Jack’s Blend

By Jack Groot

Jack Groot owns JP’s Coffee & Espresso Bar and On Track Coffee Consulting, based out of Holland, Mich. E-mail your questions to jack@ontrackcoffeeconsulting.com with “Jack’s Blend” as the subject line.

Q. Hi Jack,
My husband and I opened a coffee shop in Georgia four years ago. One and a half years after we opened, our oldest son was in a devastating car accident, is paraplegic and now lives with us. He is 26. We were out of the shop for six months. Our staff, very loyal customers and God's mercy and provision kept the business going in our absence (we were working full time behind the bar at the time of the accident). Needless to say, it has been a struggle. Our younger son (25) and his wife moved to Georgia one year ago to work with us. They are wonderful! They had both worked for a coffee roaster in Washington and are enthusiastic about coffee and especially about helping us grow our business. They have proved themselves as assistant managers over the last six months and moved up to co-managers on August 1. We have no worries about their abilities or dedication, but would like advice on how to structure our owner-manager relationships, especially in light of being family. Thank you for your advice.

Patti O.

A. Hi Patti,
First, my heart goes out to you. To have a child suffer such pain is worse than going through it ourselves. I hope he continues to improve.

Families are as different as coffees; no two are exactly alike. The goal of what I tell you and what you want to accomplish is not only smooth employment relationships, but smooth never-ending family relationships. No job or business is worth losing a relationship with a parent or a child.

I worked for my father and now my son works for me. When I worked for my dad, he was a person who struggled with delegation. I worked directly for him. It had to be done exactly his way and he made a point of showing me how to do everything ... over and over and over (I probably wasn't the model employee at 15). My son Evan is a great employee and works hard. He has a great attitude, is great with customers and enjoys working in the store. The advantage I have is that Evan works for my management team, not directly for me. I made it clear from the beginning that having the chance to work at JP's was a ‘family right,' but continuing employment at JP's was an ‘earned right.' I told him, “If you don't perform and Sherry doesn't want you back, you won't be back, even though you're my son."

The following advice is based on two categories: first, relational and second, legal. As this is an employer/employee relationship, it must be structured as such. If there is desire and/or opportunity in the future for your son and daughter-in-law to become partners or buy out the business, you may want to address this up front. Anything you get on the table now will avoid the “Well, I thought ..." conversation later.

Relational: No matter what, realize that every person, family or not, will have his or her own view of a situation. For example, if you say, “Son, someday this store could be yours," he may hear, “Son, someday your dad and I are gonna give you this business." That may be an exaggeration, but I think the point is clear. What we think about a situation will determine how we read the day-to-day nuances of what is said and done. I'm sure most of us have mistakenly thought someone was upset at us and interpreted a statement they made as negative when it wasn't meant that way.

Legal: Any deal worth doing is worth writing down.

1. One way is to have both parties involved write out their
   expectations, what they're willing to do and what they desire
   to see happen in the future.
2. Then take this information and any discussions you have
   had and extract the following information:
   
• What areas of the business will they be responsible for? And what areas will you retain control of?
• How much will they be paid (also include paid and/or unpaid vacation, how many hours per day or week they are expected to work, will there be any insurance provided or offered, etc.)?
• At what point will wage or salary increases be given? And under what circumstances?
• Are there any compromises expected from either party for profitability, or lack thereof, of the business?
• What are the deal breakers? In other words, if they don't want to work for you anymore, how do they get out without wrecking the relationship? Or if they are not performing up to your expectations, how do you let them go?
• Now, write up a management contract covering the main points and use it as your contract.