Managing Staff

Staff are often seen as the biggest challenge for coffee shop owners and managers. Working in a coffee shop is seen to most people as a part time or temporary job. Unfortunately working as a barista is not seen as a career. This is a shame since barista work is one of the nicer professions out there!

The view of the public for barista / coffee shop work creates a problem for most managers. It can be hard finding staff that are motivated and truly enjoy the job. We all know how important staff are to a business and this is even more important for a coffee shop.

Your staff are the face of your business and your customers come back for your staff - or stay away!

how do you find good staff for a coffee shop?

There are many options such as recruitment agencies, jobcentre plus and local newspapers. However, we believe that the best option is to advertise in-store for new staff. In-store recruiting has a few advantages: you find people that visit coffee shops, the applicant can make a good decision before applying and it often gives you the opportunity to have a pre-interview chat.

How to perform an interview?

This is mainly up to you. You have the option to go for a formal interview with the standard interview questions or you go the other way and you have a long, friendly and informal chat. The main goal is the same: you need to get to know the applicant and they need to get to know you. Find out why this person wants to work in a coffee shop and imagine her/him working with your team.

Be confident about the person before you make any promises. It does not hurt to have a second interview but do not give false hope. Recruiting is extremely important and you should be 100% sure that you emply the right person.

Keeping your staff happy

Keeping staff happy is often something that is taking likely. Working in a coffee shop is a lot fun but can also be hard work and you sometimes make long hours. It is therefore important to motivate your staff in many ways. This means complimenting on good efforts, setting up incentives such as a daily promotions, off-hours socialising for team building, one-on-one conversations, feedback about work etc etc.

Do you lead by example?

Position yourself in their shoes and think back of the days that you worked for someone else. What was it that you liked or didn't like? What could your employer improve on and how did you feel when your hard work wasn't rewarded?

Rewarding comes in many ways, not always in cash. It is great to reward your staff with compliments about their work but sometimes you will have to go the extra mile.

Recogise staff issues as soon as possible and talk things out! It can be hard sometimes to see problems amongst staff but you need to keep a lookout.

Successful coffee shops are often run by friendly and professional managers that know how to communicate with their staff.

Rules and regulations

Set up clear rules and regulations for your business. The contract of employment and/or staff manual should clearly state what is and what isn't accepted. Rules about coming late or personal hygiene for example should be clear.

Businesslink has a great website that can you help you out with this.