CoCo Reflections from Michael Marchant:
This Week’s CoCo: Take Care of Your Co-Workers
I’m a rare example of an adult who is approaching middle-age that has never had a driver’s license or owned a vehicle. I do, however, understand that they require a considerable amount of upkeep. You’ve got to keep it fueled up, inspect and maintain the tires, check and replace the brakes as they wear down, test the lights and the windshield wipers, get it washed, insure it, etc.
A car is a complicated machine that has many parts that require care and attention in order for it to run properly…
You thought I was going to compare Stone Creek to a car and the employees to the parts of a car that keep it running properly, right? Gotcha! Classic misdirect.
I instead want to use this opportunity to thank a couple of car-owning co-workers who took care of me.
At the onset of the pandemic in 2020, before vaccines were available and the city was shut down, when not enough was known about Covid and relying on public transit was a gamble I was not willing to take; Bryan and Drew were giving me rides every day. They were willing to go out of their way to ease my anxiety about getting to work and back home safely. I’m grateful for the kindness and care that they showed me and my co-workers during that difficult, gnarly time.
So be like Bryan and Drew. Offer me a ride! I mean, uh, take care of your co-workers!
Next Week’s CoCo: Be Here, Physically & Mentally
Take care of yourself. You cannot be expected to be able to take care of others if you are not taking care of yourself first.
This commitment can require a great deal of trial and error to consistently accomplish, so let me share with you what has worked for me.
- Give yourself enough time to rest and refresh every day. I personally need at least 7 hours of sleep to rest my brain and body. I struggle with anything less than that so I ensure that I get at least 7 hours every night.
- Anticipate your needs and act on them. I need 2 hours in the morning to get ready for the day ahead. This includes making a proper breakfast (and a French press) so I can have the energy to physically do my job. I feed my dog and make sure my brother-in-law has everything he needs to give her an afternoon walk. I prepare a lunch for myself to bring with me to work. If it’s my turn to make dinner that night I do any prep work that I need to for that. My job is very physical so I do a variety of stretches to ensure that I don’t break in half when I have to stack a pallet of oat milk at 8 AM. I reply to emails, make a checklist for tasks, and plan for the day ahead.
- Develop a routine that sets you up for success. In other words, repeat steps 1 and 2. Try to figure out what works for you and do it every day to the best of your ability. Know that there will be times when you need to switch something up to avoid monotony. Additionally, you can’t plan for outside forces that deviate you from your routine. You are not a machine so be okay with the fact that there are things you cannot control. That’s just good advice in general.
CoCo Heroes:
- Take Care of Your Co-Workers: This Core Commitment Hero comes from the Bakery Team – Corina Lopez! She is one of the leaders in the Bakery. While other team leaders had to be out, she managed a large volume of work with stability and care. She stayed calm and gave direction with clarity and kindness. I am so appreciative of the strong leader she is becoming and the care she offers her coworkers. Way to go, Corina!
- Be Here, Physically & Mentally: This Core Commitment Hero comes from the Production Team – Seth Herlinger and Noah Culbreth! Seth and Noah have been PM delivery drivers for two years and have consistently been coming in and making sure our cafes are stocked and ready to go for the whole company. They have come in to pick up shifts, and help SCC out whenever they are available, whether rain, sleet, or snow overnight. Thanks, team!
Coffee Talk: Voyager
- What’s in this coffee? Where is it from?
- 50% Brazil + 50% Nicaragua.
- How long has this been the composition? What coffee was in here previously?
- Nicaraguan coffee has made up at least 50% of this composition since 2019. The other 50% changes every once in a while. Previously we’ve paired it with offerings from Colombia and Burundi.
- How long does this coffee roast for? How does this roast affect the flavor experience?
- Both parts of this composition are a medium roast which lends the composition its smooth yet full body. The Brazilian component brings a nice dark fruit tone, while the Nicaraguan component brings the sweet notes of milk chocolate.
- Why does it have this name?
- We created this coffee in 2019 as an extension of our medium roast blends. At that point, we had recently established a really great multi-year relationship with the LaRue family in Jinotega, Nicaragua. Voyager became a great way to showcase that coffee as the primary blend component.
Going-Ons:
- Sunday Factory Tours: Have you been wanting to learn more about both Stone Creek Coffee’s Factory Cafe and our Farm to Cup mission? All SCC team members are welcome and encouraged to join one of our Sunday Factory Tours for free during their time with Stone Creek Coffee! Just email rperik@stonecreekcoffee.com or teams@stonecreekcoffee.com with your preferred tour date and time, first and last name, and email address to have a ticket sent directly to your email. Tour dates and times can be reviewed via Eventbrite.
- NSL Workshop Follow-Up: Thank you all for your participation and your open, honest sharing and feedback in our most recent round of NSL Workshops. Teams & People has reviewed all of the comments and commitments captured during our time together in Workshops. We received a lot of valuable feedback and have already begun working on follow-up commitments including but not limited to a review of our product line, menu boards and Square layout, updated syrup batch sizes and the impact on fridge space, and a review of sample bag filling challenges. We were also able to address some Square pain points in the moment during workshops thanks to team member Speak Ups. If there is anything related to your work that you would like to share outside of our NSL Workshops, we invite and encourage you to do so by speaking with your team leader, reaching out to Teams & People (teams@stonecreekcoffee.com), and/or speaking up anonymously via SuggestionOx.
Wins & Shout-outs:
A win from Hailey: Lauren Matenaer – BLOWN AWAY! At the July Latte Art Throwdown, Lauren M. who has been with Stone Creek Coffee for 9 months, won both the Beginners and the Advanced bracket. Serious props to Lauren for pouring consistently and beautifully. Shout-outs should also go to our other winners…
Advanced Bracket
1st – Lauren Matenaer (Factory)
2nd – Ali Nofrey (Harwood)
3rd – Monica Brown (Oconomowoc)
Beginner Bracket
1st – Lauren Matenaer (Factory)
2nd – William Thiemann (Factory)
3rd – Noah Brucker (Oconomowoc)
Way to go everyone! There were a lot of truly #REMARKABLE lattes poured!!
A win from Employee Celebrations: In the month of July, we’d like to highlight the team that made the Shorewood Cafe come to life! Big congratulations and thank you are in order to Joshua James for leading his first build project, and also thank you to the rest of the tech team for all of the long hours and hard work. Additionally, we’d like to welcome Johnny to the team, who jumped in on his first week to get Shorewood up and running. With the good comes the bad, as we say farewell to Zach Jones in August, who has been a pivotal team member since day one. You will be missed!
Along with the tech team come many other behind-the-scenes players that deserve a special shoutout: Harmony, Val, Happy, Brian, and Lauren thank you for all of your hard work and flexibility!
If you haven’t stopped by the Shorewood cafe yet, make sure to check it out!
Email the Employee Celebration Committee (celebrations@stonecreekcoffee.com) if you’d like to recognize or celebrate a teammate. Or if you want to make a public shout-out, email Val (vnewhouse@stonecreekcoffee.com) to include in the next Employee Newsletter!
Birthdays:
- 8/6 – Val Newhouse
- 8/7 – Tony Johnson
- 8/11 – Anthony Moroder
- 8/12 – Bradley Cope
- 8/12 – Joshua Jones
- 8/12 – Happy Musonda
- 8/14 – Mathew Mahnke
- 8/15 – Analisa Lopez
- 8/16 – Annaliese Frailey
- 8/16 – Corina Lopez
- 8/17 – Tori Kalman
- 8/26 Arabella Husson
- 8/27 – Zachariah Jones
- 8/28 – Quinn Hammerlund
- 8/29 – Gabija Mackonyte
- 8/29 – Molly Persin
- 8/30 – Anna Oelerich
- 8/31 – Radar Vandentoorn
Anniversaries:
- Amy Balestrieri – 4 years!
- Zoe Brown – 1 year!
- Cameron DeJong – 1 year!
- Natalia Duchesneau – 1 year!
- Sundance Duchow – 2 years!
- Raeven Eddy – 1 year!
- Hannah Galloway – 5 years!
- Anna Huntley – 1 year!
- Lauren Huskins – 1 year!
- Joshua James – 4 years!
- Joshua Jones – 1 year!
- Zachariah Jones – 4 years!
- Keegan Kasten – 2 years!
- Harmony Krafttakacs – 17 years!
- Krista Michels – 1 year!
- Happy Musonda – 5 years!
- Alison Nofrey – 3 years!
- Eric Resch – 26 years!
- Joshua Speer – 1 year!
- Manning Steinke – 2 years!
- Christopher Tammes – 1 year!
- William Thiemann – 1 year!
Welcomes:
- Naomi Pelland (Shorewood – Welcome back!)
- Emma Kropidlowski (Downer Cafe – Welcome back!)
- Jordan King (Production – Welcome back!)
- Emma Droster (Oconomowoc)
- Ava Charpentier (Delafield)
Employee Discount Codes:
Please don’t share these with non-employees
- 20% Employee-Only Website Coupon Code
- August: Aug22sccemp
- 40% Employee-Only Mobile App Coupon Code
- August: Aug22sccemp
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.