CoCo Reflections from Madisen Debord:
This Week’s CoCo: Take Risks
I don’t consider myself much of a risk taker. It’s probably because I think too much. I often find myself agonizing over little details. Imagining everything that could go wrong. I imagine a scenario from every possible angle, search for every outcome, go through the complete list of possibilities before coming close to making a decision. Being a coach here has allowed me to grow in this area. There’s no time to imagine every outcome sometimes. Or it’s nearly impossible when you deal with so many variables day to day. Instead, sometimes you have to trust your gut. Use the data to make an appropriate increase in pars and in turn find that it increases sales. You take in the wisdom given to you by people who have walked this path before, and you use it. I’m starting to find there is freedom in risk taking. Of letting go and using it as an opportunity to learn.
Next Week’s CoCo: Be Urgent to the Customer
Sometimes I find myself equating urgent to rushing. When the line is wrapping around the store to the doorway, it’s easy to just want to get through the line as quickly as possible. And that’s not a wrong feeling, but it can be easy to rush through interactions. Urgency doesn’t have to mean rushed. I can still create remarkable care for the people in the store, and stop long enough to look a person in the eye and ask how their day is going. Urgency can look all sorts of ways in cafe. I’m finding urgency can mean stopping mid email to say hello to a beloved regular. It can mean giving the team feedback that will strengthen customer interactions. Urgency can mean ordering with appropriate pars to have beautifully stocked shelves and minimal waste. It doesn’t just mean fast.
CoCo Heroes:
- Take Risks: This Core Commitment Hero comes from the Downer Kitchen – Stuart R.! We’ve been challenging him to multitask and run the line by himself more and he’s crushed this goal in only a few weeks.
- Be Urgent to the Customer: This Core Commitment Hero comes from the Downer Cafe – Matthew W.! Matthew is amazing at connecting with the customers and is always making sure each customer feels welcome and has a great experience. He also does a great job to keep up the cafe staying clean and tables and chairs wiped so each customer has a place to sit.
Going-Ons:
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Join the Whitefish Bay Opening Team: We are so excited for the opportunity to Create Remarkable Care in a new Whitefish Bay Cafe & Kitchen, with a target opening date this summer! We are in the early stages of building a team of Baristas, Line Cooks, and Cafe & Kitchen Team Leaders. If you are interested in joining the Whitefish Bay opening team, either as a permanent transfer or a temporary transfer, reach out to teams@stonecreekcoffee.com!
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NEW Speak Up Tool: Teams and People is launching a new & improved way for team members to #SpeakUp! Effective immediately, team members who want to anonymously share feedback, concerns, and ideas can do so by following this link: https://forms.gle/9xWhaQ5nzrFKTF3K8
This is replacing our former tool, SuggestionOx, and will be published at the end of every Employee Newsletter and posted in teams’ back rooms/work spaces. Optional: If you’d like a personal follow-up and commitment (not anonymous), please include your name in your Speak Up.-
UPDATED Team Resources: This week, Teams & People will be publishing two new team resources for all teams to post in their back rooms (cafes and Kitchen) or workspaces (Production, Bakery, Tech, Office). Each team will receive a set of two printed and laminated signs:
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1. Hero Shoutouts & Speak Ups
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a. QR code to shout out your coworkers
- b. QR code to speak up anonymously
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- 2. Incidents and Accidents
- a. QR code to report a workplace incident
- b. QR code to report a workplace accident
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- When your team receives these, please post them in your back rooms or work spaces so they are visible and can be utilized by all team members. Please reach out to teams@stonecreekcoffee.com if you have any questions.
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- January Employee Council Feedback & Follow-Up: Every other month Eric, our Managing Director, meets with the Employee Council which includes a representative from each area of the company to learn what is going well and what may need work in our spaces. This feedback is then reviewed and corresponding commitments are made. As a result of this work in January, we were able to address a number of work areas including some site-specific equipment fixes and more, some of which can be found below. If you have any hot or not items you would like to share outside of NSL Workshops, please do not hesitate to connect with your team’s Employee Council representative, share with your team leader, or reach out to teams@stonecreekcoffee.com.
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Pastry Delivery & Dating Challenges: Our Production and Bakery Teams continue to train, communicate, and work diligently to ensure each Cafe is receiving their respective order and that old dates indicated on bins are thoroughly cleaned and new dates are clearly marked. These expectations have been reiterated to teams.
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Request Sample Bag Line & Volume Review: We’re going to do some more posting about the availability of these items. We’re also going to do some sample giveaways in the coming months. This summer we will review the sale rates in more detail and may make adjustments to the program at that point.
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Can we provide more coffee information to our customers to educate them on our bean offerings? We’re going to be investing time into doing tasting videos for each coffee that launches. We’re also going to integrate QR codes into the bags labels so customers can scan those to see the coffee information page as well as these tasting videos. That said, it’s gonna take us a few months to complete these projects with some other priorities we’re currently managing in the design/content/marketing part of the business.
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Dial In & Tech Tips QR Code Accessibility: We were able to clarify where these can and should live in each of our spaces to ensure each team has the tools and resources necessary for the success of their role.
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Downer Kitchen and Production Storage Space Improvements: Our Downer Kitchen team was able to obtain additional cooler space and increase storage space to optimize organization and workflow. We will be reviewing the metal Production flooring to ensure it is both safe and does not pose undue challenge to workflow.
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Range Server Replacements: Bryan is testing different options for range servers that are more durable for in cafe use.
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Wins & Shout-outs:
If you’d like to recognize or celebrate a teammate, we would love to hear about it! By clicking here, you can fill out a form to nominate a hero and choose how you would like them to be celebrated.
Birthdays:
- 3/2 – Ronnie Winkler
- 3/7 – Emily Gunn
- 3/11 – Callie Lemley
- 3/12 – Chloe Drapes
- 3/19 – Manning Steinke
- 3/21 – Zoe Brown
- 3/23 – Naomi Pelland
- 3/26 – Danielle Svehlek
- 3/28 – Kaylee Pikula
- 3/30 – Adelie Content
- 3/31 – Anna Huntley
Anniversaries:
- Celeste Bayer – 1 year!
- Anna Oelerich – 10 years!
- Rachel Perik – 5 years!
- Alex Plyer – 4 years!
- Rachel Shea – 1 year!
- Kristen Tetzmann – 4 years!
Welcomes:
- Eric Catalan – Bakery

Job Openings:
view all current openingsEmployee Discount Codes:
Please don’t share these with non-employees
- 20% Employee-Only Website Coupon Code
- March: Mar2023sccemp
- 40% Employee-Only Mobile App Coupon Code
- March: Mar2023sccemp
Catch up on all of our newsletters, company updates, recipes, and more in our Employee Blog here.
Ways to Speak Up:
Do you want to speak up about ideas, thoughts, and more? Send an email to Teams & People (teams@stonecreekcoffee.com) or use the button below to send a note anonymously.