I hope everyone is having a great summer! While Wisconsin is known to have amazing summers this one seems to be extraordinary. I hope you have had time to play and relax outside!
Whitefish Bay Progress – We are now in full swing on the Whitefish Bay cafe build. The overall project was delayed a few months due to us needing to wait on WE Energies to move a gas meter from the side of the building to the back of the building. This work is now completed. Next week we will start excavation on the east side of the building for our new 4-season porch and updated open-air patio. Inside the cafe we are building walls, prepping floors and starting to rough-in electrical and plumbing. Our new cafe is going to be an amazing gathering place in the Whitefish Bay community – we are working hard every day to make it beautiful. I know many of you have already reached out about helping open the cafe or transferring to this team, thank you. If you want to learn more about working at this new cafe please email teams@stonecreekcoffee.com.
Pay and Performance Wrap Up – All of you should have completed your July pay and performance reviews by now. If you have not had your P & P yet and it is not noted on your schedule, then please reach out to teams@ right away as they want to get that fixed for you. The time we spend together in these meetings is one of the foundational elements that makes our work together healthy and fulfilling. The P&P’s are a time for all of us to share our needs and wishes for our work and it’s a time for your team leader to be fully present for you. I also want to send out a Thank You to all the team leaders who set-up the P&P’s, did the prep, and made this happen for all of our team members. Together we succeed.
Price Increase Coming – Why do eggs cost $5 (or even $8) per dozen? We all know that prices have been going up across the board for almost all the things we buy in our lives. Our costs at Stone Creek have also been rising. The costs of shipping coffee from our origin farms has doubled and at times tripled. The cost of our packaging continues to rise. Our raw ingredients for our bakery and kitchen are also up. We buy a lot of eggs on these teams! Additionally, we continue to raise the wages of our team members (we will share historical data on these increases in our fall workshops). Due to these ongoing cost increases we are planning a retail, wholesale and e-commerce price increase at the end of August. It is important we can all explain to our customers why our prices are rising – we will provide this background context along with some clear talking points very soon.
Ops Feedback – Three times per year we hold team workshops to provide a forum for gathering feedback to help us all improve our day to day work together. This time together is invaluable and the feedback is important. However, between these workshops we also can provide feedback to team leaders and company leadership. I wanted to encourage you all that if you have feedback that will help your team please do not wait until the next workshop. Please talk to your team leader, or email teams@stonecreekcoffee. Lastly, please also chat with your team’s employee council member. Every other month I meet with the council and discuss many operational issues – this is great conduit for me to hear from you. Lastly, if you feel your voice is not being heard or you want another way to connect with me please simply text me – 414-550-5096. Like you I am committed to providing remarkable care – you may text me directly anytime.
Summer and Fall Coffee Arrivals – Again, Wow! Wow! Wow! We have A LOT of great coffee coming soon.
- Sugar Plum Ethiopian Decaf – Launches 8/10
- Green Apple Guatemala – Launches 8/17
- Anaerobic Natural Ethiopian – Launches 8/24
- Harvest 2023 – Launches 8/31
- Lime Disco Kenya AA – Launches 9/14
- Oktoberfest – Launches 9/14
I hope you all love brewing and sharing these new coffees. On we go.
Eric Resch
Managing Director
eresch@stonecreekcoffee.com