As I sit sipping a latte in the cafe that I managed years ago I think back to the first opening day, and the months of hard work prior to it's opening. It has been great to see this place come to fruition. I still see many familiar menu items, the Italian theme still very prominent, the panini are still as delicious as ever, the wine selection looks great, and the baristas are still here, the same ones I hired and worked along side, with an additional face or two. Many of them have been working here for 3 years now.

In their white shirts with black aprons they look like true professionals, dedicated to their craft. Three employees on the bar now, almost dancing around each other, calling out specialty drinks and panini orders. They are focused, but very relaxed, when I came in I see beautiful latte art on the two to-go lattes being carried away. When the line dies down we chat about how things have been, and I hop behind the bar to pour a couple rosettas. The grind is perfect and everything is immaculate, I feel like I am at home.

These employees are the glue that holds this successful operation together. The owner has put together a beautiful cafe, bought all the best equipment, we put together a great menu, and kept quality in mind in every aspect of the operation, but as an owner or manager you can't be there every second and it is so important to have faith in your employees.

The following is an article and some tips on how to go about creating that pinnacle staff:

1. Interviewing & Hiring

A. It is important first to understand the responsibilities of a barista and the importance of finding great employees to work in your operation.

Your employees first off will be making all of your beverages and food items. It is important to hire people that can share the same passion for quality that you as an owner have for not only your espresso and coffee beverages, but every menu item you serve. Your employees will also be providing customer service to your customers. Having worked in the service industry for almost a decade, I can express enough how imperative excellent customer service is in any operation. Maybe parallel to product quality, positive or negative customer service will leave a lasting impression in you customers mind for sometimes hours after they patronize your operation.

Also remember that your employees will be maintaining your store's appearance, maintaining your costs, and giving you the time to be outside of your operation either administrating your business or marketing.

B. The topic comes up often when I am speaking with new or to-be coffee shop owners about hiring baristas with coffee experience. There is no cut or dry answer to this question. What I usually tell people is that experience is far less important than attitude and work ethic. Having hired and trained hundreds of people over the last 10 years I must say that I will always look at someone's character and personality before I look at their work experience. It is almost impossible to train someone to have a great attitude, demeanor, cooperative behavior, and work ethic if they do not already. Another issue is that not all experience is good experience. With the lack of education in this industry and many shop owners not truly serving excellent espresso and coffee, it is hard to hire someone with experience that will be able to walk right into your operation and shine.  Always remember that you are going to be training your employees. You will be doing things YOUR way in your store and anyone that you hire will need to adapt to your rules and style. If you plan to invest hours or days or weeks into the training of your staff you really are giving them a skill set that they will have for the rest of their lives. Let your new employees know this, and it will only help expand their passion for their craft.

2. The Interview Process

A. When placing your newspaper ad there are some important things to consider. Make sure that you structure the ad as an "opportunity". Again you will be offering any new employee a chance to learn or fine tune a true culinary art form. You want to fully explain the job description. Give some insight to your store and make is exciting. Explain in detail the positions you are looking for and what type of person (in general) are you searching for.

In this ad be specific when giving potential job candidates a time to call to set up an interview, i.e. between 10am & 2PM Saturday. If you get a call at 8:30AM from someone ask them a couple questions ... "Are you calling because of the ad in the newspaper?", if they are this is a quick sign that they did not pay attention to detail in your ad. Not that you will rule this person out but in the interview process you need to pay attention to every interaction you have with a person and evaluate your experience as a whole.

When you are screening the callers you will want to be setting up quick screening interviews. These are very quick interviews that will last only a few minutes. As Ed Arvidson (Bellissimo Coffee InfoGroup Consultant) said when we were giving a seminar at CoffeeFest Las Vegas "What you are determining in this screening interview is if the potential candidate is one of the following, an Animal, Vegetable or Mineral."  (crowd chuckles) As funny as this sounds, it is true. The purpose of this initial screening is to determine if you want to re-schedule this candidate for a 2nd in-depth interview.

In this first interview you will have them fill out their employment application. Ask them a few basic questions like: Are you looking for part time or full time work? Do you prefer mornings, afternoons or evenings and why? Is transportation a challenge for you? Do you participate in any outside activities that might conflict with work? Are you at least 16 years of age? (or at least the minimum working age in your area.)

Other things to pay attention to are: Did they show up on time? Did they bring a pen or pencil to fill out there application with? How was their appearance? (Remember that in most cases this is the best someone will look). Did they make eye contact and could they speak clearly and articulate.

Let them know that you are interviewing a lot of people and that if you would like to set up a 2nd interview that you will get back to them by a certain time. If they do not hear from you by that time, most likely you will not be requesting them to come in for the 2nd interview but will keep their resume on file.

Now that you have selected your candidates down to one that you are interested in having come back you will want to schedule a more in depth interview. When they come on you will again want to look for the same little things you did before, this is also why it is so important to conduct multiple interviews with prospective employees. I always want to see someone 2 or 3 times and want a feeling of confidence that this person will be consistent in character everyday if I hire them.

Ask them a few thought provoking questions with multiple parts, then sit back and listen carefully. Some good example questions are:

"Tell me about the most hectic situation you have ever been in. What happened, how did you manage through it? and what did you learn?" Be listening to make sure that they direct each part of the question.

"Tell me about the most demanding work you have done ... ?" You can find out pretty quick if someone has a good work ethic and has experience working in a fast paced environment.

Do a bit of role playing. "Let's say a customer returns a drink and says it's the worst they have ever had and there is no manager on duty. How would you handle the situation?"

There is also the classic question many of us have been asked in an interview regardless of the position ... "What are 3 of your strongest qualities? Then tell me about 3 areas in which you would like to improve." We all know that if some one answers with only positives and says "Ya know, there is really nothing I feel I need to improve about myself", this may not be the easiest person to train or give constructive criticism to once they are hired.

3. Always Check References

It is important to remember when checking reference that many companies have policies keeping managers from commenting on employees past job performances. There are however ways around these policies, you just need to know the right questions to ask. When speaking with a candidates previous employer you can ask them "Would this person be eligible for re-hire with your company? If this answer is no this should serve as a red flag, but you will still want to ask the applicant to explain, there may be a good reason and you will want to respect their side of the story too. Having worked in many and managed many cafes I would be the first to understand that some situations may not reflect a person 100%.

Beware of legal constraints! Before interviewing make sure to pick up a handbook from the Dept. of Labor. There are certain questions that you cannot ask so it is good to know them beforehand. Some examples are: How old are you? Do you have any children? Do you have a car? What religion are you? What is your sexual orientation? Like I state again below, you do not want to take any qualitative notes on a persons application or resume.

4. Think About Using a Rating Sheet

It can be a challenge to keep track of each person you interview just by their name. It may be a good idea to keep a rating sheet (not the back of their resume or application) to keep notes on each candidate. First you will (with your manager, or partner) create a list of the attributes you are seeking and apply a number rating of importance for each list item.

With this list you be able to rate each candidate in every attribute. You can then combine their total attribute scores and this will help you rate and sort them. As harsh as this may sound it can be very helpful when making an informed decision about future employees.

5. Hiring Your Staff

Now that you have selected your final candidates you are ready to do your hiring.

You will want to have an orientation were you invite you new employees to lay down some groundwork and explain their positions and responsibilities. It is always good to hire a few extra people initially to allow for some flexibility in the event that someone does not work out or they decide the job is not the right fit for them. By creating an employee manual you will be able to provide a new employee with a written description of responsibilities, job description, mission statement and expectations during their employment with your operation. By having them sign this manual they cannot ever say they didn't know about a job responsibility they are not abiding.

You will want to implement a 60 or 90 day probationary period. Any new staff member will need to show growth and improvement during this time and it will give you an added edge in the event that you need to let someone go during this time.

6. Employee Training

 training is obviously very important to ensure quality in your operation. Here are some things to remember.

Your employees won't know something if you do not teach them. You must fully train your employees on every expectation you may have, even if it is common sense it is good to incorporate everything into your training procedures. If you do not tell them to greet each customer before taking their order, you cannot come down on them for not doing it. It may be easiest to develop a training checklist for all areas of your operation. Along with this checklist and employee manual you will want to develop a training methodology that explains your goals to create a consistent corporate culture within your business, which reflects everyone from the owner, the employees and the customers.  

When you are training employees it is very important to follow some key steps.

First you will explain the process in depth. Give enough background on why you will be doing things a certain way.
Next you will demonstrate the process. You may want to do this more than once, explaining each step be it brewing coffee, extracting espresso, steaming milk, or taking an order. This is your chance to be the model example and to set the standard for what you expect of them.
Once you have gone through the process you are training to your employees, you will now ask the employee to demonstrate the process. Let them go through the process and when they are finished you will critique with constructive pointers and have them repeat it until they feel comfortable and do not leave any aspect out.
You want to always lead by example and make sure that you train your trainers to do the same. Education should always be ongoing and encourage anyone in your operation to continue to learn more about your products and the industry in general.
I also recommend using education tools whenever available. There are many great books and videos out today that greatly reduce training time and can promote the passion and understanding of the product you want your employees to uphold.

Training is the key to consistency. If all of your employees are well trained and have a passion for their craft, you should feel comfortable about who you have representing your business. Also you have heard the saying "you are only as strong as your weakest link" ... this is very true and if you focus on the importance of good and consistent training no one variable or employee will adversely affect your business.

7. Retaining Your Employees

The saying, "You get what you pay for" also applies to paying employees, but wage alone is not going to keep your employees happy and dedicated to your business. Always keep in mind that hiring employees is expensive, and the more you have to do it the more time and money it will take. This is why hiring and training great employees is in my opinion one of the most important variables in operating a retail business.

Treat your employees with respect and they will work harder for you. At the last operation I managed I was in my mid twenties and many of the barsitas I hired were around my age. Early on I let them know that I was very understanding but demanded impeccable customer service and perfection in every aspect of the bar. Again, leading by example is the best way to go. It is important for your employees to see you working hard and striving for excellence within your operation. You will want to build a mutual level of respect between them, yourself and your customers. By teaching them to give respect they will work harder to please the customers.

By training your employees well it will give them increased pride and confidence to do their job to the best level they can. By fully understanding everything from coffee history to preparation they will have a much easier time educating your customers and will appreciate the details of preparation that are so key.

I cannot stress enough the importance of rewarding your employees. If they do a good job, let them know. If a customer compliments one of your employees and tells you, let them know they are doing a great job. There is nothing worse than being a barista, trying so hard to do a great job and then only hearing feedback from your boss or manager when you do something wrong. If you as an owner do not recognize your employees for their efforts, they will find an employer who will.

In conclusion, you and your business are only as good as your employees. Hire great people, train them to be professional, passionate, friendly and knowledgeable and they will be. Your goal is create a team that you can be proud of and take pride in your operation. Viva Barista!