621: Managment, Supply Chain, and Building Great Teams w/ Ewelina Kania!

621: Managment, Supply Chain, and Building Great Teams w/ Ewelina Kania!

Author: Chris Deferio August 18, 2026 Duration: 48:44

In order to provide excellence in the cafe, we need to focus on people. Building, caring for, and managing a team is the cornerstone of any great cafe. The potential of your coffee and hospitality depends on this! 

Today we are going to be talking with someone who has lead and managed at the highest levels of coffee. With her passion for logistics, people-first leadership, and team development, she has delivered consistent quality for staff and guests alike. I am thrilled to welcome to the show, Ewelina Kania! 

Ewelina has spent over a decade in hospitality, starting out as a barista before joining Prufrock Coffee in London. As General Manager during an eight-year stretch, she ran the entire operation, tested new concepts, and navigated the less glamorous realities of the industry - including leadership transitions, operational hurdles, and a global pandemic. She later worked as Chief Operating Officer at Barista Hustle Tools, diving deep into product logistics and global supply chains.

Today, Ewelina is Head of Operations and Logistics at Natoora Copenhagen, connecting small-scale growers with local chefs. For her, moving from specialty coffee to farm-grown produce is a seamless transition: both industries rely on passionate people who care deeply about origin and quality. Across every role, she stays focused on one core principle: a happy, supported team leads to a stronger business and a better guest experience.

We discuss:

  • How Ewelina Started in Coffee by Accident
  • Mastering Coffee Logistics and Workflow
  • Attraction to Leadership and Team Development
  • Lessons in Effective Leadership and Communication
  • Time Management and Supporting Teams
  • Effective Delegation and Empowerment
  • Managing Conflict in Teams
  • Similarities in Food and Coffee Supply Chains
  • Lessons from Food Industry for Coffee
  • Role of Coffee Shops in Supply Chain and Community

Links:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ew__ka__/

Natoora: https://www.instagram.com/natoora/

 

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Running a coffee shop is about so much more than pulling great shots. It's a complex dance of craft, culture, and commerce that demands a unique kind of leadership. That's the space where Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders lives. Hosted by Chris Deferio, this podcast digs into the real, often unspoken challenges faced by owners, managers, and aspiring leaders in the specialty coffee world. Each conversation moves beyond abstract theory to deliver concrete, usable strategies you can apply directly to your operation. You'll hear from a diverse range of voices, including seasoned coffee professionals and insightful experts from other fields, all focused on the practicalities of building a thriving business. Episodes tackle the full spectrum of running a shop, from daily systems and financial health to fostering a positive team environment and developing your own skills as a leader. The aim is to provide a genuine resource for growth, whether you're looking to refine your barista program, improve your shop's profitability, or scale your vision thoughtfully. Tune in for honest discussions that equip you with more than just inspiration-they offer the tangible keys to building a better, more sustainable coffee business. This podcast understands that your passion is for coffee, but your success depends on mastering the craft of leadership.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders
Podcast Episodes
SHIFT BREAK! Why You Will Always Be A Small Coffee Shop [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 9:15
Our image of who we are as a business is not necessarily the same as that of our customer. We see all the inside gears and pulleys that hide beneath the surface. We see the scope and organizational diagram of the cafe, t…
SHIFT BREAK! The Mindset of Working Clean [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 14:13
Having a clean cafe and a clean bar is not just a surface level pursuit. The mindset it takes to keep things clean while busy is a discipline that have far reaching benefits extending to the quality of our products, dept…
SHIFT BREAK! "What's Next in Coffee" [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 9:40
The more we ask this question the more we tend to steal time and consideration away from what we have of value in the present. The coffee shop and the larger industry for that matter, are obsessed with not being left beh…
601: Why Your Cafe Staff Meeting Might Be Doomed To Fail [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 27:14
Meetings can be a very useful part of running a cafe. The way we tend to use them though has become a real problem. In fact, rather than helping, even the most well intentioned of meetings, might actually hurt your busin…
600: Founder Friday w/ Sammy Piccolo of Prado Cafe | Vancouver, BC [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 55:36
The world of specialty coffee today owes a lot of its success to those who helped build movements and create opportunities in earlier years. The times where new and actually meaningful advances in coffee shops, coffee cr…
SHIFT BREAK: Forget Productivity [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 11:24
The hustle of business creates a fear culture where operators worry about their productivity at a near constant rate. We scratch our heads over how to prevent burn-out and talk about work life balance, but what about hav…