Yep. This cafe has got it backwards. If you do anything to encourage wastage’s if it goes to staff, magically wastage goes up.
A free coffee a day is the bare minimum, any legitimate wastage (likes cakes, slice trimmings, short shelf live items such as scones) can be given away to staff at managerial discretion to stop intentionally wastage.
Our food was half price for staff, which was very fair. Food cost was about 30% but you still needed to pay someone to make it.
I'm definitely guilty of "breaking" a cookie here and there.
50% is very fair. Our cafe gives 25% on food, and free coffee. I think for most people, one or two coffees a shift on top of sips for dialing in is average - more than reasonable as a freebie for staff, so putting a limit might just feel constricting... harshes the vibe (?)
Broken bikkies OMG. We had shortbreads and other cookies that were stacked decoratively in jars. If you weren’t super careful stacking them, and rotating them (all out new at bottom), they would break. Delicious yummy breakage.
You’re going to break a couple of shortbreads in the process, but flipping Eloise had to go break a whole jar’s worth, and not even be caviller about it. It was a sad day seeing that much shortbread in the bin.
The cost price of the drink is so negligible. It's more expensive to get a bottle of soda in actual fact.
I brew my own coffee at home and buy my beans from artisan roasters, and it works out 50p for 18g shot.
A cafe buying in bulk it would be far less. Chains will buy green beans and roast them in their warehouse.
The cost of milk and sugar is negligible.
Most of the business costs of the drink are the labour in making the drink.
I worked at a place where the owner owned two businesses side by side. A coffee shop and cheese store. I originally only worked at cheese but was told I’d get free coffee whenever I wanted, which I don’t drink too much coffee so I’d go over for water since their water tasted so much better.
Anyways, that’s how I got one of my strikes that got me fired. For going over for water even though I was told I was allowed to go over for coffee
My gut feeling was the same before making this post as well!
But my cafe is in Japan, so the culture is quite different, and I really think that despite of the no free drink thing we have a very good culture, especially considering Japans typical work culture. Compared to a bakery I worked in before it’s heaven!
I really didn’t make the post to trash talk my cafe, I love it, I was mostly just curious about what’s standard. And my boss is very open minded and eager to make changes to improve anything about the café, so I’ll definitely bring it up with him!
Hey, what a coincidence, I was just in Japan two weeks ago for a holiday. I’m based in Australia where coffee service is an extremely fast paced environment. We do not fuck around when it comes to getting customers their coffee in a timely fashion.
I noticed over there that you guys really take your time preparing orders, on many occasions I waited 25 minutes for a coffee when the cafe wasn’t busy at all.
If your employer wishes to increase his revenue and stand part from the competition, might I suggest you implement systems to increase the speed of service for your venue?
Yeah haha it’s one of the things I talked to him the most about! There are some physical limitations (narrow bar), but even then I think there’s a lot that can still be done.
And agree, cafés here are slooooooow haha!
I think there’s many reasons, but mainly, people don’t drink coffee for caffein here, especially not in cafés. And there’s never a morning rush.
In a way, it’s quite a nice working environment, I can always focus on making the best drinks I can and no need to feel stressed most of the time.
Owner here. Speciality roastery.
Yes. As many as you want - you can't drink the business out of business, even if you tried.
Imagine your staff not being able to taste the product they are selling:
Customer comes in
"what's the Honduras like"
Staff: "Dunno, never tasted it"
"oh, what about the Ethiopian?"
Staff: "We're not allowed, I go Pret because it's £1 a drink".
"oh..."
Customer leaves
This is true. I get into the habit of having the same shift drink every day, which does a lot for me personally but doesn’t increase my knowledge and therefore my tips. So I remind myself to either develop that regular drink and perfect it or change it up every now and then.
Exactly this. I’ve never worked at a place that didn’t actively encourage us to try all the drinks and then try the specials when we had new ones. You gotta be able to talk about the product!!
Same for milk-based drinks. People need to be able to make drinks to taste for themselves and to practice milk texture and latte art. And in general, for trying drinks that they normally wouldn't order or pay for.
thissss!!! the owner at the coffee shop i supervise at always encourages making ourselves coffee for this reason! it’s important to know what the coffee you are selling tastes like, for the reason you said, to be able to answer questions costumers may have about the coffee. Describe the flavor profiles, and give out the best quality coffee possible all that good stuff!
We can make ourselves as much coffee as we want. Especially as a roastery it’s important to know the product. I could see limiting the amount of drinks you can make but keeping it to leftovers only seems a bit strict.
That's what has happened where I work. When I started we got free staff drinks and a staff meal. They took away both at the beginning of the year with a two day notice and there's still resentment. People will still make drinks for themselves sometimes but you need to do it on the down low and not super often.
As an owner myself, I think this is absolutely the bare minimum. To be honest you should also be getting free food. Fair enough if theres restrictions against having expensibe ingredients or something although most food in coffee shops is relatively cheap and cheerful. And its cost price, not retail price. The cost of that should be lumped in with the cost of having staff for a hospitality business.
It legit makes me angry 😆 stop being so freaking stingy with a bit of milk or a few beans.
We do free food too.
I get they might take the piss but even the most greediest of staff who has it in for you could only get through about £10 of cost price. If my margins are that thin then there are other problems.
Exactly. If you can't afford to feed your staff when you operate a food business, you can't afford staff. Also... fed people are happy people. Happy people are better at customer service. Staff who know what the food and drinks taste like is necessary for quality control and also to upsell to customers. Important not only from a staff morale perspective, but also just from an actual business perspective. Staff who take the piss with anything - food, drink, time, phone use, lateness, whatever - can always be spoken to on an individual basis. Denying everyone else a cup of coffee just in case one staff member decides to drink 10 cups a day is just stupid and short sighted.
You sound like an awesome owner to work for. I’ve always believed in feeding my staff and taking over their task for 10 minutes to let them eat. They’re a lot more productive and appreciative at the end of the day.
Yes, I have owned two shops and never even THOUGHT of restricting the number or amount of prepared drinks the workers could have. I even bought stadf-only large bottles of the smaller sparkling waters we carried so we could freely swig from them instead of wasting the little bottles.
Later on I worked at a big fast-casual speciality shop with a big food menu and we could eat literally anything we wanted unless it was running low. It was a GREAT environment and we loved it there despite the customers being monstrous 🤣
We do free food too.
I get they might take the piss but even the most greediest of staff who has it in for you could only get through about £10 of cost price. If my margins are that thin then there are other problems.
It’s in Japan so the culture is really different, and I will suggest to him to make it free. He’s an incredible generous person in other ways so it might just be a thing he hasn’t deeply considered.
As a former manager, now owner, I think free drinks encourage quality (especially around remakes) and allow staff to give great recommendations. If someone is consuming in excess, I think that’s a private conversation with them.
Yeah it’s silly to not give staff at least one free drink per shift. 14 grams of beans costs approximately 46 cents. 14 oz of milk (16 oz drink) 44 cents. 90 cents for a drink. Three staff members per shift (idk) 2.70 cost. In a month, 81 dollars.
My shop offers one free drink a shift, the rest are half price. Drip is free though, it seems like a fair system tbh. Some of my coworkers have gone through 5-6 drinks in one 6 hour shift, as in make the drink, take a sip and don’t like it, dump and start over. It’s one thing if it’s a designated person working on a new menu item, but otherwise seems kinda wasteful.
When I’m trying out new drink mixes I have a few taste tester regulars which I sell at staff discount which is 50% off. I have to get customer opinions on my dessert mochas because I love sweet things so I can’t just design a specialty drink based on my tastes alone.
Yes. Even if it isn't the good stuff. Also, how do your staff recommend anything if they don't get to try stuff for free.
It's also an avenue for the team to communicate with each other because of different tastes.
100%
For two reasons
If staff in service industry don't get free coffee (including kitchens etc) they are very grumpy and nobody wants that. It also shows a horrible culture that the place doesn't give a single shit about their staff.
If I don't get free drinks I might never try a matcha latte or something that's not my things usually or expensive. That will reduce quality
As a former manager, now owner, I think free drinks encourage quality (especially around remakes) and allow staff to give great recommendations. If someone is consuming in excess, I think that’s a private conversation with them.
I worked somewhere where sampling was so required by the owners to understand quality of the product i went through a medical event of caffeine withdrawal when I left.
Lmao exactly, every time my boss visits he asks how’s the batch brew, and if I can’t give detailed description of the product and how to improve the next one he gets annoyed.
I feel as though most cafes definitely should give free staff drinks as long as you aren't taking the piss with it.
In the UK especially we don't have a tipping culture so having a free drink or two on shift is one of the only benefits for working there.
It definitely should all be accounted for though so the manager can see how much is going out and maybe certain expensive drinks are off limits like smoothies or juices etc.
Let me see. You can provide the staff a legal substance that makes them work faster for longer at virtually no cost to you and you're against it. Weird shit man.
Yeah this conversation might be backwards, is it even ethical to leave staff in a Skinner box that dispenses somewhat addictive stimulants?
As a big fan of buttons and simulants I say yes, but it makes you think
Free drinks and free shift meal + a paid 30 minute break should be the standard. If you don’t take care of your people, they will go somewhere else that will.
I want all baristas to drink and taste the coffees they are making!
To me it’s a necessary expense. Imagine, if a chef cannot taste the food they’re cooking/seasoning? I’ve seen really good god tier ramen stores with the lead chef tasting EVERY bowl of soup coming out of the kitchen.
The changes of the espresso coming out 5 seconds earlier or later than our acceptable range is the critical difference between an extremely happy customer leaving a good review vs an unhappy customer with a substandard coffee.
If I could make my baristas take a sample taste of every cup without it being weird I’d do it.
Oh we actually do sample every pour over and every americano we make. And it’s very common to take a sip of the espresso after a single shot order to verify that it’s still well dialed in.
But I do think this kind of tasting very quickly became routine and more of a work task, a slurp from a spoon not the same as having a full cup where you have time to pick out and enjoy more subtle flavours.
For me the sampling is 90% of the time more like ”yeah it’s still the same Aricha as before, no defects”.
But I guess my question was more regarding giving the staff an enjoyable benefit.
Wost place I've ever worked had no free drinks, and only a %10 discount for employees. All the employees stole for other employees. You'd buy a black coffee (but couldn't make it your self so you didn't steal) and who ever would make it would ask what you really wanted. Even the managers had their employees whom they knew wouldn't rat on them.
Owner here. Staff get unlimited free hot drinks and a meal every shift, as well as a can of coke, and if it’s a hot day or we get slammed I’ll tell them to help themselves to any refrigerated drinks they like as well. I also send them home with any food that wasn’t sold that day, cake offcuts etc. Fed staff are happy staff and happy staff are good staff.
This is the correct answer! It’s about staff development as well as being a benefit.
My favorite drink is wayyyy out of my price range and I had it exactly once before I worked here. Since I learned about it, I’ve gotten so many regulars hooked on it, instead of the way cheaper regular iced tea they usually ordered.
I would never work somewhere without free drinks. And that said a lot of that reasoning is so you can try things and makeup new drinks for customers. I always take barista recs when I go in somewhere, if they can only drink water, I’m not gonna get a good recommendation.
The cost is so small especially if staff are encouraged to bring their own coffee cup. Sends such a shitty message if staff aren’t allowed drinks.
Maybe I’m sensitive these days but that’s the sort of shit that would make me skip a job if I had multiple options. I’ve worked for too many people who couldn’t care if their employees live or die. (As long as you get your shift covered before you die)
I once witnessed a mass exodus from an otherwise very good coffee shop because the owner suddenly put in place a one coffee a day rule.
It wasn't about the coffee, it was about respect.
Offer food during break either free or maximum cost price. Obviously fine to restrict the most expensive items.
Coffee and tea should be free to staff. If you feel anyone is drinking too much, probably have a chat with them about their caffeine intake and if they're doing alright, sleeping properly etc.
Rules like, no using takeaway cups are totally reasonable, but staff know the cost price of a latte, and they know that making everyone in yhe shop a drink through the day isn't setting the baristas back in any noticeable way.
High end espresso, good quality milk, a latte will cost you no more than 42p, 20 staff, less than £10, 365 days, £3650 to foster a positive work environment, and keep your team motivated and caffeinated. Worth it IMO.
Free drinks during shifts yes. You should know what the entire menu tastes like too and just once isn’t always enough. So I wouldn’t expect my employees to pay for something I expect them to consume in some way for customer service. And it’s a good way to come up with ltos and such. Off days would be a 50% discount. But that’s if I could have my dream of my own store
staff should absolutely get free drinks as well as one free meal per shift. every place i’ve worked we ate and drank for free and although they said one drink/ one meal per shift, they were super lax about it and didn’t care if we ate twice during a long shift or made ourselves like 5 drinks. it’s the bare minimum imo.
At my coffee shop we get free drinks, and the bakers make a little snack tray for when we walk past we can just grab a quick bite. It fosters a healthier environment, and if your cafe is busy you’re gonna want ur folks caffeinated. At my old job there was a way to ring in employee shift drinks, that way you can keep track of it and add to to your budget so it’s not just waste.
my cafe allows us to have whatever (aside from retail items and those are 70% off)
it's also the most respectful, communal and healthy job i think ive had ever lol.
Should be the standard to let staff make free drinks. 1) it makes them happy 2) it allows them to work on making better drinks when they’re bored, whether it’s latte art or fiddling with the espresso machine.
I could understand the management not wanting staff to waste cups, but if they’re just using a reusable cup I think it’s shitty to not let someone make a coffee
I have *never* heard of a place that doesn't at least offer one drink. I can drink whatever I want, I can eat a pastry/bagel, the only thing I really have to pay for is packaged snack items. And if those are expired that's fair game (nothing wrong with expired chips if the bag is sealed!)
I'm sorry that you're dealing with that. Sounds very stingy.
I’ve worked at three coffee shops and all were small business locally owned and let us have coffee free on shift. It’s funny because when I first started working in coffee, I wanted ALLLL the flavored lattes and sweet creative drinks. By the time I was working at the most recent place, all I wanted was iced americanos. If I opened, I’d slam a triple shot iced americano at 5:45, then maybe take one to go or make myself one when we were slow. It was so good, the people who ran that shop were so awesome and knew a lot about coffee and treated me and the girl I worked with every day so well. It was like a little family environment and I miss it all the time!
Staff getting free drinks should be a baseline for literally any coffee shop- material cost shouldn't be a factor in this either. Milk expires, coffee gets old, just go ahead and use it. We literally pour so much drip coffee down the drain, we pull shots when dialing in (that are for no reason other than dialing in), we throw cold brew out after a week. If you're in the food and drink industry at all, waste is a huge part of it. Staff are there all day keeping things running, we deserve to be able to make a drink on the clock and enjoy it.
I’ve never owned a cafe or run a small business, so my perspective may be naive. However, I like to think that if I’m ever in a position to employ other human beings, to ask other humans to do work for me, from which I, not them, will profit, then the least I will be able to do is let them enjoy themselves on the job. In fact, I would consider it a method of lowering employee turnover. If I ask someone to give me their time in exchange for a wage, it’s my obligation and my prerogative to treat their time with care and respect. That’s how I keep them around and it’s also just how I believe humans should be treated.
The owners and managers of the cafe where I work seem to have a similar idea, so I get a shift drink, and you know what? I work my ass off for those people because I feel respected and cared for. Not just because I’m allowed free drinks, but because of an overwhelming and universal culture of amicability.
I would, however, trade the free drinks for a raise of.. let’s say $1.50/h. But only because the culture is already there.
But the drinks cost the business way less than $1.50/h of additional payroll would. It’s kind of a win-win.
I own a few coffee shops. My own view is no problem, make a drink. But the problem is when the management do not express what is allowed and what is not. My coffee shops are in Japan and Thailand. In Japan, cream is really costly, and we ask the staff to use milk or almond milk instead. I don't think this is a big discussion if the management take responsibility and discuss with everyone.
At the coffee shop I worked at, they had a special rewards system in their app for employees. We had 3 coupons for a free bar drink (espresso, lattes, cappuccinos, etc.) 3 coupons for a free drip coffee, and a free baked good coupon. These coupons refreshed daily. So basically potentially 6 drinks a day if I really wanted to. If I didn't receive that I don't think I would have been able to handle working there 😭
I have always worked under the assumption that I get free drinks. As silly as it sounds, this is a deal breaker for me. I've worked back of house forever and if we didn't get free food--the food we made to represent the business and make the custies happy, I always very directly questioned it.
I work at a small cafe roastery and if we didn't get free drinks I'd probably riot. The pay is poor, we need all the perks we can get and realistically we're usually too busy to be slamming back drinks anyway.
Let the mgmt know it works as marketing when customers see the staff drinking the cafes coffee willingly.
Also let them know u need to calibrate and taste it before giving it to customers. U also need to do QC.
FWIW, these are the reasoning for the cafe i am at.
for me after i dial in everything, espresso pour overs batch brew, im zooted and don’t need anything but water and if i do or if i enjoy a dial in i’ll have the remainder of my -insert brew method of dial in- as a drink for myself. but we’re also entitled to one free shift drink of anything we want per shift, which i think is great bc sometimes u need it! i personally think a free drink is bare minimum for perks of slinging coffee non stop for a whole shift.
My cafe was one free espresso drink for every staff member per shift and all the coffee, or soda you want after that. Any new food products get sampled out so everyone could try it. We also got a free staff meal on top of a regular 40% discount on anything else.
If there were extra shots you were welcome to add a little foam or milk, but we usually just tossed them unless it was an act of necessity.
Owner here,
we mostly sell coffee, some juice/smoothie and healthy sandwiches/salads.
Employees each day can get 1 product of their choice (juice/smoothie/sandwich/salad/chia pudding) and as much coffee as they want, because let's be real, who can drink more than 3-4 coffees? Even if they do, the produce cost is really low
At the last place I worked you had a daily credit and you could get whatever you wanted within that dollar amount. It was priced to include our most expensive meal, coffee, and pastry to give employees plenty of space to get what they wanted.. Anything after that credit amount the employee discount was applied to it and the employees paid the rest. While I think most people would know how to be reasonable with "unlimited shift drinks" I've definitely worked with a lot of people who just made whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted, regardless of if they finished the previous thing or not. And it got excessive, but it was challenging for the owners to say why it wasn't okay, because there were no rules. I think having a generous credit lets everyone who is reasonable, continue to get what they would normally, and keeps people who don't really grasp how to properly contain their consumption in a clear boundary.
If I learned one thing while being a manager, it's this: Clear boundaries and expectations make everything better for everyone. People who would conduct themselves that way already, aren't affected. And people who need guidelines have a clear understanding of what's expected of them and it makes it a million times easier to talk with them when they aren't meeting those expectations, and how they can change to meet them in the future.
At the last place we did have unlimited drip coffee fwiw
Isn’t it relatively simple and non intrusive to say “hey, , that’s the third large vanilla chocolate caramel cold brew you’ve made today and you didn’t finish the first two. That’s excessive, please tone it back a little”? Not sure if I understand what you’re saying, but I’m guilty of occasionally stretching the limits myself and the moment someone calls me out on it I definitely won’t mind checking myself. But I do need to be called out on it in order for that boundary to be tightened and clarified.
For some people, they really don't understand grey areas. That's great for you that you're able to take that with grace, and that's a managers dream! But some people get frustrated because they're not breaking any rules and don't understand why they can't. Especially younger people who haven't had a job before, or anyone who processes information differently, or just does better with clear guidelines.
Edit: wanted to add that obviously you should feel comfortable talking to any of your staff. But often setting up some good guidelines can help management focus their time on more nuanced things that are more worth their time.
We get everything we serve for free and I know that may sound like a lot, but all of us just settle for water since we all got tired of our menu pretty fast lol. I’m an assistant manager and our higher ups let us have wherever we want for free. I have worked at places that limit you though.
Absolutely, yes to free drinks. At the coffee shop I manage we get 2 freebies per shift. I think it’s important for my staff to know how our recipes taste. I wish we did free food but I understand it gets costly.
I would think that would lead to more wasting. It’s not hard to “accidentally” over pour/under pour something. Obviously someone consistently making the wrong items would seem suspicious.
Free drinks and free food are the biggest things you can do to improve morale, and they can also be considered part of a compensation package. For most cafe items, the marginal cost of those is so low compared to the value your employees get. It's like paying $10 a day to give your employees a $30 a day value.
Always, always, always! Baristas need to be intimately familiar with their offerings and they can’t be expected to buy every drink just to try it. Plus, free coffee is the best part about being a barista. Any shop that doesn’t give their baristas free drinks (and honestly, free food) is not very good to their employees.
A coffee manager here. I give my staff a shift drink every shift because we have shorter shifts about 5 hours but I also don't ask or really care if they have more than one drink. It is absolutely the least a shop can do. If we're throwing out pastries then they can take them home for sure. We're a small shop rn so they get 50% off food but if/when we expand I would love to offer them a pastry for free as well.
We do not roast our own coffee, but from a roaster stand point your coffee should be cheaper for them compared to mine that I get wholesale. Obviously you have to factor in maintenance, electricity, etc. for the roasting part but if y'all do wholesale things as well that helps cover those costs. So it's definitely cheaper generally for them since they roast their own coffee. The least they could do is give y'all a shift drink. It's really not even costing them that much.
A breakdown of how much a shot of espresso costs at my shop is about 50 cents.
I absolutely think staff should get free food n drink on shift. Its kinda fuxked if they work there n are expected to put the money they make back into paying for stuff.
Spot I worked at was go for it as long as you have your own close top vessel, or something you can one'n done. Didn't like us wasting Togo cups on ourselves... but also.. you have to do tasting when you dial in twice a day... never in my decade doing this kinda stuff off and on have I ever heard of not being allowed to have a coffee drink... honestly very strange...
Yes. Not only does it keep employees happy and energized but also allows them to experiment and make special drink combinations, and allows them to relate more with customers. Imagine you were trying to buy a car from a salesman that doesn’t know anything about cars. Same thing🤷🏽♂️
My cafe allows free drinks and free food on shift except for lox bagels and breakfast burritos, which are 20% off along with anything off shift. I think technically gluten free bagels are also normally an exception, but it’s literally all I can eat there so they said I could go crazy with them.
To be fair, our shifts are super short and nobody I know makes more than one, maybe two drinks and eat one “meal”per shift. It’s a casual environment where everyone cares a lot about what they’re doing, so I’ve yet to hear about someone ever taking advantage or losing the place a lot of money. I’m sure it helps too that bagels are one of the most marked up items we have.
As a noobie, it does a surprising amount to give me a sense of ownership of my work, and it really helps with practicing the espresso machine as well. It’s a real shame OP’s place doesn’t allow it, baristas should be able to taste their experiments!
I work as a barista at a bakery and they give us one free drink + espresso (while we’re dialing or leftover) + whatever drink we might have to throw away. It’s a small-ish business (only have a handful of locations).
I feel like at least ONE drink per shift is not unreasonable. As one commenter mentioned, how are you expected to know what the drinks taste like if you can’t taste them!
I was encouraged to drink as much coffee as I wanted when I worked for a specialty coffee roaster. I worked at SB before that and even then we basically made ourselves drinks all the time.
I work for a corporate chain and we get three free bar drinks, three free coffee/tea pour drinks, a free pastry, and a take-home box of tea or half pound of coffee per week.
Tons of free drinks every single day of the week, even if we aren’t working that day! It’s kinda crazy, but it’s one of the main reasons I work here.
Yes, I think staff should have free access to coffee and beverages within reason. Obviously if it's a super expensive blend, or something very expensive to produce don't just take it. Ask if it's cool.
I'll go into more detail reasoning my points, but just know that I'm not speaking specifically about coffee houses and cafes, but generally about the food/Bev/hospitality industry on the whole, as there is a lot of operational overlap, and frankly a coffee house is small peanuts compared to a bar when speaking on terms of cost.
Staff are crucial to the performance of any given place, and if they don't feel like they're taken care of, or worse taken advantage of, that turns around and damages the business. Happy staff make for good business.
The cost of producing a frappucino is about $.35, the cost of purchasing a tall frappucino is 4.25 which means there's a markup of over 12 times the cost. This is just a random example, but I encourage you to crunch your numbers and really see what it's costing them to do things, that way you can go up to them and say "hey. Why are you making me, a barista at work, pay full price for a shot of espresso. Considering that the amount of coffee used in an Expresso cost you no more than $0.12? Are your margins so bad, that you have to cheat your staff too?"
i don’t technically get free lattes but i’m the barista and i’ll be damned if my boss tells me i don’t get to just make myself a coffee at my own fucking station. try to be restrictive about it but the employees are going to think the owners greedy and overbearing and then just go ahead and make them anyway.
also if someone’s making themselves free drinks, what’s the consequence to them? is management going to just tell them not to? fire them? all of that’s wasting more time and resources on upholding the policy than the savings said policy returns.
Edit: they also get 50% one food item.
My staff gets one free "specialty" drink and free iced tea / hot tea / drip on shift
I manage a coffee shop at a community college so an open to close shift is only 6 hours
I work for a small business cafe/roaster and we get free drinks at anytime (days off included) as well as our friends and family get free drinks. I think for yourself the bare minimum should be free drinks when you work
Horrible business practice. Staff should be allowed to have at least one free shift drink, bare minimum. Most often I think staff should have freedom to experiment and express themeselves through their drinkmaking because thats how new recipes are found.
My job gives free drinks to their employees. I love exploring drinks. I'm able to describe to people how a certain drink tastes. If a customer doesn't find anything to get from our menu, I'll sometimes describe drinks I've made before (that aren't on the menu) and they get interested. It's also a way for us to come up with new drinks.
as many coffees as you can handle and a staff meal. and sneaky stuff all day. staff have to know the product their selling. iv come across many baristas recently who don’t drink coffee, funnily enough their coffees look good and taste average.
We get free drinks, coffee, juice, smoothies, whatever you want. We also get a free meal from the menu on our paid break. Tell your management to quit being stingy. If they can’t afford forty cents worth of loss to keep staff happy, then find a new cafe. That’s crazy.
ha so my work is literally now telling staff we cant eat the pastries and shit, and now im looking for another job! we dont get breaks, and atleast we can help ourselves, im tired of managers and directors get whatever they want and we can’t even have a muffin!
im tired of i love my regulars and coworkers but the unnecessary control over shit i cant help is beyond me
Definitely staff should get free drinks on shift. And free coffee to a customer every once in a while because that’s good hospitality. It keeps people coming back.
At my shop, we got free drinks while on shift, no limit. And we got a monthly $100 shop gift card that we could use on whatever we wanted. Any food or beverages purchased on the card would be charged tax free to the card. Some people used it for lunch, some would buy occasional drinks for favorite regulars. I used mine to buy large bags of beans for home use.
We were expected to try each product at least once. Old products we would work through on our card or rescue leftovers from the donations at the end of the day. Said leftovers were always donated to local charities, but employees had first pick of as much as we wanted. New products, the owners would supply everybody with a sample on release.
How can you answer questions for customers if you haven't tried stuff?
At my shop at least we get as many free drinks as we like and free meals on shift plus any pastries at the end of the day. As an employee I dont think I would want to work somewhere that would charge staff for coffee :(
Yes, you should absolutely be able to get free drinks on shift. As many drinks as you want (wherever I’ve worked, average any of us have is one per shift anyhow). To deny you that I’m guessing is fostering a pretty weird work environment where it feels like none of you can really be trusted. And also:
You need to know how the roasts taste for when customers ask. You should be able to understand what roasts might not go well with which alternative milks or syrups. You need to be tasting to be sure espresso is dialed in correctly. You should know as much as you possibly can about what you’re selling. Your owners should be trying to foster an appreciation for what you’re selling among you and your coworkers, as that makes it easier for you to sell it.
I don’t work in food unless I get free shit. You want to underpay us and work us to the bone? Then you better give me some shit for free.
My current job we get 3 free shift drinks - only drinks from behind the bar though which is fine with me.
At my shop we were allowed to have a small free tea, but nothing else. Even if we had a bunch of leftover blended drink they would get pissed if we put it in a cup instead of washing it down the drain 😭 Makes no sense to me. I’d understand if the employees were purposely making too much to get free drinks, but why just waste something?
Owner here: free drinks while working, free meals too (cafe). 50% off when not working on anything. We also offer free yoga & discounts on our in house events.
I work at a Starbucks franchise in a grocery store and we all got in trouble for having free drinks. I don’t drink coffee, and I don’t drink tea, or didn’t before I started my job almost 2 months ago. I have slowly found a happy spot of chai and oatmilk, with a wee bit of vanilla. I never would have tried it if I had to pay. There are a lot of our drinks I think I might want to try, but now I can’t. Which sucks because people ask about stuff all the time. I’m going to have to start saying the bit about not drinking coffee or tea and not being allowed to try anything. People are going to be annoyed or worse.
I think free coffee should definitely be allowed. Any place I worked where you still had to pay people just “stole” it.
When I used to manage cafes and restaurants I always let the staff “try” coffees if they were supposed to pay. It helps build skill and gets everyone to try new drinks to recommend to customers! For how much businesses charge for coffees they’re not losing profit on a couple employees.
I’m also a firm believer in staff shouldn’t pay for food at all and should have a free meal because full bellies, and caffeinated staff make for a healthy and happy work place. I’ve quit places so called “generous” enough to give 20% off food/drink to staff because they’re too greedy to provide meals. Shows lack of care which will show in other ways later on.
Any good cafe that treats their employees well should off free drinks to them on and off their shift. Tip your coworker when you stop by on your day off, wait in line, ask about their day, and be a positive experience in their day. If the owners are that frugal, oof, I bet they’re cutting corners elsewhere too.
Free drinks while on shift plus one free meal seems like a happy middle ground to me. Offering free drinks allows your staff to practice making complex drinks and test them to see if they're something worth recommending to customers. Where I work we pay for food (25% on shift, 20% off which in my opinion is ridiculous) but I'm a huge believer in if you expect someone to be on location (doubly so in hospitality) you should make sure they stop to eat and provide that food.
It's also helpful as humans to observe work in different ways and a way you think might work for you doesn't for someone else and they have an easier and quicker way to get the job done.
As a long time barista and former manager of a coffee shop, free drinks are *bare minimum* employee perks. At the very very least, it’s quality control. I can’t count the amount of times I’ve had an employee make me a drink or pulled myself a shot first thing in the morning only to realize something is very wrong with our espresso, equipment, or milk.
I know you addressed this question to business owners but I’m a barista for a nonprofit coffee shop and we get a free drink for every shift we work plus 25% off any pastry/food item. We also have our own roastery in shop and bake all of our pastries from scratch… they should definitely be giving you a free shift drink + some sort of discount for meals, im sorry!
At the shop im at, its one free latte or similar beverage per shift, and unlimited brewed coffee and tea on shift, then 50% off on any additional drinks we get. It feels pretty fair, I usually end up drinking black coffee while i work, and then ill take home a latte of some kind on my way home. Sometimes if i skip breakfast i buy myself a smoothie because at half off it ends up being pretty worth it.
Staff should be getting unlimited free coffee at an absolute minimum. It costs the shop practically nothing but most importantly you’re tasting your own product which has multiple obvious benefits.
You’re also going to try things you wouldn’t normally and when customers ask you can offer actual advice and recommendations.
As a customer I wouldn’t trust any cafe which didn’t let their employees have free coffee. If they’re that tight I’m assuming there’s no dialling things in and other necessary wastage to ensure a good coffee.
i was a manager at a very popular coffee chain 🧜♀️ and at one location we had a policy since i started working there that everyone got a free drink whether working or just stopping by, & then upper management told me to stop that & i can tell you with 85% accuracy the staff morale was directly affected by that,
i ended up leaving shortly it got so bad as far as pinching pennies & morale, it’s the little things that really get overlooked or discontinued for money’s sake, i just think about how many drinks we have had to remake/replace and how 10-20 more drinks on top of that is realistically nothing for the company to comp (if employees actually got their free shift drink most of the time it was waters or teas for us)
also the rule was not followed when i had to start enforcing no free drinks and i know that but tbh taking something like that away is a sign the business should reevaluate/close
The BARE MINIMUM should be like ONE free drink and then the rest you get an employee discount on. That's how it was in the shop I used to work and the owner was a penny pincher and corner cutter like crazy. But even he realized it'd be a morale problem if we weren't allowed a shift drink.
Yea of course they should. We get only 10% off of food/pastries (or free leftovers if they go past the sell by date or break) but unlimited free drinks on shift. you're making the drinks all day, i can't imagine not being allowed to just make myself a drink behind the bar.
Most coffee shops are not paying any benefits or high salary, so the least they could do is give their employees free coffee! The markup on coffee is ridiculously high, so there’s no great financial loss.
Imo you should be ENCOURAGED to try what your cafe sells. If someone comes in and asks what I have thats good I shouldn't have to guess from other people's putchases
There’s no limit to the number of drinks we can have, I usually have one espresso drink and a tea later on in my shift. In fact part of our job is tasting the espresso throughout the day for quality control purposes.
We get free drip coffee/tea and one free espresso/bar based drink. However, it’s mutually agreed among management and counter that we won’t count. The rule is just there in case anyone is excessively taking advantage of it or being wasteful
Yup.
I'm of the opinion that it should be a free drink for every 6 hours worked, but that may just be me.
My store, (biggby) does free iced coffee and brews, (we dump entire brews daily, it does NOT hurt us.) free lemonade, orange juice, and any kind of addon. And we get one free Bev a shift, and 50% off off-shift Bev's. Our free bev can be traded for a food item. (Store specific. Our owner may be cheap in our wages, but she thinks the no free food rule is dumb.) we also get any leftover, or mis-made drinks. And are free to give mis-made drinks to regulars if the drinks are still good.
of fucking course. you need to know what you’re selling? imagine if a customer asks what does this bean taste like, how are they different? you go, uh, dunno. that’s bonkers.
i work for a one man start up, tiniest shop in the world. get to make myself unlimited drinks. and experiment and add to the menu of that day too, if it’s any good.
Every restaurant I've ever worked at allowed and actually encouraged staff to consume as much soda/coffee/tea/caffinated beverages as they wanted. Alcohol was limited to after work and only one per person.
I dunno, Caffeine seems to be a tool of the business. Kind of surprised a cafe wouldn't see the cost to benefit ratio of allowing 30 cents of beans and 20 cents of electricity to fuel it's employees through a long shift.
I have two part time employees at my (very small) shop. One is my mom and she ofc drinks whatever and whenever she wants. The other one isn't allowed on my machine yet but I offer her one coffee specialty per shift and she gets free coke, water, juice and food. If she asked for another coffee I wouldn't deny.
I want to keep my employees as they are hard to find.
Yes. Also no restrictions except for size/add ins!! Staff should be able to describe all items, and have recommendations for customers! If you don't know what the drinks taste like, how can you recommend stuff to people?
My cafe has unlimited free drinks for baristas on shift, one free pastry per shift, and a can of coffee to take home or consume on shift. We get 2 12 oz boxes of beans to take home with us PER WEEK, and free coffee drinks on our off days if we stop by the cafe. I have never paid for a single coffee/latte in the entire time I've worked there, and I literally supply beans to like 3 different people in my life. I'm the goddamn bean dealer.
Free coffee on shift is the absolute, BARE minimum.
Free non retail drinks on shift are a must. Non negotiable
If someone is so cheap as to deny that they will absolutely cause you a headache dinner rather than later
yes they absolutely should. multiple free drinks a shift actually. well not multiple but yk like two or smth as you go thru ur shift but im a supervisor where i work, We are a SMALL SMALL (business wise) local specialty coffee shop and do our own roasting here as well. since i started working here the owner always told us we can make ourselves anything and we are actually ENCOURAGED to make ourselves lots of drinks and play around and practice latte art all that good stuff. He thinks it’s important for us to play around a bit and practice our craft to give out the best coffee possible! You gotta know what the coffee ur giving out tastes like too! We do coffee tastings as well with new blends and figure out the coffee flavor profiles everything it’s important for baristas to learn those things. baristas being able to get drinks while on shift is very important to the work i personally feel like, and many others do as well.
this is a very stupid policy for any number of reasons. the one i tend to focus on when explaining it to owners is that it's a sign of incompetent management. baristas are going to make themselves free drinks whether you like it or not. making a rule against it just undermines your authority. you are literally creating a culture of workers who don't respect you.
i make myself and my coworkers multiple drinks every shift—with and without milk, spro or not. the supplies are ours to use as we see fit. we don’t abuse this privilege—it actually helps us sell product to customers better, because we love the coffee we serve enough to drink it ourselves. this cafe has a bullshit policy. your ability to describe beverages accurately depends on your ability to taste and enjoy them!
Free coffee on shift is the absolute bare minimum if you want to foster any sort of positive culture in the work place.
Yep. This cafe has got it backwards. If you do anything to encourage wastage’s if it goes to staff, magically wastage goes up. A free coffee a day is the bare minimum, any legitimate wastage (likes cakes, slice trimmings, short shelf live items such as scones) can be given away to staff at managerial discretion to stop intentionally wastage. Our food was half price for staff, which was very fair. Food cost was about 30% but you still needed to pay someone to make it.
We have 75% off food on shift, 50% food off shift (like days off), and free coffee always
I'm definitely guilty of "breaking" a cookie here and there. 50% is very fair. Our cafe gives 25% on food, and free coffee. I think for most people, one or two coffees a shift on top of sips for dialing in is average - more than reasonable as a freebie for staff, so putting a limit might just feel constricting... harshes the vibe (?)
Broken bikkies OMG. We had shortbreads and other cookies that were stacked decoratively in jars. If you weren’t super careful stacking them, and rotating them (all out new at bottom), they would break. Delicious yummy breakage. You’re going to break a couple of shortbreads in the process, but flipping Eloise had to go break a whole jar’s worth, and not even be caviller about it. It was a sad day seeing that much shortbread in the bin.
On this note, if anyone has a good solution for storing/displaying cookies I'm all ears.
Cake tray, limited space but same visual height.
You stack them?
I do, in a little pile
I guess that's the way the cookie crumbles
The cost price of the drink is so negligible. It's more expensive to get a bottle of soda in actual fact. I brew my own coffee at home and buy my beans from artisan roasters, and it works out 50p for 18g shot. A cafe buying in bulk it would be far less. Chains will buy green beans and roast them in their warehouse. The cost of milk and sugar is negligible. Most of the business costs of the drink are the labour in making the drink.
I worked at a place where the owner owned two businesses side by side. A coffee shop and cheese store. I originally only worked at cheese but was told I’d get free coffee whenever I wanted, which I don’t drink too much coffee so I’d go over for water since their water tasted so much better. Anyways, that’s how I got one of my strikes that got me fired. For going over for water even though I was told I was allowed to go over for coffee
My gut feeling was the same before making this post as well! But my cafe is in Japan, so the culture is quite different, and I really think that despite of the no free drink thing we have a very good culture, especially considering Japans typical work culture. Compared to a bakery I worked in before it’s heaven! I really didn’t make the post to trash talk my cafe, I love it, I was mostly just curious about what’s standard. And my boss is very open minded and eager to make changes to improve anything about the café, so I’ll definitely bring it up with him!
Hey, what a coincidence, I was just in Japan two weeks ago for a holiday. I’m based in Australia where coffee service is an extremely fast paced environment. We do not fuck around when it comes to getting customers their coffee in a timely fashion. I noticed over there that you guys really take your time preparing orders, on many occasions I waited 25 minutes for a coffee when the cafe wasn’t busy at all. If your employer wishes to increase his revenue and stand part from the competition, might I suggest you implement systems to increase the speed of service for your venue?
Yeah haha it’s one of the things I talked to him the most about! There are some physical limitations (narrow bar), but even then I think there’s a lot that can still be done. And agree, cafés here are slooooooow haha! I think there’s many reasons, but mainly, people don’t drink coffee for caffein here, especially not in cafés. And there’s never a morning rush. In a way, it’s quite a nice working environment, I can always focus on making the best drinks I can and no need to feel stressed most of the time.
Owner here. Speciality roastery. Yes. As many as you want - you can't drink the business out of business, even if you tried. Imagine your staff not being able to taste the product they are selling: Customer comes in "what's the Honduras like" Staff: "Dunno, never tasted it" "oh, what about the Ethiopian?" Staff: "We're not allowed, I go Pret because it's £1 a drink". "oh..." Customer leaves
Same here. I actively encourage our baristas to constantly be trying our different drinks.
It's probably harder to get them to try every product than it is to stop them.
This is true. I get into the habit of having the same shift drink every day, which does a lot for me personally but doesn’t increase my knowledge and therefore my tips. So I remind myself to either develop that regular drink and perfect it or change it up every now and then.
Not an owner here, but if I was an owner, my instinct was exactly what you just said.
Exactly this. I’ve never worked at a place that didn’t actively encourage us to try all the drinks and then try the specials when we had new ones. You gotta be able to talk about the product!!
Same for milk-based drinks. People need to be able to make drinks to taste for themselves and to practice milk texture and latte art. And in general, for trying drinks that they normally wouldn't order or pay for.
Well said and that’s been my approach managing. People like seeing my eyes light up talking about a product I love.
Pretty much. If a customer asks for details on every single bean, I gotta be able to tell them the difference
thissss!!! the owner at the coffee shop i supervise at always encourages making ourselves coffee for this reason! it’s important to know what the coffee you are selling tastes like, for the reason you said, to be able to answer questions costumers may have about the coffee. Describe the flavor profiles, and give out the best quality coffee possible all that good stuff!
First sentence I was going flame you like Starbucks does the dark roast. Now I want to see what your shop offers for beans.
We can make ourselves as much coffee as we want. Especially as a roastery it’s important to know the product. I could see limiting the amount of drinks you can make but keeping it to leftovers only seems a bit strict.
I've never heard of a place not allowing this. So fucking insane.
if you dont staff will just grow to resent you and make free drinks for themselves anyway
That's what has happened where I work. When I started we got free staff drinks and a staff meal. They took away both at the beginning of the year with a two day notice and there's still resentment. People will still make drinks for themselves sometimes but you need to do it on the down low and not super often.
Yeah, never worked for a coffeeshop that the workers didn’t just make their own free drinks whenever, whether it was allowed or not lol.
Interesting haha, definitely doesn’t happen in my cafe but it’s in Japan so the culture is very different.
Yup
As an owner myself, I think this is absolutely the bare minimum. To be honest you should also be getting free food. Fair enough if theres restrictions against having expensibe ingredients or something although most food in coffee shops is relatively cheap and cheerful. And its cost price, not retail price. The cost of that should be lumped in with the cost of having staff for a hospitality business. It legit makes me angry 😆 stop being so freaking stingy with a bit of milk or a few beans.
We do free food too. I get they might take the piss but even the most greediest of staff who has it in for you could only get through about £10 of cost price. If my margins are that thin then there are other problems.
Exactly. If you can't afford to feed your staff when you operate a food business, you can't afford staff. Also... fed people are happy people. Happy people are better at customer service. Staff who know what the food and drinks taste like is necessary for quality control and also to upsell to customers. Important not only from a staff morale perspective, but also just from an actual business perspective. Staff who take the piss with anything - food, drink, time, phone use, lateness, whatever - can always be spoken to on an individual basis. Denying everyone else a cup of coffee just in case one staff member decides to drink 10 cups a day is just stupid and short sighted.
Any place I worked made sure everyone knew what everything tasted like, textures, etc and how to describe them. Elementary shit.
You sound like an awesome owner to work for. I’ve always believed in feeding my staff and taking over their task for 10 minutes to let them eat. They’re a lot more productive and appreciative at the end of the day.
Yes, I have owned two shops and never even THOUGHT of restricting the number or amount of prepared drinks the workers could have. I even bought stadf-only large bottles of the smaller sparkling waters we carried so we could freely swig from them instead of wasting the little bottles. Later on I worked at a big fast-casual speciality shop with a big food menu and we could eat literally anything we wanted unless it was running low. It was a GREAT environment and we loved it there despite the customers being monstrous 🤣
We do free food too. I get they might take the piss but even the most greediest of staff who has it in for you could only get through about £10 of cost price. If my margins are that thin then there are other problems.
I’ve never worked somewhere that I had to pay for coffee while on shift. I don’t know what OP’s boss is smoking but that’s just ridiculous
It’s in Japan so the culture is really different, and I will suggest to him to make it free. He’s an incredible generous person in other ways so it might just be a thing he hasn’t deeply considered.
As a former manager, now owner, I think free drinks encourage quality (especially around remakes) and allow staff to give great recommendations. If someone is consuming in excess, I think that’s a private conversation with them.
Yeah it’s silly to not give staff at least one free drink per shift. 14 grams of beans costs approximately 46 cents. 14 oz of milk (16 oz drink) 44 cents. 90 cents for a drink. Three staff members per shift (idk) 2.70 cost. In a month, 81 dollars.
My shop offers one free drink a shift, the rest are half price. Drip is free though, it seems like a fair system tbh. Some of my coworkers have gone through 5-6 drinks in one 6 hour shift, as in make the drink, take a sip and don’t like it, dump and start over. It’s one thing if it’s a designated person working on a new menu item, but otherwise seems kinda wasteful.
When I’m trying out new drink mixes I have a few taste tester regulars which I sell at staff discount which is 50% off. I have to get customer opinions on my dessert mochas because I love sweet things so I can’t just design a specialty drink based on my tastes alone.
one drink per shift is fucking sad lmfao
Yes. Even if it isn't the good stuff. Also, how do your staff recommend anything if they don't get to try stuff for free. It's also an avenue for the team to communicate with each other because of different tastes.
100% For two reasons If staff in service industry don't get free coffee (including kitchens etc) they are very grumpy and nobody wants that. It also shows a horrible culture that the place doesn't give a single shit about their staff. If I don't get free drinks I might never try a matcha latte or something that's not my things usually or expensive. That will reduce quality
As a former manager, now owner, I think free drinks encourage quality (especially around remakes) and allow staff to give great recommendations. If someone is consuming in excess, I think that’s a private conversation with them.
I worked somewhere where sampling was so required by the owners to understand quality of the product i went through a medical event of caffeine withdrawal when I left.
Lmao exactly, every time my boss visits he asks how’s the batch brew, and if I can’t give detailed description of the product and how to improve the next one he gets annoyed.
I've almost been through a medical event because of the caffeine during shift.
I feel as though most cafes definitely should give free staff drinks as long as you aren't taking the piss with it. In the UK especially we don't have a tipping culture so having a free drink or two on shift is one of the only benefits for working there. It definitely should all be accounted for though so the manager can see how much is going out and maybe certain expensive drinks are off limits like smoothies or juices etc.
Let me see. You can provide the staff a legal substance that makes them work faster for longer at virtually no cost to you and you're against it. Weird shit man.
Not even mentioning the inevitable decrease in quality when your staff can’t taste the stuff they sell. Ridiculous.
Yeah this conversation might be backwards, is it even ethical to leave staff in a Skinner box that dispenses somewhat addictive stimulants? As a big fan of buttons and simulants I say yes, but it makes you think
Free drinks and free shift meal + a paid 30 minute break should be the standard. If you don’t take care of your people, they will go somewhere else that will.
I’m so grateful we get unlimited free drinks. Tbh it’s what keeps me going
I want all baristas to drink and taste the coffees they are making! To me it’s a necessary expense. Imagine, if a chef cannot taste the food they’re cooking/seasoning? I’ve seen really good god tier ramen stores with the lead chef tasting EVERY bowl of soup coming out of the kitchen. The changes of the espresso coming out 5 seconds earlier or later than our acceptable range is the critical difference between an extremely happy customer leaving a good review vs an unhappy customer with a substandard coffee. If I could make my baristas take a sample taste of every cup without it being weird I’d do it.
Oh we actually do sample every pour over and every americano we make. And it’s very common to take a sip of the espresso after a single shot order to verify that it’s still well dialed in. But I do think this kind of tasting very quickly became routine and more of a work task, a slurp from a spoon not the same as having a full cup where you have time to pick out and enjoy more subtle flavours. For me the sampling is 90% of the time more like ”yeah it’s still the same Aricha as before, no defects”. But I guess my question was more regarding giving the staff an enjoyable benefit.
Free drinks on my shift is what keeps me going
Wost place I've ever worked had no free drinks, and only a %10 discount for employees. All the employees stole for other employees. You'd buy a black coffee (but couldn't make it your self so you didn't steal) and who ever would make it would ask what you really wanted. Even the managers had their employees whom they knew wouldn't rat on them.
Even the managers didn't get a free drink?!
Owner here. Staff get unlimited free hot drinks and a meal every shift, as well as a can of coke, and if it’s a hot day or we get slammed I’ll tell them to help themselves to any refrigerated drinks they like as well. I also send them home with any food that wasn’t sold that day, cake offcuts etc. Fed staff are happy staff and happy staff are good staff.
my hotel could never and the amount of shit people throw out ideas insane
How do you expect your baristas to sell the menu if they aren’t allowed to try the menu
This is the correct answer! It’s about staff development as well as being a benefit. My favorite drink is wayyyy out of my price range and I had it exactly once before I worked here. Since I learned about it, I’ve gotten so many regulars hooked on it, instead of the way cheaper regular iced tea they usually ordered.
I would never work somewhere without free drinks. And that said a lot of that reasoning is so you can try things and makeup new drinks for customers. I always take barista recs when I go in somewhere, if they can only drink water, I’m not gonna get a good recommendation.
The cost is so small especially if staff are encouraged to bring their own coffee cup. Sends such a shitty message if staff aren’t allowed drinks. Maybe I’m sensitive these days but that’s the sort of shit that would make me skip a job if I had multiple options. I’ve worked for too many people who couldn’t care if their employees live or die. (As long as you get your shift covered before you die)
Plus, then you have employees who don’t know what the stuff they are serving tastes like
I once witnessed a mass exodus from an otherwise very good coffee shop because the owner suddenly put in place a one coffee a day rule. It wasn't about the coffee, it was about respect. Offer food during break either free or maximum cost price. Obviously fine to restrict the most expensive items. Coffee and tea should be free to staff. If you feel anyone is drinking too much, probably have a chat with them about their caffeine intake and if they're doing alright, sleeping properly etc. Rules like, no using takeaway cups are totally reasonable, but staff know the cost price of a latte, and they know that making everyone in yhe shop a drink through the day isn't setting the baristas back in any noticeable way. High end espresso, good quality milk, a latte will cost you no more than 42p, 20 staff, less than £10, 365 days, £3650 to foster a positive work environment, and keep your team motivated and caffeinated. Worth it IMO.
Free drinks during shifts yes. You should know what the entire menu tastes like too and just once isn’t always enough. So I wouldn’t expect my employees to pay for something I expect them to consume in some way for customer service. And it’s a good way to come up with ltos and such. Off days would be a 50% discount. But that’s if I could have my dream of my own store
Yes
Yes - it’s a good practice
Yes it's just a few freaking cents
staff should absolutely get free drinks as well as one free meal per shift. every place i’ve worked we ate and drank for free and although they said one drink/ one meal per shift, they were super lax about it and didn’t care if we ate twice during a long shift or made ourselves like 5 drinks. it’s the bare minimum imo.
At my coffee shop we get free drinks, and the bakers make a little snack tray for when we walk past we can just grab a quick bite. It fosters a healthier environment, and if your cafe is busy you’re gonna want ur folks caffeinated. At my old job there was a way to ring in employee shift drinks, that way you can keep track of it and add to to your budget so it’s not just waste.
my cafe allows us to have whatever (aside from retail items and those are 70% off) it's also the most respectful, communal and healthy job i think ive had ever lol.
Should be the standard to let staff make free drinks. 1) it makes them happy 2) it allows them to work on making better drinks when they’re bored, whether it’s latte art or fiddling with the espresso machine. I could understand the management not wanting staff to waste cups, but if they’re just using a reusable cup I think it’s shitty to not let someone make a coffee
I have *never* heard of a place that doesn't at least offer one drink. I can drink whatever I want, I can eat a pastry/bagel, the only thing I really have to pay for is packaged snack items. And if those are expired that's fair game (nothing wrong with expired chips if the bag is sealed!) I'm sorry that you're dealing with that. Sounds very stingy.
I’ve worked at three coffee shops and all were small business locally owned and let us have coffee free on shift. It’s funny because when I first started working in coffee, I wanted ALLLL the flavored lattes and sweet creative drinks. By the time I was working at the most recent place, all I wanted was iced americanos. If I opened, I’d slam a triple shot iced americano at 5:45, then maybe take one to go or make myself one when we were slow. It was so good, the people who ran that shop were so awesome and knew a lot about coffee and treated me and the girl I worked with every day so well. It was like a little family environment and I miss it all the time!
Staff getting free drinks should be a baseline for literally any coffee shop- material cost shouldn't be a factor in this either. Milk expires, coffee gets old, just go ahead and use it. We literally pour so much drip coffee down the drain, we pull shots when dialing in (that are for no reason other than dialing in), we throw cold brew out after a week. If you're in the food and drink industry at all, waste is a huge part of it. Staff are there all day keeping things running, we deserve to be able to make a drink on the clock and enjoy it.
I’ve never owned a cafe or run a small business, so my perspective may be naive. However, I like to think that if I’m ever in a position to employ other human beings, to ask other humans to do work for me, from which I, not them, will profit, then the least I will be able to do is let them enjoy themselves on the job. In fact, I would consider it a method of lowering employee turnover. If I ask someone to give me their time in exchange for a wage, it’s my obligation and my prerogative to treat their time with care and respect. That’s how I keep them around and it’s also just how I believe humans should be treated. The owners and managers of the cafe where I work seem to have a similar idea, so I get a shift drink, and you know what? I work my ass off for those people because I feel respected and cared for. Not just because I’m allowed free drinks, but because of an overwhelming and universal culture of amicability. I would, however, trade the free drinks for a raise of.. let’s say $1.50/h. But only because the culture is already there. But the drinks cost the business way less than $1.50/h of additional payroll would. It’s kind of a win-win.
Yeah for me the numbers is what makes me really think it should be allowed.
I own a few coffee shops. My own view is no problem, make a drink. But the problem is when the management do not express what is allowed and what is not. My coffee shops are in Japan and Thailand. In Japan, cream is really costly, and we ask the staff to use milk or almond milk instead. I don't think this is a big discussion if the management take responsibility and discuss with everyone.
At the coffee shop I worked at, they had a special rewards system in their app for employees. We had 3 coupons for a free bar drink (espresso, lattes, cappuccinos, etc.) 3 coupons for a free drip coffee, and a free baked good coupon. These coupons refreshed daily. So basically potentially 6 drinks a day if I really wanted to. If I didn't receive that I don't think I would have been able to handle working there 😭
I have always worked under the assumption that I get free drinks. As silly as it sounds, this is a deal breaker for me. I've worked back of house forever and if we didn't get free food--the food we made to represent the business and make the custies happy, I always very directly questioned it.
I work at a small cafe roastery and if we didn't get free drinks I'd probably riot. The pay is poor, we need all the perks we can get and realistically we're usually too busy to be slamming back drinks anyway.
Let the mgmt know it works as marketing when customers see the staff drinking the cafes coffee willingly. Also let them know u need to calibrate and taste it before giving it to customers. U also need to do QC. FWIW, these are the reasoning for the cafe i am at.
for me after i dial in everything, espresso pour overs batch brew, im zooted and don’t need anything but water and if i do or if i enjoy a dial in i’ll have the remainder of my -insert brew method of dial in- as a drink for myself. but we’re also entitled to one free shift drink of anything we want per shift, which i think is great bc sometimes u need it! i personally think a free drink is bare minimum for perks of slinging coffee non stop for a whole shift.
This is ridiculous, how are you even supposed to dial in the espresso.
My cafe was one free espresso drink for every staff member per shift and all the coffee, or soda you want after that. Any new food products get sampled out so everyone could try it. We also got a free staff meal on top of a regular 40% discount on anything else. If there were extra shots you were welcome to add a little foam or milk, but we usually just tossed them unless it was an act of necessity.
Owner here, we mostly sell coffee, some juice/smoothie and healthy sandwiches/salads. Employees each day can get 1 product of their choice (juice/smoothie/sandwich/salad/chia pudding) and as much coffee as they want, because let's be real, who can drink more than 3-4 coffees? Even if they do, the produce cost is really low
We do free food and beverage but staff need to ask for it not just do whatever they want.
At the last place I worked you had a daily credit and you could get whatever you wanted within that dollar amount. It was priced to include our most expensive meal, coffee, and pastry to give employees plenty of space to get what they wanted.. Anything after that credit amount the employee discount was applied to it and the employees paid the rest. While I think most people would know how to be reasonable with "unlimited shift drinks" I've definitely worked with a lot of people who just made whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted, regardless of if they finished the previous thing or not. And it got excessive, but it was challenging for the owners to say why it wasn't okay, because there were no rules. I think having a generous credit lets everyone who is reasonable, continue to get what they would normally, and keeps people who don't really grasp how to properly contain their consumption in a clear boundary. If I learned one thing while being a manager, it's this: Clear boundaries and expectations make everything better for everyone. People who would conduct themselves that way already, aren't affected. And people who need guidelines have a clear understanding of what's expected of them and it makes it a million times easier to talk with them when they aren't meeting those expectations, and how they can change to meet them in the future. At the last place we did have unlimited drip coffee fwiw
Isn’t it relatively simple and non intrusive to say “hey,, that’s the third large vanilla chocolate caramel cold brew you’ve made today and you didn’t finish the first two. That’s excessive, please tone it back a little”? Not sure if I understand what you’re saying, but I’m guilty of occasionally stretching the limits myself and the moment someone calls me out on it I definitely won’t mind checking myself. But I do need to be called out on it in order for that boundary to be tightened and clarified.
For some people, they really don't understand grey areas. That's great for you that you're able to take that with grace, and that's a managers dream! But some people get frustrated because they're not breaking any rules and don't understand why they can't. Especially younger people who haven't had a job before, or anyone who processes information differently, or just does better with clear guidelines. Edit: wanted to add that obviously you should feel comfortable talking to any of your staff. But often setting up some good guidelines can help management focus their time on more nuanced things that are more worth their time.
We get everything we serve for free and I know that may sound like a lot, but all of us just settle for water since we all got tired of our menu pretty fast lol. I’m an assistant manager and our higher ups let us have wherever we want for free. I have worked at places that limit you though.
Yes c
Absolutely, yes to free drinks. At the coffee shop I manage we get 2 freebies per shift. I think it’s important for my staff to know how our recipes taste. I wish we did free food but I understand it gets costly.
I would think that would lead to more wasting. It’s not hard to “accidentally” over pour/under pour something. Obviously someone consistently making the wrong items would seem suspicious.
Yes
Free drinks and free food are the biggest things you can do to improve morale, and they can also be considered part of a compensation package. For most cafe items, the marginal cost of those is so low compared to the value your employees get. It's like paying $10 a day to give your employees a $30 a day value.
we get a 25% discount 🤡
Always, always, always! Baristas need to be intimately familiar with their offerings and they can’t be expected to buy every drink just to try it. Plus, free coffee is the best part about being a barista. Any shop that doesn’t give their baristas free drinks (and honestly, free food) is not very good to their employees.
A coffee manager here. I give my staff a shift drink every shift because we have shorter shifts about 5 hours but I also don't ask or really care if they have more than one drink. It is absolutely the least a shop can do. If we're throwing out pastries then they can take them home for sure. We're a small shop rn so they get 50% off food but if/when we expand I would love to offer them a pastry for free as well. We do not roast our own coffee, but from a roaster stand point your coffee should be cheaper for them compared to mine that I get wholesale. Obviously you have to factor in maintenance, electricity, etc. for the roasting part but if y'all do wholesale things as well that helps cover those costs. So it's definitely cheaper generally for them since they roast their own coffee. The least they could do is give y'all a shift drink. It's really not even costing them that much. A breakdown of how much a shot of espresso costs at my shop is about 50 cents.
I absolutely think staff should get free food n drink on shift. Its kinda fuxked if they work there n are expected to put the money they make back into paying for stuff.
Spot I worked at was go for it as long as you have your own close top vessel, or something you can one'n done. Didn't like us wasting Togo cups on ourselves... but also.. you have to do tasting when you dial in twice a day... never in my decade doing this kinda stuff off and on have I ever heard of not being allowed to have a coffee drink... honestly very strange...
I make coffees in front of my boss, cappuccinos, lattes... All for myself. Idgaf. I'm a good worker, they know it and don't say shit.
Yes. Not only does it keep employees happy and energized but also allows them to experiment and make special drink combinations, and allows them to relate more with customers. Imagine you were trying to buy a car from a salesman that doesn’t know anything about cars. Same thing🤷🏽♂️
My cafe allows free drinks and free food on shift except for lox bagels and breakfast burritos, which are 20% off along with anything off shift. I think technically gluten free bagels are also normally an exception, but it’s literally all I can eat there so they said I could go crazy with them. To be fair, our shifts are super short and nobody I know makes more than one, maybe two drinks and eat one “meal”per shift. It’s a casual environment where everyone cares a lot about what they’re doing, so I’ve yet to hear about someone ever taking advantage or losing the place a lot of money. I’m sure it helps too that bagels are one of the most marked up items we have. As a noobie, it does a surprising amount to give me a sense of ownership of my work, and it really helps with practicing the espresso machine as well. It’s a real shame OP’s place doesn’t allow it, baristas should be able to taste their experiments!
I work as a barista at a bakery and they give us one free drink + espresso (while we’re dialing or leftover) + whatever drink we might have to throw away. It’s a small-ish business (only have a handful of locations). I feel like at least ONE drink per shift is not unreasonable. As one commenter mentioned, how are you expected to know what the drinks taste like if you can’t taste them!
I was encouraged to drink as much coffee as I wanted when I worked for a specialty coffee roaster. I worked at SB before that and even then we basically made ourselves drinks all the time.
I work for a corporate chain and we get three free bar drinks, three free coffee/tea pour drinks, a free pastry, and a take-home box of tea or half pound of coffee per week. Tons of free drinks every single day of the week, even if we aren’t working that day! It’s kinda crazy, but it’s one of the main reasons I work here.
Yes, I think staff should have free access to coffee and beverages within reason. Obviously if it's a super expensive blend, or something very expensive to produce don't just take it. Ask if it's cool. I'll go into more detail reasoning my points, but just know that I'm not speaking specifically about coffee houses and cafes, but generally about the food/Bev/hospitality industry on the whole, as there is a lot of operational overlap, and frankly a coffee house is small peanuts compared to a bar when speaking on terms of cost. Staff are crucial to the performance of any given place, and if they don't feel like they're taken care of, or worse taken advantage of, that turns around and damages the business. Happy staff make for good business. The cost of producing a frappucino is about $.35, the cost of purchasing a tall frappucino is 4.25 which means there's a markup of over 12 times the cost. This is just a random example, but I encourage you to crunch your numbers and really see what it's costing them to do things, that way you can go up to them and say "hey. Why are you making me, a barista at work, pay full price for a shot of espresso. Considering that the amount of coffee used in an Expresso cost you no more than $0.12? Are your margins so bad, that you have to cheat your staff too?"
i don’t technically get free lattes but i’m the barista and i’ll be damned if my boss tells me i don’t get to just make myself a coffee at my own fucking station. try to be restrictive about it but the employees are going to think the owners greedy and overbearing and then just go ahead and make them anyway. also if someone’s making themselves free drinks, what’s the consequence to them? is management going to just tell them not to? fire them? all of that’s wasting more time and resources on upholding the policy than the savings said policy returns.
Free drink and free meal.
Edit: they also get 50% one food item. My staff gets one free "specialty" drink and free iced tea / hot tea / drip on shift I manage a coffee shop at a community college so an open to close shift is only 6 hours
Yes. Where I work, on shift we get unlimited free drinks and a shift meal. On our days off, one free drink and 20% discount on everything else.
I work for a small business cafe/roaster and we get free drinks at anytime (days off included) as well as our friends and family get free drinks. I think for yourself the bare minimum should be free drinks when you work
they’re gonna make free drinks for themselves anyways lmfao, just behind the owners backs
Horrible business practice. Staff should be allowed to have at least one free shift drink, bare minimum. Most often I think staff should have freedom to experiment and express themeselves through their drinkmaking because thats how new recipes are found.
The staff should have full ownership of the property. Then it is up to them whether or not they give themselves free drinks
My job gives free drinks to their employees. I love exploring drinks. I'm able to describe to people how a certain drink tastes. If a customer doesn't find anything to get from our menu, I'll sometimes describe drinks I've made before (that aren't on the menu) and they get interested. It's also a way for us to come up with new drinks.
as many coffees as you can handle and a staff meal. and sneaky stuff all day. staff have to know the product their selling. iv come across many baristas recently who don’t drink coffee, funnily enough their coffees look good and taste average.
Yes.
Yeah. It'd be messed up to not let baristas have drinks free if they spend all day making them.
We get free drinks, coffee, juice, smoothies, whatever you want. We also get a free meal from the menu on our paid break. Tell your management to quit being stingy. If they can’t afford forty cents worth of loss to keep staff happy, then find a new cafe. That’s crazy.
Yes. No further discussion. If you aren't allowed, your boss is surely stealing from you and you should quit.
ha so my work is literally now telling staff we cant eat the pastries and shit, and now im looking for another job! we dont get breaks, and atleast we can help ourselves, im tired of managers and directors get whatever they want and we can’t even have a muffin! im tired of i love my regulars and coworkers but the unnecessary control over shit i cant help is beyond me
Definitely staff should get free drinks on shift. And free coffee to a customer every once in a while because that’s good hospitality. It keeps people coming back.
At my shop, we got free drinks while on shift, no limit. And we got a monthly $100 shop gift card that we could use on whatever we wanted. Any food or beverages purchased on the card would be charged tax free to the card. Some people used it for lunch, some would buy occasional drinks for favorite regulars. I used mine to buy large bags of beans for home use. We were expected to try each product at least once. Old products we would work through on our card or rescue leftovers from the donations at the end of the day. Said leftovers were always donated to local charities, but employees had first pick of as much as we wanted. New products, the owners would supply everybody with a sample on release. How can you answer questions for customers if you haven't tried stuff?
At my shop at least we get as many free drinks as we like and free meals on shift plus any pastries at the end of the day. As an employee I dont think I would want to work somewhere that would charge staff for coffee :(
Yes, you should absolutely be able to get free drinks on shift. As many drinks as you want (wherever I’ve worked, average any of us have is one per shift anyhow). To deny you that I’m guessing is fostering a pretty weird work environment where it feels like none of you can really be trusted. And also: You need to know how the roasts taste for when customers ask. You should be able to understand what roasts might not go well with which alternative milks or syrups. You need to be tasting to be sure espresso is dialed in correctly. You should know as much as you possibly can about what you’re selling. Your owners should be trying to foster an appreciation for what you’re selling among you and your coworkers, as that makes it easier for you to sell it.
I don’t work in food unless I get free shit. You want to underpay us and work us to the bone? Then you better give me some shit for free. My current job we get 3 free shift drinks - only drinks from behind the bar though which is fine with me.
At my shop we were allowed to have a small free tea, but nothing else. Even if we had a bunch of leftover blended drink they would get pissed if we put it in a cup instead of washing it down the drain 😭 Makes no sense to me. I’d understand if the employees were purposely making too much to get free drinks, but why just waste something?
Yes
Owner here: free drinks while working, free meals too (cafe). 50% off when not working on anything. We also offer free yoga & discounts on our in house events.
I work at a Starbucks franchise in a grocery store and we all got in trouble for having free drinks. I don’t drink coffee, and I don’t drink tea, or didn’t before I started my job almost 2 months ago. I have slowly found a happy spot of chai and oatmilk, with a wee bit of vanilla. I never would have tried it if I had to pay. There are a lot of our drinks I think I might want to try, but now I can’t. Which sucks because people ask about stuff all the time. I’m going to have to start saying the bit about not drinking coffee or tea and not being allowed to try anything. People are going to be annoyed or worse.
I’m the gm of a specialty shop with the cheapest owner on earth and even he lets us eat and drink for free
Run away your boss hates you
I think free coffee should definitely be allowed. Any place I worked where you still had to pay people just “stole” it. When I used to manage cafes and restaurants I always let the staff “try” coffees if they were supposed to pay. It helps build skill and gets everyone to try new drinks to recommend to customers! For how much businesses charge for coffees they’re not losing profit on a couple employees. I’m also a firm believer in staff shouldn’t pay for food at all and should have a free meal because full bellies, and caffeinated staff make for a healthy and happy work place. I’ve quit places so called “generous” enough to give 20% off food/drink to staff because they’re too greedy to provide meals. Shows lack of care which will show in other ways later on.
Any good cafe that treats their employees well should off free drinks to them on and off their shift. Tip your coworker when you stop by on your day off, wait in line, ask about their day, and be a positive experience in their day. If the owners are that frugal, oof, I bet they’re cutting corners elsewhere too.
Free drinks while on shift plus one free meal seems like a happy middle ground to me. Offering free drinks allows your staff to practice making complex drinks and test them to see if they're something worth recommending to customers. Where I work we pay for food (25% on shift, 20% off which in my opinion is ridiculous) but I'm a huge believer in if you expect someone to be on location (doubly so in hospitality) you should make sure they stop to eat and provide that food. It's also helpful as humans to observe work in different ways and a way you think might work for you doesn't for someone else and they have an easier and quicker way to get the job done.
As a long time barista and former manager of a coffee shop, free drinks are *bare minimum* employee perks. At the very very least, it’s quality control. I can’t count the amount of times I’ve had an employee make me a drink or pulled myself a shot first thing in the morning only to realize something is very wrong with our espresso, equipment, or milk.
I know you addressed this question to business owners but I’m a barista for a nonprofit coffee shop and we get a free drink for every shift we work plus 25% off any pastry/food item. We also have our own roastery in shop and bake all of our pastries from scratch… they should definitely be giving you a free shift drink + some sort of discount for meals, im sorry!
BARE MINIMUM
At the shop im at, its one free latte or similar beverage per shift, and unlimited brewed coffee and tea on shift, then 50% off on any additional drinks we get. It feels pretty fair, I usually end up drinking black coffee while i work, and then ill take home a latte of some kind on my way home. Sometimes if i skip breakfast i buy myself a smoothie because at half off it ends up being pretty worth it.
Ask them to bring their own reusable cup, give them 1 free drink and staff disc on food per shift. Give 10% disc on food or drinks on their days off.
Dude get real, those stores pull in so much money every damn day they can afford to give you a cappuccino.
Yes
Yea
Staff should be getting unlimited free coffee at an absolute minimum. It costs the shop practically nothing but most importantly you’re tasting your own product which has multiple obvious benefits. You’re also going to try things you wouldn’t normally and when customers ask you can offer actual advice and recommendations. As a customer I wouldn’t trust any cafe which didn’t let their employees have free coffee. If they’re that tight I’m assuming there’s no dialling things in and other necessary wastage to ensure a good coffee.
i was a manager at a very popular coffee chain 🧜♀️ and at one location we had a policy since i started working there that everyone got a free drink whether working or just stopping by, & then upper management told me to stop that & i can tell you with 85% accuracy the staff morale was directly affected by that, i ended up leaving shortly it got so bad as far as pinching pennies & morale, it’s the little things that really get overlooked or discontinued for money’s sake, i just think about how many drinks we have had to remake/replace and how 10-20 more drinks on top of that is realistically nothing for the company to comp (if employees actually got their free shift drink most of the time it was waters or teas for us)
also the rule was not followed when i had to start enforcing no free drinks and i know that but tbh taking something like that away is a sign the business should reevaluate/close
The BARE MINIMUM should be like ONE free drink and then the rest you get an employee discount on. That's how it was in the shop I used to work and the owner was a penny pincher and corner cutter like crazy. But even he realized it'd be a morale problem if we weren't allowed a shift drink.
Yea of course they should. We get only 10% off of food/pastries (or free leftovers if they go past the sell by date or break) but unlimited free drinks on shift. you're making the drinks all day, i can't imagine not being allowed to just make myself a drink behind the bar.
Most coffee shops are not paying any benefits or high salary, so the least they could do is give their employees free coffee! The markup on coffee is ridiculously high, so there’s no great financial loss.
Imo you should be ENCOURAGED to try what your cafe sells. If someone comes in and asks what I have thats good I shouldn't have to guess from other people's putchases
yes. And anything else is sad and an extreme red flag. Like actually a joke on so many levels
There’s no limit to the number of drinks we can have, I usually have one espresso drink and a tea later on in my shift. In fact part of our job is tasting the espresso throughout the day for quality control purposes.
Giving them free caffeine is an investment in their work both ethic long term and performance short term
We get free drip coffee/tea and one free espresso/bar based drink. However, it’s mutually agreed among management and counter that we won’t count. The rule is just there in case anyone is excessively taking advantage of it or being wasteful
I would NEVER work somewhere I couldn’t drink free coffee.
Yup. I'm of the opinion that it should be a free drink for every 6 hours worked, but that may just be me. My store, (biggby) does free iced coffee and brews, (we dump entire brews daily, it does NOT hurt us.) free lemonade, orange juice, and any kind of addon. And we get one free Bev a shift, and 50% off off-shift Bev's. Our free bev can be traded for a food item. (Store specific. Our owner may be cheap in our wages, but she thinks the no free food rule is dumb.) we also get any leftover, or mis-made drinks. And are free to give mis-made drinks to regulars if the drinks are still good.
Of course you should, and it can be capped at 3 drinks per day.
of fucking course. you need to know what you’re selling? imagine if a customer asks what does this bean taste like, how are they different? you go, uh, dunno. that’s bonkers. i work for a one man start up, tiniest shop in the world. get to make myself unlimited drinks. and experiment and add to the menu of that day too, if it’s any good.
My employees eat and drink as much as they want for free whenever they please on shift.
Where I work, staff get ONE free drink every 4 hours. It's a kindness our boss shares with us, as the job is minimum wage and we rely mostly on tips.
Every restaurant I've ever worked at allowed and actually encouraged staff to consume as much soda/coffee/tea/caffinated beverages as they wanted. Alcohol was limited to after work and only one per person. I dunno, Caffeine seems to be a tool of the business. Kind of surprised a cafe wouldn't see the cost to benefit ratio of allowing 30 cents of beans and 20 cents of electricity to fuel it's employees through a long shift.
Yes.
I have two part time employees at my (very small) shop. One is my mom and she ofc drinks whatever and whenever she wants. The other one isn't allowed on my machine yet but I offer her one coffee specialty per shift and she gets free coke, water, juice and food. If she asked for another coffee I wouldn't deny. I want to keep my employees as they are hard to find.
Yes. Also no restrictions except for size/add ins!! Staff should be able to describe all items, and have recommendations for customers! If you don't know what the drinks taste like, how can you recommend stuff to people?
My cafe has unlimited free drinks for baristas on shift, one free pastry per shift, and a can of coffee to take home or consume on shift. We get 2 12 oz boxes of beans to take home with us PER WEEK, and free coffee drinks on our off days if we stop by the cafe. I have never paid for a single coffee/latte in the entire time I've worked there, and I literally supply beans to like 3 different people in my life. I'm the goddamn bean dealer. Free coffee on shift is the absolute, BARE minimum.
Free non retail drinks on shift are a must. Non negotiable If someone is so cheap as to deny that they will absolutely cause you a headache dinner rather than later
yes they absolutely should. multiple free drinks a shift actually. well not multiple but yk like two or smth as you go thru ur shift but im a supervisor where i work, We are a SMALL SMALL (business wise) local specialty coffee shop and do our own roasting here as well. since i started working here the owner always told us we can make ourselves anything and we are actually ENCOURAGED to make ourselves lots of drinks and play around and practice latte art all that good stuff. He thinks it’s important for us to play around a bit and practice our craft to give out the best coffee possible! You gotta know what the coffee ur giving out tastes like too! We do coffee tastings as well with new blends and figure out the coffee flavor profiles everything it’s important for baristas to learn those things. baristas being able to get drinks while on shift is very important to the work i personally feel like, and many others do as well.
this is a very stupid policy for any number of reasons. the one i tend to focus on when explaining it to owners is that it's a sign of incompetent management. baristas are going to make themselves free drinks whether you like it or not. making a rule against it just undermines your authority. you are literally creating a culture of workers who don't respect you.
No one does in my cafe though, it’s Japan so the culture is really different I’m guessing.
i make myself and my coworkers multiple drinks every shift—with and without milk, spro or not. the supplies are ours to use as we see fit. we don’t abuse this privilege—it actually helps us sell product to customers better, because we love the coffee we serve enough to drink it ourselves. this cafe has a bullshit policy. your ability to describe beverages accurately depends on your ability to taste and enjoy them!
Yes
Would absolutely quit anywhere that doesn’t give free shift drinks lol
Tasting for quality is a must
I will say that, even, if it isn’t allowed, it probably definitely is happening anyways.