Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders

Every Coffee Fest we sit down with presenters and speakers to talk about their field of expertise and learn from their experience in coffee.
This time we had a wonderful time talking with three professionals at Coffee Fest Chicago! 

We start with Lan Ho, Founder of Fat Miilk Vietnamese coffee bar in Chicago!
Lan Ho is the founder and CEO of Fat Miilk, a Chicago-based Vietnamese coffee company redefining the role of Robusta in modern coffee. Through a platform spanning direct sourcing, roasting, retail cafés, and consumer packaged goods, she is building a brand that connects origin to everyday ritual.
With a background in pharmacy, Lan brings a systems-driven mindset to an industry often led by tradition. She left a six-figure healthcare career to pursue entrepreneurship and has since been featured on CNBC and appeared on Gordon Ramsay's Food Stars. Fat Miilk opened its first Chicago storefront in 2024, with a second location in Naperville set to open this summer.
Deeply interested in consumer psychology, Lan approaches coffee through the lens of lifestyle, how people drink, feel, and connect through daily habits. She is a leading voice in advancing Robusta's place in the global coffee conversation.
 
Links:
https://fatmiilk.com/
http://instagram.com/fatmiilk/
 
Next we are talking about approachable and joyful coffee training and eduction with Miranda Haney of Barista Friend! 
Miranda Haney is a coffee educator and consultant based in Austin, TX. She is the founder of Barista Friend, a mobile barista training service for home and professional baristas. 
Hailing from a long line of teachers, Miranda is especially passionate about delivering information in a way that's engaging and easy to understand. She's a permanent fixture at the local latte art competitions, a two-time U.S. Barista Championships national competitor, runner-up in the 2024 Barista League, Denver, and currently serves as vice president of the Austin Coffee Collective. Most recently, she was a 2025 Coffee Sustainability Fellow with The Chain Collaborative.
 
Links:
https://www.instagram.com/baristafriend/
https://baristafriend.substack.com/
 
Finally we talk with Asia Vo of Loba Pastry and Coffee 


Asia Vo is a Chicago-based artist devoted to curating intentional food and beverage experiences. In her present role as the Beverage Director of Loba Pastry, Vo honors craftsmanship through her continual pursuit of authentic creation and curiosity.
 
Links:
https://www.lobapastry.com/
https://www.instagram.com/asia__vo/
 
 
Go check out Coffee Fest Trade Shows Today! 
www.coffeefest.com

Leading and managing are only as effective as your knowledge and understanding of the who, what, and why of your cafe. Sadly many people with the title of manager or in positions of leadership are going day-to-day putting out fires, chasing down tasks, but never getting ahead in developing and supporting their staff in meaningful ways. 

Today on Shift Break we will be talking about some practical tools to start using in your leadership practice right away and how to think about the position you hold so you are able to grow yourself and grow others. 


 
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 webinar Chris Deferio shares the practical systems and coaching insights that have helped coffee businesses build stronger teams, healthier cultures, and more resilient operations.
Webinar includes:
Live instruction and Q&A
PDF workbook
One hour of virtual consulting for each live attendee
Lifetime access to the recording
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:

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