600: Founder Friday w/ Sammy Piccolo of Prado Cafe Vancouver, BC

The world of specialty coffee today owes a lot of its success to those who helped build movements and create opportunities in earlier years. The times where new and actually meaningful advances in coffee shops, coffee craft, and service. There were many people and businesses that were at the forefront of the 3rd wave coffee movement and we get to talk with one of those people today! On this Founder Friday we get to sit down with my friend and coffee legend, Sammy Piccolo, of Caffe Artigiano, and now owner of Prado Cafe in Vancouver Washington. Sammy Piccolo has spend nearly 3 decades in the coffee world. A 4x Canadian Barista Champion, The firs World Latte Art Champion, and 3x top 3 finisher at World Barista Championships including coming in 2nd in After Sammy's brothers Vince and Mike founded Caffe Artigiano in 1999, Sammy immediately jumped on board. Artigiano championed progressive espresso culture, popularized latte art in Canada, and innovated service styles in their massively busy shops. Many future owners and champions came from that cafe. Sammy took over Prado Cafe in 2012 and has grown it to a fleet of almost 10 shops with a decidedly more simple and minimal approach with a heavy emphasis on hospitality and in house baking. Today we get to look back to the early days and talk with Sammy about his journey, the lessons he learned, his opinions and insights into the industry and competitions, and the things he believes are at the root of success for cafe operations. Links: KEYS TO THE SHOP ALSO OFFERS 1:1 CONSULTING AND COACHING! If you are a cafe owner and want to work one on one with me to bring your shop to its next level and help bring you joy and freedom in the process then email chris@keystothshop.com of book a free call now: Related episodes: 544: Love Coffee, Control Caffeine w/ 2013 WBC Champ Pete Licata of Caffeine Control Coffee 391 : Founder Friday! w/ Megan Wilson of Spuds Coffee in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida 327: Founder Friday! w/ Phuong Tran of Lava Java

You can listen to 600: Founder Friday w/ Sammy Piccolo of Prado Cafe Vancouver, BC online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

600: Founder Friday w/ Sammy Piccolo of Prado Cafe Vancouver, BC is an episode from Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Retail Professionals by www.keystotheshop.com.

This episode is 55:36 long.

This episode was published on Apr 24, 2026.

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