Looking to enhance your Coffee Fest Chicago experience? Join us the day before the show opens for a full day of exclusive education from coffee, business, and roasting industry leaders. 

Sign up for the day and choose which classes fit you best. Pick from one of two sessions in the morning, enjoy a networking lunch and then choose one of two offsite sessions in the afternoon. Finish your day at Metropolis Coffee enjoying a cocktail on Coffee Fest. 

After you add this exclusive education day to your registration, you'll be sent an enrollment form to select your class options. You do not need to select your classes in advance.

10:30am - 12:30pm Morning Session  (choose 1 of 2)

@Navy Pier, 600 E Grand Ave, Chicago, IL 60611

Option 1: Creating and Curating Effective Systems in Your Shop with Chris Deferio, Keys to the Shop

Room 305

In order for any coffee bar to be successful and provide its staff and customers with an excellent experience it needs to be supported by a set of well crafted systems. In many cafes there is an incredible lack of thorough, clear, and relevant systems to support the tasks, culture, and management of the business. The results of this lack are inconsistency, frustration, missed opportunity, needless turnover and much more.

In this interactive workshop session we will be taking you through the process of understanding, creating, instituting, and enforcing effective systems in your shop.

Option 2: Effective Leadership: Strategies, Systems and Striving for Perfection with Jeremy Lyman, Birch Coffee

Room 309

Starting a business is often like climbing a steep hill but building that business into something magical often feels like the hill mysteriously turned into a mountain right under your feet. Without the right systems in place or strategies to move forward, our work feels more challenging than it ought to be. In this session, we will go over a variety of ways in which we can work smarter instead of harder and navigate through many of the roadblocks we face when striving for perfection.

12:30pm - 2:00pm Catered Lunch & Networking Session *Lunch is included

​2:00pm Transport from Navy Pier to Metropolis Coffee *Shuttle cost covered by Coffee Fest. Return transport not provided.

2:30pm-3:00pm Metropolis Coffee Company Riverfront Roasterie Tour   

3:00pm - 5:00pm Afternoon Session  (choose 1 of 2)

@Metropolis Coffee Company Riverfront Roasting Plant, 3057 N. Rockwell Street, rear building, Chicago, Illinois, 60618

Option 1:  Introduction to Roasting with Kaleigh Post, Production Roaster, Metropolis Coffee Company

Tour the 18,000 square foot Metropolis Roasterie, along the banks of the mighty (if not squeaky clean) Chicago River. This course is an introductory overview and insight into the processes and equipment required to operate a full-scale roasterie, and a beginners introduction to coffee roasting. You'll also have the opportunity to ask questions about roasting, roastery operations, and more. 

Option 2: Intermediate Roasting Workshop with Chris Petrovich, Green Buyer, Metropolis Coffee Company

Spend an afternoon with Metropolis Coffee Green Buyer Chris Petrovich at the Metropolis Roasterie as he takes you through an intermediate level approach to coffee roasting on our refurbished vintage Probat roasters.

5:00pm - 6:00pm Stump the Roaster Forum hosted by Cafe Imports

@Metropolis

6:00pm Cocktails at the Coffee Fest Opening Reception 

@Metropolis Coffee Company