion and he is here to here to talk to us about learning to taste, tips for developing your palate, and talking to customers about coffee with confidence, and empathy. His approach to cupping and communicating about coffee to consumers is generous and refreshing and will inspire you to expand your approach too.  Enjoy! LINKS: WWW.BLACKOAKCOFFEE.COM Instagram: @dreadfulvegan  FACEBOOK Episodes Mentioned: EP 26: What Your Roaster Wants You to Know EP 44: Navigating Mistakes and Failure 

Ah Latte art...that ubiquitous often ill used symbol of specialty coffee in the eye of the consumer and to the professional both a creative outlet and a seal given to a well made drink.  This week we sit down to talk all about latte art with four accomplished latte artists: Jibbi Little, Antoine Franklin, Kenny Smith, and Christopher "Nicely" Alameda. They share their origin story, what latte art means to them and how it's changed over the years, some of the dangers that obsession w/ latte art poses, and advice for how we can improve our art and grow as professionals in the cafe. I absolutely loved hearing their insights and perspectives and I would bet money you will too! Enjoy! Links: Jibbi Little www.jibbijug.com Instagram Antoine Franklin www.blacksmithhouston.com Antoine's Instagram Kenny Smith www.sunergoscoffee.com  Instagram Nicely www.menottis.com Instagram  Flickr

In the coffee world, like anywhere else, we love to compare ourselves to other baristas, managers, owners etc. and see how we stack up. Often this can lead to stress, worry, depression, lack of clarity, wasted energy, loss of opportunity, and many other negative consequences. In today's episode we explore some of the ways negative comparisons can damage your shop and your career and ways to avoid getting caught in the comparison trap.  "Comparison is the death of joy" -Mark Twain LINKS: The Effective Executive www.Worldcoffeeresearch.org Episode 08: Finding Joy in Coffee / Nathanael May https://bloomerang.co/blog/what-is-your-nonprofits-return-on-mission/

Providing amazing hospitality for the guests in your shop does not have to be complicated. Today's guest, Philip Paul Turner, Manager at  Sunergos Coffee, shares his 3 step approach to providing great hospitality that has become his mantra to the staff at his shop and it can transform the way you welcome people into your space. I get to work with Philip and see him put these principles into action very day and can vouch for their effectiveness. I truly know of no better example of genuine and contagious hospitality than Philip so it was great to get him to dive into the things and inspire us to achieve simple, powerful hospitality.  Enjoy!   Links: Setting the Table - Danny Meyer www.sunergoscoffee.com www.keystotheshop.com  

Even though mistakes and failure in coffee are a normal part of the learning process they can be hard to deal with, embarrassing, and often can derail our progress. Today we talk about some best practices I have discovered from personal experience for navigating both the small and the serious failures we all have or will encounter as we continue our work in coffee. You will learn how to move through challenges, avoid surprises, recover from major failures in job performance, the importance of humility, and how to truly change a problem behavior for good, and much more. If you address these issue in the proper way they can be the most important thing that ever happens to you and your career.  This episode is personally challenging as it reflects events from my history in coffee all the way up to events happening today in my work. I do hope this is useful for you for the mistakes and failures you're having to overcome. Enjoy! www.keystotheshop.com chris@keystotheshop.com  

This Founder Friday we talk with Kathy Turiano, Co-Owner of the award winning, Joe Bean Coffee Roasters in Rochester, NY. In this episode you will hear the epic story of how Joe Bean embraced radical change to come back from major set backs early on in the life of the business. I know you will find their example of over coming challenges, learning, collaboration, hospitality, continued exploration, and investment into their team truly inspirational. This was a phenomenal conversation! Enjoy!   LINKS: WWW.JOEBEANROASTERS.COM Instagram Twitter Facebook Book: Necessary Endings

There are many hands that contribute to specialty coffee ecosystem. In addition to farmers, green coffee importers and roasters supplying our shops we all rely on specialty coffee equipment suppliers to get the gear we need to make great coffee. Just like sourcing great coffee, the best suppliers are very particular with what they stock and offer. Today to explore that process further we get to talk with Steve Reinhart, Brand Manager for our sponsor on Keys to the Shop, Prima Coffee.  Steve talks with us about his journey into coffee, and his role in product curation and testing. We also get to learn the history of Prima Coffee and how empathy drives their company culture. Lastly Steve tells us what he believes are the top three things that we should be considering before purchasing equipment. Wise words there for sure. Enjoy!           LINKS: www.prima-coffee.com INSTAGRAM TWITTER     

One of the best places we can go to gain inspiration, be educated, find insight, and experience life in a different and deeper way is printed page. In the midst of an endless sea of available content, Standart Magazine stands out as a leader in this arena for specialty coffee. Content Director for Standart Magazine, Luke Adams, talks to us this week about the philosophy and process behind curating the excellent writing and content that makes Standart unique and impactful. We talk about the future of coffee, parallels between great writing and a great cafe experience, among many other things.  I believe this will help inspire you to greater heights in your career and hopefully to pursue the kind of learning and engagement with different ideas all around us that will help shape you and our industry for the better.  Enjoy!   LINKS: WWW.STANDARTMAG.COM Facebook Twitter Instagram     www.keystotheshop.com

Pour over & batch brew. Each method of brewing has it's strengths and weaknesses and depending on what message you want to communicate in your shop you will likely find one to be better suited to assist you in that cause. Today in Part 2 of our discussion, Ryan Soeder breaks down the pros and cons of each method along a frame work of Labor, Training, Speed, Aesthetics, Equipment cost, and Waste.  Along with this he sets out some important ground rules for implementing each method into the cafe. There are a lot of great insights and tools discussed here. Enjoy!   Links Shops mentioned Intelligentsia Coffee Sunergos Coffee Ryan's Glass Work Marble Party      

Eric Cacciatore is the host of the #1 Podcast for the restaurant industry, Restaurant Unstoppable! A podcast that brings together some of the best and most successful hospitality professionals and seeks to draw out wisdom, advice, and insights to help us also be successful in our hospitality careers. In this weeks show Eric is sharing with us the top 6 things that he has seen as the common traits and actions between the over 300 professionals he has interviewed. Whether you are a barista, manager, owner, or trainer we can definitely learn something from the restaurant world that can help us in our coffee careers. You will leave this episode feeling inspired, energized, and Unstoppable!  LINKS: WWW.RESTAURANTUNSTOPPABLE.COM  Instagram Twitter Resources/ restaurants/Chefs Mentioned: Zingerman's Besh Restaurant Group

He's Back!!! Maxwell last joined us on the show back in February 23rd on episode #11 before the opening of his first brick-and-mortar space for his company, Narrative Coffee. It's been 4 1/2 months and Narrative has had their soft opening, grand opening, and Maxwell has learned a lot through the process. Now he is back on the show to give us a glimpse into his first couple months being open for business and how it is shaping him, his staff, and his community. I know you will enjoy Part 2 Narrative Coffee's Story! LINKS: WWW.NARRATIVE.COFFEE Instagram Twitter Facebook Narrative Coffee Pt. 1 / Episode 11 of KTTS Roasters Mentioned: Veltons Coffee Roasting Company  Spotted Cow  

Chocolate and coffee seem to be made for each other! Whether you are having a simple well made mocha or pairing a bar with a single origin espresso, chocolate can compliment, enhance, and make more accessible the specialty coffee we serve. Yet, as much as we know about coffee, we tend to fall short when it comes to this very important part of our shops menu and offerings. This week we are talking with coffee pro and chocolate enthusiast, Brian Beyke to help us understand the world of craft chocolate and how we can make steps to level up our chocolate offerings in the cafe to better compliment the coffee we are so proud of. I learned a lot in this chat and I know you will too! Enjoy!  Brian is the Director of Digital Sales, Marketing, and Communications for Quills Coffee in Louisville, KY. He is also a co-host of both the I Brew My Own Coffee Podcast and Unwrapped - A Conversation About Chocolate podcasts. LINKS: I Brew My Own Coffee Podcast Unwrapped: A conversation About Chocolate Tasting Sheet from Br

This week we get to chat with 2014 World Barista Champion from Japan, Hide Izaki! We talk about his path to the WBC, the distinctive traits of the Japanese coffee culture, what has he learned and experienced in his travels , the importance of failure, what is his #1 piece of advice to baristas, and how we can build our industry by listening t the consumer.  It was such an honor to have Hide on the show and I know you will enjoy this conversation as much as I did!  LINKS   Hide's Consulting: Samurai Coffee Experience  The Coffee Man Film / Hide was WBC Champion, Sasa Setic's Coach and is featured in the film  Behind the Scenes of Coffee Man film w/Hide  Hide's 2013 WBC presentation Hide's 2014 winning WBC presentation    Cafe's Mentioned: Tim Wendelboe Fritz Coffee Company ...Also here Coava Coffee   Visit Our Sponsor, PRIMA COFFEE!

We are in a Consumer Revolution! The home barista - coffee brewer- coffee drinker makes up 70% of coffee consumed in the U.S. and has access to a lot of great information, training materials, resources, and gear to help them get a truly great cup of coffee. Unfortunately, there is still a lot of misinformation and bad gear out there making it hard for consumers to consistently get the best we have to offer in specialty coffee.  Never fear! Today we talk with the founder of the world's first consumer coffee festival "Coffee Con", and author of  "The Art and Craft of Coffee" Kevin Sinnott!  Kevin has made it his job for over 2 decades to bridge the gap between the consumer and specialty coffee through writing about coffee, reviewing and recommending gear to the home enthusiast, and now bringing pros and consumer together at his ground breaking event, Coffee Con.  We talk about how Kevin came to be an ambassador to the coffee enthusiast, the perspective of the consumer, and how we who work as professionals can b

  Pour over coffee is often seen as a sign that you take coffee seriously. It implies a level of quality not usually reserved for plain ol' batch brew. Batch brew is seen as a bit more pedestrian. Customers may even assume that, compared to pour over, batch brew is inferior in quality. The truth? It all depends. Today we take the red pill with past guest Mr. Ryan Soeder, Q.C. & Barista Trainer at Sunergos Coffee! We discuss the variables, circumstances , and processes involved in making decisions about both methods as it relates to your shop and the message you send to your customers. Enjoy! LINKS: Related Episode: 002: Master Your Workflow  Book: Barista Secrets www.sunergoscoffee.com Ryan on Instagram @ryansoeder  

On this edition of Founder Friday we go to a small town in rural Kentucky to hear about Katie Startzman's venture into bagels, coffee, and the adventures of business ownership! You will leave this conversation energized and encouraged as she shares the details of how she made her vision a reality in Berea, KY.  We talk about hiring, researching your business ideas, how to be ok with spending money, and a lot more. I know you are going to get something valuable form this conversation. Enjoy!   Links: www.nativebagel.com Native Bagel Facebook Instagram email: katie@nativebagelcompany.com    Related Episodes: KTTS 022: Collin Harmon of 3fe Coffee   Resources Mentioned: E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber Restaurant Succes by the Number by Roger Fields  Setting the Table by Danny Meyer                                               

Fear, frustration, stress...we all have experienced one or more of these feelings when we deal with groups in the cafe. Be they a family, friends, or study group we can sometimes have trouble managing the group dynamic and the chaos that can often accompany it. In spite of all this though the group does not represent a hurdle to jump over  But an opportunity to embrace! On todays show we answer a question sent in by a KTTS listener on how to effectively manage this very thing. Be prepared to walk away empowered to view groups in a new light. Enjoy!   Books recommended:  - Setting the Table: Danny Meyer Related Episodes: - Ep: 030: Casey Underkoffler / Matching Your  Service to Your Quality 

Being a new barista can be both very exciting and VERY stressful. There is an almost never ending list of policies, recipes, practices, and rules that make up this new work of cafe service you are now immersed in. On today's show you and I talk about some essential tips that will help you not only navigate you first few weeks on the bar but advice that will help guide you throughout your entire career.  If you are a manager this episode is great to share with your new staff and even some of your veteran employees.  Enjoy! -Chris   Resources mentioned LINKS: EP 28 "Why It's OK to be the Boss" Model Health Show -Shawn Stevenson "Mindset" -Dr. Carol Dweck It's OK to Manage Your Boss-Bruce Tulgan www.keystotheshop.com