Putting The Caf In Decaf Running a Cafe and Coffee Shop

By Savannah Rae Alvarado

orking at a coffee shop or cafe is like being a part of a family, according to barista Dan Rodriguez, who works at Cannon Coffee.

“It’s closely knit, and we all get along,” Rodriguez said. That’s exactly the way owner Chris Bluementritt likes it. He said he wants employees to feel at home when working with customers.

“Cannon Coffee is a tight-knit shop with only a few employees, but that’s how they like it,” Bluementritt said.

“The culture here is very easy-going.”

To do that, Bluementritt allows employees to pick their music, and because there are so few employees, the rules aren’t very strict, meaning if you get to a shift a little late, it’s okay. The workplace culture is very similar at Summer Moon, explained barista Katie Lato.

“It’s super friendly!” Lato said. Here are some recommendations from the baristas.

“A chi chi devine, which is a latte with caramel and brown sugar,” Rodriguez said. “Overall, it would be a cappuccino.” While some people prefer lattes with just milk, others prefer them with honey, just like Lato.

“I like honey lattes,” Lato said. “I think they’re so good that nobody ever puts honey in their lattes. It’s underrated.” While some like to try new things, others just like to keep it simple with a plain latte.

Sometimes people just need to mix it up with new designs,new flavors, or just making something fun.

“The milkshakes. I think they’re fun because we get to decorate the cups and top them with whip cream.” Lato said. Taking time to make latte art is just what Rodriquez likes to do.

“I sort of passively work on latte art and just make things,” Rodriguez said.

Good customer service means different things to different people. According to Lato, she thinks not blowing up at a customer is the way to go.

“I think keeping it cool is one of those things you don’t want to blow up at a customer about, or worse,” Lato said. It seems that Rodriguez had the same thing in mind.

“One of them you don’t want to blow up at a customer or worse,” Rodriguez said.

Running a coffee shop isn’t always easy; sometimes all the little things keep adding up.

“Keeping up with all of the details of having a business,” Blumentritt said.

All the details of having a business are super hard when it comes to dealing with the money part and all the things that are uncontrollable, like power outages and other dangers that force Blumentritt to close his coffee shop down. COVID affected most of the local businesses, and that was no different for Cannon Coffee.

“When the pandemic happened, there were a lot of questions about what was going to happen,” Blumentritt said.

Cannon Coffee ended up closing for some time but then reopened with only take-out delivery and limited hours. But overall, the impact COVID had on Cannon Coffee was the limited hours, according to Bluementritt.

“When we reopened, we were such a small space that we were takeout only and only had it for very limited hours,” Bluementritt sa id.

There are many things that separate coffee shops from each other, according to Blumentritt.

“I think what separates us is that we are a truly good neighborhood coffee shop,” Blumentritt said. Large coffee chains like Starbucks and Dutch Bros have