The Daily Coffee Pro Podcast by MAP IT FORWARD

The terms "fake coffee" and "infused coffee" have been thrown around to describe green coffees where fruit and spices have been added to the fermentation tanks as food sources during coffee production. These are coffees are rapidly growing in popularity to consumers who are happy to pay higher prices for them over their usual coffees simply because they're more interesting. Recent conversations in the industry have hijacked that narrative to make it about the use of these coffees in competitions. Let's resist the urge to allow that to happen and think independently about the benefits of championing these coffees in the market and offering them to our customers.

Having just come to the end of our winter in the southern hemisphere, I can tell you that, thanks to the Delta Variant of the COVID-19 virus, this has been a brutal season for small business owners. The summer that preceded it was pretty glorious - everything was open, cafes and roasters were doing well, and Australia was predominantly COVID-free. For those of our friends in the northern hemisphere coming into Autumn/fall...are you preparing your businesses to adapt to the potential for rapid changes that may be caused by COVID over the coming winter? How are you differentiating yourself to have a unique selling proposition to keep your customers engaged? Check out this episode of The Daily Coffee Pro for tips.

Latte art is a lot of fun! So are the gatherings that happen in our industry around latte art. Recently I got asked a question that has been ringing in my head for years so when someone else asked it I thought it was time to talk about it. "Why when we hold a latte art throwdown it's a packed event but when we hold educational events or talks with producers only a tiny fraction of those people show up?". Let's explore what happens when an industry focuses most of its socialising around these events, ignores other events, and what happens when all the events are taken away (e.g. if a pandemic were to happen).

So much is changing all at once in the world. Problems from 24 months ago that you thought you could ignore in your business or profession in the coffee industry continue to get magnified and are calling you to finally address them. The solutions to those challenges have now changed because the landscape of the industry (and the world) has changed. Businesses that fail to adapt where it makes sense run the risk of not surviving these tumultuous times.

How many people do you meaningfully connect with and learn from outside of the section of the coffee supply chain that you participate in? Check out this episode of The Daily Coffee Pro to find out why more than ever, this could be an influencing factor of your success as a business or professional in the coffee industry.

Recently on The MAP IT FORWARD Podcast, Melissa Flores from Tijuana, Mexico hosted a conversation with Yarismeth Barrientos from Mexico City in Spanish (https://mapitforward.org/podcasts/142-yarismeth-barrientos). The conversation was super insightful and highlighted the common challenges experienced by cafe owners and baristas across the world. In the flow of the discussion though there was a question that Yarismeth brought to the discussion that I'd never heard discussed in the public domain in our industry. A question that should become the benchmark for a business's employee success planning over time. Check out this episode of The Daily Coffee Pro by MAP IT FORWARD to find out what it is.

Most of the influential innovations of the past 10 years in the coffee industry have come from the adaptation of technologies used in other industries. With the world changing so rapidly (e.g. technology, culture, society, supply chain, etc.) the individuals and businesses in coffee find inspiration from other industries to solve problems are likely to succeed the most in our industry. Looking within the industry for solutions to problems that have existed for decades, simply leaves us reinventing the wheel again and again.

MAP IT FORWARD is choosing a new business model and we’re nervous as hell about it but excited all at the same time! It involves you and we’d love to know what you think! Check out this episode of The Daily Coffee Pro Podcast to find out some of the details and give it a thumbs up if you like the idea.

Over the past 5 months, we've been asking you to prepare to increase your prices in alignment with inevitable inflation. Some people said it wouldn't happen while others thought it would come and go quickly. Well, inflation is here and we don't know when it's going to stop. Together with all the other issues driving the price of coffee up (freight, low coffee yields, C-Market, etc), going into your COGS to salvage your profit margins is no longer a possibility if you want to stay in business given the already razor-thin margins we operate on as an industry. It's time to raise prices. Will we see $10 lattes...maybe!

As much as I hate to say this, we're an industry that's lead by fabs and unfortunately, if you go against those trends, it usually means you're ousted by "the group". It's something I particularly dislike about our industry and take every opportunity available to me to encourage people to make up their minds independently of what the group is doing. In this episode of The Daily Coffee Pro by MAP IT FORWARD, we take a look at how important this is to professionals and business owners in the industry, now more than ever.

When the coach of our coffee roasters mastermind groups, Ante Bikic @a.bikic, presented us as a group with the discussion topic "Flavours Suck", we all found it kind of curious that a National Coffee Roasting Champion would present that idea. When we heard what he had to say, we all jumped onboard and a wonderful discussion followed! Take a listen to this episode of the podcast to hear what the general thoughts were!

Unlike in other industries, the coffee industry has no standards for professionalism that are written into law. The legal, medical, and insurance industries are just a few examples of industries that have a legal "code of conduct" that governs certain expectations around their professionalism to instruct their duty of care to the public. Our industry on the other hand is limited to professionalism based mostly on food safety standards. In this episode of the Daily Coffee Pro by MAP IT FORWARD, we're exploring the question "Who sets the standards of professionalism in coffee".

In an ever-changing world and industry, decision-making is about more than just pricing. Increasingly, stakeholders want to know that their participation in the value chain is strengthening its longevity and not contributing to poor supply chain practices. In this episode of the podcast, we're discussing how to create value that keeps your stakeholders engaged and intact in your value chain.

Now more than ever before, employees are an important part of your business. We're experiencing an industry-wide labour shortage, inflation, as well as a global pandemic. Amongst all this seeming uncertainty, having employees that are invested in keeping customers happy as you increase prices and make ongoing changes to adapt to COVID, may well be the determining factor that saves your business from closing. As Gen Z continues to enter the workforce, employers will notice a greater expectation than previous generations to deliver a safe, inspiring, motivating, inclusive, and meaningful workplace. Employees want to be treated as stakeholders in a business's success rather than just "workers"

Traditionally, the driving force for decision-making in business has been profitability and cash flow. With the changing tide of expectations from different generational workforces and consumers in the coffee industry over recent decades from Gen X to Gen Z, employers who choose to be driven by profitability rather than listening to the needs of their workforce and customers, are at a higher risk of going out of business in a market where consumer and employee decision making is more wide-reaching than price and income.

When customers are inappropriate with staff, action needs to be taken to keep staff safe. Knowing what that action looks like can often be challenging because the needs of staff are different. Some staff members may want leadership to confront the customer, others may not want you to approach the customer out of fear of retaliation. So what do you do? Let's explore this in this episode of The Daily Coffee Pro by MAP IT FORWARD.