< PreviousExceptional coffee, exceptional cultureExceptional Coffee, Exceptional CultureINSIGHTSEVEN INSIGHTS ON PROMOTING BUSINESS GROWTH AND WELLBEINGSeven Miles CEO, Jenny Willits, explains the importance of her firm’s core value – ‘the courage to progress and the importance of kindness’ in building a winning work culture that benefits the whole organisation Photo credit: Seven MilesINSIGHT12ISSUE 01even Miles Coffee Roasters has recently put considerable focus into creating a values-based company, one focused on our people. The result has seen a thriving culture, the best customer feedback we’ve ever received and double-digit growth in a company that’s just celebrated its 50th year in business. So, we know we’re on to a good thing. But how can businesses develop company values that profit the entire organisation? Thinking about your own values is a good place to start. They were likely influenced by your parents, friends or teachers at school. For me, that influence was my mum, who always told me to “act with courage and be kind”. What she meant by that was to show heart, to believe in yourself, back yourself, and to do it all with kindness. At Seven Miles, we’ve adapted the phrase and we call it ‘the courage to progress and the importance of kindness’.Derived from the Latin word ‘cor’, (heart), courage is even more relevant today than it’s ever been. Change is as inevitable as death and taxes – think about the constant change around us with new technology, disruptive business concepts and the myriad challenges we face as human beings every day. You need more and more courage to simply stand tall and progress in today’s ever-changing world. As for kindness, I believe we have a choice every time we respond to a situation. You can choose empathy and respect – or not. What you respond to positively in a personal relationship should manifest in the way you treat others in a professional relationship. Who isn’t going to enjoy being treated compassionately and fairly in a company that regards them as a person? By focusing on employees and people you can set your business up for long-term growth, here are seven insights on how to do it. SCREATE UNITY THROUGH PURPOSEEnsure everyone understands why the company exists. There are many studies on the importance of purpose – EY, Millward Brown, Jim Stengel, Simon Sinek – they all say companies with purpose dramatically outperform the market. Peter Drucker observes the most successful company is “not the one with the most brains, but the one with the most brains acting in concert”. Seven Miles has been through tremendous change. When I joined in October 2017, the business had taken a big decision a year prior to change its name from Belaroma Coffee Company to Seven Miles Coffee Roasters. The business wanted to future-proof itself and maintain its relevancy, but you can’t simply change a name. We needed to understand what it meant to be part of Seven Miles and that was my first job, to create cohesion and clarity. Everything we do is in the passionate pursuit of exceptional coffee. It’s the glue that unites us, the guiding decision-making tool, one derived from conversations with all of the employees and therefore one they can own with authenticity.1ALIGN YOUR LEADERSHIP TEAMThe CEO is one person, but the broader leadership team also need to be aligned to the journey we’re on to ensure the path ahead is clear across the entire business. Together we’ve done a lot of work defining our purpose, values and ambition, but one of the most important things we’ve done as a team was breaking down personal barriers. This involved getting people to discuss all the things they didn’t quite see eye-to-eye on. It was quite confronting, but it was also incredibly powerful because people said ‘ok, I get it, I know how I’m going to work with you’. It created better cohesion within the leadership team, which sets a vital example to the rest of the company. You cannot expect employees to believe and deliver the company vision, or customers to understand what your business is about if your leadership is not aligned. 5INSIGHT13ISSUE 01OUTLINE WHAT IS VALUEDAs a prospective employer or employee, it’s important to understand how people are going to fit in with the culture. This doesn’t mean encouraging cookie-cutter mentality – Seven Miles has a hugely diverse employee and customer base. Instead, it means establishing values and principles that unite how we come together and sets the expectations re behaviour. We encourage our team to come to work and abide by them as how they live up to them is discussed during performance conversations.Integrity, empathy and kindness – they’re not revolutionary words but they are mightily powerful. We also value the courage to progress – to turn up, to evolve and adapt to change, to back yourself and move forward. At Seven Miles the courage it sometimes takes to turn up on a difficult day due to personal circumstances is valued equally as the courage it takes to develop a new strategy or tackle a new business problem – and I think that courage is fantastic. 2UNDERSTAND HOW YOU GO ABOUT BUSINESSCompanies spend a lot of time promoting their purpose and values. But it’s also crucial to understand areas that define your business and how you run it. For us it’s simple: We’re a coffee roasting business committed to roasting the very best coffee, and we’re also very focused on our customers – we want their experience to be exceptional each and every time. We also embrace change and wisdom. That’s why we established our Coffee Science and Education Centre, which ensures all the latest and greatest developments in the world of coffee are examined and verified as useful to our customers.Importantly, we also back our team. We’re lucky to have the team of brilliant people we do who turn up to work every day. We make sure they can grow and thrive, that they’re successful and feel good about coming to Seven Miles.3RELENTLESSLY CHEERLEAD As CEO, I am responsible on behalf of all our employees and their families to ensure we have a thriving business. It’s also my role to clear the path ahead, allowing the team to move forwards and know where they’re heading. That takes constant cheerleading of our ambition, strategy and of our people.A lot of rhetoric says great leadership is about standing at the back and encouraging people forward. I agree in part, but I actually believe great leadership comes from adapting your position depending on where your company is on its journey. Sometimes that is from the back to encourage the team to move into our new adventure, but it can equally be from the front leading the cavalry charge or side-by-side, holding their hands.It’s also vital to spend time out in the field. How can you know if your business is fulfilling a need if you’re not out there listening to your customers? That’s why I spend a lot of time with my team out on the road. It’s a great way to better understand what customers need from us, and provides an opportunity to update them on new initiatives and how we’re responding to previous feedback. 46GENERATE EMPLOYEE VALUEThis means making employees feel positive about why they’re working at your company. When I first joined Seven Miles our job descriptions were derived from a large FMCG company and they just weren’t relevant. So, we began simplifying them to make our roles easier to understand and therefore easier to generate value from. We added a second page that asked employees to tell us about how they are best managed. We wanted to hear about those exceptional managers, so we could learn and get the best from our team. We also ask them how we can help them achieve that nirvana of work/life balance – be it flexible hours, leaving early to beat traffic, study breaks etc. We then agree what that is and sign up together as part of our first catch-up.We also have employee performance reviews that revolve around regular, powerful conversations, rather than meeting just once a year. Holding regular check-ins to discuss how people are feeling is a great way to get feedback on how the company can make sure they succeed. We’ve also introduced new employee perks, such as gym membership rebates, a day off for your birthday and regular food trucks – all aiming to show our care as an organisation and generate employee value. 7EXPECT GROWTHThis isn’t strictly an insight, but rather what will happen as a result of the first six: by focusing on your people you can expect growth. I’m not saying we all sit around singing songs and making daisy chains – there are very clear strategies that are implemented and executed. I am a relentless and ambitious CEO with an equally driven leadership team, but we act with humility, vulnerability and kindness. It’s this good citizen approach to our people that is absolutely at the heart of propelling us forward. By understanding what makes my people tick, I can make the company tick. I can generate top-line and bottom-line growth, I can make shareholders and the board happy – and it’s achieved by focusing on our employees. I want my legacy at Seven Miles to be a business that thrives for the next 50 years with happy employees who love coming to work. By backing ourselves and acting with courage, we can create businesses that are happy, have soul and are ready to change without fear, that will thrive in the long-term for your employees and for you. Have the courage to progress and please – remember to be kind.Jenny Willits is CEO of Seven Miles Coffee Roasters, Australia14ISSUE 01UKIRELANDFRANCESPAINPORTUGALLATTES PER HOUR3.3LATTES PER HOUR3.1LATTES PER HOUR3.1LATTES PER HOUR3LATTES PER HOUR2.8LATTES PER HOUR2.7LATTES PER HOUR3.4LATTES PER HOUR3.7LATTES PER HOUR3.7€17.5€4.74€9.80€3.13€9.49€3.04€4.37€1.55€7.04€2.12€10.03€3.39€4.€9.33€3.40€9.42€2.80DATAHOW MANY LATTES CAN BE PURCHASED PER HOUR ON MINIMUM WAGES ACROSS EUROPE?MINIMUM WAGE/HR* [¤]AVERAGE LATTE PRICE** – 12OZ [¤] NO NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE APPLIESWage data sourced from:Austria, Denmarkminimum-wage.orgCypruswageindicator.orgFinland eurofound.europa.euItaly mondo-prestiti.itNorwaylifeinnorway.netSwedencheckinprice.com*For monthly minimum wages a 40-hour week is assumed**Average European latte prices sourced from Project Café Europe 2019european latte index15ISSUE 01FINLANDCYPRUSNORWAYSWITZERLANDITALYSWEDENITALYSWEDENFINLANDRUSSIADENMARKANCEGREECECYPRUSROMANIATURKEYBULGARIABELGIUMAUSTRIANETHERLANDSGERMANYAUSTRIAPOLANDCZECHREPUBLICLATTES PER HOUR1.4LATTES PER HOUR1.1LATTES PER HOUR3.4LATTES PER HOUR3.8LATTES PER HOUR3.6LATTES PER HOUR0.3LATTES PER HOUR3.7€7.17€1.96LATTES PER HOUR2.2€6.93€3.22LATTES PER HOUR2.2€5.33€2.39LATTES PER HOUR1.8€7.30€4.14LATTES PER HOUR3€11.97€4.04LATTES PER HOUR1.9€3.94€2.03.57LATTE PER HOUR1€1.72€1.80LATTES PER HOUR1.3€3.24€2.48€1.94€1.71LATTES PER HOUR1.4€2.62€1.88€3.40€2.50€2.34€0.72€16.27€4.32€9.19€2.70€15.724.3616ISSUE 01herever a Starbucks Reserve Roastery opens, the excitement is palpable. Across Seattle, Shanghai, Milan, New York and Tokyo, Starbucks premium hospitality concept has opened to fanfare more akin to blockbuster premier than coffee shop debut. But the popularity of the Reserve brand isn’t just clever marketing, it’s the culmination of Starbucks’ 48-year journey to encourage generations of coffee consumers to become coffee connoisseurs. Today, branded coffee shop innovation is increasingly defined by a burgeoning crop of scaled boutique operators. But with its breath-taking roastery, sumptuous espresso bar, Arriviamo cocktail lounge and premium Princi bakery – all housed in a dramatic 19th Century neo-classical building – perhaps none manifests the 5th Wave era more succinctly than Starbucks’ Milan Reserve Roastery. THE ITALIAN CONNECTION Celebrated by the Seattle-based chain as the ‘most beautiful’ of is 30,000 stores globally, this veritable cathedral of coffee is hugely symbolic for Starbucks’ contemporary brand narrative.Milanese caffè culture famously inspired former Starbucks CEO and Chairman Emeritus, Howard Schultz, to import Italy’s coffeehouse traditions to the US in 1983. Thirty-six years later, the US coffee giant has finally made its long-awaited debut in one of the world’s most influential and COVER FEATUREMilan’s Cathedral of Coffee5THWAVE speaks to Martin Brok, President of Starbucks EMEA, about his brand’s long-awaited Italian debut and why the Milan Reserve Roastery is the US coffee chain’s most significant project to dateW11) Palladiana mosaic flooring and Tuscan marble counters pay homage to Milan’s cultural heritage Photo credit: Starbucks / Matthew Glac2) Starbucks EMEA President, Martin Brok Photo credit: Romedia Studio17ISSUE 01enigmatic coffee markets. Schultz’s pledge to enter Italy with “tremendous humility and respect” was prudent given the country’s profound influence on global coffee culture. “Everything we’ve done to date sits on the foundation of wonderful experiences that many of us have had in Italy,” he said in 2016 – and for anyone entering the Milan Roastery, Starbucks’ efforts to honour Italian design and tradition are instantly apparent.Housed in a majestic 19th Century neo-classical former post office building on the historic Piazza Cordusio, it’s easy to see why Milan’s Reserve Roastery is the jewel in the crown of Starbucks’ global portfolio. Every detail of the gargantuan 2,369 sq m store has been forged by local craftspeople and materials, including the dazzling Palladiana mosaic floor and resplendent Tuscan marble counters, which pay homage to Milan’s proud heritage.“When we open a Roastery anywhere in the world, it’s our philosophy that these spaces have to be distinctive to their locations and reflective of the communities around them. Not only is Milan the world’s capital of fashion and design – it’s also the city whose espresso culture inspired what Starbucks has become today,” says Martin Brok, president of Starbucks EMEA, who oversaw the Roastery’s development from Europe. “The Roastery is simultaneously an homage to Italy’s longstanding coffee heritage and a celebration of everything Starbucks has learned about roasting and brewing coffee over the past 48 years. This is ▶ 2“NOT ONLY IS MILAN THE WORLD’S CAPITAL OF FASHION AND DESIGN – IT’S ALSO THE CITY WHOSE ESPRESSO CULTURE INSPIRED WHAT STARBUCKS HAS BECOME TODAY”218ISSUE 01reflected in our design and the experience of the space – whether it’s the centuries-old craftsmanship of the marblework in our bars and floors or the modern engineering behind the bronze cask that opens up to bring customers inside the science of roasting coffee," he adds.The Italian-made Scolari Model FIMT 60 roaster is the beating heart of the Milan Roastery. Flanked by 360o public viewing platforms, the lime-green juggernaut can roast up to 60kg in a single cycle and will produce nearly 550 tonnes of Reserve-brand specialty coffee for distribution across Europe, the Middle East and Africa every year. This makes the Milan site a crucial piece of Starbucks global Reserve brand architecture. Viewing the entire roasting cycle is central to the customer experience, with an intricate array of copper pipes supplying freshly roasted coffee directly to the main bar. The store even succeeds in romanticising the obscure ‘degassing’ phase of the roasting process. Dubbed the ‘Dancing Lady’ a 6.6-metre-tall bronze cask periodically unfurls its metal fronds in an ethereal display of coffee theatre.Honouring Italian tradition is hugely important for Starbucks, but innovation is also vital to its strategy. That’s why you can pick up liquid nitrogen affogato at the main bar or select from one of seven brewing methods for your choice of coffee sourced from 30 countries around the world. Of course, espresso remains firmly on the menu and is, perhaps unsurprisingly, the Milan Roastery’s best-selling beverage. “While it was of course important for us to offer the Italian classics – espresso, cappuccino – we also wanted to share some of the innovation and passion for coffee we’ve learned along the way since our beginnings as a roaster in 1971,” adds Brok. “Customers will see this reflected in the more than 115 coffee beverages brewed across seven methods in the Roastery. More broadly, the Roastery’s function is to serve as a pipeline of innovation as we build out our beverage and coffee offer in Italy and across Europe.”INNOVATING ON COFFEE’S SACRED GROUNDA careful balance of tradition and innovation is enabling Starbucks to court hearts and minds in the cradle of Italian caffè culture. With its bold statement in Milan, the Seattle-based chain has renewed focus on the Italian coffee market, which many industry leaders believe is on the cusp of a renaissance. In a market scarcely ventured by international branded chains, there is anticipation that Starbucks can usher in a new era of coffee innovation in this staunchly traditional market.Many Italian consumers vehemently favour value-focused, traditional espresso, which has contributed to limited penetration among international branded chains in the country. Changing this habit will be a huge task, demonstrable by the fact that even Starbucks has taken more than 20 years to enter the Italian market since making its European debut in the UK in 1998.Allegra research shows Italy’s two largest coffee chains, value-focused McCafé and the traditional La Bottega del Caffé brand, command more than 60% of the branded chain segment. Starbucks’ Reserve Roastery is, however, pivoted toward the premium market, with an espresso costing at least €1.80 and a cappuccino setting customers back €4.50 – both significantly higher than average prices in the country’s branded coffee shop segment.Premiumisation could be a powerful strategy for Starbucks in Italy. Allegra research shows more than 60% of Italian coffee industry leaders surveyed regard coffee quality the most important factor behind coffee shop success. SHANGHAITOKYOSEATTLECHICAGO (OPENING 2019)NEW YORKMILANCOVER FEATURESTARBUCKS RESERVE ROASTERIES5RESERVE ROASTERIES GLOBALLY(1.2m lbs)544,310kgVOLUME OF RESERVE BRAND COFFEE PROJECTED TO BE ROASTED IN FIRST YEAR300JOBS CREATED AT THE MILAN RESERVE ROASTERY20SMALL-BATCH RESERVECOFFEES TO BE ROASTED IN YEAR ONE30,000RETAIL STORES IN78 MARKETSHigher-priced quality is clearly where Starbucks believes market success lies. But convincing Italy’s espresso drinkers to pay more for their daily custom remains a key challenge for traditional operators. Forty percent of European coffee industry leaders surveyed by Allegra believe traditional coffee culture is inhibiting the growth of branded chains, almost double the European national average.“Starbucks is an excellent ambassador because they are not Italian,” said Gruppo Cimbali Marketing and Communications Director, Simona Colombo, at Allegra’s European Coffee Symposium in Milan in November 2018. “But it will be a challenge because €1 espresso is the status quo. Once you understand why people are willing to pay more, then you can start moving the trend,” she added.FROM 2ND WAVE EXPANSION TO 5TH WAVE EXCELLENCE Back in the 1990s, Starbucks’ authentic reinterpretation of Milanese caffè culture reinvented the US coffee shop market. The proposition of whole bean coffee prepared in authentic Italian espresso machines by trained baristas (who would also write your name on the cup) was revolutionary compared to ubiquitous drip machine coffee of the day. The rest, as they say, is history – today Starbucks operates some 30,000 stores across 78 countries.But with one of the world’s most successful expansion strategies under its belt, what is behind Starbucks’ strategic investment in premium coffee experiences? In today’s sophisticated coffee markets, simple outlet expansion is perceived by many coffee chains as yielding diminishing returns. As coffee shop segments begin to saturate, consumer expectations are growing beyond the elegant convenience of quality coffee served across multiple sites. Starbucks’ new generation of Reserve coffee experiences is designed to satisfy this heightened consumer demand for premium coffee and tailored in-store experiences. “In 1996, we began to highlight small quantities of exceptional coffee with the Starbucks Limited Edition program and in 2004, we offered the best single-origin coffees as Black Apron Exclusives starting with a rare 100 percent Kona coffee. In 2010, the program evolved into Starbucks Reserve and today, these special, limited-availability coffees are the foundation of the Starbucks Reserve Roasteries around the world,” explains Brok. 2018 was a momentous year for the concept, heralding the long-awaited Milan Roastery, but also the 7,000 sq m New York Reserve Roastery. Starbucks’ second such site in the US is capable of roasting 68 tonnes of coffee every year, making it the largest roasting plant in Manhattan.The Reserve concept is emblematic of the next big step in global coffee shop development. By expanding the Roastery concept in key global locations, Starbucks is building the infrastructure for a new wave of scaled premium coffee shop experiences. In this regard, it is the only major coffee chain to successfully capitalise on premiumisation through augmenting its standard brand with a hugely scaled artisan concept.“The Roastery represents the very best of the Starbucks brand – who we are, what we stand for and where we are going. In this space, we showcase our heritage and expertise as coffee roasters alongside our commitment to innovation in ▶ “THE ROASTERY REPRESENTS THE VERY BEST OF THE STARBUCKS BRAND – WHO WE ARE, WHAT WE STAND FOR AND WHERE WE ARE GOING“Roasted beans are delivered directly to baristas via an aerial network of copper pipes Photo credit: Starbucks / Matthew GlacNext >