my trainer was training to become ASM herself, so she had a kind of high and mighty attitude. She also taught my training partner and me some wrong/outdated recipes, but wouldn't ask anyone else, or admit to it.

Just be down to earth, tell them like it is. Its not supposed to be easy working in customer service, especially since the customers are hellish even on a good day. Its good to prepare them for that as much as for the role itself.

Don't be afraid to ask your fellow baristas for help if you can't remember recipes or protocol. And show the barista that they're working with people who will be there to answer questions even after training.

And please stress to them that they're SUPPOSED to make mistakes. Let them know they're not going to be a perfect barista after one measly week of training and 8 hours of online clickers. Starbucks WANTS them to make mistakes so they can learn on the job instead of using more training hours.

You're gonna be amazing! Good luck, and enjoy training! 😄

When you train people how to do things, explain to them why it's important to do things that way. Sometimes a reason why can help a lot more than just telling someone "this is the way it is" and just moving on. Also just being patient with them and assuring them that is okay to not get everything right away since there is so much to learn. And trying to get to know them a bit, and make them feel welcomed into the store!

I do my training module to become a trainer on Friday! I’ve only been here for three months I will definitely be following this thread!

As someone who trained a lot of baristas, emphasize the register recipe interface, the ipad recipes (I’m assuming still there? not a partner anymore), the physical recipe cards if you have them, csr cards, emphasize their resources. Get them used to where they can find information. Get them used to asking. Because there just isn’t enough time to teach or learn and have them actually retain anything more than the basics. Show them a good work ethic, build a good rapport with them, make sure they know mistakes is Ok. Teach them to check in with the SS when they get on (often times as a trainee they only check in with you, but make sure they understand on a non-training shift to go to the SS) Teach them to ask what they can do to help when they finish a task. Teach them planted vs not planted. This emphasis on resources is esp important if you have a lot of turnover, because greenbeans can tell each other incorrect information. Heck a shift could tell them something wrong. Best to use a resource when you have time.

I told every trainee I had that “As I got more experienced I don’t know that I make less mistakes, I just clean up and move on faster.” They’re going to mess up drinks, it’s a given, they just need to not freeze up about it and figure out the fix and move on.

If you’re not sure of something yourself it’s OK to say “I don’t know. Let me look that up / lets look it up together.” If you have time you can tailor their training sliiightly to what dayparts they will be working.

Sounds like your store's issue is more with retention so I'll give pass along some advice based on that.

I think it's important to remind green beans during training that we don't expect them to be experts after the training.

Let's be honest the sbux training is more of an introduction to everything. I tell them I will expect them to have questions after training and that it's totally normal. At the same time I try to make them answer their own question after few shifts. I.e. Q: how many shots in a grande? A: What is your guess? (Being non-judgmental of course). Making them recall info is a good way to learn.

Chaos is something that is a constant now at Starbucks (at least at my store), but I remind the barista that we are all in it together as a team.

You'll always have people who don't think this job is for them which is totally fine and honestly I can see why lately lol


Side note: make sure you get the bonus.

The best thing my trainer told me was that it took a couple months for her to really GET bar, and to even start being fast on it. When I started bar, I was horrible at it, couldn’t remember anything, and I was super slow. She was super fast and made everything perfect, but she always reminded me that she started the same way, so I knew I could get there too.

Sure it’s a pretty generic thing for a trainer to say, because we all are pretty much thrown to the wolves after our very short training time, but it stuck with me.

I love training and like to think I’m pretty okay at it after two years. Here’s what I’ve done throughout the journey:

•I don’t follow the suggested training route. I follow this in our two weeks we’re allotted
-CS/support roles: 2 days
-Register: 1 day
-Cold bar (and cold bar sequencing): 1 day
-Hot bar (and hot bar sequencing): 1 day
-bring them both together (this is either a whole day or at the end of hot bar training depending on how fast they pick it up/the amount of time we have left in the day)
-DTO/DTR: 1 day
-if we have an extra day I ask them what they want to do.

Don’t be afraid to change out the order you train things on depending on how your store works. I do DTO/DTR last because we tend to put new hires on DTR for their first few days.

•I /always/ give the why behind things. Why does venti ice get more pumps and more shots? Why is this standard the way it is? Why do we aerate milk?

•i always demonstrate first and walk them through it step by step. Then, I stand back and let them figure things out by themselves. I ask them to basically “train” me on what I just demonstrated and that if they have any questions/forget, let me know.

•I spend about 15 minutes going over what we learned the previous day so it doesn’t feel like we learned something and we’re never going to address it again.

•I always start off my first day of training by saying “I’m going to be throwing a ton of information at you. There is no way you will remember all of this and I don’t expect that at you. My goal isn’t to make you a expert barista on your first day. What my goal is is to make you familiar with each role so that when you get put there you’ll have a understanding of what it looks like and make it to where you’ll be able to ask questions”

• I also tell them to give this job 3 months minimum before they decide whether or not it’s a right fit. I let them know by 3 months you’ll have at least two roles that you can do with your eyes shut. At 6 months you’ll be able to do most roles without question. And at 1 yr you’ll finally feel like you got everything down and that you could train someone on all the roles if you wanted. Essentially, this job takes time and it can be overwhelming but if you stick with it you’ll be able to feel comfortable with each position.

•I was a shift for a long time so this may be different for you but I like to explain when/why each position is how it is. For example, if I’m training a night partner I’ll explain to them “we’re learning on a 10 minute cadence but you’ll typically have 30 minutes at night since we only brew pike after 11 am. You’ll also most likely not have a DTO person next to you because you’ll have, on average, 4 people. At 5 people is when you gain a DTO”

•I make each new hire a “cheat sheet” that has all the sizes, pumps, shots, and exceptions for each drink.

•there’s also a lot of extra training that isn’t in the modules. For example: how to clock on, benefits (they get free Spotify right away and I like to set them up with that), partner hub, how to ask off/change availability, and how to view their pay stubs and vacation/sick hours.

•finally I always ask my trainee what they thought. Do they have any feedback? What could I have done different that would have made it better or easier for them. This has been invaluable and I’ve implemented a ton of suggestions I’ve gotten.

I know this is a lot but what most important to remember is that besides following standards and teaching proper routines, tailor the training to how you see fit. Don’t be afraid to deviate and add on/take off things you find appropriate. Training is honestly my favorite thing to do!

One thing I tell all new baristas and baristas I have trained, is that they will hate it. I preface them with this because they will feel overwhelmed and want to quit (tell them my personal story and all that). I tell them that it’s okay and to try and stick it out for a few months as they learn and ask lots of questions. I tell them it’ll take them a few months for things to click and then you’ll feel more confident and do better. Tell them to try their best because everyone has a challenging beginning.

I love training and wish I could train more 🥺

If you believe you are fit for training - absolutely do it.

Let them know that no one gets it easily and about how you also struggled to learn everything. Tell them they're doing good a lot. I find that a lot of green beans think that its only them, and that everyone else learned quick. I had a green bean that was beating them self up for not learning "quick enough" they almost cried when I told them about how hard it was for me (im not a trainer just a 278 partner)

For everything you tell them, OVER-EXPLAIN. And emphasize. And make sure you tell them why they should be executing things the way they are. And please, tell them to not be afraid to ask for help. Whether they’re a one week green bean or a one year barista. Help will ALWAYS be available. Communication is key, especially about how they’re feeling so that fellow baristas can figure out how to support them the best way possible during those days where they feel off or not themselves.

The biggest thing is patience. Never underestimate how stupid people can be

My manager was lazy as fuck. She never even certified me to be on bar i was just placed there in my like second week. Eventually I was almost always bar and I kept asking her for almost a year to pin me and get it over with but she always put it off. One day I find where the barista and trainer pins are so I pin myself a barista pin. There were two relatively new baristas who both credited me to learning the bar so well that they were comfortable being left alone so I pinned them too and because I pinned them I then pinned myself as a certified trainer. No one else objected and my supervisor supported it when she found out

I have been a barista trainer for a few years now and i love it. I like to keep it fun and chill at the same time. I modified the training modules to be the least amount of stress possible. First day i start with front register, following drive thru, then customer support, hot bar, cold bar, then sequencing/review day. Take the time to introduce them to everyone, including your regulars. make them feel included. This is why it's nice to be on front register first day, since you must interact with customers and you get a feel for their personalities. encourage them to make it their own with their greetings. before we get started, i have about 15 minutes of getting to know each other and if you're training two, bonding the pair. Create that open floor with them, tell them to ask questions and that all questions are great questions. Most importantly, train them to the be the barista you want them to be. You will be their support system to fall back on, and let them know that. Enjoy this experience!

I was taught a lot of outdated material and was not put on bar very often. I didn’t get good at barring until 1 1/2 years into working there

A long, long, long time ago, I was a trainer, then ASM, then SM. I was somehow able to convert my training skills that I got from Starbucks into doing some software training for another company, which led to a consulting gig, which led to a 20+ year career making six-figures doing software stuff. Basically a straight line from Barista to my job today so I can't stress enough, how good it is to have the skills to train people.

The biggest thing I'd say to remember is that not everyone learns the same and different people will need different approaches and coaching depending on their learning styles. Visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners will all respond differently. Tell, show, do - tell them what it is they are going to learn and how the skill works. Show them how to do it. Let them do it. That approach engages all learning styles and gets everyone more comfortable.

Good luck!

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