If you know them, you love them.

Valor Coffee is a specialty coffee shop in downtown Alpharetta that exists to uplift people through coffee.

We chatted with Ross Walters and Ethan Rivers, two of the three owners of Valor, to hear about:

• The importance of values + how to find them

• What sparked their unique brand voice

• How they are reflecting over the last year as they approach their cafe’s one year anniversary

Plus, some big exciting things coming down the line for valor.

Grab your coffee and let’s jump in!

1. How do you maintain your magnetic culture & environment?

We are committed to sticking to our mission, vision, and values, which all center around uplifting people through coffee.

It all starts with hiring the right people! The best thing about the cafe is our team - they make it way better than we ever could’ve by ourselves.

Part of our hiring criteria is finding people who are already living out our values in their own lives, so they are simply living them out here, too.

We don’t tell people to be nice, we hire people who already are! 

The consistent, uplifting feeling comes naturally because it's who our team is.

2. Where do you find inspiration in your industry? 

Actually, we often look for and find inspiration in industries other than coffee.

Take a nice restaurant for example, the server knows everything there is to know about menu and they don’t make you feel stupid for not knowing everything about it. We brought that kind of approach to the coffee industry.

When we all worked other jobs in the service industry, we saw so many places that only care about products and not about people, or vice versa, but we really strive to care for people well while also serving a killer product.

we always say “excellence and empathy.”

3. You mentioned your values. What are yours and how easy was it to solidify them?

We have seven core values, and it took us about 2 1/2 years to land on them. Ross has always been the vehicle pushing for a refinement of values and culture at Valor, and we are grateful for that!

Our core values are:

• Put Empathy into Action

• Hunger for Growth

• Challenge the Status Quo

• Think Ahead

• Better Together

• Details Matter

• Get Your Freak on

Every morning before a shift, the opening team picks the “Play of the Day”, which is one of our values or another action we encourage our team to keep top of mind and intentionally live out that day.

4. how did you find your voice for your digital content?

Our voice came from how we talk behind the bar - we wanted it to feel the same as how the cafe feels.

We write how we talk - funny, witty, and sometimes just downright ridiculous.

It was definitely a choice, because you run the risk of forsaking a certain audience and some people may not always get it, but we want our brand to be consistent in-person and online.

We want to be empathetic, but we also want to be ourselves.

5. Congratulations on your cafe’s first birthday! What has been your biggest area of growth over the last year? 

One year ago, there were only three of us - now there are ten!

Seeing our team take on responsibilities without us has been the biggest area of growth for sure. Slowly but surely, we (owners) aren’t doing everything. We have awesome people who are empowered to do what we do with us.

To have unified vision, mission, and values, we have to operate in a high feedback environment: speak to someone in love, but tell them how they need to act in line with who we say we are as a company.

And it's not a one-way street, our team is able to do that for us, too.

The more people you bring on, the more you realize you have to actively fight for your culture.

6. we hear you guys are huge readers - What books would you recommend to other business owners?

The bookshelf in our office stays stocked with books we read as we were discovering what we wanted Valor to be and how we wanted it to operate.

These are a few that greatly influenced how we operate with our employees and guests and the why behind a lot of what we do:

• The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber

• Make Time by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky

• The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier

• Start With Why by Simon Sinek

• 5 Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni

• The Power of Moments by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

7. What’s been your favorite cafe memory from your first year?

In light of the recent national discussion on racial discrimination, one of our team members came to us with the idea to hear from some of our beloved guests of color on their experiences, stories, and perspectives on the current cultural climate.

The event sold out in person and over 1,000 people watched online. It was cool to see how our cafe was being used as a force for racial reconciliation.

It’s cool to see that our cafe’s favorite memory is one that has to do with extending our values into our community and seeing our community respond with such excitement.

(Watch Valor’s Listen & Learn event on Instagram.)

8. if you Can tease anything that’s coming in the future… what can you share?

We love keeping up with seasonal menus and merch, so look out for some fun fall flavors and goodies coming soon!

We’re also taking steps towards building out our own roastery and lab near the cafe…stay tuned. :-)

AND LASTLY, How do you make your coffee at home?

Funny enough, I (Ethan) rarely make coffee at home!

When I do have coffee at home, my wife makes us a V60. It’s perfect for making a single cup of coffee or coffee for two.

we loved learning from Valor coffee!

Here are three things that stood out to us:

1. your values guide EVERYTHING you do - find them and let them lead your brand, how you act, how you hire, and reinforce them often.

2. there is always something more to be learned - be it from industries other than your own or great books.

3. know your voice and speak it consistently.

If you loved learning about Valor Coffee, let them know!

• Visit Valor Coffee and tell them we sent ya! (Be sure to tell them it’s your first time and grab a sweet sticker.)

• Bring some Valor bean home.

• Check out their fun merch - there’s always something new.