Make yourself cup flashcards:
Grab a cup of each size, iced and hot
Write on the bottom of each of them pump #s and shot #s

Trenta P:7 S:0 (Nothing espresso comes in a trenta)
Venti iced P:6 S:3
Grande iced P:4 S:2
Tall iced P:3 S:1

Venti hot P:5 S:2
Grande hot P:4 S:2
Tall hot P:2 S:1
Short P:1 S:1

Go through these flashcups a couple times a day, mix them up, try to say it out loud before you look at the bottom of the cup, etc until you can go through it fully without looking. This helped me more than anything else ever did.

Always use the measuring cups for cold bar drinks.

When pouring out the non-dairy milks, open the cap just barely so it stops the milk from exploding out the front.

Keep an eye on what is low and when you have 2 whips left tell the CS. When you're low on anything tell them so they have it in their mind to get it to you. It's a little annoying when you're doing something as CS and someone yells "We need more vanilla sweet cream inmediately!"

Dont worry about speed yet. You'll get it with practice. Focus on what's in front of you.

When making drinks, try to keep in mind the sequencing you went through with training but dont focus on it. When making two frappuccinos, make the first, put it in the blender, make the second, put it in the blender and take the first to the cup.

When emptying frappuccinos into the cup, always hold the cup and shake the blender side to side rather than straight into the cup or itll all come falling onto the counter.

Dont be afraid to ask to go get water or go to the bathroom when you need to. Everyone needs to.

Dont forget about dishes. Even one small load in between cycles during CS are so helpful!

Station restock doesnt mean restock fridges and inclusions, it means lids, cups, the actual restock station itself, sleeves, stoppers, straws, napkins, etc.


I know it's a lot but hopefully you can come back here in a couple months and say "I know all this already"! And dont worry, it took me a year to figure all these out so take your time!

(PS, we dont get paid enough to deal with insistent Karen's so *when* a Karen comes in and gives you shit, turn your brain on sleep mode and nod and "Uh huh" till they've rung themselves out.")

No matter how many mistakes you make while learning the job, just remember that you’re doing great 💜

when you find yourself getting overwhelmed, take some deep breaths. i find it’s one of the only things that really gets me through times when i’m soloing on bar lol

-find good shoes (i wear docs or vans) they dont necessarily need to be “non slip” (at least at my store) it sucks to be slowed down because your trying not to slip on spills and ice haha

-i made a cheat sheet of shots/syrup pumps for each size hot and iced and made it my lockscreen for a little while, helps familiarize the information subconsciously, and is a great quick reference guide if you feel insecure about asking every 10 seconds

-finding formulas and commonalities in drinks helps me remember what goes in every drink (ex: caffe vanilla frap is just a vanilla bean frap with frap roast/coffee base) and i felt less intimidated by all the
“”different”” recipies (theyre really not all that different oops sorry ms. siren) or, “if it has x, it gets y” like if your putting frap roast in a frap, it gets coffee base (see the correlation…no more wondering which base its suppose to have)

-some stores might be more strict about staying planted (staying at a certain position) but my first week or so i was mostly at drive thru, and i would help dt bar with simple drinks (refreshers, waters, puppiccinos lol) in my free time. improves multitasking ability, and its a good way to get in a little bar practice without affecting the entire flow of the store by being on bar

-customer support is a role that basically restocks the drink makers with supplies and maintains customer areas, & at first i struggled a little trying to remember what exactly i should restock. if/when you get some bar practice (actual drink making), pay attention to what you use at each station. at cold bar for example, lids and cups go fast so i prioritize that for restocking cold bar. by the espresso machines, certain milks go faster than others (you learn that by making the drinks lol) so keep that in mind when your replenishing the station. if you were barring, what would you need the most? make sure to hook up the barista with that, dont let it run empty while an ingredient thats hardly ever used is fully stocked (if u can help it obvs lol)
-same for doing PARS (a weird name for ingredient assembling; aka making whip creams, caramel bottles, lemonades, etc). when YOU are making drinks, pay attention to what runs out the fastest and you’ll remember to prioritize/load up on that when youre told to make PARS

-do not strive for perfection, barista-ing is an art. you are CREATING a beverage from scratch, and creation is never perfect. with that being said….the less product u waste the less often you have to replenish it. my advice is dont freak out if you spill a little strawberry acai or have to dump a little liquid out to make room for van sweet cream cold foam, its fine. but avoiding being sloppy and careless with using the products is a small gesture to appreciate ur customer support/team in general and like creates less work

-coming from a background in sales, i cannot stress enough the importance of not overthinking it lol. customers r just people like you. have a relaxed, welcoming, chill demeanor with customers & they will frequently reflect the same energy back to u. obviously uphold professionalism, but theyre humans too. i like to talk to customers like theyre already my best friend, (starbucks wants u to assume the best in everyone, so…) and ive noticed it creates a better ambiance/vibe than an ingenuine overly positive/happy attitude, or obviously forced conversation making

-advice for customer service in general: laugh it off. brightside of COVID is mfs cant see you laughing at them anymore thru the mask. pity them for being an adult (most times) who throws a tantrum in public over a non-essential (and arguably unethical) item not being available. this person is not even worth your anger or frustration

-experiment with your partner markout (free drinks and food items for working there) ! which u can customize to your liking. this way u can give advice to those who ask how to change their drink and you additionally practice reading the menu

-lastly its just coffee. no one is going to die because their frappuccino was supposed to have extra caramel drizzle on the cup and you forgot. have fun, compare your progress only to yourself & you’ll learn and absorb info so much better >>> making you better, more quickly. good luck, u got this, make friends with ur coworkers!! theyll be more willing to help u and save ur ass when u f*ck up :)

Show up on time for your shifts... be open to coaching. Understand that your training continues on the floor after the official "training" shifts. Ask questions if you don't know something. Absorb knowledge like a sponge.

Ask questions, a lot of them. Even after being fully trained, you're still going to have questions, so don't be afraid to lean on your team for support! It might seem like a lot sometimes, but just focus on one drink at a time and don't let the pressure get to you, it's just coffee.

I think the biggest tip I got was to review recipes in the app. So maybe when I was on window someone would order something new. On my break I would check my app and see what goes in the drink. It helped reinforce recipes for me at least.