It's s beautiful balance. Firstly I like to follow what I call "the two hour principle". Ideally, people should be getting breaks roughly every 2 hours. This isn't always doable, but I like to warn my baristas if it's gonna be much longer ("Hey, Jimmy clocks on in 20 minutes. You're due for a ten now, but are you good to wait till Jimmy comes so I have someone to take over for you?", or "hey, both our lunches are scheduled at 3:30, and I can't stagger them, do you want to go at 3:15 or 3:45?"). For me I make my breaks last priority, or the one at weird times. If I can only afford to take a 10 half an hour into my shift, I will. Someone has to take their lunch super early or uncomfortably late? It's me. Absolute worst case, if we're short and someone's taking their lunch means we'll be short staffed, we'll deal with it. My baristas at least deserve to take their lunch. I just make a point to deploy everyone so the strongest people are in each position (often this means me on bar. I don't like doing that when I'm shift but if it means we'll get through a rough patch, I'm one of the best on bar at my store).

The only person who's allowed to skip breaks on my shift is me. That's final


Edit to add- no one's ten is actually a ten. If you're planning on running breaks back to back, add 5 mintues. I made that mistake at first, where I tried to run tens back to back and assumed they'd be done exactly 10 mintues back to back. Assume 15 mintues to account for the time between when you say it's their ten and the time they actually get back

I do not plan out breaks.

At all.

And my baristas are chill with that. They know I'll always get them their breaks as soon as possible and they don't worry about it being at a specific time.

Some people may think I'm scatter brained for that. Or they may not like it, but that is my style. I feel the flow of the floor and run with it. Everyone gets every break they should have, including myself. It isn't worth your mental or physical health to forego your breaks, even if we are struggling because we are short staffed and/or slammed.

My location doesn't require breaks to be run within the first 4 hours or what that rule is for certain areas. So for my team, first 10 breaks can be run any time between 8:20-9:00 am. Our peak starts as soon as 6:15-6:30am and as late as 7:00am. Because it isn't the same every day, I don't physically write out my breaks but I do frequently check the DCR and the clock to keep my mind updated on who will need to roughly go when. And once i start the 10s, I usually have them go one after the other. Just.. boom boom boom, consecutively. Because once peak has ended, the flow is calmer and everyone can breathe and that's when I can get everybody a break. So when I see the flow is starting to chill out, that's when I'm starting those first 10s.

If your store doesn't run that way, then I would suggest starting those first 10s around 6:30-6:40am, getting those openers their 10s and then being ready to hop into peak.

I give them time to get their drinks and food situated to take back and they (the crew) are always informed when one person is going. And that when that person comes back, xyz will go on theirs (shifting the floor plan as needed).

If it's a little bit busy, or short staffed, I'm not as lenient on them taking longer times to get back on the floor, but I try to let them take an adequate 10-15 break always. But even if you are really busy, your best bet is to try and find a slow time in the midst of the chaos if you can. Then you have to seize it and send someone, even if it's yourself. Because truthfully, like it's going to remain busy if that person is on the floor or not, so while it may suck not having that person, if you know you're pressing on that time limit for them to be going, just do it.

Anyway, that's just chaotic advice from a kooky morning shift. Hope it helped a little bit! 🤪🤪

It depends on how busy your store is. I never try to plan anything out completely, because when I do, it never goes according to plan lol.

Tens are something you can shove in real quick when it’s suddenly quiet, as it’s not too risky. The worst thing that happens is that it gets busy in those 10 minutes, but you get the person back in under 10 minutes, so it’s not a big deal. 30s are the ones that should be somewhat planned out, as they’re longer lasting. Usually, it’s good to plan a lunch around when you have a person clocking in. The person who just clocked in can cover the partner who has already been there multiple hours for their lunch.

I open a lot, and how everyone does it at my store is that all openers take their lunches very early, so that they’re done before peak starts. Other than opening, though, try to have their lunch be the mid-way mark in their shift. If they’re working an eight hour shift, they should ideally have a 10 minute break two hours in, a 30 four hours in, and their second 10 six hours in.

I always put myself last when it comes to lunches and breaks, personally, but I think that’s up to each person. I usually will keep a headset on during my lunch if there’s no other SSV on the floor, so that I can clock back in early if needed, or help out with a problem that requires a SSV.