What Roasting Coffee Can Teach You About Customer Service

When I was 12, my dad taught me to drive in a 1979 VW Rabbit Diesel with a 4-speed manual transmission. We were on a dirt road back near a so-called “holler” in West Virginia. After he explained to me the various levers, velocitators, and decelerators in a car of that pedigree, he told me what was actually important about driving:

“Drive for your passenger’s comfort."

It didn’t mean much to me at that moment — as our focus may have been on survival first, passenger comfort second — but, over the years, my father’s advice has seeped into almost every aspect of my professional life

It turned up when I was working as a mechanic at an Audi dealer right after high school, where I realized that I loved the idea that someone brings you something broken and you fix it and give it back. A few years later, I went to culinary school because I wanted to own a restaurant — a vision that had very little to do with food, and everything to do with the experience and ambiance of dining there Read more...