Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders

It's Founder Friday! And today we et to talk with a pillar of our community whose journey spans two decades, multiple businesses, professional growth through barista championships, personal growth through growing a roastery and multiple cafes as well establishing long term trade relationships with coffee farmers and providing real care to the team that helps you make it all happen.
Today we will be talking to my friend and and a truly excellent operator, Trevor Corlett of Madcap Coffee!
Trevor Corlett founded Madcap Coffee in 2008 and has grown it into four cafés in Grand Rapids and metro Detroit, plus a roastery serving wholesale partners and direct-to-consumer customers.
His path spans all levels of the craft — nine years competing in barista competitions, including back-to-back 3rd place finishes at the U.S. Barista Championship in 2013 and 2014 and the 2016 Eastern Conference title, followed by 13 years instructing for the Specialty Coffee Association while serving on the Barista Guild of America board, ultimately as Chair, and on the SCA board.
In 2025, he joined the Coffee Futures Fund as a founding mentor, contributing expertise in coffee, leadership, company culture, and operational infrastructure.
We talk about: 
Learning to roast and launching two Illinois cafes before Madcap
Madcap's start and the coffee movement in Michigan
Producer transparency and the decision to start Madcap
Why Madcap stripped back the cafe experience
Listening to customers without abandoning values
Producer partnerships, creative drinks, and hospitality
How Trevor grew from coffee professional to business leader
How competition sharpened everyday cafe skills
Building structure for sustainable growth
Using EOS and Traction to improve communication
Health benefits and long-term employee care
Paid training as an investment in staff development
Links: 
https://www.madcapcoffee.com/
https://www.instagram.com/madcapcoffee/
 
Consulting to help you and your coffee business thrive.
Book a free call now: 
https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min 
 
Related episodes:
563: Founder Friday! w/ Jared Linzmeier of Ruby Coffee Roaster
526: Founder Friday w/ Fount Coffee and Kitchen Owners, Shawn and Kristen Preissner and George and Katie Kilgore!
471 Founder Friday! Encore Episode w/ Emi Fukahori of Mame Coffee in Zurich Switzerland!
453 : The Craft of Operations
 
SPONSORS!
"Your Brand Cafe" for all your Cups, Sleeves printing and much more! 
 
The worlds best plant based beverages! The Barista Series!

"If you don't have house made syrup then it's a red flag!" This is the kind of talking point that is the fodder of the ignorant, self serving (but vibey) coffee influencers of our day. Taking one aspect of a larger thing and making it the litmus test by which you can magically know all things about a place may work for 1990s psychics on the Maury Povich show, but we live in the real world, not the reel world, and understand that there is more nuance to the discussion than is convenience for clicks and giggles. 
Today on Shift Break we will be talking about why house made or not is not actually the point and why intentionality is the real green flag we should be waving when it comes to our menus.
Related episodes: 
Why DIY
SHIFT BREAK! Tips For Signature Drink Success
 
KEYS TO THE SHOP CONSULTING 
Book a free call now: 
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

Coffee is built on relationships. Wholesale relationships are particularly important in that there is a need for both equipping and resourcing, as well as connecting and encouraging. How well we engage with and serve people literally sets up the entire industry for success. 
With that in mind I thought there might be no better person to represent the heart of what it means to serve clients well, than Bear Soliven Chief Wholesale Officer at Onyx Coffee Lab! 
Bear Soliven has spent 15+ years in the coffee industry as anything from a barista, baker, and, for a short season, a roaster. 
For 11 of those years, he has called Onyx Coffee Lab home, spending the past 10 as a wholesale representative helping cafés and hospitality partners build their coffee programs. He loves the craft, but it is the people that give the work its meaning: the friendships formed over time, the pleasure of making something well, and the welcome offered across a counter. 
Occasionally, he competes in Cup Tasters, chiefly for the fun of it, and perhaps to keep his palate from growing too pleased with itself.
Beyond coffee, faith, hospitality, and belonging sweep through every avenue of Bear's story. 
He finds much to value in ordinary things: good food, a shared cup, great movies & books, and especially the chance to make someone feel at home.


Today we get cover: 
Authenticity, confidence, and professional boundaries
Supporting cafe founders through uncertainty
Wholesale as attentive hospitality, not a sales pitch
Depersonalizing friction and offering candid advice
Building systems around a relationship-first workflow
Setting client expectations and adapting communication
Team support, shared expertise, and weekly alignment
Why a coffee brand cannot fix a broken cafe culture
Bear's advice for people starting in wholesale
Links: 
https://www.instagram.com/taco.papi_/
https://onyxcoffeelab.com/
 
Keys to the Shop Consulting:
Consulting to help you and your coffee business thrive
Book a free call now: 
https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min 
 
Related Episodes: 
615: The Key to Excellent Cafes, Sales, and Wholesale Support w/ Sam Lewontin!
 

473: A Master Class in Wholesale Coffee w/ Honor Forte of Olympia Coffee Roasters
246 : Selecting a Wholesale Coffee Provider
133 : 5 Keys to Successful Wholesale w/ Sarah Richmond
 
 
SPONSORS!
"Your Brand Cafe" for all your Cups, Sleeves printing and much more! 
 
The worlds best plant based beverages! The Barista Series!

Stories are how we communicate something deeper than just information. They help both old shape their worldview and grasp concepts that have far reaching impact on the countless decisions we make through our lives that affect the lives of others. No matter how small, it makes a difference. That is one of the central messages of the book written by today's guest, Wendra Lynn. 
Wendra Lynne is an artist and author with a background in commercial art, as a long time member of the Art Directors Guild for Screen and Television. Today, she brings her artistic expertise and love of nature to write and illustrate picture books uniquely painted with real coffee blended into watercolors. Her first book, The Wondrous Cloud Forest, uses coffee-infused illustrations to tell the story of how shade-grown coffee can protect wildlife, support Indigenous communities, and promote sustainability. Her second book, The Little Bean That Grew to Brew, follows a single coffee bean's journey from seed to cup, mirroring a child's journey of growth and discovery while celebrating resilience, finding purpose, and the big difference seemingly small choices can make.
Today we get to talk about Wendra's experiences in art, coffee, writing, and we unpack the lessons she has placed in the Little Bean book as well as the lessons she has learned form her life as an artist that we in the coffee shop world can apply to what we create and who we become as we do. 
Links: 
https://thelittlebean.org/
https://www.bywendra.com/store/p52/The_Little_Bean.html
 
Keys to the Shop Consulting:
Consulting to help you and your coffee business thrive
Book a free call now: 
https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min 
 
Related Episodes: 
622: Lifting Up Coffee Farmers w/ Ben Carlson of Long Miles Coffee!
112 : The Power of Story w/ James Harper of Filter Stories Podcast
519: The World of Coffee People w/ Ryan Woldt of The Coffee People Podcast
SHIFT BREAK: Why Your Shop Needs to Tell Stories
 
 
 
SPONSORS!
"Your Brand Cafe" for all your Cups, Sleeves printing and much more! 
 
The worlds best plant based beverages! The Barista Series!

"I want to have one on ones but they always turn into gripe sessions!" You have perhaps experienced this problem. You go to sit down with staff and begin a habit of good communication and it rapidly devolves into a gossip session about other staff, management, etc. Discussion of issues is a good thing, unless it is poorly managed.  
Today on Shift Break we will be talking about how you can approach your meetings in a way that avoids turning communication into commiseration and healthy discussion into gossip sessions. 
There is a lot here and I hope it helps! 
 
Related episodes: 
Gossip: How this toxic element destroys community in the coffee shop and what to do instead
Shift Break! The Problem of Commiseration
Service, Spite, and Compromise
Customer Caricatures and Inside Jokes
463: Tips on Having the Right Meetings
 
KEYS TO THE SHOP CONSULTING 
Book a free call now: 
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