Barista Guild and SCAA Board Retract Regional Competition Overhaul, Form Committee for Future Qualifying Events

The previously announced changes to the US Barista Championship—including the controversial elimination of regional qualifying competitions—have been rescinded. The reversal was decided during the weekend at the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s (SCAA) strategic leadership summit in Atlanta. However, reverting the overhaul does not mean a return to the previous state of affairs.

“There is no way (regionals) can come back as we have known them,” said Lorenzo Perkins, president of the Barista Guild executive council. “That is a cold, hard reality.”

Announcements and Apology

The reversal was communicated through press releases from the Barista Guild and the SCAA board of directors. In the board’s note, president Tracy Allen apologized for how the changes were communicated, writing, “While we felt we had made the best decision on behalf of the entire membership, the barista community amplified what the Barista Guild of America Executive Council (BGAEC) had been saying . . . that these events are valuable beyond measure and there may be other solutions for USBC qualifying events.”

I don’t want to make any promises right now I’m not going to be able to keep. I don’t know right now what this is going to look like. I know what I want it to look like. I know what I hope comes of it.

Committee to Seek Solution

According to Perkins’ announcement, the Barista Guild will assemble a committee by July 13 “with the goal of presenting a solution for USBC qualifying events by September.” The committee will comprise members from the Barista Guild’s executive committee, the SCAA board, the SCAA competitions committee, SCAA staff, and USBC sponsors.

Communication Failures Acknowledged

Both press releases and conversations with Perkins and Allen highlighted improved communication as a key theme. Amid social media backlash, many SCAA and Barista Guild members were upset that their first indication of trouble for the regional competitions came when they learned of the cancellation through a press release issued via a coffee news website. (The decision to bypass other industry publications sparked its own controversy, largely because press releases—especially from industry-governing bodies—are typically distributed widely.)

The surprise extended beyond the wider coffee community. Last week, Perkins told us he had learned the details of the planned changes less than twenty-four hours before the announcement. Even Allen was taken aback. In an interview, he said he had known for years that the regional competitions would need to be reworked due to their costs, and a brief talk by SCAA executive director Ric Rhinehart during a finance meeting earlier this year had indicated they were likely headed for elimination. At least that was the message Allen thought he received. Rhinehart, for his part, believed he had told the board the axe was ready to drop—which it did when the board approved the SCAA’s budget.

At the summit, the board directed SCAA staff to improve communication both internally and with membership. “The staff took a lot of hits over the weekend,” Allen said. “The staff was very humble and quick to admit missteps.” He later added, “It wasn’t a weekend of disciplining anybody. It was owning the mistake, show us you’re interested in finding a way to improve, and let’s find a way to make it better.”

Financial Realities Remain

Both Allen and Perkins stress that identifying the financial shortcomings of the regional competitions was not among the missteps. “These regional competitions have not been economically viable for a long period of time,” Perkins said. “Where we stand right now is at an opportunity to take a really hard look at it and put absolutely everything on the table—as far as what we can do, what we should do, what it might look like, what it might sound like—that would be able to save some type of qualifying structure for the USBC.”

That is as detailed as the plan gets for now. In many ways, this was the situation the original decision had hoped to avoid. Last week, Heather Perry, the SCAA board’s second vice president, said the decision had to be made quickly and decisively before competitors were too far into their preparation for regionals. No replacements had been planned, she said, because “it would have just been thrown together.”

The USBC structure would have been like having the World Cup seeded with the first twenty countries and twelve groups of dudes who could tweet goal!—strange, possibly amusing, likely embarrassing, and certainly not the best slate of competitors.

That left USBC berths to be filled on a first-come, first-served basis, including twelve slots for “anyone interested in competing.” That aspect, more than any other element of the announcement, seemed doomed, even if the regional cancellation drew more outrage. The July 13 committee’s goal is as much about preserving the USBC’s competitiveness as it is about resolving the changes the SCAA says must happen to the regional competitions.

After a week of witnessing the backlash from poor communication, Perkins will not guarantee the outcome of the committee he is forming.

“I’m a guy who likes to under promise and over deliver,” Perkins said. “I don’t want to make any promises right now I’m not going to be able to keep. I don’t know right now what this is going to look like. I know what I want it to look like. I know what I hope comes of it. But right now the thing immediately before our faces and in our hands is the ability to create this committee and bring in people who weren’t brought in before, to listen to their voices.”

Ideas for future barista competitions can be sent to [email protected] or by using the hashtag #BGAvoice.