What I Wish I Knew About Running Coffeeshops

A few years ago it felt like every international coffee person was doing a podcast. The same guests appeared on show after show, talking about the issues the coffee industry has been facing for years now: sustainability, feasability of genuine careers, culture, … Most of these projects have died a quiet death by now but luckily the archives are still up.

One of those recurring guests was Dublin resident Colin Harmon. Most of his recorded conversations follow his hustle of nightclub-gone-café coffee slinger to Ireland’s foremost roaster and espresso machine representative, and in an episode of the April Coffee Podcast, Colin announced he’d written a book crystalising his perspective as a self-started café owner on service and more. He titled the book What I Know About Running Coffee Shops.

At that point I had already been a manager at a small neighbourhood café in London so I had my opinions ready formed on what the work was actually like. There were some things that I was really proud of, and many frustrations with things I probably should have handled differently. Moving to France for another posting as a café manager, this time for a bigger shop, seemed like a perfect opportunity to buy the book and educate myself so as to hopefully avoid some pitfalls. I’m not writing a book review. Suffice to say I sped through Colin’s book in an afternoon and I learned a lot. I’d like to add my few cents to his observations.