Job description

Take orders

As a barista, one of your key jobs is to serve customers and to take their orders.

You’ll need to have good listening skills, as once you’ve greeted customers you’ll need to make sure you take down their order accurately. If you’re not making the order yourself, you’ll need to communicate the order clearly to a colleague. As well as taking orders you’ll need to help customers with queries and to make recommendations. If a customer asks about the different types of coffee available, you’ll need to help them to choose the right blend for them.

Prepare drinks

Making drinks accurately and in line with a customer’s order is one of the key barista duties. You’ll have to ensure you both adhere to your coffee shop’s recipe, and also make the drink in line with your customer’s specific requirements. A great coffee starts with a great espresso, and if preparing a coffee based drink you’ll need to follow some essential steps in order to create the perfect espresso. Once you’ve prepared the drink, it’s also important that you match the right drink with the right customer, particularly if you are busy and serving several people at the same time.

Open and close the store

Depending on the shift pattern, a barista will often be required to open or close the café.

This is not simply a case of opening up in the morning or locking up in the evening. You will need to prepare the shop for a day’s trading, stock up the counter and make sure tables and chairs are ready for customers. Other opening responsibilities might include:

• Turning on equipment and warming up your coffee machine
• Brewing coffee
• Preparing food such as making sandwiches or baking pastries
• Arranging tables and chairs
• Checking the dates on any food and syrup have not expired
• Preparing fresh sanitizer solution.
• At the end of the day you may have cleaning responsibilities and you will have to ensure that the food and drink is correctly stored. Closing tasks can include:
• Disassembling and washing the coffee machine and other equipment
• Wiping counters and cabinets
• Ensuring any food/drink is refrigerated
• Cleaning sinks
• Cleaning cutlery and dishes
• Emptying the cash drawer and cashing up
• Record any wasted products in a log
• Turn off any equipment and lights
• Clean tables and stack chairs on tables
• Sweep and mop the floors

*
Grind coffee beans, As well as preparing coffee, a barista may well have to grind and blend beans to ensure there’s always a ready stock of coffee available.You may have to adjust the coffee grind during the day, depending on factors such as the weather, temperature and humidity levels.If your coffee shop sells fresh ground coffee, you may also need to provide customers with advice about the different blends. You may have to grind, weigh and bag the coffee and give your customers advice on how to prepare the coffee at home

Clean work areas, coffee machines, equipment, and tables

Ensuring that the coffee shop is kept clean, hygienic and presentable is one of a barista’s key responsibilities. This is particularly important during periods where you are busy.

Cleaning jobs will include:

• cleaning all coffee equipment and machines
• cleaning up seating areas and tables to prepare them for new customers
• cleaning spillages and breakages
• sanitizing plates, cups, glasses and utensils to ensure there is always a ready supply of clean cutlery and cups
• cleaning work areas to ensure food and drink preparation areas are always hygienic
• ‘deep cleaning’ as appropriate – floors, fridges, cupboards and other fixtures and fittings.
• disposing of garbage.

Comply with health and safety laws and guidelines

Food safety is a big part of a barista’s job. Every year, around 17% of Americans suffer from illnesses caused by food, leading to 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths.

As a barista, you will have to ensure that you adhere to any health and safety regulations and policies that are in place.

For example, you may need to obtain food hygiene qualifications, undertake first aid training, or attend a health and safety course.

Your responsibilities may also extend to checking the temperature of fridges, freezers and heating equipment to ensure they are working correctly. You’ll need to report any problems to your management team.

Provide feedback to management

Baristas deal with hundreds of customers every day. This means you will be best placed to provide feedback to management about any aspect of your products or service.

You’ll provide suggestions for improving procedures or reducing waste. You’ll also be able to suggest menu improvements and provide both positive and negative customer comments to your management team.
Restock the displays
Ensuring the displays are fully stocked makes a café look appealing to customers. So, a barista will need to ensure that all counters are fully stocked, and that there is always plenty of food and drink available for customers to buy.

You may also need to update signage; for example, to show daily specials or other offers.
Keep track of stock and placing orders
A barista will need to keep a close eye on stock levels. Depending on the system in place in the coffee shop, you may also be responsible for ordering stock. Or, you may be required to keep a running list of supplies that are needed in order that a senior barista or manager can place an order.

Prepare food and snacks

As well as preparing a wide range of drinks, a barista will also have to prepare food. This may be as simple as serving a slice of cake or a muffin, or you may have to prepare paninis, toasted sandwiches or soup. Other possible food duties may include:

• Preparing sandwiches and salads, packaging and labelling them
• Baking pastries
• Slicing fruit, vegetables or meats.

Handle cash

As part of serving customers, a barista may handle lots of cash and electronic payments. You will have to have good mental arithmetic to ensure you give the correct change, and you may have to ‘cash up’ during the day or at the end of your shift. You will also have to use a POS system.

Job Types: Full-time, Part-time

Pay: $15.00 - $19.00 per hour

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• Employee discount
• Flexible schedule

Restaurant type:

• Bakery
• Café
• Coffee shop
• Quick service & fast food restaurant

Shift:

• Day shift

Weekly day range:

• Monday to Friday
• Weekend availability

COVID-19 considerations:
we follow the current health department guidelines.

Experience:

• Food service: 1 year (Preferred)
• Barista experience: 1 year (Required)

Shift availability:

• Day Shift (Preferred)

Work Location: In person

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