Upper Midwest Gourmet

I recently paid a visit to one of my favorite café’s in the North Country. Zoomski’s is located on the main drag in the heart of downtown Little Falls Minnesota. Her decision to open a full service coffee café in Little Falls has turned out to be a good one. It was non-stop customers during the 2 hour period that Gloria and I visited. She has an excellent selection of coffee & espresso specialty drinks along with an awesome food menu.

Gloria started out the way most of us do by purchasing most of her food prepared or ready to serve. She was also using a lot of food items that she could combine to make edibles, i.e. condiments and baked goods. After being unsatisfied with the quality and health aspects of these food items, Gloria did the unthinkable! She decided to make and offer as many as possible items that are either home made by her or by others in the industry that use all natural ingredients. Therefore, her café is now offering a complete line of healthy and natural foods. She even makes the soups from scratch! Although this may take more time and effort, Gloria is happy to report that her customers absolutely love her food menu, as was apparent during my visit.

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Click here to read “Growing green market,” an article about the organic coffee industry.

What do you do if you find your independent café suddenly wedged between two major competitors? I say count your blessings. You may need to work smarter (not harder) at drawing your customers away from the “hype” of the big name players. Remember, you are independent and not restricted by corporate decisions. So get creative in your marketing strategies and do some things that you know that they can not do.

This is the conversation that I had with Patty Morris of “Metro Coffee Café” in Mound Minnesota. She requested some help with her marketing and training programs. I spent a lot of our conversation on the seriousness of training your staff to become and remain “consistent”. This will either make or break any café. Why do you think that the Starbucks and Caribou’s of the world have gone with the super-automatic espresso machines? It takes the issue of inconsistency out of the equation of bad product. As an independent café owner, it is crucial for you to train, re-train, and continue to re-train your staff not only in the basic techniques and procedures of drink making, but also in “above reproach” customer service. Go visit one of the big guys, and I’m quite sure you will discover what I mean. The sad fact is that most independents don’t have these crucial issues under control at all.

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So how many of us truly know let alone understand the latte language given to drinks we serve? Just what is a “tall mocha breve con panna” anyway? Well, read on. I hope to clarify some of the Latte Lingo that is thrown around in the business and perhaps even on your menu board. If you have the slightest mis-understanding of some of this lingo, what do you think your customer must feel when they have that blank look on their face after looking at your menu board? I might suggest that if you choose to use some of this fancy language, a brief description in plain English under it or near it might be helpful for us all.

“ (Mocha con panna)

Let’s start with the basics. Most of these words come from the Italian & French languages.

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“  Does your Milk Look & Taste Like” Dishwater?” ” ” ” ” 

“ ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ”  “ ” ” ”  “ ” ” ” ” ”  “ ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ”  “ ” ” ”  “ ”  “ 

Have you ever experienced a Latte or Cappuccino were the milk blew your hair back? Not many of us probably have. In fact, many of us might not even know what properly frothed milk looks like. If done correctly, your finished milk will become like glass, so reflective that it will look like white chrome. Not only will it blind you, but the natural sweetness that has been brought forth from the milk will blend with the sweetness of the espresso crema and create a “sweet & tasty” drink like no other.

“ ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ”  “ ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ”  “ “ ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ”  “ ” ” ” ” ” ” ”  “ 

It’s bad enough that most of us are exposed to over-roasted espresso beans, but add over heated or burnt milk and you’ll tend to ask yourself, why do I drink these things? Well look up, there is hope for us yet! As the industry has grown in rapid motion, we seem to have forgotten the importance of training our barista’s the proper techniques and procedures for their success of becoming a great barista. Due to this countries love affair with dairy and sugar, a very large percentage of drinks served in our coffee bars will be milk based with added sweet based ingredients (i.e. flavoring syrups or chocolate). So how important is proper milk frothing to the success and survival of your coffee shop? I’d say pretty important. It will do you no good to master the art of espresso shot extraction if you overpower or destroy your efforts with an inferior frothed milk product.

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