Coffee, without a doubt, is the world’s most popular beverage, with over 530 billion cups consumed annually.
The roar of coffee has created a healthy coffee environment and a strong demand for talented coffee barristers.
Working as a coffee barista can be fun, exciting, and satisfying! However, coffee shops are usually crowded places, and you get to meet many people every day.
This article will explain what employers look for in a coffee bar to help you get a job in this exciting industry.
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What Are The Responsibilities Of A Barista?
The primary function of the barista is to make coffee and help customers. However, a barista can have many other tasks, including customer training, store cleaning, working with suppliers, and much more. Most baristas perform the following daily tasks:
- Preparing a variety of hot and cold drinks for customers
- Following are some recipes developed by the coffee shop
- Educating customers about available products
- To create a strong understanding of coffee regions and the different aspects of coffee
- To keep the work environment clean, pay close attention to coffee making machines
- Recovery shelves
- Answering customer questions about coffee quality, youth, coffee blends, and ways to prepare it
- Answering calls and asking regular customer questions
- Reporting safety hazards and accidents to the on-duty supervisor
- Performing duties involving picking up goods.
What Qualities Does An Employer Require Of A Barista?
Often, employers are looking for barbers who love coffee, who can make soft drinks, and who are eager to deliver the best possible customer service. A good coffee barista has the following characteristics:
- Being friendly and can build relationships with customers – learning their names and favorite drinks. If you are a “human being,” you will do well as a barista.
- It can prepare beverages quickly while maintaining a high level of quality.
- Hard work and great attention to detail
- It can prioritize and perform multiple tasks at once
- It is well organized and detailed
- It can keep the work environment clean
- Good phone behavior
- We are committed to providing excellent customer service
- It is enough for you to spend most of the day standing
- He is determined to learn and improve.
What Qualifications Does An Employer Require For A Barista?
Many baristas have long jobs in the industry without earning a formal degree in coffee making.
However, many employers prefer to hire coffee baristas to get the proper training. It gives them confidence that their new barista will be able to do the job properly from day one.
Some degrees focus on making coffee part of being a barista, while others are all-inclusive – teaching baristas to master sophisticated latte art, catering, and educating consumers about coffee. Some of the most respected titles include:
Specialty Coffee Association of Europe (SCAE) Certificates
SCAE is a non-profit organization run by industry experts and coffee lovers. They built a Coffee Diploma System with a list of different degrees. One can obtain these degrees from many education providers around the world.
Their titles are divided into six categories: Introduction to Coffee, Green Coffee, Neurological Skills, Roasting, Liquor Making, and Barista Skills.
Most of these categories have three levels – basic (beginners), intermediate (people who like to be a barista), and specialists (experienced professionals).
The employer quickly realizes that a barista has a strong level of knowledge if they have intermediate or professional qualifications from SCAE.
City and Guilds Barista Training
City and Guilds Barista courses teach students how to take care of coffee machines, check the quality of beans, grind coffee beans properly, make coffee, prepare different coffee drinks, and much more. They are well-recognized degrees that many employers know.
City and Guilds Barista Training is available from several providers, including the Beverage Standards Association (BSA). In addition, they offer a variety of professional barista courses, including City & Guilds VRQ at Barista Skills.
London School of Coffee
London School of Coffee is one of the providers offering SCAE certificates, including SCAE Barista Skills, Feeling Skills, and Brewing Skills degrees.
They also provide bespoke coffee preparation courses that last a day. These additional qualifications can be very impressive for employers.
International Barista and Coffee Academy (IBCA – USA)
IBCA is a coffee education center based in Tempe, AZ, and offers coffee classes for beginners, intermediates, and professionals. It is the only coffee study in the USA supported by SCAE and the SCAE Diploma System and follows the SCAE programs.
Specialty Coffee Association of America Barista Pathway
The Barista Pathway SCAA course is a series of classes dedicated to espresso training and preparing an espresso beverage.
These courses include instructions for operating equipment and customer assistance. The Barista Guild of America accredits the SCAA. The SCAA certificate is highly valued by employers who want a barista with specific skills.
What Experience Does The Employer Want From The Barista?
Many employers consider the following types of work experience when evaluating applicants:
- Making coffee using espresso technology
- Work experience in the hospitality industry
- Customer service
- Team worker
- Experience in challenging and busy workplaces
Working as a barista can be fun, especially if you love coffee! With the proper knowledge and qualifications, you will soon be able to earn a living in a coffee shop and start your career as a barista.
Top Skills Baristas Need
To work as a barista, you need strong customer service skills and the ability to work independently and with a team in a fast-paced environment. But, of course, loving the aroma of fresh coffee does not hurt either.
Customer service should possess empathy, a strong understanding of the product you are handling, and diligence. Some of these skills include:
Attention to Details
Many coffee shop customers make particular beverage requests. It is a barista to accurately measure and mix all the ingredients and create the drink the customer wants.
Intensive attention to detail and some common measurement skills and statistics are needed. You will also need this attention to the point when operating a cash register. You must:
- Be careful
- Be reasonable in money management
- Be good at making money
- Focus
- Have a high level of accuracy
- Be good in statistics
- Be good in evaluation
- Point of Sale Systems (POS)
- Offer good customer service.
As a barista, you will be working directly with customers throughout the day. It requires strong interpersonal skills.
You need to be able to wear a friendly face when dealing with customers. You need to listen carefully to their instructions and be able to answer any questions they may have. It requires strong communication skills, as well as:
- Accessibility
- Enthusiasm
- Friendship
- Interacting with others
- Human
- Respect
- Positive Attitude
- Team player
- Voice Communication
- Text Communication.
Doing Too Many Things.
Baristas must be able to do other things at the same time. For example, they may be making a lot of drinks while working with the register and answering a customer’s question.
All of this can be stressful, especially in a busy restaurant. A barista should be able to withstand the pressures of a dynamic work environment and quietly complete many tasks at once. Such activities include:
- Power to Work Under Pressure
- Calmness
- Efficiency
- Flexibility
- The first step
- Stress Management
- Work Under Pressure
- Bond
Hiring managers want to know that their baristas will appear to work on time and become professional, responsible employees.
In your interview, you can demonstrate this skill by appearing a few minutes early, wearing clean and appropriate clothing, and submitting all the required documentation. Such skills include:
- Honesty
- Following the Instructions
- Professionalism
- Being on time
- Honesty
- Time
- Technical Skills
Some coffee shops will hire barbers who have no experience making coffee and other beverages. However, most companies expect you to have some experience.
Read the list carefully — if you need technical skills, be prepared to provide proof of your knowledge. For example, during the interview, the hiring manager may ask you to make a drink right away. You may be asked to do things like:
- Coffee drinks
- Taste of Coffee
- Health and Safety Codes
- Inventory
- Juice Bar drinks
- Latte Art
- Special Coffee Drinks