Customer Service and the Coffee Industry

My first “real” job was in a restaurant. When I was 15 years old I began working as a cashier, with the grand dream of being a chef. I began learning how to take money, take an order, talk to customers, and expedite orders. Customer service was the first thing you learned, and it was not optional.

This is where everyone started working for the restaurant. If you couldn’t do something as simple as help customers with their needs, then you might be relegated to scrubbing toilets before eventually being let go. When I made mistakes I was scolded, sometimes yelled at, but corrected for essentially being ignorant of how and why things were done.

As time passed I learned. I learned how to serve people better, anticipate needs, and how to exceed their expectations whenever possible (note: it’s not always possible). This was my introduction to food service and customer service. I wanted to be a chef, and somehow that started by making sure the older gentleman who looks like it might be his last day on this beautiful earth got exactly the right mix of Extra Tasty Crispy and Original Recipe chicken.

Yes, my first job was at KFC.

It was quite an experience

A strange start to a successful coffee career to be sure, but perhaps it helps tell a narrative. Today the topic is connecting to the customer in the coffee industry.

Recently I have been bombarded with the topic of how we can start giving better service. Usually the first thing to go through my head is “Why were you not giving great service in the first place?” My opinion is that we are a part of the “service industry”, which means that we rely on customers who ask a service of us (preparing tasty coffee) and then pay for that service. Clearly in the coffee industry we do a whole lot more than just make tasty coffee. However, customers generally always want two things: tasty coffee and a pleasant interaction. Some people want more coffee geekery, some want to chat about the weekend, and some just want to get some “wake-up juice” and not think about it. The key is to look from the consumers’ point of view. I usually use a great bar as an analogy.

Think of a great bartender. He or she might be mixing, shaking, pouring, straining, zesting, twisting, or otherwise doing prep work. The ones that come to my mind are quite professional, but completely friendly. If you order a standard cocktail they don’t roll their eyes at you, but they might ask if you want a particular brand of the spirit in the drink. They might even tell you a couple of interesting things about your drink or the ingredients in it, but that is about all unless you are asking more detailed questions. The bartender is the gatekeeper of knowledge. The great ones are bubbling with knowledge and more than happy to talk about the technical details if you are interested. They do something that is crucial though.

They read you.

The great bartender starts by making you feel good, then adjusts to you depending on where you want to go. When was the last time you woke up and instantly thought to yourself “Boy I could really go for a cup of coffee and a lecture about why it is so great!”? Take a note from the great bartender and start trying to read your customers. They will love it.

Reading people is a skill that must be honed. In respect to standard cafe service, I think of four general types of customer “reads”. Clearly every person is different, and there are many variations on this idea, but this is a good start.

Image courtesy of Yazmin Alanis González

The Zombie  

If you are not a morning person, chances are this has been you at some point in your life. I know I have. The zombie is generally still in the process of waking up. His/her social skills tend to range from snarky to incomprehensible, but the real tell is the overwhelming disdain for loud music, technical data, and the existence of sunlight. In the latter case the term “vampire” may be appropriate.

The zombie is in desperate need of coffee, and to deprive them of this life-nectar is clearly an exercise in cruelty. Sometimes the best interaction is to get to know their regular drink and just ask “the usual?”. Their primary concern is quick caffeination, but don’t mistake this for a lack of care about quality. The zombie can sometimes magically transform into “The Casual Enthusiast” or “The Friendly Consumer” later in the day. And if you think about it, you may have had something to do with that change only a few hours before ;)

The Friendly Consumer

If it isn’t morning, or your customer is just one of those happy, cheerful people, your chances of encountering the friendly consumer are greatly increased. The friendly consumer is just that. Happy to get a nice cup of coffee and typically easy to talk to. Your biggest decision is whether to continue small talk or move into more technical information about the coffee they are getting.

The friendly consumer represents the widest range of people you encounter, but they can become “The Casual Enthusiast” very easily. Perhaps they are curious about why their cup tastes so good every day, or (unfortunately) why their drink is better when certain people make it for them. This type of interaction is easily segued into a discussion about coffee quality and barista skills. The trick is to be ready but let them come to you. You'll know when they are ready to take a peek into the coffee abyss.

The Casual Enthusiast

Every now and then a customer walks through the door who is curious about everything they encounter. This person tends to appreciate a superior product or method, and relishes the education they can receive from a knowledgeable barista. Interestingly, the casual enthusiast is often created in your own or other specialty cafes through exposure to great quality and the integrity that is presented time and again. Simple interactions show your excitement about coffee, which lead to curiosity and interest in what is happening behind the scenes.

An enthusiastic customer is likely interested to know how they can make an equally great cup of coffee in their own home every day. This is your chance to showcase your extensive knowledge, tempered of course by what is reasonable for someone to start brewing coffee on their own. Occasionally the casual enthusiast will become “The Coffee Nerd”

The Coffee Nerd 

If you work in coffee, or did at one point, chances are you are in this category. Despite including the industry elitist, The Coffee Nerd is anyone who has taken the plunge down the coffee rabbit hole and become a geek about it. This sometimes manifests itself as delving into the “science” of coffee, which can test your knowledge/patience as a working barista. As much as we love having excited customers, it seems that there is a disdain for having our own knowledge questioned. I find it fascinating that we go so quickly from being excited about interest, to condescending about how much more we know.

The Coffee Nerd is an uncommon visitor to most cafes, or sometimes they choose not to be known as such. They can come across as a Zombie, a Casual Enthusiast, or simply as a Friendly Consumer depending on the time and/or day. What matters the most is to treat them with the hospitality that is expected from a coffee professional and to offer up the information that is relevant to them. Sometimes this covers every aspect of extraction imaginable. Sometimes all that is expected is what your coffee to water ratio is and extraction time. As always, read the situation for each person and you will surpass expectations and have people coming back for more!

In the interest of relevance, the above concept of customers is best taken as an extremely general way to approach people on a regular basis. You may have different thoughts about the guests visiting your store, but if you have a way of understanding your customers you will be better able to serve them. 

And if you can serve them better, I bet they will want to come back more often.

The variety of filter coffee

As I write this post, I am sitting at a recently opened cafe with a cup of filter brewed coffee. This isn't about the origin, quality, or even the cafe itself; I simply started to think about the coffee industry's obsession with brewing options. I have seen a lot of buzz about the "proper" or "best" way to make coffee, and while I sit here and enjoy this cup let's look at the variety of what I consider the simplest form of coffee that we serve, filtered coffee.

Brewing filter coffee is the simplest thing ever, right? Weigh and grind the coffee, put it in the paper filter in the basket, and push the button. If everything is calibrated and functioning properly it really can be that simple. Newer brewing machines have controls over temperature, pulsing to bloom the grinds, consistent shower heads to wet the grinds evenly, and adjustments to change the time of various parts of the brew.

Somehow it still gets messed up

When I began working in coffee the only way I knew to brew coffee was with a batch brewer. 2 or 3 liters per brew was the norm, and we stuck to the "Gold Cup Standard" in our brewing parameters. I have to say that the coffee we brewed was really great (though who knows where my palate development was at the time)! For variety we brewed a number of roasts, blends, or decaf (and flavored coffee, but let's try to forget about that one). This selection was the fastest, most convenient way to buy coffee and we even put out a "grab and go" stack of cups with a dollar jar for the regulars.

We sold a lot of cups.

Of course if you have been exposed to specialty cafes in any way in the past 5 years you have at least seen a pourover brew. Chemex, Hario, Kalita, and a slew of other brands represent ways to pour hot water over coffee grinds. In the most simple sense this is a way to make a single, small batch of coffee fresh to order without wasting any product. Pourover brewing, or manual brewing, is considered by some to be the ultimate way to get the best flavor from a given coffee.

Pourover coffee adds control over variables in the brewing process. Water temperature, water flow, and turbulence are now completely controllable by the barista in addition to coffee/water ratio and extraction time. Of course the more variables you have in hand, the more opportunities you have to make terrible coffee. In my opinion there are pros and cons to batch brewing and manual brewing alike.

Batch brewing gives you:

- large amounts of coffee relatively quickly

- consistent brew flavor and strength

- simple and effortless brewing

Potentially negative aspects of batch brewing are:

- lack of personal interaction or identity of the coffee

- wasting coffee that is not sold quickly enough

- limited ability to brew a wide selection of coffees easily

Manual brewing gives you:

- control to achieve the best flavor possible

- ability to brew a large selection with no waste (other than a lot more paper filters)

- individual attention to each drink and customer interactions

Potentially negative aspects of manual brewing are:

- increased difficulty to properly extract coffee each time, leading to inconsistencies

- longer service time, sometimes to extremes

- more focus on the coffee itself rather than customer's immediate needs

Can I get a coffee, but something a little less intense?

You might be asking yourself why I am making these comparisons at this point. Many people feel that batch brewing is antiquated, and manual brewing is the only way to brew properly. The funny thing is that manually brewing coffee is a far older process than auto/batch brewing. The thing that arguably made manual brewing come back in vogue in the U.S. was the incredible popularity, and subsequent sale of the Clover brewer to Starbucks. We created a demand for single cup brewing of high dollar and exquisite coffees. When the super cool and stylish and trendy and expensive Clover brewer lost favor with the masses (of coffee folks), the manual pourover was the obvious solution.

Enter the newest assortment of automated, single cup brewers. There are a lot of brands out there but the goal is to get the ease of use and consistency of a batch brew with the versatility and individuality of a manual brew. What single cup auto brewers bring is another option for the savvy cafe owner. I believe that all of these forms of brewing coffee are here to stay.

I love lamp source: www.seraphim.coffee

The important thing to take from all of these musings of mine is that the best way to brew coffee is the way that works best for your needs. A cafe a should choose their equipment with care. Batch brew all day? Only in mornings/rush? Manual only? A custom setup with only single cup auto brewers? Everyone's needs are different, so there is no universal answer.

If you just want a great cup of coffee though, don't be afraid of a specific method. If you are making your coffee, pick a simple and effective method that requires as much as you want to put into it. In the end, the coffee should just be approachable and really really tasty.

The now infamous cup of coffee

4 Barista Competition Tips

I am asked questions about competing all the time. As a seasoned competitor I have spent the better part of 7 years of competing, which adds up to a lot of experience. This experience can be measured in a lot of ways. It equates to 31 officially scored presentations.  It's thirteen top-3 trophies in sixteen events. That includes eight 1st place wins, not to mention almost 8 hours of time on stage with judges. When a request comes in for advice on competing it can sometimes be difficult to pinpoint the most vital information for a prospective or advancing competitor. After gathering my thoughts, here are a few of my viewpoints that I believe will help you prepare for such a big undertaking.

1 - Define your goals

This is one of the first steps you should take. I have heard goals from "Just to have fun", "To be a better presenter" or "To improve my barista skills". These are all perfectly good goals, but to focus on these is different that what my (and I assume many baristas') goal was, which was to "Try to be the best". That may sound like an arrogant goal, and at times it could have been. However, I think this is a good mentality for a competition as it helps push the limits of what we are doing and also creates ownership of techniques and skill. Of course in trying to "be the best" it is still important to stay approachable and avoid actual arrogance. Defining your goals in competing will help to focus you on what will be needed to give the best presentation you can.

Goals that do not seem to be received well are "To prove a point" or "To make a statement". Essentially beating a new or controversial idea into the judges' heads is not generally a good idea. I find nothing wrong with challenging established boundaries, but by nature you will be focused too much on the controversy and not enough on just making good coffee.

2 - Organize your world

 

Imagine you are going to give the most important speech of your life. This speech will be in 1 or 2 months and you have the majority of the data you need available from the sources you have.

Would you organize every piece of data you could?

This is not just about the speech itself though. This is about the competition space, backstage preparations, prep time, and even setting up the cart to move your gear. A basic rule to follow is that if it happens outside of the 15 minute prep and the presentation, then you have complete control over how organized you are. When you look at the competition this way there is really no reason not to be prepared.

Success at barista competitions has a lot to do with organization and attention to details. Create diagrams of table and cart setup, arrive back stage as early as you can, and have a timeline for when you want to have tasks finished. If you are able, bring your own cart so that you can set everything the way you want earlier. Have you thought through your prep time setup? Being efficient and organized will save you time, which means more time to double-check everything and calm your nerves before the actual presentation.

One thing of note, however, is that as a competitor you are attempting to be a pinnacle of professionalism. Despite all of your preparations and amazing perfection in competing it is important to remember that your fellow competitors are also your comrades. In owning the space and having everything organized the way you plan, you also have the RESPONSIBILITY to clean, be timely, and be considerate of the space as well as your fellow competitors' time. Don't be that guy that everyone silently resents for acting entitled!

3 - Have a thesis

 

Once upon a time when I was in school (don't worry about how long ago that was...) we were taught to start a paper with a thesis statement. This would help focus the writing and provide an anticipation of the subsequent report/story/term paper. A thesis can of course change as a concept is refined (and probably should), but the point is to create a cohesive story in your presentation. Your thesis is your promise to the judges that there is substance to your message and helps them process the information you will be giving them.

Of course the method of storytelling is up to you. There is no one way to give a creative and interesting presentation, so you should not feel constricted on how you tell your story. Is the thesis stated boldly at the very beginning? Is it revealed at the end as a surprise? Is it insinuated but never specifically stated? These are things that you as a competitor must decide. As you go more in depth in story building you may find that you have multiple themes that have to be focused individually, or there may be a primary message and secondary/tertiary themes that need to either refined or cut.

In the end you have a choice over the words coming out and, if you want to do the best you can, those words should be focused to give the most cohesive and accessible information possible during your 15 minutes.

4 - Practice, analyze, improve

 

The last recommendation I have is in regard to practicing. Most every serious competitor has practice sessions leading up to the competition. Aside from being a great way to waste coffee and milk, practice sessions do in fact have benefits when used properly.

When I first began competing I actually formulated my entire speech through 15 minute practice sessions. While this does get a lot of repetition on technical points, it doesn't always lend itself to the best speech creation. There are three things that are very beneficial to practicing for competition:

• A teammate who can evaluate from the judges' point of view. Recent judging experience is a plus, and more than one set of eyes is even better!

• A video camera. I didn't have one in 2005, but this should be easy to arrange these days. (Ahem, smartphone)

• The correct competition setup, tables, and equipment. This one is not possible for everyone, but the more you have the better.

Generally I recommend taking practice sessions in phases. Start with thesis, speech writing, brainstorming of ideas, and more intangible aspects. After that, start recording individual segments of your service incorporating speech. Finally, begin full 15 minute presentations (don't forget to record them) 3-4 weeks prior to the competition if possible. This is also assuming you work 5 days a week and only have your off days to commit to full practice runs. This method is probably fairly common, but now comes the important part.

Your teammate(s) is your best friend and worst enemy. You don't need a person who raves about your every idea. You need someone who picks your ideas apart and finds their flaws. This can feel discouraging, but their intention should be to help you make the absolute best presentation possible (by the way, don't choose a teammate who actually hates you). Critical, objective and honest analysis is vital in competition. At points I had a full team of 7 people judging my runs and giving complete feedback.

Video feedback should make you a better presenter. Obviously watching video with a teammate who evaluated you is very helpful, but there are two other things to focus on.

1. Watch and listen to yourself. Are you dynamic? Are you compelling? The answer should probably be NO, especially on your first review. We don't hear our voices the same in recording versus live speaking (think of bone vibrations and the complexity of the inner ear). That usually leads to us feeling that we sound weird on a video. This is good however, because it can help you focus on your non-verbal communication-delivery, hand movements, and body language. The more conscious you are of how you are perceived, the better your impression on the judges.

2. Watch your movements. Are you forgetting items? Doubling back to get something? Or does something look awkward? This is your chance to perfect your movements and design new techniques/implementations that are more appealing to the judges. The idea is not to over simplify everything, but to take a complicated execution and make it seem effortless.

There you have some of my viewpoints to help you become a great competitor. The barista competitions (USBC/WBC) are incredibly complex themselves, but these tips should be valuable for most other forms of competition as well. Give it a try and you might just find yourself excelling higher than you thought possible!

Good luck!

Pete

The past year

Here we go again...

I’ve gone and stopped blogging and left you all in the dark! Many of you are connected on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter and know a lot of my past year. Some of you, however, don’t know many details about some pretty crazy changes in my life since the last time I wrote a blog.

So aside from my profound regret for being off of the blog-tastic side of the internet, I am making a resolution of sorts to keep writing much more present in the life and times of Pete Licata. To swoop you back up into my world, let’s just recap the year of 2013 and proceed from there.

Is there something interesting I should know about?

The last time I wrote a post I was living in Hawaii.

Aloha suckers!

I’m not sure how to break this to you, but I have left paradise for the ridiculously temperamental weather extremes of Kansas City! While I was very embraced and loved there, in many ways I never truly felt like home was in Hawaii for me. I hope that all of my friends back in the Aloha state know that they will always be in my heart!

An aspect of life that I struggled with was missing my family and friends in KC, and ultimately I couldn’t stay away any longer. In November of 2012 I made the move back to Kansas and started searching for jobs.

A coffee job in Kansas?

I spoke with two specialty coffee companies doing business in the KC area for some time, and when all was said and done I chose a position at Parisi Artisan Coffee as the Quality Assurance Manager. It was a position I found appealing and an opportunity that lined up with my goals and interests AND it is based in my own home town of Kansas City! This position basically entails sample roasting, cupping, giving input on production roasts, green coffee purchasing decisions, and a small amount of training. It is a great job with a great company. When I was hired on I also made the decision to compete one last time.

Wait, I thought you were done competing!

And so I was. After my experiences in 2011 getting to WBC and judging during the 2012 season I got a bit of an itch again. Even though I felt accomplished and content with my achievement, the “what if?” question still nagged at me, and after a trip to Korea in November of 2012 I decided to start looking into it and take the chance if the right opportunity presented itself. That is exactly what happened when I started working at Parisi. If you have looked at any of my website I’m sure you know that I have won the WBC at this point, so I hope you aren’t disappointed that I am not going into major details on this post. I actually have a post planned to cover all of that very soon, with a lot of relevance for the aspiring competitor as well.

OK fine I will wait for the next post, but what else have you been doing?

A pretty intense amount of traveling. You can check out where my travels have taken me here. Besides traveling a ton I have still been working at Parisi full time, and working on ideas for new projects. There are endless possibilities in the future and only time will tell what I settle into. For now 2 full time jobs are keeping me plenty occupied. But you know the funny thing?

I still feel like I’m not getting invited to enough events!

Until next time, stay caffeinated my friends

Pete

Barista Competitions - Benefits for the Industry

As I was in the process of writing a blog post about barista competition I quickly realized that I have far too much to say about it. Therefore I will be creating a few posts focusing on specific aspects within this broad topic. I am starting with Benefits for the Industry because this is ultimately where I wanted to finish.

Competitions

 While the majority of this post will be focused on USBC/WBC format barista competitions, I want to also recognize the variety of other events out there. When I began in the coffee industry the only competitive coffee events I really knew about were these USBC/WBC competitions. Since that time so many other events have come around, including:

• Latte Art

• Roasting

• Brewer's Cup

• Coffee in Good Spirits

 There are plenty of other events out there, including CoffeeFest's new “Best Coffeehouse Competition” which I will be judging later this week in Seattle. Additionally there are tons of unofficial throwdown and casual events that still bring out the best of the coffee community. While some of these events hold more clout than others, I feel that the specialty coffee industry can benefit from any of these competition formats so long as their integrity and purpose is kept in high regard over time.

 Now that there are indeed a whole lot of competitions out there, I want to talk about where they have taken this coffee world of ours.

Benefiting the Specialty Coffee Industry

 In pointing out how specific competitive events help the industry I also want to be clear that these events are not the only reason for improvement, but they have advanced more people and companies around the world far more quickly than would otherwise be possible.

Expectations of barista skill and knowledge

 This is likely a controversial thing to say, as there are still plenty of under-skilled and under-educated baristas out there. The fact remains however that because of barista competitions like WBC and Brewer's Cup the standard for a person representing the “ideal” or upper level of realized potential (at a given time) is considerably higher than it has been in the past. Even as a concept, crowning a champion gives other baristas inspiration and motivation to work harder in their skills and even attempt to surpass previous champs. As time passes the level of expectation rises all around, and these expectations and standards are quickly translated to daily cafe work if for no other reason than to prepare for the next competition.

 This is exactly what has happened over the past few years.

 Now more and more employers expect their barista staff to not only learn proper coffee preparation techniques, but to also gain a wealth of knowledge about coffee production, growing conditions, varietal/cultivar characteristics, and various processing methods. It is easy to see how WBC format barista competitions have impacted the professionalism of the barista in this way since so much focus has been placed on coffee knowledge and traceability in the past few years.

Equipment technology

 Unlike improvements in skill and knowledge, equipment technology would likely have made strides forward over time even without the influence of competition events. My argument for including equipment here is the speed at which improvements have been made as well as the specific purposes for which they have been done. Espresso machine and grinder manufacturers are commonly working with barista competitors in order to make improvements in the functionality of their products.

 Many new espresso grinders are made with direct dosing, timed grind technology, and these grinders are the new standard in competitions as well as cafes worldwide. Doserless grinders are typically more accurate and clean when used properly, which adds a huge amount of functionality to cafes. Simply being more functional is not the only thing we want from our equipment though.

 Because of the level of scrutiny we put into espresso now, espresso machines are being produced with controllable water temperature (which seems almost standard at this point), grouphead pressure, and water flow rates. These advances in technology allow us to play with and customize almost any variable we like, which means we can learn more about how individual aspects can affect the flavor outcome of espresso. Unfortunately the more variables are allowed to be changed, the more complicated the preparation becomes.

Espresso is already incredibly complicated.

Drink integrity

 The way that we present coffee to customers has drastically changed for the better recently. While some will likely debate the usage of blends and less traceable coffees, the overall integrity of what we present is on the rise. Whether it is a drip or an espresso drink the focus is given to the coffee more and more.

 Drink sizes have commonly become much more reasonable in the U.S. allowing the espresso to be much more of a highlight. A barista can now present drinks based on the coffee being used, giving relevance to their expertise as well as focusing on flavor. Some cafes are preparing their own sauces and flavorings in house, giving them control over the quality of the ingredients and the balance of the drink.

 Single origin espresso offerings have given us unique ways to showcase the coffee for customers. The story of the farmer and origin production is compelling us to take pride in what we serve. We have empowered the barista to become representatives for the farmers, and the customers see the pride of that representation every day they come in. At the same time, our increased emphasis on the coffee itself means that we must deliver the integrity and quality we are selling.

What to do with it all

  I could go on for quite some time pointing out small details about how competitions have benefited the specialty industry, and I could also go on about aspects where competitions have their flaws. The latter subject is one which I plan to address in a future post.

Since we have gained so much from competitions up to this point, keeping the level of excellence moving forward is what we need to do. This can come from innovation, new discoveries, and/or experimentation. The path of growth is often difficult, but one of the most important things I believe is to keep an open mind and embrace new ideas. As an industry reaching around the globe, keeping everyone on the same path can be extremely difficult but the presence of standardized competitive events makes that task more manageable. I find these events to be a way we can bring our coffee community closer together as well as draw the consuming public closer to an understanding of why we are so passionate about coffee.