Recipes passed by word of mouth, a different grinder setting at each bar, three suppliers. The brand promises consistency and the coffee breaks it.
One good trainer can't be at six openings. Without a written standard and a train-the-trainer model, the newest location is always the weakest.
Six locations ordering separately pay retail-adjacent prices and carry six pars. Consolidated supply is the easiest margin a group leaves on the table.
Quality slips slowly and nobody visits the bar with a tasting spoon. By the time reviews mention it, it's been months.
Write the standard once. One recipe book, one par sheet, one training manual, versioned and owned by someone at the group level. Every location runs the current version. Changes go through one door.
Standardize the equipment you can. Same grinder model everywhere is worth more than the same espresso machine. Grinders drive the shot and drift the most, and one model means one set of settings and one parts bin.
Train trainers, not baristas. At scale, we train a lead at each location and the manager above them, then the leads train hires from the same book. That's how the standard survives turnover without a consultant on site.
Consolidate supply. One roaster, one delivery schedule, one invoice. Coffee, matcha, cleaning supplies and parts on one order per location. Fewer vendors is fewer ways for a location to go off-program.
The menu, recipes, pars and SOPs for the whole group, written once and versioned. Local flexibility where you want it, a floor everywhere.
A lead per location and the managers above them, trained in person, plus the manual they train from. New hires start from the standard.
A spec per location type: which machine, which grinder, which brewer. Sourced, installed and serviced under one maintenance schedule.
Coffee, matcha and bar supplies through the wholesale program on one schedule per location. Private label for the group if you want it.
Scheduled tastings and audits by location, scored the same way each time, so drift is caught in weeks rather than reviews.
The order of operations for the next location: layout, equipment, health department, training, soft open. Each opening faster than the last.
Weeks 1 to 2Audit the locations. We visit every bar, taste, and score. You get a location-by-location read and the gaps between them.
Weeks 3 to 8Write the standard. Menu, recipes, pars, SOPs, equipment spec and training manual for the group. Reviewed with your ops lead.
Weeks 8 to 14Roll it out. Leads trained location by location, equipment brought to spec, supply consolidated. Then quality visits on a schedule.
Yes. The standard is a floor, not a ceiling. Core menu and recipes are fixed; a local special or two per location is fine and usually good for the brand. What can't vary is how the core drinks are made.
Train the trainers. A lead per location and the managers above them get in-person training and a manual. They onboard hires from the same book. We come back on a schedule to taste and correct, not to run every training.
No. The program works with any coffee. Consolidating supply through us is an option that usually saves money and simplifies ordering, but the standard, training and quality visits don't depend on it.
A playbook, not a scramble. Layout and equipment spec from the standard, health department submittal from the template, training from the manual, a soft open before the real one. Most of the thinking is already done.
