Roast #27: The Barista Series, Part 3
I wish you roses, and roses, and roses, and roses, and roses...
All good things come to an end. I laughed, I smiled, and I spilled a ton of milk.
Here's the last of the series — enjoy.
If you missed the other parts, here are links to Part #1 and Part #2
Build in safeguards in your workflows to prevent mistakes:
I'm human, so I make mistakes. But with each mistake, I tried to figure out a way to build some mechanism to help me reduce the chances of making the same mistake again.
Note that these mistakes happened maybe once a week to once a month. I wasn’t making them every hour/day. 🥲
Forgetting customer orders:
When I first started, I was bad at remembering who ordered what, which would sometimes lead to confusion down the line.
To combat this, I made it a habit to repeat the customer's orders multiple times while they were ordering so both I and the other baristas knew what they ordered.
Unable to tell what drink was what:
Another mistake that I found myself making was when I'd put out a drink that wasn't immediately picked up; I found myself self-doubting about what the drink actually was. So let's say a customer ordered, then went to the bathroom. Their order comes down the line, and it reaches me, who is at the milk station, and I call it out. The customer doesn't immediately pick the drink up, so I leave it there as I have to continue finishing other tickets. Then 10 minutes later, when the person came back from the restroom and asked, "Is this a whole milk flat white?" I sometimes forgot as I could not visually tell what a drink was. You have to be 100% certain that the drink you are putting out is what they ordered since the customer may be allergic to a type of milk, so you could hurt them by not being certain.
To combat this mistake, I started to place the ticket underneath the drinks if they weren't picked up within 10 seconds. That way, even if the customer were to leave for 30 minutes, there'd be a ticket denoting what that drink was.
Incomplete Doordash orders:
I sometimes would forget to give the dasher parts of an order or would forget to put an item into the order. Both would result in an incomplete order.
To combat this mistake, I started being more detailed in my packing process. If there were multiple bags for an order, I'd start writing the name of the order onto each bag while also denoting what bag that was of the entire order (i.e., 1/N bag). I also tried to make sure that whenever I put an item into a bag, I'd make a mark on the line item in the receipt to note that that item was packed. Both habits resulted in decreased speed in packing orders, but it helped reduce the number of packing mistakes. This was a tradeoff I was happy to make.
Reduce complexity:
The black sesame cold brew tasted amazing, but I hated making that drink (lol). Whenever an order came in, I'd wince and silently murmur a "god damnit" to myself.
I didn't enjoy making this drink because it required a different set of tools (blender and measuring cup) and order of operations that usually threw a wrench in both my personal flow and the bar flow. Making this drink was hands-on enough to require my full attention, pulling me out of the barista rotation. When I got pulled off, the other person on espresso/milk would get strained since they'd have to cover both stations.
The composition of this drink was different than others in that it required precise measurement of milk. Whereas for other drinks, we'd either do a splash (batch brew), fill to the top of the cup (iced drinks), or we'd eyeball it (milk for steaming). Then when you consider the responsibility boundaries for each station, with the milk person handling all things milk, it'd be logical that the milk person measures the milk and then hands you back the measured-out milk. We didn't do this; the person making the black sesame cold brew would intersect the stations to build the drink out. But even typing the proposed flow out now, it feels awkward since the milk person usually is the one who finishes off and hands out the drink to the customer, so it's rare for them to hand back the drink to a station.
Complexity is something to consider and should be priced in (which I think it is for this drink 👀).
Put in an effort to build relationships:
This never really hit me until I visited my friend (Javier) at Terremoto and saw him run service. When I was there, most of his customers came in and struck up a conversation with him. He'd ask about their day, what they've been up to, etc.
And with some new customers that walked in, he'd chat them up, extend his hand and get their name. Maybe it's because of my innate introverted personality, but it never occurred to me how easy it was to connect and build a relationship with someone.
Unfortunately, I learned this advice two weeks before I quit. But during those last two weeks, I introduced myself to a few regulars, and it was a fun experience! Some were less welcoming and less interested in a relationship, which was okay, but most were welcoming, and we'd have a fun conversation about how their day was going, what they were up to, etc. Plus, it usually brought a smile to their face when you knew their name and their order.
A cafe is built on its regulars, so make an effort to build a relationship with them.
Learn to be handy:
I witnessed maybe six equipment failures when I was at Partners. It wasn't anybody's fault; it's just that things break after a lot of use. When that happens, they need to be fixed. Oftentimes, it was the staff (mainly shift leads/manager) fixing the equipment. You may ask, "Why didn't you just call someone to fix it?"
I inquired a bit about this, and the answer I got was to save money. Margins for running a cafe are thin, so managers often don't have the luxury of being able to call for professional help.
Being handy is a plus, just in general, outside of being in a cafe setting, but it's especially helpful if you also manage a cafe.
Things I'll miss / Fun memories:
I'll forever be traumatized by the Doordash pings.
Burning my fingers by accidentally grabbing the steam wand instead of the steam rag, and then having blisters.
Accidentally making sperm-looking latte art.
Having coffee stains in suspicious areas. The brown coffee and green matcha stains by my waist made it seem like I doo doo'ed on myself.
Our ever-enlightening conversations ("What would you spend $250K on?" / "Would you break up with someone in public?" — as we all watched it unfold outside our window / "Is that a doll with a mask on, or is someone just sitting super still in that van?").
What's next:
The plan is to go back to being a software engineer and save money (to hopefully open a cafe). I'll continue the roasting side of things and continue to hone and refine that skill set.
But as for the cafe dream, I'm not entirely sure yet. The only concrete thing is that I will start fleshing out a plan on what steps I need to take to open a cafe. I'll need licenses, permits, financing... and whatever else. I just know I need to have a better understanding of the logistical/legal requirements needed to open a cafe.
Some more fun "what's next" ideas:
Maintain the barista track — pick up a weekend barista shift somewhere local. It's been less than a week post-leaving, and I kinda miss the social aspects of the job. I think having a one-day-a-week shift will help me scratch this social itch, let me learn how a low-volume cafe operates (likely what it'll be like when I first open my cafe), and will allow me to exercise my barista skills (steaming milk, latte art, being social-ish).
Try and find a bar that'll let me host a recurring morning service at their bar. I see this as a win-win for both parties, as I'll bring in some money to them from revenue-sharing, and they'll provide me a space where I can "trial-run" running a cafe. The thing is, setting this up won't be easy. I'd likely have to lug a lot of equipment back and forth for something once a week. I'll need to think more about this as I'm not sure the benefits outweigh the costs.
Interview different local cafe owners to understand their experience in opening a cafe, and then type that content up for you all. The main reason for doing this would be to pick the brains of those who've made it so I could better understand what needs to be done to open a cafe. A side effect would be authentic content for you all! The few cafe owners I've met have all been really supportive of my project, offering help at one point or another.
Thank You's:
Thank you to my shift leads at Partners for teaching me everything I know about barista-ing. From Ash's tips on barista workflows, Janelle's milk steaming advice, to conversing with Gonzalo about random cafe tidbits, I took a lot away from this job.
Note that I learned wayyyy more than what’s mentioned above. I spent maybe 4 hours iterating on this particular thank you, going from long stories to individual bullet points, but I ended up with the above as it felt most natural. Know that I took away a lot from each of you, and I appreciate the time/effort/knowledge you all shared with me. :)
@itsme_wonjun for putting together a tasting, and @sum_coffeeprojectny + @kaleenateoh for hosting! It just shows how welcoming the coffee community is. Jun, a random IG stranger at the time, DM’ed me asking if I wanted to join him in drinking some coffee he brought over from Japan/Korea. I excitedly accepted, and the tasting was a lot of fun! Thank you for sharing. <3
@kitsmaria for helping out at the Sultan Room event! I apologize for reaching out so late (2 days before 🥲), but I’m glad you were free and were willing to help. The event would’ve gone very differently if you weren’t there.
@_.haav for just being like a mentor through this barista journey. You’ve been advising me from the start, and I appreciate all your wisdom and advice. I’m excited for your success, and I’m eager to continue learning from you!
Barry over at @unblendedcoffee for being so communicative with the green buying process. I look forward to inserting one of your coffees for our coffee club V5!
Jon over at @apex_coffee for being so helpful with my questions. I enjoyed the buying process, and am excited to use one of Apex’s coffees for coffee club V4!