The Event

I'm feeling more than a little frustrated lately at the direction the Specialty Coffee Association of America is taking our industry. This post was inspired by a visit last week to our roastery by a Montreal based packaging equipment manufacturer who sang a familiar refrain, "we don't do SCAA anymore because it's not worth it and we're not welcome". This statement reminded me that last year in Houston I had the opportunity to chat with several attendees of the Specialty Coffee Association annual trade show dubbed "The Event". These folks I would characterize as long time members of the SCAA and exhibitors who purchase booth space on the trade show floor to display their products. Their opinions about the quality of the show for exhibitors was uniformly negative owing in their opinion to the SCAA's focus on "vanity hall" where baristas display various coffee preparation techniques in competition. Others suggested that entire categories of exhibitors were considering pulling out of the show due to the lack of support or respect for their segment of the industry. Others still were disappointed in the actual paid attendance once complimentary, exhibitor, attendees below decision maker level, etc numbers were removed. Finally in Houston, the competition area was physically removed from the trade show floor and served to pull attendees away from the paying exhibitors, making matters worse. I believe the fact that the SCAA has received "an offer it can't refuse" relating to the facility in Seattle, makes the revenue stream from exhibitors less a concern going forward and will lead to further alienation of trade floor businesses.

I have been attending SCAA shows for approximately 14 years, and have observed changes that, in my opinion, make the show less of a compelling event for some. Certainly the training available now through SCAA is exemplary and full credit goes to the Professional Development staff. The addition of a comprehensive Instructor Development Program, standardized lesson plan formats and guidelines and engaged volunteers makes this part of the organization stellar and reason alone to attend any SCAA trade show. However, for the business directors and decision makers with established business plans and formats, there are better options and events to direct your resources.

Years ago, every sector of the coffee business was welcome, exhibiting and in attendance. Packaging machinery and products in abundance, many more green coffee brokers, authors, photographers, Chain Stores and Micro Chains, Tin Suppliers, Mints, Candies, espresso and coffee equipment manufacturers to name a few. It is not lost on the allied members and manufacturers who sell to the industry that the voices that are amplified by the SCAA within it's own publications, in executive positions determining policy, and directing the distribution of SCAA resources are invested in promoting the competition barista and the micro lot roaster/importer as the "Face of the Industry". The failure to recognize that most Specialty Coffee customers do not purchase their coffee from competition inspired baristas, and a complete lack of recognition for operator (collective) excellence within the SCAA leaves me wondering how long the organization can exist with such a narrow focus on the individual.

The SCAA itself will deny any bias, and claim that all segments of the industry are welcome. While this may be their intention, in practice what happens is the equivalent of inviting everyone to your house party, but speaking a language that most of your guests don't understand, playing party games they don't know how to play, and making them pay for the beer and nachos. The people at your party who speak the language, and know the games have fun, but the rest of the party goers eventually leave if they feel snubbed, or are not able or interested to learn to play the games.

10 Questions With BGA Chair Jason Dominy

Coffee Kings: You are very active in all areas of social networking and are a dogged promoter of Batdorf and Bronson, the BGA and manual brewing in and around the Atlanta area. To some it might seem that coffee IS your life. I know there’s a lot more to you than work. Tell me about the things in your life (family/friends/hobbies) that make working long hours easier.

Jason: I have to say that spending time with my wife is my favorite thing, and I mean that. She's really my best friend, and hanging out with her doing anything is pleasurable. I also own a MINI Cooper S, and we love taking rides in it, especially in the mountains on the curviest of roads, as fast as we can. We are members of a local MINI club, and do drives and scavenger hunts with them frequently. I also love playing disc golf, and do it every chance I get.

Coffee Kings: You’ve distinguished yourself among your peers for your skills, work ethic, knowledge and welcoming manner. Those are all skills that make not only great employees but also excellent owners. Do you have any aspirations for owning your own shop one day?

Jason: I started off in coffee by opening two coffee shops. I remember the amount of stress and challenges that came along with that, and I'm not interested in getting back into from that perspective. One of the great things about my position now, is that I take all of my coffee experience over the past 14 years, and use it to help others opening coffee businesses. Each one is a project with great consequences, so I take pride in helping them as best I can be successful in their coffee business utilizing the things I would be putting into practice as a shop owner myself.

Coffee Kings: I’ve been a little critical and skeptical about manual brewing, something you are deeply passionate about. Tell me about your participation in the US Brewers Cup Championship and whether you think it can achieve what the Barista Championships has relative to improving the quality of the products served across the industry.

Jason: I am a huge proponent of manual brewing for several reasons. One, I love the fact it brings back a level of focus and communication between the barista and the customer. Second, I love the taste of properly manually brewed coffee. Third, It's easy to do, and allows you to brew lots of different coffees quickly. I think currently there is alot more bad manually brewed coffee than there is good, but I know that you could say the same for espresso. And all we can do as coffee professionals is train as many fellow baristas as we can as how to properly brew it, and how extraction works.

As far as the Brewers Cup, I think it's a good start. I had some issues with how it went down in Houston in terms of judges calibration, but this was their first year, and for the first year, I thought it was done well. It's definitely a great launching point for a competition that could be really cool to see. I'm all about seeing baristas pushing each other to brew better coffee. I really do think it will encourage baristas to learn to brew better coffee. I think the challenge is that baristas don't understand exactly what the judges are looking for in a cup of coffee, what a Q grader is looking for. I know it will get better, and the organizers will take a look at what went well, and what needed improvements and make positive changes.

Coffee Kings: I know you’ve conducted some research about the level of income baristas around the country are achieving. What do you hope to do with the results and what is your opinion of the barista income in the USA?

Jason: I wanted to show that baristas wages are relatively the same across the US, and baristas can improve their wages by investing in themselves. I believe that baristas don't make enough for what they do, what they put up with, and how much time they invest into themselves and their career.

Coffee Kings: One of the things I think is an obstacle to growing the BGA into an influential entity within the industry is an impression that unless you compete or intend on competing, there is nothing for you within the BGA. How do you address the concerns of working baristas and make them feel as valued as competitors.

Jason: I have never competed in a barista competition. I have no desire to compete in one. At one point, I was the only Executive Council member who was not either a US Barista Champion, or at least a Regional Champion. The BGA has always been for me a guild for all baristas, not simply ones who compete. I've never noticed a focus on competitors, it's just that most of our logos and branding shows up around competitions. I do not agree that if you're not a competitor there's no value for you. Because there has been for me in all my time as a BGA member, and being able to be more active in shaping the BGA, and now becoming the chair, proves that point. At Camp Pull-A-Shot, there were tons of great baristas who are not competitors, taking advantage of just one aspect of what the BGA has to offer. The BGA is for ALL baristas, and shows no favoritism.

Coffee Kings: I’ve noticed over the past 4-5 years especially that there appears to be a segmentation of coffee companies with several being promoted as either the best, freshest, most exclusive, highest quality, hippest etc, etc. I seems to me that most of the praise is focused on a few, where there are literally dozens achieving the same quality without recognition. Is this phenomena concerning to you? Tell me about one or two excellent companies who deserve more attention.

Jason: I will agree that historically, the roasters who speak the loudest get heard the most. I will also agree that there are tons of great roasters all around the country that don't get tons of attention. I blogged about this just today. I think roasters that should get more attention are PT's Coffee, Klatch Coffee, and Kaldi's Coffee.

Coffee Kings: What is the participation rate of BGA members in the election process? Do you think the rate of participation harms the ability of the BGA executive to move the association in new directions?

Jason: We had great participation in the past election, some of the best we've had. We also posted up a survey that allowed us to hear from the membership on a larger level, and we have taken all of the feedback to heart, and are acting on it. I feel like we totally understand what our members are looking for in the BGA, and are working as hard as we can as volunteers with full-time jobs and multiple other involvements in the industry, to make it happen.

Coffee Kings: As an international member I can vote for executive positions within the BGA but not regional representatives. Are there any plans to create a seat for international representatives on the executive board in the future?

Jason: We have spoken about an international BGA rep, and have been working on creating that position, who it would be, and what that would look like.

Coffee Kings: You’ve been supportive of the Coffee Common initiative held at the TED Conference in Palm Springs, something I’m less enthusiastic of. I see the Coffee Common as something dismissive and harmful to the SCAA, tell me where I’m wrong.

Jason: "The rising tide floats all boats."

Coffee Kings: If you could pick one thing that you hope to accomplish this year on behalf of the BGA membership, what would it be and how can we all help to make it happen?

Jason: The things I'm most passionate about are:

making sure that baristas all over feel valued and appreciated, no matter who they work for, or where they live.

I want to see the Certification thrive, and baristas and shop owners see the value in it.

I want to see us value and appreciate all the work that has been done before us on the BGA, and recognize it.
I want to see baristas take better advantage of the education the SCAA offers.
I want to see Camp Pull-A-Shot a complete success again.
I want to see regions better represented under our current Regional Chapter Reps through a new council.
And what can you do to help make it happen? You can volunteer your time mentoring others, helping to create community coffee events, and working hard to make specialty coffee more viable and appreciated where you live.

Coffee "UN" Common

This is a little off my normal topics of finance and costing but no less relevant to my target reader. My target reader is a barista who wants to own their own shop one day, a family run shop trying to get better, the great majority of shops who serve great coffee every day but lack some technical knowledge, advice and resources to get them there.
For those of you who aren't aware, an association has been launched at the TED Conference in Palm Springs California where the self appointed "creme de la creme" of coffee invite each other to share a space and inform the attendees on how coffee should be experienced. Admittedly I have not witnessed this personally so judging the relative importance of what they are sharing is a mystery, but I believe it is safe to say it is less an educational exercise and more a self promotional one. *I'm sure there'll be a slick black and white video released soon that will shed more light for those of us not attending, so keep an eye out for it!
The reason this is relevant to my target reader is I want to warn you of the pitfalls of believing this is how you build a successful business and make money in coffee. Certainly there is an imperative to constantly draw attention to yourself when you compete for customers in London, Los Angeles or New York City, but not so much in middle America or Canada. Thinking that being part of a self congratulatory "security council" with a veto on who is relevant and who is dismissed will lead to distraction and ruin.
The blurring of lines between some SCAA/Barista Guild executives and the relentless self promotion is becoming hard to ignore, neither of which serve the community as a whole but alienate the supportive base of both organizations. Maybe an unintentional consequence, but a real sentiment felt by thousands of companies who are getting the message "you're not important", but renew anyway.
The main point I want to get across is that it's ok to be a great operator in rural Maine, middle Kansas or Winnepeg Manitoba. The value of what you are bringing to the Specialty Coffee Industry is relevant to all the companies like you, and you are managing to do it without alienating and diminishing your peers. Good on you!

Welcome to Coffee Kings

Coffee Kings is my new blog dedicated to helping coffee business owners develop financial literacy through sharing and exploring strategies to profitability. Internet sites, trade associations such as the Specialty Coffee Association of America and trade magazines dedicated to coffee focus primarily on strategies to improve quality, freshness, product range, as well as roasting and barista skills. While these things are very important, none is possible without a profitable business to serve as host. Ultimately each of us founded our companies in order to create an income level sufficient to support our needs, our family's needs and by extension, our employees and community's needs. In the next few weeks, most of us will receive preliminary Financial Statements for 2010 from our accountants. Ideally content published here will advance your understanding of your own company, and furnish you with some tools to positively impact financial results.

One of my goals for Coffee Kings is to focus solely on financials, and how business decisions affect them regardless of the relative positioning of the company's products. Cutting edge espresso bars, and local family owned coffee shops each make decisions which impact profit. Some rely on innovation, some on consistency, some on exclusivity, others on accessibility, all use financial statements.

I have spent some time creating pages on my blog which explain in simple terms, important definitions necessary to the development of financial statement literacy. These pages are Income Statement, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow Statement. I have also attempted to make these definitions relevant to coffee business owners and I will expand the number of pages as our conversation grows. Hopefully I can generate dialogue and suggestions from some of the industry experts I admire, and some I haven't even met. Welcome to Coffee Kings.