Purpose and Adherance

I was defining our vision a number of months ago when we were just getting started here at Damascus. I went through a template so to speak, the template helped quite a bit by the leading questions that were asked. I noticed just last last week how far we were removed from the intial vision for Damascus Coffee. Your vision statement needs to be like an arrow. The arrow is pointing in one direction and anything that comes at you from a different direction has to be avoided. We need to process opportunities but they have to fit our vision. A friend in business said that in order to change a production process for overall improvement in his company there needs to be 3 objective criticisms to the current process. His challenge has always been making a plan, putting that plan into action then changing it before the true benefits or problems can be revealed. How does one diverge from their vision? Quite simply actually, he just doesn't know what the vision is for starters (if you do not study your vision you will not know it, not be able to work it and then will just forget it) and then they don't follow the arrow's direction.

Here is Damascus Coffee's purpose statement:

To be a profitable company intentionally serving the highest quality products in the most efficient way all while building memorable relationships with our customers, staff and global community.

CLARITY
WHAT is our purpose?

Our purpose is to serve...
- Damascus Coffee serves people not coffee!
- Damascus Coffee serves consistency – we shape people’s routine.
- Damascus Coffee serves our staff’s financial, emotional, soulful needs.
- Damascus Coffee serves to make a profit.
- Damascus Coffee serves to impact our world through equipping the global community.

Our purpose is to build...
Damascus Coffee builds our staff into leaders
o Through operating our business by systems - freeing up our staff to make connections with our customers.
o Through providing on-going training, rewards and profit sharing.
o Through involving our staff in new product development, business systems evaluations/input

Damascus Coffee builds our customers lives
o Through providing a peaceful, inviting physical environment
o Through providing a superior and unique product offering
o Through delivering efficient and consistent service
o Through building personal relationships and witnessing Christ-like character to our customers
Damascus Coffee builds profit...
o Through building profit we can build mission.
o Through building profit we can build more stores.
o Through building profit we can build better equipped stores
o Through building profit we can build a better experience for our customers i.e. decor, function, location
o Through building profit we can build time, money and influence freedom in our personal lives.
WHY do we serve?
- We serve because it is the right thing to do
- We serve in order to make a profit.
- WHEN we serve we CAN build people.

OPEN MIC NIGHT

Last weeks open mic night was a lot of fun. Courtney played our favorites and people slowly trickled in, grabbed some coffee and settled in. We had some new faces last week - the lads from the band Atlantic came by for some caffiene, sweets, laughs and to exercise their musical gifts. Court and Lisa played a few songs and some of the guys jumped in every once in awhile. The house came down during the closing # when Atlantic was in full style and rhythm - the guys did their own rendition of 'Hero' by Enrique Iglesias. T'was quite a night I must admit. Good coffee, good music and a heck of a good time! Bring your guitar, voice, poetry or spoons - see ya this week @ 7 pm Thursday night

As an FYI - we recieved some new Monin coffee syrups and I'll tell ya what, they are amazing. They all natural syrups. Pumpkin Spice, Frosted Marshmallow, Chesnut and Cinnamon just to name a few...

GOOD COFFEE - FAST COFFEE - DAMASCUS COFFEE

October 14 Buzz

Hey Kids,

What is new and exciting...? Much, much is new and exciting actually. Business is growing in many different ways. I want to touch on a big part of where Damascus is growing - people. The way our staff has reached out to our customers and vice versa has been nothing less than glorious. Glorious was not a word chosen loosely to be certain. Being a part of our customers daily routine and in turn their lives has been awesome. Getting to know families, habits, passions and dreams is humbling for sure - it has become a great responsibility. In some ways the daily routine of coffee itself has created these experiences. Yet, it would be an understatement to say that freedom of opinion and a passion for listening to people and having compassion for people has a major part of this. As the days turn into weeks and the weeks turn into months it is becoming clear that coffee is the great equalizer! The pleasure of serving people builds each double latte that is crafted at the espresso machine - Victoria is her name actually!
We celebrated our grand opening in September as well. We had friends and some vendors their and a nice show of support from Town Council, Town Staff and the DRBA - very much appreciated. To have my wife and children thier meant a lot as well. History in the making I suppose you could say. I am always intrigiued by the fact that the history text books we read in 25 years are filled with todays news, todays events that are seemingly insignificant but will be monumental in the future if the dreams are pursued relentlessly.
Kevin
Chief Serving Officer

THIS WEEK'S COFFEE NOTES

Coffee is good for business
By Kevin Steen

Coffee houses enjoyed a heyday during the eighteenth century, but not just because it was a novel drink over which men could plot political intrigue.

The coffee house played a pivotal role in the birth of big business and international trade.

England’s civil war ended in 1651. The nation had a brief stint as a republic before King Charles II was restored to the throne in 1660. London developed as an important center of trade and demand for marine insurance increased as the ports bustled with ships coming and going with overseas cargo.

Edward Lloyd’s coffee house, established in1688, was the place to get insurance. Keen individuals at Lloyd’s Coffee House would solicit funds from wealthy merchants on behalf of other merchants who needed to protect their shipments.

Lloyd built a solid reputation for having reliable shipping news in an age when communication was not. From this spunky entrepreneurial beginning grew one of the oldest and most recognized insurance companies in the world, Lloyd’s of London.

Lloyd’s is not the only institution which was first established at a coffee house. The auction houses of Sotheby’s and Christie’s began in sales rooms attached to coffee houses, as well as the London Stock Exchange.

Stock and commodity prices were first listed in London by stock dealer John Castaing at Jonathan’s Coffee House in 1698. He and other dealers organized the first centre for trading in marketable securities in England’s capital. Between 1698 and 1773, the nation’s stock exchange operated mostly from Jonathan’s and Garraway’s Coffee House.

Likewise, New York’s stock exchange formed during the 1790’s at the Tontine Coffee House on the corner of Wall and Water Streets, and the Merchants Coffee House, on the opposite corner. They offered meeting rooms, tables, comfortable chairs, and a spyglass to locate ships arriving in the harbour.

Every ship’s captain would report his cargo upon arrival. Merchants, bankers and brokers would meet at the coffee house to buy, sell and trade coffee, tea, sugar and molasses, furniture, cloth, cotton, and before the abolition of slavery, even people.

That chapter in history is past. Businesses have moved out of the coffee house, but the spirit of commerce still thrives. Meetings convene (now with full internet access, mind you) in the board room. People broker deals face to face as they pitch ideas, debate, haggle, and shake hands over a newspaper and a cup of coffee.

Kevin Steen is a true coffee lover and proprietor of Damascus Coffee House in Riverview. Do you have a coffee question for Kevin? Visit him at the shop, or call him at 855-4646.