A new financial management course for existing retailers is now being offered at Bellissimo’s American Barista & Coffee School.

The two-day Coffee CFO class will be taught by Chris Legler, Starbucks veteran and former CFO of Barnie's Coffee and Tea Company. Legler is an experienced financial strategist who has held executive positions in finance and administration, marketing, retail operations and strategic planning. Legler is also joining Bellissimo as a financial consultant. Read Chris' full bio.

The Coffee CFO class will be held October 13 – 14. Cost is $1,595 for the first student and $1,395 for each additional student. Call 800.655.3955 to register. On-line registration is also available.

Why Attend Coffee CFO?
Individual entrepreneurs and small chains often don't have the financial resources to hire a Chief Financial Officer, even though financial management is one of the most important components of running a successful business. The American Barista & Coffee School’s new Coffee CFO course will give you the tools you need to manage the financial side of your business and the confidence and skills to take it to the next level.

This two-day course will take a comprehensive look at how to optimize the overall profitability of your coffee business. Creating a successful business involves understanding how to increase long-term profitability through sales growth while managing your costs at an optimal level. Also knowing how to manage your available cash is crucial to managing the growth of your business.

This course will start by learning how to analyze current sales. This can be key to developing marketing initiatives as well as product offerings that will grow your revenue. You will also gain a better understanding of the costs of your beverages and other products. This will help you determine pricing structures as well as where to focus your energies.

Managing labor to an optimal level will help drive your sales while maintaining an affordable cost structure. The class will spend time looking at the complexities of labor.

Understanding the capacities and current asset utilizations can help your company free up cash flow that can be used to expand your business.

This workshop will examine ways to increase your cash flow by examining inventory returns, equipment investments, systems investments and human capital. This includes how to evaluate a new site from a financial prospective including sales and cost projections as well as common items to look for in negotiating with landlords.

The course will wrap up with an all-important view of prioritization of your financial needs. Planning the course through simple budgeting will allow you to better achieve the goals that you have set. A well thought out plan will also point out where improvements are needed.

Coffee CFO Class Overview

Day 1

• Revenue Management: How to use sales analysis to grow your business
• Beverage Costing: How to measure beverage costs and how to use the information
• Loss Prevention through cash and inventory control
• Labor Management: Understand how many hours are needed, how to pay for and account for managers and how to develop incentive plans for growth
• Marketing Analysis, including understanding promotions as well as brand development
• Expense Management

• Inventory Management: How to optimize inventory, true costs of inventory and managing payment terms
• Large investments, including how to evaluate equipment purchases and understanding when it is time to grow
• Proforma Development: How to evaluate a new site financially through sales development, cost management and an understanding of occupancy costs
• Understanding financing options and needs
• Development of a budget and prioritization of financial needs

Chris Legler, a Financial Strategist for over 17 years with experiences in the coffee, retail, entertainment and manufacturing industries, has joined Bellissimo as a Senior Consultant and Instructor at the American Barista & Coffee School.

Chris has held executive positions in finance and administration, marketing, retail operations and strategic planning. He was Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Barnie’s Coffee and Tea Company and has held positions of increasing responsibility with Starbucks Coffee Company, Sony, British Petroleum, Blockbuster Entertainment and Eddie Bauer.

While at Starbucks, Chris participated in the early high growth of the company as they grew from less than 50 stores to over 2,000 during his tenure. He was instrumental at developing the initial beverage costing models including gaining a deep understanding of cost components, condiment usage and regional variances in beverage production. He also worked heavily with Real Estate, Retail Operations and Marketing. Projects included development of proforma models that projected new store economics prior to lease negotiations, implementation of cash control and loss prevention measures and installation of labor scheduling models and systems.

As owner and roaster of a coffee roasting/wholesale company in Northern California, Chris gained an understanding of the needs and challenges that face small businesses. Chris’s hands on approach and deep understanding of the coffee business provide excellent insight in financial planning for coffee retailers, wholesalers and roasters.

Chris’ background in providing assistance in developing tools such as sales analysis, beverage costing models, labor modeling, and project analysis is extensive. He has helped a variety of companies in understanding their strategic mission and creating an actionable, tactical plan to achieve these goals. Identifying and locating business growth opportunities, creating cost saving measures and prioritization of action steps is one of Chris’ great strengths.

Chris earned his MBA in Operations Management and International Business from Seattle University and his Bachelors of Business Administration in Finance from Pacific Lutheran University.