Interview Guide: Maya Ortiz on Small Shop Big Ideas

Assumed angle / episode goal: How Maya made a four-day, 32-hour week with no pay cut work financially and operationally at Loop Coffee, with steps listeners can try in their own shops. Format: 45 minutes, relaxed and conversational, solo host. These questions are written for first-time founders running 1–2 locations, so they use plain language.

Before you record: My searches turned up nothing about Maya or Loop Coffee, and loopcoffee.com currently shows as a domain for sale on GoDaddy. Please check her correct website and handles with her before you read them on air (see Q20 and the Research notes).

On-air intro (read aloud)

My guest today started out as a barista at 19. In 2016 she opened her first café with $40,000 of her own savings. Today Maya Ortiz runs Loop Coffee: three cafés in Austin, Texas, 38 staff, and about $2 million in annual revenue. In 2022 she did something a lot of us would call impossible in hospitality. She moved her whole team to a four-day, 32-hour week without cutting anyone's pay. Maya, welcome to Small Shop Big Ideas.

The 20 questions

Warm-up

1. You started as a barista at 19. What's one shift or moment from behind the counter back then that you still think about?

• Why ask: It opens with a personal story and reminds listeners she started as staff.
• Follow-up: How does that memory shape the way you treat your baristas today?

2. When you walk into one of your three cafés, what's the first thing you look at or check?

• Why ask: It shows her instincts as an operator in a fun, quick way.
• Follow-up: What does that one thing tell you about how the day is going?

Origin & turning points

3. You opened your first café in 2016 with $40,000 in savings. Walk me through where that money actually went.

• Why ask: It gives concrete startup numbers that first-time founders will relate to.
• Follow-up: What did you skimp on that you later wished you'd spent more on?

4. What told you that you were ready to go from barista to owner?

• Why ask: It draws out the moment of decision and the mindset behind it.
• Follow-up: Who or what gave you the confidence to take that leap?

5. Going from one café to three is a big jump. What made you decide it was time to open the second?

• Why ask: Many listeners have one or two locations and are weighing exactly this.
• Follow-up: What broke, or nearly broke, when you added that second location?

6. Take me back to 2022, before the four-day week. What was going on in the business that made you seriously consider it?

• Why ask: It sets up the core topic with the real problem she was trying to solve.
• Follow-up: How long did you think it over before you committed?

The core topic: making the four-day week work

7. Walk me through the math. How did you cut hours to 32 without cutting pay and still make the numbers work?

• Why ask: This is the question listeners came for. Let her take her time.
• Follow-up: What role, if any, did menu pricing play in covering the cost?

8. Cafés need coverage every open hour. How did you rebuild the schedule so the doors stay open while everyone works four days?

• Why ask: It covers the operational puzzle every owner will be picturing.
• Follow-up: What does a typical week's rota look like for one café now?

9. How did labor cost as a share of revenue change in the first year after the switch?

• Why ask: It gives listeners a real benchmark to compare against.
• Follow-up: How long did it take for that number to settle?

10. What did you have to stop doing, or do differently, so the same work fit into fewer hours?

• Why ask: It brings out specific process changes, like prep, cleaning, ordering, or meetings.
• Follow-up: Which change surprised you most by how much time it saved?

11. How did you tell your team, and what worries came up when you did?

• Why ask: It covers the people side and how she communicated the change.
• Follow-up: Which concern turned out to be the hardest to solve?

12. How has the four-day week changed hiring and staff turnover for you?

• Why ask: It shows the payoff side of the decision.
• Follow-up: How do you talk about the four-day week in job ads or interviews?

Practical takeaways

13. Say a listener runs one café with eight staff and wants to try this. What's the very first step you'd tell them to take?

• Why ask: It turns her story into a starting point listeners can act on.
• Follow-up: What should they have in place before they announce anything to staff?

14. How would you set up a trial period so an owner can test a shorter week without betting the business on it?

• Why ask: It gives a low-risk way to experiment, which suits first-time founders.
• Follow-up: How long should a trial run before someone judges the results?

15. What numbers should an owner track every week to know whether a shorter week is working or hurting?

• Why ask: It gets her to name specific metrics listeners can write down.
• Follow-up: Which tool or report do you use to keep an eye on those numbers?

16. What's the biggest mistake you made during the rollout that listeners could avoid?

• Why ask: Honest mistakes are often the most useful part of an episode.
• Follow-up: How did you notice it, and how long did it take to fix?

Challenge & perspective

17. Some owners say a four-day week only works once you reach your size. What would you say to someone running one café on thin margins?

• Why ask: It's respectful pushback that voices the listener's likely doubt.
• Follow-up: What kind of business, if any, do you think this genuinely doesn't suit?

18. You wrote a widely shared LinkedIn post about the hardest firing you've ever done. What did that experience teach you about being a fair boss?

• Why ask: It links her values as a leader to how she treats staff. Let her