Bay of Plenty Business News October/November 2016

Coffee star back home
making brilliant coffee
There’s an unspoken rule at Whakatane’s Straight Up Espresso
Cafe. If the music is too loud, don’t ask for it to be turned down.
Likewise, if you don’t like the genre, just smile and deal with it.
Because if you like great coffee, the music is irrelevant.
By KATEE SHANKS
Straight Up Espresso is
the second Whakatane
cafe opened by Simon
McKenzie. The first, The Bean
Cafe and Roastery, went on to
gain international recognition
as well as scooping an armful
of coffee awards.
From 2002 until 2010 and
under Simon’s ownership,
The Bean was a great place
to chill, to drink exceptional
coffee and to be treated to
snippets of Simon’s unique
personality.
But in 2010 the barista was
struggling with the familiarity
of it all.
“To have a high public profile
for a long time lends to
a perception you are public
property,” he said.
Chasing anonymity, Simon
sold the cafe and opened a
coffee booth on Auckland’s
Karangahape Rd.
Riding on the coat tails of
The Bean’s success, he mistakenly
believed once doors
to his new venture opened, the
customers would come.
The booth lasted six months
and, for the three years follow-
Another cup
of exceptional
coffee.
ing, Simon worked part-time at
another cafe.
Christmas 2014 and while
back in Whakatane with family,
Simon walked past a vacant
Boon St premises.
“The plan was to go back
to Auckland but I’d often
thought about opening another
cafe in Whakatane and was
keen to work for myself once
again. I saw the store and felt
the timing was right.”
After a meticulous taste testing
process Simon settled on
coffee beans from Red Cherry
Roastery near Cambridge and
sweet treats from Whakatane’s
Cake Works.
In April last year Straight
Up Espresso reconnected
Simon with the town’s caffeine
junkies.
“The first winter was tough
and, while I had hoped my
former regulars would come
back, I had no guarantees.”
They did and now 20
months down the track, Simon
has re-cemented his spot on
Whakatane’s ‘places to get an
exceptional coffee’ list. He
says Straight Up Espresso is
the closest he has come to a
perfect business.
“Doing things a for second
time allows an opportunity to
implement lessons learned the
first time around. While the
Simon McKenzie
at Straight Up
Expresso Café.
business model is not 100 percent
perfect, it’s a lot closer
than it was when I started out
14 years ago.”
And this time round he is
embracing the familiarity.
“I’m not sure it’s because
I’ve grown up or it’s simply
not bothering me as much as it
used to but I’m enjoying being
back in the public eye.”
And chances are, if you’ve
been in more than twice and
ordered your favourite coffee,
you shouldn’t have to ask for
it again.
“Names I’m not so good
with, faces I’m a little bit better,
but I’m great at remembering
what coffee goes with
who.”
It’s a good thing his memory
serves him well, because
sometimes with the music and
the background babble of conversation,
it’s nice to be able
to walk in and just pay for
your coffee without speaking
a word.
Say goodbye to procrastination
GROWING YOUR BUSINESS
> BY DARREN MCGARVIE
Darren McGarvie is co-founder and chief coach of the Firestation,
the Bay’s only business growth centre. To find out more go to
www.thefirestation.nz or email grow@thefirestation.nz
If you’ve found yourself putting off important tasks, you’re
not alone. We are all guilty of procrastinating at some point
but if it is having a negative impact on your output or your
organisation you need to break this destructive habit.
The key to controlling
procrastination is to first
recognise it, understand
why it happens (even to the
best of us) and take active
steps to manage your time and
outcomes better.
In a nutshell, you procrastinate
when you put off things
that you should be focusing on
right now, usually in favour of
doing something that is more
enjoyable or that you’re more
comfortable doing.
If you’re honest with yourself,
you know when you’re
procrastinating.
Common ways to procrastinate
include filling your day
with low priority tasks, deciding
you need a coffee or water
immediately after deciding to
start a high priority task, having
an important item on your
to do list for a long time or
waiting until the “right mood”
or the “right time strikes.
Another cause is simple
disorganisation.
Organised people manage
to fend off the temptation to
procrastinate by prioritising
work with to do lists and
schedules.
This helps emphasise how
important the piece of work
is, identify precisely when it’s
due and breaks down the work
into manageable next steps.
But even the most organised
of us can get caught out
and procrastinate.
So next time you are putting
off doing an important
job, here are some tips to get
you motivated:
Set yourself rewards for
completing the task.
Promise to do something
fun if you’ve completed a certain
task and make sure you
notice how good it feels to
finish things.
Alternatively ask someone
else to check up on you. Peer
pressure does work.
Or simply identify the
unpleasant consequences of
not completing the task.
Finally, procrastination
is common for a business
owner.
With so many competing
priorities for your energy and
time, it’s easy to freeze like a
possum in the headlights.
A simple strategy is identifying
how important the task is
and how urgent.
If it’s going to grow your
business over the medium or
long term then it’s important
and most likely non-urgent.
Address these first every
morning and then tackle the
important and urgent.
Do this every day and over
time your business will grow
far quicker and you won’t feel
overwhelmed with the unimportant.