I was hired back in August and I think something that can be helpful for training new baristas is probably to just have written instructions printed. Like how to brew a batch of coffee, how to brew ice coffee, making teas, etc. Specifically writing instructions for customer support because that’s the one position I was not confident in my first few months.

hey so i’ve been working for only two months now and can do every drink with every specification, my supervisor taught me in a very uhhhh experimental way by putting me on bar straight away obviously after teaching me the basics and yelling at me the instructions for each drink and where to find the parts needed it was very stressful and high pressure but taught me fast as i had to think alone, people will say it’s not a good way of teaching as it could cause the employee to quit but it worked well for me

Thank you to everyone that posted. Some where really good ideas . I forgot to had I work at a cafe store and most times it’s just me and one closer for two plus hours . This is why I’m struggling

As a former barista and barista trainer, normally I and my trainees would always learn by doing. I know it's not always possible for you to take time to show them, but perhaps you could try to have them shadow you if appropriate or have another barista show them tasks.

If there's downtime, I'd probably have them practice on bar, in busier times they could perhaps do drive thru or register. This is sortof a dual edged sword since sometimes baristas end up on R1 so much that they can't really do anything else.

I'd probably just try to show them a few things as needed, maybe one per hour as they come up, and hopefully they can remember how to do it.

Ideally they'd be able to practice the skill as well, so you would show them how to brew coffee and then they'd be able to practice it for the rest of their shift. If there's jobs aids as well, those can be helpful since they can reference it after you show them.

Im sorry you guys had bad trainers. Im a trainer and the iPads have an app called Store Resources which has a lot of good information for you. You can look up any drink recipe if you dont know how to make it and there is also tab that says Train A Barista that has like basics of things. Unfortunately they dont have a section that has directions on how to make things like the sweet cream, mocha, or frap roast etc. I actually have a cheat cheat I made for my trainees and Iv given it to the other trainers at my store for their trainees.

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