Fresh Cup Magazine, providing specialty coffee and tea professionals with unique insight into the trends, ideas, products and people that shape their world.
Issue link: http://freshcup.epubxp.com/i/139019
FROM THE EDITOR The power of a talented workforce LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Fresh Cup welcomes letters to the editor at comments@freshcup.com. Letters must be 250 words or less. Authors must provide verifiable phone number and city and state of residence. 12 Fresh Cup Magazine freshcup.com play, communicating your ideals to the customers who stream through the doors. And this is where the differentiation from the chains really happens: You have the opportunity with your shop to create a staff that loves the product you sell, whether it's tea or coffee. You might see rote courtesy at Starbucks, Teavana and other chains, but you likely aren't greeted there by an enthusiastic, knowledgeable employee devoted to the product. Independent shops can identify these people, and when they're in your ranks, they can be one of the key differentiating factors that keeps people coming back. However, it isn't always easy to discover talented employees— and it can be even harder to keep them. We delve into the topic of staffing this month in the feature "Locate, Hire, Retain" (p. 40), offering practical tips to creating the best workforce possible for your shop. While the chains may always be breathing down the necks of independents, it's worthwhile to identify the places where we might have advantages over them. With a devoted stable of baristas or tea experts, your shop has an instant advantage over the behemoth down the block. n other news, I'd like to say goodbye to Dan Leif, Fresh Cup's associate editor for the past four years—this will be Dan's last issue, as he's leaving to pursue another journalism opportunity. Dan's keen editing eye, vibrant writing and bright presence have been an asset to Fresh Cup over the years, and we wish him luck in the future. We'll welcome Fresh Cup's next associate editor in the August issue. I STEPHANIE KREUTTER B ecause the trade show schedule for specialty coffee and tea fills up in the spring months, summer often sneaks up on me while my attention is diverted. This year, summer hit me in a blast of 110-degree desert heat when I arrived in Las Vegas for June's World Tea Expo. There was no escaping that we had, in fact, moved into the warmest season. The Vegas air conditioning provided a welcome respite from the heat, though, and one of my duties at this year's tea expo was to take part in a panel titled "The Future of Independent Tea Shops." Starbucks' acquisition of mall-focused tea chain Teavana is relatively fresh, and independent tea retailers are still waiting to see what its implications may be. Will Starbucks move Teavana out onto street corners so that it directly competes with mom-and-pop tea stores? Will Teavana shift from a model that mostly favors dry tea to one that looks more like a traditional teahouse? While definitive answers to those questions still aren't available, the World Tea Expo panel focused on how independent retailers can thrive best against potentially ramped-up competition such as Teavana. Alongside me were three teahouse owners—Sheila Duda of TeaLula in Park Ridge, Ill.; Mary Greengo of Seattle's Queen Mary; and George Grossman from Fort Collins, Colo.-based Happy Lucky's—and they took turns discussing some of the keys to differentiating their shops from chain competition. One element they kept returning to is the importance of staffing your shop with hard-working, likeable people. With the countless day-to-day tasks that must be accomplished to run a business, an owner can't be at the counter every minute to offer perfect customer service. This is where staff members come into