LONG BEACH, Calif. -- The Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) is helping coffee industry professionals, coffee and tea retailers and coffeehouses "heat up" their businesses. At its upcoming 20th Annual Conference & Exhibition, May 2-5 in Minneapolis, SCAA and a slate of coffee retail experts will present on such topics as the art and science of the perfect cup, creating the right coffeehouse ambiance, building a coffee community at a coffeehouse and 10 essential steps all new retailers must execute to compete in retail coffee in 2008.
"Selling great specialty coffee is paramount [image-nocss] for any coffee retailer, but there's a lot more to it if you want to run a flourishing and profitable business," said Ric Rhinehart, SCAA executive director. "SCAA's Retail Track helps guide today's coffee retailer—from the basics and beyond—to ensure success in a competitive market."
The Retail Track at SCAA's conference and exhibition features a diverse range of educational sessions, such as The Emergence of a New Retail Café Marketplace, Training Challenges for the Specialty Coffee Industry, The Fine Art & Science of the Perfect Cup, Stop Chasing Profit, It's All About Margins & Controllable Costs, Before You Open You Need to Know…, The 10 Commandments to Build Skyrocketing Profits, The Ambiance of Your Café: Creating the Right Mood, What the Heck Should I Charge?, Opening a New Café: Design it Right, Build It Once, Increase Financial Performance and Customer Service Through Teambuilding, Deep Roots: Building a Coffee Community in Your Café, Educate Your Customers to Increase Whole Bean Sales & Customer Loyalty, 10 Essential Steps All New Retailers Must Execute to Compete in Retail Coffee in 2008, Good Morning America: Capture Your Share of the Booming Breakfast Market, Selling Tea in a Coffee World, Building a Barista Training & Certification Program and Franchising: Why, When & How to Get From "Startup" to "Subway."
Presenters in SCAA's Retail Track represent many organizations and leaders in the coffee industry, including Alterra Coffee Roasters, American Barista & Coffee School, Barefoot Coffee Roasters, Bellissimo Coffee Info Group, Batdorf & Bronson Coffee Roasters, Bunn-O-Matic Corp., Caribou Coffee, Crossroads Espresso, Daterra Coffee, Design & Layout Services, Gillies Coffee Co., Higher Grounds Coffee House, Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea Inc., Marshall Fuss, My Coffee LLC, Ritual Coffee Roasters, The Roasterie Inc., Strategic Coffee Concepts, TeaSource, Trabant Coffee & Chai and NPD Foodworld.
The conference features in-depth educational sessions covering a variety of specialty coffee topics, hundreds of exhibit booths, a keynote presentation from Michael Shuman, author of The Small-Mart Revolution, the U.S. Barista Championship and the Coffee of the Year Competition.
In accord with SCAA's mission of promoting sustainability in the specialty coffee industry, the association has created a carbon neutrality program to help offset emissions related to conference travel, lodging and energy consumption. All conference attendees are required to participate in the program. The funds collected from will be donated to nonprofit organization, Trees for the Future, for the purchasing and planting of new trees.
Complete details for SCAA's 20th Annual Conference & Exhibition are available at http://conference.scaa.org. For a copy of the conference brochure, call (562) 624-4100 or e-mail coffee@scaa.org.Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.