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If you’re a café operator struggling with rising costs and declining revenue, this episode of the Coffee Knowledge Hub Podcast is just what you need. We sit down with John Richardson, The Café Expert, to dive into the numbers and explore practical strategies to boost your margins. This episode is packed with actionable advice that you can start implementing right away.
With over 30 years of experience, John has founded, sold, and consulted on hundreds of successful businesses, helping them grow and thrive.
12 cups explainer: https://thecafeexpert.com/numbers/
Contact John:
Free cafe and coffee shop owners Facebook group.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/cafeandcoffeeshopprofits/
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/thecafeexpert/
Chapters:
0:00 - John's professional history, defining COGS and labour costs
41:00 - 12 cup model
44:00 - Wastage impact on profit as a percentage
46:50 - Increase revenue
51:00 - Evaluating the ‘we need more staff conversation
58:25 - Operational complexity
1:01.30 Top 10/bottom 10
1:09 - Improving variable costs
124:50 - Avoiding being overwhelmed
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Paul’s voice has that croaky sound which is the product of long hours of work at the expense of sleep. While the cafe has dominated his time, he has also needed to continue working on the core business and his additional coaching work. At least he is not bored :)
In this episode we talked about the first month of opening of the cafe. Did it go as expected? Were our predictions accurate?
This is the final part of our series following Paul's journey in opening the cafe. You can start at episode 1 of the series to get the full picture of what it is like to open a cafe. His journey is unique in that it is his business and his location, but it is not unusual to face all the challenges that Paul has had to overcome. If you are considering opening a cafe, you can learn from Paul's experience as he describes it here.
You can watch the video on the coffee knowledge here: https://community.coffeeknowledgehub.com/c/podcast/
For quick reference here is the series:
Episode 1 - https://open.spotify.com/episode/4KxgQt8U1QFkmAWbxCGj7y?si=933419074b40414aEpisode 2 -https://open.spotify.com/episode/11XWKFdAe9U3ROwgXQGS8y?si=b5eed848711349b5Episode 3 - https://open.spotify.com/episode/4Zp1zVKO2Wwq6umsWae7ke?si=a44ec30d77a44c42Episode 4 - https://open.spotify.com/episode/5ER1vGgDg7L3ZcWVK5IUuv?si=fe363cdf1fb344ebEpisode 5 - https://open.spotify.com/episode/1Zwvwm4TWhDoCuUEPZkXs8?si=446526a68bcc4564Episode 6 - https://open.spotify.com/episode/3nWehMJLJ1AIfWIu2hWT9V?si=5f504c49c27c48db -
Saknas det avsnitt?
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Imagine going to a trade show on tractors and being served coffee that is better than any coffee you have had before. Or rocking up to a wedding in a field and being served coffee that is as good as your favourite local cafe.
In this conversation with Esther Maasdam, co-founder of Manhattan coffee roasters and founder of her eponymous events business: Esther Maasdam coffee connoisseur, we talk about how she has been bringing specialty coffee to the people at events for the past 20 years.
For many people operating coffee businesses, there are requests to serve coffee at events, but the reality of doing this versus the expectations of the customer are often completely misaligned. There is a specialist skillset to set up a bespoke coffee service, that incorporates events management but also the skills of a coffee technician, barista and cafe operator. It is no wonder, so few people and companies in the world can do this well.
In this episode we discuss:Bringing great coffee to peopleProviding great work for baristas - fun, quality coffeeBrand implications for Manhattan coffee at events - attracts baristas and promotes the Manhattan brandResilience - the essential trait of an events coordinatorPower of deductionTechnical knowledgeWar stories Pricing eventsEvents is not about making the best espresso in the world, it is about getting people excitedRecruiting baristas and skillset of an events baristaGrowing the brand - building from always present to entrusting others.Service models - speed and experienceThe menu at eventsCoffee on the barA Manhattan coffee shop?Links:https://esthermaasdam.com
https://manhattancoffeeroasters.com
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Since launching the sustainability reporting course from the Chain Collaborative we have been curious about the real world impact of sustainability reports. Why would a company invest time and money in creating one, what are the pros and cons of doing it.
Micah Sherer, our friend at Skylark Coffee in Brighton, UK has been writing their transparency report since launching nearly 5 years ago and it has had a big impact on their growth and on communicating the mission and values of Skylark coffee to their community.
This episode was co-hosted by Nora Burkey to bring subject matter expertise. Andrew’s research was all done by doing the course, so if he sounds like he knows what he is talking about, it is all thanks to Nora.
We discuss:
What are sustainability reports and their different variations - impact, transparency, sustainabilityTangible benefits of reportsHolding yourself accountableWhere are the biggest margins in the coffee supply chainWho are sustainability reports forConsiderations in data collection - transparency versus ethics in verifying supply chainsHow do you vet the ethics of the companies you buy fromSkylarks growth as a result of reportingWebsites:
https://community.coffeeknowledgehub.com/c/sustainability-reporting-by-the-chain-collaborative
https://thechaincollaborative.org
https://skylark.coffee/pages/transparency
https://www.probaristas.com/
Social handles
https://www.instagram.com/skylark.coffee/#
https://www.instagram.com/thechaincollaborative/#
https://www.instagram.com/ProBaristas
Mentions:
Micah mentioned the charity under which Skylark operates - One Church Brighton. We also spoke with Ben Szobody about the great work that Pro Baristas do in episode 5 of this podcast. Pro baristas is one of the projects coordinated by One Church Brighton. https://open.spotify.com/episode/0ENVmjgfVWI2XnvpDkVDqY?si=8bce5e1313c640e0
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This is the last episode recorded before Paul opened the doors to his cafe for the first time on October 5.
We discussed his menu, opening hours, vision for the cafe and its impact on different stakeholders and we did some predictions for sales in the first month.
Tibor and Andrew have started sharing their reflections on the conversation after the recordings, so stay tuned to hear our post interview thoughts.
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In the 5th instalment of our podcast series following Paul Ross as he opens the bricks and mortar home of Special Guests Coffee, we hear about progress with recruitment and shop fitting. We now have a tentative opening date and the pressure is on to finish the build out and get all the equipment in on time. Will it be opening on International Coffee day, we shall have to wait and see.
Amongst other things in this episode we discussed POS systems, POS stands for point of sale. There are a lot of systems on the market with POS and it is an important consideration in a cafe space because it directly impacts the customer experience, administration burden, reporting and timeliness of information. At the same time, many systems have more features than a cafe actually needs.
Bonus video on the coffee knowledge hub - sneak preview of the cafe
www.coffeeknowledgehub.com
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Our conversation includes insights into:
Growing from one to three cafes.The benefits of co-roastingThe Importance of systems and processesThe theme that runs through the interview is people - designing an experience for all the people who are touched by the business, whether it is the people from whom Dagger coffee source products, to the way people are recruited and supported who work in the business and also the customer experience. It is evident that everything is designed as a personal experience.
This was a lovely conversation with and , we hope you enjoy it.
A bit about Dagmar:
Dagmar Geerlings is the founder of Dagger coffee in Utrecht, Netherlands, which she started in 2017.
She found her way into coffee during her undergraduate studies in User experience design. Then had a gap year in Melbourne, Australia where she worked at Seven Seeds, a highly regarded café and roasting business, before returning to the Netherlands to complete a Masters. Her masters in the multisensory experience of taste, exploring how sound impacts taste and her undergraduate studies have influenced her cafe business in multiple ways.
Dagger coffee, has 3 sites and source and roast their own coffee which is also available via their webshop.
Find out more:
https://www.instagram.com/daggercoffee/?hl=nl
https://www.facebook.com/Daggercoffee/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dagmargeerlings/
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Major Cohen grew up with coffee, was a passionate consumer and hobbyist, mentored by George Howell in the 70's and went on to have a 25 year career with Starbucks from the age of 45. He subsequently left Starbucks during the pandemic and wrote the essential foundational coffee book - Coffee for Dummies.
Join Andrew and Tibor in this conversation with Major. His experience with Starbucks is full of valuable lessons and gives us a fascinating insight into the incredible growth of Starbucks from 100 to 25,000 + stores.
In this episode we cover:
Trends in coffeeImportance of vision and mission in managing change in dynamic organisations and industry - how do you adapt as a professionalInfluence on Starbucks on 3rd wave and vice versa - coffee as a taste experienceReserve programReserve Roastery - keeps Starbucks grounded in coffeeThe miraculous element of great trainingEmployee engagement in scaled businessesThe challenges of trainingThe importance communicating on people's levelHow Coffee for Dummies can be used by coffee professionalsCoffee for Dummies by Major Cohen
https://www.dummies.com/book/home-auto-hobbies/food-drink/coffee-tea/coffee-for-dummies-282727/
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Tibor and Andrew had a catch up chat after World of Coffee in Copenhagen to discuss trends they saw and how they relate to the wider cafe industry.
We dig deeper into the question of how do you decide which products to put on you menu using the operational complexity and profit margin matrix.
You can see the matrix here: https://community.coffeeknowledgehub.com/c/trending/which-products-to-sell
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Episode 4 in the series following the opening of the Special Guests Coffee cafe in Marlebone, London. Join us as we hear more from Paul Ross about opening his cafe. There are valuable lessons for anyone thinking about getting into the cafe business or for people already operating cafes.
In this episode we catch up on progress with the cafe build out and what Paul has been up to since our last interview in April. We discuss, pricing and pricing strategies, customer journeys, competitive advantage, and new launch dates.
EPISODE TIMESTAMPS0.00 Highlights from WOC
3:10 Recap of events since our last call - delays in the build out
7:54 Pricing and product differentiation
10:52 pricing with cost plus percentage or cost plus amount
13:32 Pricing and value
15:45 High end coffee pricing
21:15 competitive advantage of special guests
22:01 - differentiator - not just coffee quality - total customer experience
27:53 Customer journeys - the ‘flat white’ customer and ‘pour over’ customer
34:00 pricing based on competitors, or not.
38:40 Business ecosystems - Importance of a diversified business model for resilience
47:08 Net revenue modelling and indicators for projecting revenues
55:22 - new opening schedule
57:30 Preview of the golden tickets launching soon - get an off menu coffee. Find out how.
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This was a short episode continuing our series with Paul Ross.
This episode touched on some aspects of the business fundamentals of running a cafe, but we will go a lot deeper into this in future episodes. As Tibor alluded to in his question, there are many first time cafe owners who do not have a good knowledge of targets such as labour and cost of goods sold as a percentage of net revenue. Pricing is based on what a customer is willing to pay, but it needs to cover purchase costs, wastage, and contribute to labour, rent, rates and other overheads. So, often that high quality cake with a healthy 50% margin is losing you money, because it should have a 100% margin, but your customers won’t pay that price for it.
Since this episode was recorded in early April and it is now July, a lot has happened with the Special Guests cafe, but builders have only just gone on site, So it is well behind schedule.
Thanks for listening to the Coffee Knowledge Hub podcast with Tibor and Andrew. Please rate us/like us and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And share this series with anyone you know who is thinking of opening a cafe.
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If you have ever experienced staff shortages, difficulties finding qualified people for your business or find recruitment overwhelming, watch this interview with Ben Szobody.
Ben’s interest in coffee predates many people’s, he was following the US coffee competitions in the 2000’s, in a time before twitter, which was once a big thing in the coffee world and certainly before competitions became a thing. He wrote the chemically imbalanced blog from 2007, chronicling “the way stellar coffee collides with real life.”
Though he never actually worked directly in coffee, it was instead a useful vehicle for achieving positive social change in his other work. So, why would you listen to Ben Szobody’s advice on recruitment, training and people working in cafes? Because he has year’s of experience in developing professional baristas through his charity work in a program called Pro Baristas. The program has trained a truly diverse multitude of people with barista skills and soft skills and then supported them to find work in specialty cafes.
I think even the most experienced of cafe operators will find wisdom in what Ben has to say in the podcast. I expect you will come away, as I did, thinking differently about the benefits of diversity as a strategy for managing the challenges around labour shortages many operators are facing. These lessons can also be applied to other business sectors in the coffee industry.
If you feel inspired by the work of Pro Baristas and want to support or find out more, please go to
https://www.probaristas.com/our-story
They can also offer consulting services in some instances.
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Our latest podcast is released in time for WOC Copenhagen, where Ewelina is now based.
Over the course of our conversation with Ewelina we learned about growing into new roles and developing skills. We learned about the transition from barista and friend to boss and we learned about retailing.
There are some practical tips for improving cafe retails operations, implementing new service styles and also going online.
Ewelina has been in the hospitality game for almost a decade. Her journey began as a Barista in Poland, where she honed her coffee skills before venturing to London and joining Prufrock Coffee. The world famous Prufrock cafe was owned by World barista champion Gwilym Davies and Jeremy Challender, now dean of studies at Barista Hustle. Ewelina started at Prufrock under their tutelage and became General Manager after working as a barista and competing in the coffee competitions.
Prufrock was acquired by the world famous Square Mile Coffee roasters around 2016/2017 and as General Manager of Prufrock, Ewelina was given the freedom to experiment with innovative ideas to make customers smile and the whole operation run smoothly. It was a chapter marked by learning and growth.
Over the past eight years, she has navigated the behind-the-scenes intricacies of the hospitality industry, handling management changes, and confronting the challenges posed by a global pandemic. Nowadays, Ewelina is working as the Chief Operating Officer at Barista Hustle Tools, where she does everything from crunching numbers to untangling logistic complexities.
Ewelina makes some recommendations for places to visit if you are headed to Copenhagen. See the show notes for details.
Watch the podcast here:
🔗https://community.coffeeknowledgehub.com/c/podcast/from-barista-to-boss-with-ewelina-kania
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This is episode 2 of the series following Paul Ross' journey in setting up the Special Guests Coffee cafe. This is a fun one to watch. We recorded it in early April and then travel and a few challenges with the editing got in the way of releasing it. So, you will hear Paul’s projected opening dates which have not yet been realised. He is battling on though.
I highly recommend watching/listening to this if you are thinking of opening a cafe or you work in the retail end of the supply chain. The challenges Paul describes are very similar for many who venture down this road. Opening a cafe is incredibly rewarding. While it sounds pretty stressful based on this interview and I am not sure if we are doing a good job promoting becoming an entrepreneur and cafe owner, it does enrich your life in many ways.
The phase Paul is describing here though, is one of the toughest phases in pre-launching the business. It is the pre-construction phase, where the building contractors are estimating the costs of turning the designs into your dream cafe.
Watch it here: https://coffeeknowledgehub.circle.so/c/podcast/episode-2-of-our-series-interviewing-paul-ross
Please like/rate/follow this podcast on whichever platform you are using.
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We are Following Paul Ross, founder of Special Guests coffee as he takes his high end specialty coffee business from a digital to a physical experience in his soon to open cafe in Marylebone, London.
This is the first of a multipart series where we follow Paul on his journey in opening a cafe.
This episode covers the origin story of Paul and his business Special Guests. We learn why he is opening a physical location and the steps he has taken to get to the point of finding and signing on that location. We also learn that expertise in coffee, does not transfer to expertise in opening cafes. Paul is on a very steep learning curve with high ambitions.
I have really enjoyed these conversations with Paul. Opening cafes is an exhilarating experience. You can get well beyond your comfort zone very quickly. It requires a wide ranging skillset in everything from operations to property, construction, people management, project management, design, legals and more. There is a lot that can be learned from the experience of others, so get out your pen and paper and enjoy episode one of this series.
To follow these episodes and more, you can follow, subscribe and like the podcast. We also have the video version on the coffee knowledge hub.
https://coffeeknowledgehub.circle.so/c/podcast/bricks-and-mortar-a-new-series-tracking-paul-ross-journey-building-a-flagship-cafe-for-special-guests-coffee
https://espressoembassy.hu/
https://specialguestscoffee.com
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This is a wide ranging conversation on the business of specialty coffee covering micro and macro trends and some insights in decision making processes across a range of specialty business types.
