Reorganized roastery.... and beyond

To be honest I wasn’t prepared for what I walked in on yesterday, as what I witnessed was a major overhaul to what I was used to. This is not to convey, in any way, any displeasure with the change, but it was a shock nonetheless. You see, the roastery has remained largely unchanged in its orientation for the past 3 years. All in all, it was a good reminder for me how things can become needlessly entrenched after a while, especially when there is no impetus to change, or external pressure to adapt. We are at a crossroads of sorts at Transcend right now as we prepare for the opening of T2 (yes, it is delayed, and we hope to be open mid April). This is the most significant thing we have ever done, and apart from simply raising the cash to get the job started, hiring 8 new baristas and getting them trained and ready to rock Edmonton with a spanky new cafe is monumental.

The truth of the matter is that every day I do something that I have never done before. I had never roasted coffee professionally before opening Transcend. I had never been a barista before opening Transcend. I had never been a boss before opening Transcend. You get the picture, of how each day in this exciting industry brings new and challenging experiences into my life, and now into the lives of those working alongside of me. Truthfully it is often overwhelming, and it requires serious self-assesment, at least on my part, to be willing to acknowledge that I don’t have everything figured out, and that the way we have done it in the past, is not necessarily the way it should be done anymore.

I find it hard to believe how quickly things change, and how fast the organization has grown into something other than a few coffee geeks hanging out serving coffee. Now Transcend is a “real” company with many employees, and the challenges it faces daily to maintain not only quality but accessibility to our customers can be daunting. Having said that, we are up for the challenge. We remain more committed than ever in increasing the quality of our coffee, in addition to the experience that accompanies the drink.

To that end, we remain open as always to customer feedback about both drink quality and customer satisfaction. At the end of the day, this journey I began over four years ago continues to be one that constantly amazes me with unique opportunities to grow and learn about both coffee and business on a daily basis.