439: Get out of your comfort zone with Lauren Culley and Jeff Excell

 

In this episode with Jeff Excell and Lauren Culley, we discuss:

• Chasing happy.
• Living with the intent to learn and grow.
• Being mindful of being a "jerk barista".
• Focusing less on the product and more on the people purchasing the product.
• Asking for what you want.
• Creating a culture of teamwork and pride in your work.
• How to get
• FOH and BOH to work together.
• Setting the professional standard.
• Creating a feeling of ownership for your team.
• Keeping a visual catalog of design.
• How to approach investors.
• Staying lean, and growing slowly.
• Building your team and growing internally.
• Letting your customers decide what your restaurant becomes.
• knowing you can't please everyone.

After experiencing a life altering moment while eating bread at a NYC flea market, Lauren Culley fell in love with baking as a volunteer. She would eventually leave her cushy desk job in editing to pursue baking. It was also around this time she met Partner, Jeff Excell. While in NY the Duo realized that wanted to bring the NY Cafe experience back to Columbus, OH. In 2014, along with Excell, they recreated that experience with Fox in the Snow Cafe. 4 years later they've grown the operation to 2 locations and a third on the horizon.