Specialty Coffee Retailer is a publication for owners, managers and employees of retail outlets that sell specialty coffee. Its scope includes best sales practices, supplies, business trends and anything else to assist the small coffee retailer.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/35520
Jack’sBlend Jack Groot owns JP’s Coffee in Holland, Mich. He also provides coffee business consulting and training through the Midwest Barista School (MBS). Check out Jack’s new blog, “Jack Groot’s blog — confessions of a coffee shop owner” at www.coffeegroot.com. Jack can be reached at jack@jpscoffee.com with “Jack’s Blend” as the subject line, or at (866) 321-4MBS. your COGS and to be the best retailer you can be. But why do all this? What is the reason your business exists? A few years ago I was faced with the toughest business O decision ever. I was in the middle of a business-fi nancial crisis and found myself facing a decision I did not want to make. I had in my employ a person, who over a number of years had helped manage, oversee, and build my businesses. Tim had also become one of my best friends. One of my businesses, a juice and smoothie bar, was unprofi table and had to be closed. Tim was running parts of that business, so to keep him employed I assigned him new responsibilities. Although Tim did a great job at what I asked him to do, he had really become dead weight. I no longer had a real position for him, so I created one. Financial pressures were mounting and having an overpaid and largely irrelevant person on staff was taking its toll. I had made other hard decisions, but could not imagine letting Tim go. Although I hadn’t said it out loud, I had thought, I’ll close everything down before I get rid of my valued employee and friend. Reality had not yet penetrated my gray matter, and my focus had become skewed. I didn’t realize it then, but the real issue, my real issue, had become one of fear. I saw myself as Tim’s provider and was afraid that had I let Tim go he wouldn’t be able to get a job (Michigan’s economy was soſt at the time). I was afraid in losing my key employee and friend that I would be alone. I was also afraid of the unknown—what would I do without Tim’s giſt s and talents, his hard work and passion for the business? I was afraid of change. I had 30 other employees who, had I closed my business, would have all lost their jobs. And JP’s, our main business and an established part of downtown Holland, Mich., would disappear. Th is decision was no longer just about me—it would have many other ramifi cations. I knew getting rid of Tim would have immediate eff ects. It would send a message, intended or not, throughout my business—a reality check for other employees. But most 10 | July 2011 • www.specialty-coffee.com ver the last year I’ve encouraged you to clean house (literally), to raise your prices, to understand and track importantly, it would free up valuable cash fl ow, and I desperately needed cash (although it would mean having to re-assign some of his workload and be busier myself). I had no guarantee this decision would stop the bleeding enough to keep us alive, but it was the best, the only, alternative I could see to simply going out of business. “Courage is the power to let go of the familiar.” As JP’s is still in business, you may correctly assume that Tim no longer works for me. It was the hardest and most accurate business decision I ever made. Tim did struggle for a while, but eventually found a place he could use his giſt s and talents for the benefi t of some other fortunate business owner. We still keep in contact, but I do miss his friendship and work. In the beginning JP’s was an idea I had that would simply provide me a living–like many, I had really bought myself a job. But that was years ago. Today JP’s exists for many reasons. It is a social gathering place, a second offi ce, and a source of coff ee, food and other items for Holland and the surrounding community. It provides employment, training, and an example of teamwork for a group of people. And it has become the foundation of our training and education businesses where we help others do what we do at JP’s. I no longer view JP’s as a little coff ee shop where I make my living—JP’s is its own entity. It is so much bigger than one person and is defi ned in many diff erent ways by many diff erent people. I have a much diff erent role today than I did in the past. JP’s used to depend on me to make espresso drinks, put away stock, mop fl oors and bake muffi ns. Now it depends on me get vision for where we’re going, oversee the trip, and then mostly get out of the way of a group of talented people making it happen. Where has your business changed? What has your role become? Are you doing the job your business needs you to? Maybe it’s time to get out of the store, take a little time off and evaluate the big picture. Your future and the future of your business may depend on it. SCR