Matt Milletto is Bellissimo's Consulting Director. He is responsible for coordinating Bellissimo's individual and corporate consulting programs, acting as liaison between Bellissimo clients and consultants while improving the operation efficiency of the company's consulting division. He is also responsible for the company's web design, graphic design and internet solutions. Matt has extensive experience in retail coffee and has managed multiple coffeehouses and worked as a barista since 1994.

Matt is the Director of the American Barista & Coffee School and is one of four lead baristas in Bellissimo's Advanced Barista Training/Fancy Pours DVD. He regularly speaks at Coffee Fest, Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA), and other industry tradeshows and has been quoted in numerous newspapers and industry magazines. Matt sits on the SCAA Training Committee and the Espresso Training Sub-Committee. Matt placed third in the Millrock Latte Art Competition at Coffee Fest Atlanta in 2007 and is a certified barista competition judge for USBC regional competitions. He is the founder of Barista Exchange and Viva Barista, and spends his spare time promoting coffee quality and education.

Bruce is recognized by the press and the coffee industry internationally as "the voice of the specialty coffee industry."

The media frequently call upon Bruce for information about the specialty coffee industry. He was quoted in the popular 2007 book Starbucked: A Double Tall Tale of Caffeine, Commerce, and Culture by Taylor Clark. He has been interviewed by, or quoted in: the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, Newsweek, 60 Minutes, Kiplinger's, Starbucks Annual Report, Forbes, the Economist, Harvard Management Update, Crain's Business Review, the Seattle Times, the Oregonian, the Washington Post and Entrepreneur. His expert commentary has been heard on the radio, including Coffee Talk on National Public Radio. In 2003-2004, Mr. Milletto appeared on an HGTV [Fine Living Network] television series that aired on the national cable station and on the United Airlines in-flight service network. In 2005, he appeared on the History channel program Modern Marvels in an episode about coffee.

Bruce is often described as a Renaissance man, as he is also an accomplished composer, fine arts collector, and has worked for various corporations and government agencies in marketing and teaching positions. He has owned three successful retail gourmet coffee operations and has assisted numerous clients in creating new coffee start-ups around the world. As a consultant, he has worked with individual and corporate clients in Asia, Mexico, Europe, the Middle East, and North America.

Bruce holds an undergraduate degree from Northern Arizona University and a master's degree from the University of Oregon, where he taught in subsequent years in the MBA department.

In 2003, the Specialty Coffee Association of America [SCAA] named Bruce Milletto one of its 20 "Coffee Luminaries," and in 2004, he appeared in Gourmet Retailer's 25th anniversary issue on the list of the 25 individuals who helped shape the specialty coffee industry.

Bruce is also the recipient of the SCAA's Distinguished Author Award in 1999. He serves on the prestigious editorial boards of Fresh Cup Magazine and the Specialty Coffee Journal, covering the marketing segment of the specialty coffee industry. He also is a member of a coffee product review panel for NSF International, an independent, not-for-profit third party standards development and certification organization specializing in public and environmental health. Bruce serves on, and is the former Vice Chair of, the SCAA Communication Committee, is Chairman of the advisory board of Coffee Kids and is a volunteer and member of the Coffee Corps.

Underscoring his role as the "voice for the specialty coffee industry," Bruce wrote a column for many years for Fresh Cup magazine, the specialty coffee industry's leading publication. He continues to frequently author articles for the magazine as well as provide articles and interviews for such trade publications as Specialty Coffee Retailer, Fancy Food, Coffee and Beverage [Canada], Euro Coffee [Italy] and Coffeenet [Greece].

Bruce was the keynote speaker at the first Greek Coffee Industry Forum in 2001, and has provided keynote speeches and led seminars at all of North America's major coffee trade shows, as well as coffee events and trade shows in Europe. Bruce was a featured speaker at CoffeeBiz 2006 in Thessaloniki, Greece and served as a WBC Judge at the Greek Barista Championships held in conjunction with CoffeeBiz.

Bruce is the author of Effective + Essential Marketing for the Specialty Coffee Retailer, which was named Best New Educational Product at the 2005 SCAA Conference and Exhibition, and co-author of Bean Business Basics, Bellissimo's 740-page start-up/operational manual, now in it’s third edition.

Bruce is also an award-winning film producer/director of coffee-industry films. In 2001, the Bruce Milletto/Kenneth David's production, The Passionate Harvest, won Best of Show at Coffee Fest Las Vegas and Best New Product at the 2001 Specialty Coffee Association of America Conference and Exhibition. The film won a Bronze Award at the 22nd Annual Telly Awards, a Silver Award at the 2001 Summit Awards, the Award of Distinction at the 2001 Videographer Awards and a Platinum Award at WorldFest Houston 2001. In 2005, Bruce won a Gold Award from WorldFest Houston for Advanced Barista Training: Extreme Pours.

Ed Arvidson is co-founder of Bellissimo, and has accumulated over 20 years experience in the food service industry while working for national and regional restaurant corporations. He has also owned his own successful restaurant. During his career, he has held positions at a variety of operations as: corporate food and beverage director; corporate management trainer; and owner/general manager. He has managed high-volume units with annual sales approaching $3 million, and has supervised staffs in excess of 100. He is an expert in all aspects of operations, menu research and development.

Ed has written for several coffee industry periodicals, and has been a frequent speaker at industry trade shows. He is co-author and co-developer with Bruce Milletto of many Bellissimo products, including the start-up manual Bean Business Basics and the award-winning training video "Espresso 101."

Jared Mockli began his career in the specialty coffee industry as a part-time employee at an espresso drive-thru while attending college. Since that time, he has managed traditional coffeehouses, and coffee bars in gas stations, smoke shops, and health food stores.

Prior to coming to Bellissimo, Jared managed a high profile coffeehouse in Seattle. Under his management, sales at the coffeehouse nearly doubled and Jared gained a reputation as one of Seattle’s best baristas. In 2002, he was voted “Best Barista in West Seattle” by readers of the West Seattle Herald and one of “Seattle’s Favorite Baristas” by the readers of the Seattle Times. In 2003, Jared became the Executive Director of the Seattle Barista Academy, where he was responsible for the design and implementation of the school’s curriculum, in addition to daily operations. Jared believes strongly in the importance of quality coffee coupled with great customer service when building community between patrons and staff.

Chris Legler has been a Financial Strategist for over 17 years with experiences in the coffee, retail, entertainment and manufacturing industries. As owner and roaster of a coffee roasting/wholesale company in Northern California, Chris gained an understanding of the needs and challenges that face small businesses. Chris’s hands on approach and deep understanding of the coffee business provide excellent insight in financial planning for coffee retailers, wholesalers and roasters.

Chris’ background in providing assistance in developing tools such as sales analysis, beverage costing models, labor modeling, and project analysis is extensive. He has helped a variety of companies in understanding their strategic mission and creating an actionable, tactical plan to achieve these goals. Identifying and locating business growth opportunities, creating cost saving measures and prioritization of action steps is one of Chris’ great strengths.

Chris has held executive positions in finance and administration, marketing, retail operations and strategic planning. He was Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Barnie’s Coffee and Tea Company and has held positions of increasing responsibility with Starbucks Coffee Company, Sony, British Petroleum, Blockbuster Entertainment and Eddie Bauer.

While at Starbucks, Chris participated in the early high growth of the company as they grew from less than 50 stores to over 2,000 during his tenure. He was instrumental at developing the initial beverage costing models including gaining a deep understanding of cost components, condiment usage and regional variances in beverage production. He also worked heavily with Real Estate, Retail Operations and Marketing. Projects included development of proforma models that projected new store economics prior to lease negotiations, implementation of cash control and loss prevention measures and installation of labor scheduling models and systems.

He earned his MBA in Operations Management and International Business from Seattle University and his Bachelors of Business Administration in Finance from Pacific Lutheran University.

"A great cup of coffee is the perfect way to start the day," is the firm belief of Portland-based barista and trainer Rita Kaminsky. Rita found her passion for coffee and first honed her professional barista skills at Alterra Coffee Roasters in Milwaukee, WI. Prior to her eight years at Alterra, Rita worked for 12 years in the foodservice industry. Today, Rita lives in Portland, OR, where she works at the Albina Press. Recently, Rita participated in the 2006 Northwest Regional Barista Competition and in the future she hopes to utilize her competition experience and her training talents to become a competition judge. In her spare time, you can find Rita furthering her coffee education by cupping coffees at the Stumptown Annex or networking with other Portland coffee professionals at various coffeehouses.

Rob Ward discovered his passion for coffee eight years ago in a small café in St. Cloud, MN where he began his career as a barista. After relocating to the coffee capital of the United States, Portland, OR, Rob began working as a barista and trainer at the high-volume Bakery Bar café. He recently competed in the Northwest Regional Barista Competition and plans to compete in the United States Barista Championship later this year. Rob enjoys sharing his skills with other baristas and his customers; he is also on a mission to create and serve the perfect coffee beverage.