If it were only occasionally a gap on coverage not during peak or like just a lunch then it wouldn’t be so bad but generally it starts at 11am and ends a 6pm. So running with only me and a partner means that one partner is making all of the drinks and food while the other is taking all of the orders and doing all of the registers transactions both through drive thru and cafe.

Reasonably difficult to operate this way if you need any actual customer support cycles completed or prep made or meals and breaks and ssv tasks like the afternoon pull or putting away the food and milk delivery or cash management to prepare the deposit even.

As the ssv, I will be held liable if I allow the barista partner to operate without following our additional food safety regulations. In our area, restaurants and coffee shops (food service) are required to do most of the enhanced operations that Starbucks rolled out to all stores by threat of fines and closures from the department of health.

I risk being reprimanded for not ensuring we are following local law if I allow the barista partner to cut corners like by not washing their hands every thirty minutes because they have just been steadily making drinks on the bar and it would mess up their rotation if they left it right now. I risk getting my customers sick if I don’t practice food safety and follow our local laws. I risk my own health by entering into this type of chaotic environment where I can’t verify that the tools that I am using and touching are sanitized by the partner before me, and I am not afforded the time to clean them again before I have to use them.

And I definitely feel unsafe when I have to help the angry drive through customers who have come into the store to fuss at the manager because they had to wait so long in the line because of the rude barista that took their order had to ask them to repeat their order, “they should have been listening and I don’t think I should have to pay for my drinks now”