It was an early Saturday evening in Anaheim, and the end of a very long day. The second day of the 2002 Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) trade show was done, with one more day to go. The show floor was mostly empty as I walked down one of the aisles, just finishing my last interview for the day. A corner turned, and there was Kyra Kennedy sitting alone at the Baratza booth, looking exhausted, but writing up notes from what I imagined were all the meetings and contacts she established that long day.
Kyra Kennedy at the 2003 SCAA Show in Anaheim
I took a quick photo, then walked up to say hello before heading off to my hotel room to do the same thing. The moment she looked up, her expression changed from tired and concentrated, to joy and warmth. “Mark!! What an excellent day! Are you enjoying the show? Are you collecting interesting stories on coffee?”.
For both of us, this SCAA trade show was our first, and as I sat down to chat, she revelled not only in her own initial experiences within the specialty coffee industry, but also took great joy in hearing about my own first time experiences at this event that celebrated great coffee. She made me realise the special moment we were in at the time, and all exhaustion I had was gone, replaced by a sense of wonder.
It was my best moment of that day.
This is who Kyra Kennedy is to me. She’s easily the most “people person” I’ve ever met. It’s not even just charisma or charm either (she has both in spades). Kennedy has the ability to make you the most important person in the room, and it’s entirely genuine. She’s also a person who always wants to learn and evolve, and wants to support and care for people in the industry. For her, profits never have a greater importance than a happy customer, and for over 20 years, that is how her leadership evolved Baratza.
Today, Kyra Kennedy is retiring from Baratza and the Specialty Coffee business. This comes after 25 plus years of building up a successful brand, seeing it flourish, and establishing what is literally the best after sales service and support system in the entire coffee equipment trade. She leaves behind a brilliant legacy of support, service, quality and care.
The Coffee Beginnings
Kyra Kennedy met Kyle Anderson in a chemistry class at University. That began a lifelong friendship, and an eventual business partnership. Anderson stayed in the sciences and became an Engineer, while Kennedy moved onto more ‘people-oriented’ scholastic goals.
“I started in college taking environmental studies and chemistry,” Kennedy told me, “but as my time in college progressed, I became more interested in people, leadership opportunities and business, so I got my Masters in Business Administration”.
After college, Anderson went on to basically invent the first successful commercial super automatic espresso machine, while Kennedy went to work for Jacques Cousteau of all people, selling and marketing his line of respiratory protective gear for first responders. The two friends always kept in touch (in these pre internet days), and one day Anderson approached Kennedy about joining him at Acorto, the super automatic espresso machine company he founded.
“Kyle wanted a different approach to marketing and sales at Acorto, and felt I could help there, so I joined him at the company.” Kennedy said.
Her time at Acorto didn’t last long; neither did it for Anderson. As Kennedy recalls it, “he thought if selling $20,000 machines to McDonalds was do-able, selling $2,000 super automatics to consumers would be a fascinating project to tackle, so he left the company he founded, and started up an import business, and said to me ‘I love working with you, come with me, we’re going to start a new company!’”.
Anderson felt it was a natural choice to start up a new company with Kennedy. “I wanted her for her sheer brilliance and curiosity. One of her superpowers is her ability to think, I mean really think! Sure, she brought sales management to our company, but we had to create Baratza from scratch, so there was a ton of creative thinking and problem solving, which she is a natural at.”
The first five years of Baratza was all about importing high end consumer super automatics and a few consumer espresso machines, but it also included importing a ground breaking, class leading $130 consumer grinder called the Solis 166. That grinder soon became their best seller, but Starbucks wanted the grinder exclusively, taking away this product Baratza worked very hard to establish in North America. There were also frustrations with Solis on the after-sales support and service side, something Kennedy wanted to establish within Baratza as class leading from day one.
That was one of the most important things Kennedy delivered within Baratza: an ongoing, evolving and ever-improving environment of excellent after-sales service and support, not only to the end consumer, but to their wholesale buyers. They felt they could not achieve their goals by importing some other company’s products. So Kennedy and Anderson decided in 2004 to do a radical thing: change from being an import company to a product manufacturer.
The Grinder Company
Five years after starting up, Baratza became a coffee grinder manufacturer.
“Our decision to move away from espresso machines and commit to our own brand of coffee grinders was no less than a total re-invention of our business, at year five.” Kyle Anderson said. “We deliberately decided to cut our annual revenues in half in 2005, a move many in business would not consider. Kyra and I made this move with excitement, and it helped create a new Baratza, one where we could really build our brand. It was like starting out all over again, solving problems every day. Again, Kyra’s strength in problem solving and re-inventing and marketing ourselves proved absolutely priceless to the success of the company.”
That grinder was the Baratza Maestro: a complete game changer in the world of consumer coffee grinders at the time. That grinder effectively ended the Solis 166’s reign as the best overall consumer grinder on the market because in almost every way, the new Baratza Maestro was better.
Original Maestro Grinder
The original Maestro grinder (next to a Ditting commercial grinder), initially branded for Solis, broke a lot of ground: the one touch button up front for one handed espresso portafilter grinding, the grind selections, quiet operation, and more.
The problem is, no one knew about it early on. Certainly not wholesale importers, coffee shops and roasters, all of whom would be the main buyers of the grinder in bulk from Baratza.
This is where Kyra Kennedy’s ability to develop and evolve a positive culture within Baratza, and her ability to market and sell really started to shine. She had an unproven, “first production on the market” product and started to work her magic. It helped a lot that the product was fantastic for its time.
Kennedy was determined to completely stand by the Maestro and ensure every single Baratza customer with reasonable expectations would be satisfied with their purchase, and the support that came along with it. This is when Kennedy started to evolve her “care for the customers” mantra she instilled and firmly established in Baratza. It wasn’t just consumers either; it was Baratza’s primary customers: the wholesale purchasers, the cafes, the roasteries.
Anderson recalls that time: “Kyra has always been a woman of action. Our company’s commitment to take care of all who came into contact with Baratza grew out of the actions Kyra championed. We earned the trust of the coffee community by simply doing, not just talking about care. Care is in Kyra’s bones, so it was unavoidable that it should show up in our business acumen.”
One way Kennedy developed this trust in the coffee community was via Baratza’s constant presence at industry trade shows, including the big one: the SCAA (now SCA). “Being at SCA(A) every year was really our main opportunity to meet many of our customers.” Anderson said. “Baratza never had a traditional sales team, and we never travelled to see our customers. SCA shows were a critical part of the specialty coffee community, and Kyra was the core of organizing our presence at the SCA shows. She excelled in connecting with people in person.”
These efforts had a grassroot effect and provided a few epiphany moments for Kennedy. Both she and Anderson had extremely high respect and admiration for the industry leaders of the time – the top coffee roasters, the barista champions, the top cafes, the coffee educators they met – and for Kennedy, an epiphany moment arose from that. It came when she was visiting some of the best coffee shops in California and Washington State and started seeing the Maestro being used to do pour over coffee, or hearing these top baristas talking about the Maestro grinder and recommending it to friends and customers.
A second epiphany was when George Howell, the legit father of specialty coffee on the East Coast and the co-founder of Cup of Excellence, walked up to the Baratza booth one day (with a TV crew and several fans following him!) and he proceeded to explain the Baratza Maestro grinder in depth to the camera. “Here comes George Howell, one of those people I always heard about and admired in (specialty) coffee but had never met, bright camera lights and a fellow with a microphone held in front of George, and he’s heading to our booth!” Kennedy recalled. “I thought, ‘what’s going on here, there’s no way he knows who we are!’ but he comes right into the booth, doing a running narration and walks over to the grinder, and starts explaining it, explaining the importance of a good grinder, and talking about how great our product was!”
Kyra Kennedy at 2008 SCAA
For Kennedy, acceptance and trust from the specialty coffee roasters, from the professional baristas, from the cafe owners, was paramount to the company’s long term success. Once she started hearing about these groups using their grinders at farmers markets, or in catering events, or while doing consumer classes, this meant her brand had finally “made it”. She strived to work even further on gaining that acceptance, as she saw it absolutely crucial for the future success of Baratza.
The Game Changer Years
After the Maestro, Baratza released the Virtuoso grinder. A solid upgrade with a new motor, and more heavyweight body compared to the original Maestro. Their next grinder really set the standard for what Baratza was doing in grinder technology: the Baratza Vario. One of its best features (besides a macro-micro adjustment of grind, and having flat burrs) was that you could grind directly into cupping cups, something ideal for roasters and coffee buyers.
Then came the Vario-W model. It blew the Vario out of the park because of the addition of something every coffee professional – from baristas to roasters to cafe owners – had been asking for in a grinder: a built in scale.
The Vario-W, and every scale-enabled grinder since, owes itself to Kyra Kennedy listening to coffee roasters and professional baristas. One of her internal goals at Baratza was to become the defacto recommended grinder by all the people she and Anderson admired so much in the specialty coffee industry.
Kennedy feels her role in Baratza fully blossomed in 2008 to 2010 with the increasing popularity of manual pour over devices like the Hario and Kalitta brewers, and with Baratza’s ability to deliver a grinder that would fully match the new demands the hyper-specialty coffee community had been clamoring for. But the company also had to deliver support, education and care – something Kennedy was adamant about. For her, Baratza was a company you partnered with, not just some company you bought a few products from.
“We started thinking about how do we sell to customers (wholesale buyers, roasters, cafes) when to us, the word ‘sales’ means how do you solve their potential problems down the road, how do you make it easier for them to be successful selling your product to the end user.” Kennedy said.
As this service model evolved, Kennedy developed a further strategy within Baratza: how do we say yes to an end customer. “We continued to evolve how we worked with our commercial customers, to make it easier than ever for them to sell our products.” Kennedy said. “One way was to continually develop and refine our after sales support system”.
For Kennedy, it didn’t matter where you bought a Baratza grinder – if you owned one and it broke down, the company would help you to get it running again. They did so by having a large stock of replacement parts that they sold at minimal markup. They also produced video tutorials on doing home repairs. Anderson himself would go out to local classes and tutorials organized by cafes and roasters and lecture on the product. Whatever it took for the customer to truly believe Baratza stood behind their products, they did it.
This was a matter of constant evolution for Baratza, as Kennedy continued to define and refine the company’s ethos and mantra with regards to customers – both the wholesale customer and the end consumer enjoying the product on the shelf. In some extreme cases, Kennedy went so far as to fully replace grinders for consumers who lost their Baratza in a house fire or other tragedy, at no cost. It’s not something she advertised doing or told many about, but I know there were many examples of this by the company because I’ve heard the stories first hand from consumers over the years.
Kyra Kennedy’s Impact
Kyra Kennedy is a very natural and resilient force in business, especially within the specialty coffee business which, to be honest, has not been particularly kind or welcoming to women in positions of leadership and authority for much of its existence. There’s a lot of that Kennedy has had to overcome that I couldn’t even fathom as a male.
I spoke to Lee Safar, founder of Map it Forward, a podcaster, and a coffee small business development consultant and coach, about Kennedy and her overall impact and presence in the specialty coffee trade.
“Kyra sees things that most leaders don’t. When people speak, she listens to the things that aren’t being said as much as she listens to the things that are being spoken. The way she values people as much as profits is evident in the commitment the team at Baratza has to delivering exceptional customer service. Their jobs aren’t just jobs. They are on a mission, inspired by their leaders.”
Safar continued: “Kyra recognizes that we, as people and as companies, cannot grow if we aren’t prepared to focus on what’s not working. It takes leadership that values empathy and vulnerability to grow in those areas. Most people use these ideas as buzz words without follow through. Not Kyra! She’s prepared to play the long game to build teams that thrive, and she recognizes that this is the core to a company’s long term success. Most leaders don’t have the stamina for the investment required for these long term gains.”
“We’re in a changing world and industry where entrepreneurs are caught between hustle culture and bad business models. Kyra demonstrates that if you build something for the long term that isn’t trying to trick people, your profits are more than just money. You profit by building a brand that your customers are invested in. You have to be prepared to do the ‘hard hard work’ as well as the ‘easy hard work’ to build something like this. Most people are happy to do the easy hard work. Kyra has the grit to do the ‘hard hard work’ and inspires the leaders in her company not to be afraid of doing the ‘hard hard work’ either. Be like Kyra!” Safar said.
Phil McKnight, President of Global Specialty Coffee with Breville, had similar comments. When asked what makes Kennedy a force in the specialty coffee business, McKnight said, “I think she cares deeply about the consumer’s experience as a foundation and then built on top of that she cares very much about everyone in the value chain, employees, suppliers, customers alike. Kyra has created a business culture built around caring and I think this has enabled Baratza to become a unique & successful brand in the Specialty Coffee industry.”
In terms of what lessons others can learn from Kennedy’s example, McKnight said, “Focus less on financial objectives and more on business culture. If you get this right, then one will flow from the other. Easy to say, much harder to achieve without a strong commitment.”
Kyra Kennedy at 2021 Milan Coffee Show
On Retirement
Today as I write this, (October 7, 2022, Kyra Kennedy is retiring from Baratza. Breville purchased Baratza from Kyle Anderson and Kennedy back on October 1, 2020, and Kennedy knew her time at the company would move from an active role, to a transitioning role, handing over the keys as they are, to Breville’s senior staff.
“With the integration of Baratza within Breville, it has been exciting and a time of great leadership learning for me, as the company’s CEO.” Kennedy said. “With Phil McKnight’s move to Seattle this year and his shift into Baratza’s leadership role and Baratza moving onto its next chapter, it was time for me to step away. I am confident that the strong, talented team at Baratza is prepared to take the company into an exciting new future.”
Legacy… it’s a word that has some gravitas to it. When you run a successful and constantly growing company for over 20 years, you build your legacy every single day within that company and amongst everyone you interact with and partner with. Kennedy’s time at Baratza has built up an astounding level of it.
Phil McKnight was succinct about Kennedy’s legacy: “I think Kyra’s legacy will be how a vision centred around ‘care’ can allow a business to flourish & succeed as an alternative to straight out financial goals.”
Lee Safar sees Kennedy in a special way. “Kyra’s legacy is leading people with integrity and supporting brands that do the same.” Safar said. “Baratza was one of the first sponsors of our podcast and Kyra made sure I knew that what I was building was valuable to the industry and that, while what I was doing was going to be hard, I should never give up having the difficult conversations that aren’t being had anywhere else. She encouraged me to continue being brave and supported my vision. She has been my biggest champion. She isn’t leaving anything behind; her shoulders are ones I am blessed enough, and honoured enough, to stand on.”
On a personal note, I can echo Safer’s words. Kyra Kennedy has been a constant supporter of mine, of my efforts in specialty coffee, and of the CoffeeGeek community as a whole; indeed Baratza was our very first advertiser. She has shared countless words of encouragement and positivity with me in everything we strived to do with this website and its community. Anytime I was organizing a charity fundraiser, a major consumer event, or anything involving “giving back”, I knew Kennedy would be all in with Baratza’s support.
What many of our community may not know is this: Kennedy didn’t do all this charity and event participation to just advertise her brand. She did it because of the level of care she has for the broad specialty coffee community. This too was part of her broader “care” strategy with Baratza but it was also a core part of who she is. Kennedy wanted to give back to the greater group that embraced and trusted her, her brand, her company, and her products.
I can attest to the fact this care extended to many unadvertised, private situations where people in sad or difficult situations got a helping hand from Kennedy and Baratza; I know this because I’ve heard stories directly from some of these people over the years. This too is a big part of Kennedy’s legacy, especially with coffee consumers.
Lastly, Kennedy herself reflected on her legacy: “Baratza’s success and people centric culture is an example for other companies. I have shared our story, as well as our vision, mission and core values with other leaders. I am confident that people that worked with, or for, Baratza have also picked up the importance of culture, vision, and “doing the right thing” from Baratza, and both Kyle and me.”
We are going to sorely miss Kyra Kennedy in the specialty coffee industry, but I do hope she has one of the best retirements ever. Knowing her and what drives her, I am sure she will make the most of it.
