Pushing Our Agenda – I used to be upset when I made a coffee and someone did not like it. Not angry, just quietly disappointed. That feeling when something you have put time and care into does not land the way you hoped.

Hospitality has a funny way of reshaping you. It is not just about serving, it is about what you learn in the process. Patience. The ability to really listen, not just wait for your turn to speak. The calmness that comes from chaos. Problem-solving when everything is on fire. Organisation when nothing is going to plan.

But of all those lessons, patience has been the greatest gift.

Because being patient is how you push an agenda. Not through volume or speed, but through quiet consistency.

I have learned some hard truths along the way. Sometimes it is simply not the right place, not the right time, or the person you are serving has more pressing things in their life than your cup of coffee. And that is fine. At first, I took it personally. I thought, what is the point? I cannot change the world one cup at a time. People do not care.

Then I remembered what hospitality really is. It is a community. You do not need everyone to care, just the right people. The ones who get it. The ones who might care tomorrow. All I needed to do was find my herd and be patient enough to grow with them.

In hospitality, sometimes it takes an entire dinner service before a guest decides to tell you they loved it. Sometimes, it takes a lifetime for someone to care about where their coffee comes from. But that is all right too.

Because I have the time.

And if sharing what I have learned about coffee, about people, and about patience helps someone else to listen, care, or just think a little differently, then that is enough.

I will keep pushing the agenda, one cup, one conversation, one small act of patience at a time.

Marcus