Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders

How we think determines how we act. This is especially true when it comes to pressurized situations like the kind that we find in a busy coffee shop environment. We talk a lot about leader, ship, tactics, and principles, and aspire to be better leaders, but if we don't fix our thinking, our actions will not be effective in our efforts will fall flat.
On today's episode we will be discussing for major mind set shif that every coffee shop leader needs to make in order to properly serve the people they work with and for.
We cover:
Teaching vs informing
Working with vs dealing with
Preemptive vs reactionary
Effective vs impressive
Sign up for the leadership and management webinar below!
 
REGISTER NOW FOR THE SUMMER WEBINAR SERIES! 
Build a Stronger Coffee Shop: One Step at a Time
Great coffee shops don't happen by accident. They are built by hiring the right people, training them well, and leading them with clarity and consistency.
In this live three-part Summer Webinar Series, Chris Deferio shares the practical systems and coaching insights that have helped coffee businesses build stronger teams, healthier cultures, and more resilient operations.
Each webinar includes:
Live instruction and Q&A
PDF workbook
One hour of virtual consulting for each live attendee
Lifetime access to the recording
Register for the individual sessions that fit your current needs, or scroll down to save 20% on the complete Summer Webinar Series.
REGISTER NOW FOR THE SUMMER WEBINAR SERIES! 
 
chris@keystothshop.com
of book a free call now: 
https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min 
 
Related episodes:
484: Demystifying Mentorship w/ Dr. Ruth Gotian, Author of "The Financial Times guide to Mentorship""
003: The Role of Mentorship in Specialty Coffee w/ Pete Licata
580: Four Cafe Leadership Mindsets to Adopt in the New Year
437 : The New Age of the Barista: Mindsets + Habits for Success
253 : Mindsets that Sabotage Success
 
SPONSORS!
"Your Brand Cafe" for all your Cups, Sleeves printing and much more! 
 
The worlds best plant based beverages! The Barista Series!

It's Founder Friday and I am so pleased to finally welcome the one an only Tim Wendelboe! 
Tim Wendelboe runs his own roastery and espresso bar in Oslo, Norway where he imports, roast and serve high quality coffees.
Apart from winning 8 Nordic Roaster Competitions with his team, he was the 2004 World Barista Champion and the 2005 World Cup Tasting Champion and has also published several books on coffee. Tim spends a lot of time working together with the producers he buys coffee from in order to improve the quality of their coffees. He is also working on his own coffee farm, Finca el Suelo, in Colombia where he uses his knowledge in soil biology to grow coffee free from pesticides and mineral fertilizers.
This was a great time talking about a wide range of subjects all related to pursuing excellence in operations, trade, leadership, and craft. 
In todays discussion we cover: 
Tim Wendelboe's coffee journey from 1998 to today
Importance of systems and standards in coffee shops
Competitive Coffee and Professional Growth
Long-term relationships with coffee farmers and sustainability
Roasting techniques and the shift to lighter roasts
Staff training, retention, and creating a team-oriented culture
Standards, Leadership, and Human-Centered Management
Building Systems for Quality and Consistency
The role of customer service and authenticity in coffee
Future challenges in coffee quality and climate change
Partnerships with Farmers and Sustainability Initiatives
The importance of organizational knowledge and leadership
The Future of Coffee and Customer Engagement
Links: 
https://timwendelboe.no
https://www.instagram.com/timwendelboe/
Tim Wendelboe on YouTube
 
REGISTER NOW FOR THE SUMMER WEBINAR SERIES! 
Build a Stronger Coffee Shop: One Step at a Time
Great coffee shops don't happen by accident. They are built by hiring the right people, training them well, and leading them with clarity and consistency.
In this live three-part Summer Webinar Series, Chris Deferio shares the practical systems and coaching insights that have helped coffee businesses build stronger teams, healthier cultures, and more resilient operations.
Each webinar includes:
Live instruction and Q&A
PDF workbook
One hour of virtual consulting for each live attendee
Lifetime access to the recording
Register for the individual sessions that fit your current needs, or scroll down to save 20% on the complete Summer Webinar Series.
REGISTER NOW FOR THE SUMMER WEBINAR SERIES! 
 
chris@keystothshop.com
of book a free call now: 
https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min 
 
Related episodes:
252 : Founder Friday w/ Klaus Thompson of the Coffee Collective, Denmark
320 Founder Friday! w/ Francesco Sanapo of Ditta Artigianale, Florence, Italy
273 : Founder Friday w/ Anne Lunnel and Charles Nystrand of Koppi Coffee Roasters, Helsingborg, Sweden
SHIFT BREAK! The New Classic Cafe: An Era of Understated Excellence
505: Maintaining Excellence in the Everyday Work of Coffee Shops w/ Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood

Seemingly in balance to our episode with Kwame Christian on big swings, we need to talk about small starts! 
Making decisions about size, scope, and scale of our cafes can set us up for success or it can set us up for disappointment. I see this play out time and time again where people over commit to something and bite of more than they can chew. This leads to al sorts of downstream issues.

Today on Shift Break we will be talking about the mentality of starting small in all aspects of your business and why it makes all the difference for the sustainability of what you create.


 
REGISTER NOW FOR THE SUMMER WEBINAR SERIES! 
Build a Stronger Coffee Shop: One Step at a Time
Great coffee shops don't happen by accident. They are built by hiring the right people, training them well, and leading them with clarity and consistency.
In this live three-part Summer Webinar Series, Chris Deferio shares the practical systems and coaching insights that have helped coffee businesses build stronger teams, healthier cultures, and more resilient operations.
Each webinar includes:
Live instruction and Q&A
PDF workbook
One hour of virtual consulting for each live attendee
Lifetime access to the recording
Register for the individual sessions that fit your current needs, or scroll down to save 20% when you bundle the last two in our series. 
REGISTER NOW FOR THE SUMMER WEBINAR SERIES! 
 
Sign up for 1:1 CONSULTING AND COACHING
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 chris@keystothshop.com
OR... book a free call now to talk about working together
https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min 
 
Related episodes:
443: Keep Your Communication Simple! w/ Author Ben Guttmann
Keep Systems Simple!
SHIFT BREAK! The Best Strategy is Simplicity

Summer Webinar Series from Keys to the Shop®!

Congratulations! You hired the right people! Now comes one of the most critical parts of the relationship between employee and employer, raining and onboarding.

All too often we rush this process and engage in "trial by fire" training, we give people big manuals and handbooks and simply tell them "read this". How's that working for ya?

I can tell you from working for 27 years in coffee and personally coaching over 85 cafes, this is common and this does not cut it.

In this 2nd in the 3part webinar series, we are going to dive deep into the what, why, and how of setting up an effective training and onboarding system that will actually produce competence, confidence, and growth for both you and your staff. Your customers benefit by receiving better service, hospitality, and quality from a staff that is truly empowered.

Date: July 30, 2026 | Time: 11:00 AM EST

You will walk away with:

🔑 A time tested framework for training and onboarding
🔑 The ability to manage your time so you can plan for good training
🔑 Instructions on how to prepare yourself and the trainee
🔑 The knowledge of pitfalls to avoid
🔑 Confidence for accountability and management
🔑 Tools to help you begin to track performance
🔑 Insights from the live Q+A

Excellence is not accidental and does not happen because of wishing it was so. It happens when we plan, train, and coach our staff through a system designed to deliver it every time.

👏Registration opens next week so stay tuned!

🔥You can purchase all 3 for a 20% discount.

🔑 Comment "keys" to be first in line for registration.
 
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER!
 
Sign up for 1:1 CONSULTING AND COACHING
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 chris@keystothshop.com
OR... book a free call now to talk about working together
https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min

There is wisdom in taking well considered steps in your life and business. The trouble is that sometimes, when the best move is a big one, we can write it off as unwise or reckless. How can we overcome what holds us back from making the right big moves? 
Well I am pleased to welcome back to the show someone who has lived out and navigated this problem. My friend and world renowned expert in communication and negotiation, Kwame Christian! 
Kwame Christian, Director of the American Negotiation Institute. He is the author of two bestselling books: Finding Confidence in Conflict and How to Have Difficult Conversations About Race
He is a highly sought after keynote speaker and was a recent featured guest on the Mel Robbins Podcast.
Kwame is dedicated to empowering others and has helped countless individuals overcome the fear, anxiety, and emotion often associated with difficult conversations through a branded framework called Compassionate Curiosity.
As an attorney and mediator with a Bachelors of Arts in Psychology, a Master of Public Policy, and a Juris Doctorate (Law Degree), Kwame brings a unique multidisciplinary approach to making difficult conversations easier.
We discuss:
Big swings mentality and its impact on success
The role of identity in behavior change
Overcoming fear and limiting beliefs
Practical strategies for habit formation
The concept of strategic luck and positioning
The importance of honesty and self-awareness
Playing small is often rooted in limiting beliefs and fear.
Adopting an identity-based approach can accelerate behavior change.
Small, consistent actions lead to big ripple effects over time.
Practicing identity shifts through experiments and reminders is effective.
Embracing uncertainty and adaptability is crucial in a changing world.
Links:
www.kwamechristian.com
 
REGISTER NOW FOR THE SUMMER WEBINAR SERIES! 
Build a Stronger Coffee Shop: One Step at a Time
Great coffee shops don't happen by accident. They are built by hiring the right people, training them well, and leading them with clarity and consistency.
In this live three-part Summer Webinar Series, Chris Deferio shares the practical systems and coaching insights that have helped coffee businesses build stronger teams, healthier cultures, and more resilient operations.
Each webinar includes:
Live instruction and Q&A
PDF workbook
One hour of virtual consulting for each live attendee
Lifetime access to the recording
Register for the individual sessions that fit your current needs, or scroll down to save 20% on the complete Summer Webinar Series.
REGISTER NOW FOR THE SUMMER WEBINAR SERIES! 
 
chris@keystothshop.com
of book a free call now: 
https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min 
 
Related episodes: 
222 : How to have Difficult Conversations about Race and Justice w/ Kwame Christian
125 : Confidence in Conflict w/ Kwame Christian : A framework for Compassionate Curiosity
496: Hard Decisions and High Standards
184 : Making Great Business Decisions w/ Dave Stachowiak