It鈥檚 a fact that the success or failure of your business can boil down to the people you hire. You can have the best coffee beans and finest array of speciality teas, however, if your staff aren鈥檛 motivated your business will suffer.
For cafes especially, nothing is more important than hiring and developing your employees. A positive team is integral to a customer-facing service. You should therefore view your team as your more important investment.
A well-trained workforce also saves your cafe time and money, increasing your overall profitability. More effort, time, and as a result, money are spent on employees who aren鈥檛 trained efficiently for them to be able to perform their tasks to the required standard. Therefore, make it a priority to ensure that every member of your team from the kitchen staff to the wait staff receives continuous and solid training. This is crucial in the highly competitive industry that is the cafe business.
Food Handling
You must ensure that your cafe staff are trained in the proper food-handling practices to ensure food safety. For example, there are certain storage and health and safety practices which need to be met to ensure your business meets all the necessary food-safety codes.
Serving Customers
Teach your employees how your customers should be served. Think about the following:
- Do you want them to say Sir and Madam or is 鈥榤ate鈥� acceptable?
- Do you want them to only serve one customer at a time?.
When should tables be cleared and how many baristas should work on the queue at once? Owner of Collins catering, Angela Collins told us that it鈥檚 鈥淰ery important to make sure your staff feel part of the growing business and listen to feedback from them and take advice from them, after all it is the staff that are at the forefront of the business and with the customers on a daily basis鈥�
Reward Your Staff
Jake Bishop, owner of cafe bar strongly believes in incentivising staff by providing freebies and discounts.
Jack provides his staff with 鈥淕reat rates of pay and working conditions, free staff meals on duty, 50% staff discount, great career progression in a rapidly growing business and of course our expensive but oh so worth it annual Lounge Festival, LOUNGEFEST, where we close all the Lounges, bus everyone into a Glastonbury style field complete with bands, hot dog eating contests, music and madness. Every Loungers favourite day of the year.鈥�
When employees know what is expected of them, employees will be fully committed to the success of your cafe. Culture thrives in a workplace where the employees feel supported and appreciated.
The big coffee brands are growing quickly so important to stand out as independent. Get your passion across, offer a personalised service and have motivated, well trained employees.
