In This Update:
- Whitefish Bay Opening Reflections
- Winter and Beyond
- Winter Party
- NSL Workshops
- Employee Council Shout Out
Whitefish Bay Opening Reflections:
Wow! This cafe turned out to be a true stunner. It is one of the most beautiful cafes we have opened, and the community has embraced it with long lines since day one. I also say “wow” because this cafe was REALLY hard to build and it took many of us working together for months to finally get it over the finish line. This cafe is truly a shared success story with so many of you lending a hand and making it amazing. I am very proud of the Whitefish Bay Cafe & Kitchen, but I am even more proud to work with so many kick-ass people. #joy
Winter and Beyond
The snow and cold have finally arrived. I am not sure if it is friend or foe – perhaps it is both. Like many things in life we get to decide if the snow on the trees is the most beautiful thing we have seen in months or whether it’s a pain in my ass because I am now late for work. It is both. But I choose to love it and will always work to find the beauty over the pain. We have agency to craft the life we want, so I’m gonna choose to view the snow as friend, not foe.
We are now into our 31st year at Stone Creek. This is amazing and I am thankful each day to have this job and to work in coffee. I wanted to share a bit about what we will be focused on in the coming few years…
Retail: We will focus on the continual improvement of the physical infrastructure of our cafes and the coffee equipment we use. We are making some adjustments to our tech team processes to allow more time and resources to be put toward fixing, updating, remodeling, and generally improving the state of our retail group. Additionally, we are focused on continuing to advance our food and coffee programs. We do not have any new retail cafes planned as we focus our efforts on the continued strengthening of our retail group on all fronts.
Wholesale: Our Wholesale (business-to-business sales) Team is an important part of the company. This team serves over 350 accounts in Metro Milwaukee and beyond. This part of our business is critical as it provides a very broad base of customers that generate steady cash flow to support our continued wage improvement and other financial goals. We recently hired a full-time sales director (shout out Tom!) to help us build new relationships and continue to grow this part of our business. We love the diversity of amazing customers we serve daily in this part of our business.
E-Commerce: Our e-commerce business came on like a rocket during COVID and we have been lucky to continue to grow this business. We also see this business as critical to our future. We are in the process of building a strong team to push this business forward. We are excited to share new products and work on new distribution channels to help grow this part of Stone Creek.
Company Party
Have you RSVP’d for the Stone Creek winter party? The winter party will be from 6-10PM on January 29th at Story Hill Firehouse. Cafes will all be closing at 5PM. Please come hang with other SCC folks and celebrate the incredible work we do daily. RSVP Here.
Winter Workshops:
We will be hosting our Winter team learning workshops the week of February 12-20. This round of workshops will function more like a long team meeting in your individual team spaces. One or two members of the Teams and People Team will be there to help facilitate and support the meeting but the bulk of the agenda will be crafted by your Team Leader. We recognize how critical team meetings are and will utilize this workshop to support the team getting in sync on operations issues and other team needs as we prepare for the spring.
Employee Council Shoutout
A quick shout out to the current crew on our employee council along with those alumni who have served on the council. Every other month I spend 90-ish minutes with the council and we basically do an extended Hot or Not. As the council members are sharing their Hots and Nots, I am taking notes and making commitments around areas that need improvement and we celebrate the Hots together. Each meeting I am impressed with the commitments we create and the work we do to improve Stone Creek for each other and for our customers. The council, and the work we do, is the embodiment of the ethos of Never Stop Learning. #gratitude
Again, thanks to all of you for your work and positive spirit throughout 2023! On we go.
Eric
Managing Director