Starbucks Baristas: The daily grind
↑
11
↓
SSV Help (self.starbucksbaristas)
submitted by Pitiful-Smoke-9547
I feel that, as a shift supervisor, the floor I run is not effective. I work mostly mornings and I haven't been a shift that long, but I just feel like I got thrown into the position with no proper training. Everyone tells me my partner placement is wrong, and I just don't know what to do. During peak, the drivethru line is way out of our parking lot and we almost always have a cafe full of people. All of my coworkers know how to do everything properly, so it's not a training issue. Any tips or tricks for running a better shift?
BeardiesRule112 10 points 1y ago
Learn all your baristas’ strengths and weaknesses. You could also try using the play builder app
IntoxicatingDream 3 points 1y ago
Deployment is a weird skill. At a lot of restaurants broil is broil. Fry is fry. Window is window. Sous is sous. Having everyone be responsible for everything, and deploying them takes time to learn. U don't get to practice that at a lot of other jobs.
Idk if this will help you, but I made index cards for every partner in my store at the time when I was a baby shift. Gave them stars 1-5 for each position. Always thought of it as d&d stats. Then I'd pretend deploy them and try to play it out in my head.
You're gonna make mistakes. And the learning curve from barista to shift is the toughest one imo. Be gentle with yourself, you were promoted for a reason. You got this!
Idk if this will help you, but I made index cards for every partner in my store at the time when I was a baby shift. Gave them stars 1-5 for each position. Always thought of it as d&d stats. Then I'd pretend deploy them and try to play it out in my head.
You're gonna make mistakes. And the learning curve from barista to shift is the toughest one imo. Be gentle with yourself, you were promoted for a reason. You got this!
KikiDelRio 3 points 1y ago
I need a few questions answered before I can appropriately offer insight.
* How many partners during peak?
* How many espresso machines do you have?
* Are you a cafe and DT store?
* How are your mobiles during peak?
* Are you an Uber eats store?
* How many partners during peak?
* How many espresso machines do you have?
* Are you a cafe and DT store?
* How are your mobiles during peak?
* Are you an Uber eats store?
Pitiful-Smoke-9547 [OP] 1 points 1y ago
We usually have 7 partners on for peak, sometimes 6, and 2 espresso machines. We have both a cafe and drivethru, and mobiles are like a rollercoaster. sometimes super busy, sometimes not. And we don't do Uber eats.
KikiDelRio 2 points 1y ago
>u/plutotvofficial·promoted
Sweet, it sounds like our store so hopefully, I can offer something that might help :) Since you might work with 6 partners, I will coach from there which means it should be easier with 7 when you have them.
We found that our biggest bottleneck was warming and have shifted the play to cater to it. This play won't be in the playbuilder and sounds funky but it has helped us tremendously with out the window times and connection.
1. DTR (No headset, unless you have to walk away for a customer complaint or a longer period of time)
2. DTO (Place yourself here so that you can set up the DTR with drinks/food for shorter out the window times and also support by walking food or handing out mobiles when jams happen. Depending on how close you are to the cold bev station, you can also help bar by blending foam)
3. BAR 1 (This one is closest to the register and normally only does drive. When we drop in partners, we will sometimes have this partner has a till up front to slide and ring. When they slide, the DTO person takes orders and makes drinks while the DTR person inputs the orders)
4. BAR 2 (This is the bar that handles cafe and mobile and customer connection. They always stay anchored)
5. WARMING (This person never leaves warming during peak and they do wear a headset to help them stay ahead of larger DT orders)
6. FRONT/SUPPORT WARM (This person rings, brews, and walks food for warming. They also can slide to warming should the warming person need to fill up their food items from the back. If they slide, then DT bar helps cover the front as needed)
7. \*\*\*\*If you have a 7th, this person can be the designated Support role or cold bev depending on your store's needs. If they take over support, they will brew, walk food for the warmer, and grab food for the warmer so that the warmer can remain anchored.
I have found it most helpful for me to run my shift during peak in the DTO position because I am able to monitor the flow of the store and make adjustments in placement as needed. We also do not adjust lunchtimes and are able to run them during peak with this set up. When we first began having the DT bar slide to front to help, it felt counterintuitive but it truly helped us change things around.
Please let me know if you have any questions!
Sweet, it sounds like our store so hopefully, I can offer something that might help :) Since you might work with 6 partners, I will coach from there which means it should be easier with 7 when you have them.
We found that our biggest bottleneck was warming and have shifted the play to cater to it. This play won't be in the playbuilder and sounds funky but it has helped us tremendously with out the window times and connection.
1. DTR (No headset, unless you have to walk away for a customer complaint or a longer period of time)
2. DTO (Place yourself here so that you can set up the DTR with drinks/food for shorter out the window times and also support by walking food or handing out mobiles when jams happen. Depending on how close you are to the cold bev station, you can also help bar by blending foam)
3. BAR 1 (This one is closest to the register and normally only does drive. When we drop in partners, we will sometimes have this partner has a till up front to slide and ring. When they slide, the DTO person takes orders and makes drinks while the DTR person inputs the orders)
4. BAR 2 (This is the bar that handles cafe and mobile and customer connection. They always stay anchored)
5. WARMING (This person never leaves warming during peak and they do wear a headset to help them stay ahead of larger DT orders)
6. FRONT/SUPPORT WARM (This person rings, brews, and walks food for warming. They also can slide to warming should the warming person need to fill up their food items from the back. If they slide, then DT bar helps cover the front as needed)
7. \*\*\*\*If you have a 7th, this person can be the designated Support role or cold bev depending on your store's needs. If they take over support, they will brew, walk food for the warmer, and grab food for the warmer so that the warmer can remain anchored.
I have found it most helpful for me to run my shift during peak in the DTO position because I am able to monitor the flow of the store and make adjustments in placement as needed. We also do not adjust lunchtimes and are able to run them during peak with this set up. When we first began having the DT bar slide to front to help, it felt counterintuitive but it truly helped us change things around.
Please let me know if you have any questions!
ryannmm5 1 points 1y ago
what my shifts do (w 6 people) is always 2 people on bar, the shift is usually fronts and warming. a cold bar, and 2 dt people. the cold bar would get anything needed: ice, brewing, new syrups, etc.
KikiDelRio 2 points 1y ago
We used to operate this way and found that the shift felt less chaotic and ran much more smoothly when we were able to remain anchored in key positions. Doing front and warming causes a delay and at worst a major gap in warming because the front person often gets held up. Even if the front person does not connect with customers and runs back and forth while the customer is paying, it is a breakdown in the system. Having one person anchored for warming and a front person that runs food when they aren't helping up front prevents the bottleneck. We also found out it is better to not stock anything during peak. Prior to peak, we make sure everything is 100% heaping and we can normally get through peak without leaving our spots (which also helps with us not burning out scrambling to grab things). If your SSV places themself at DTO, they can fill gaps by helping with cold bev, grabbing food (if front person is stuck up front), and pull from the restock cabinet should there be a need.
Melodic_Journalist_5 3 points 1y ago
Look for where things bottleneck and flex the play. Like if drive thru is backed up see if it's because there's only one person managing DTO and DTR and they can't keep up then see if someone else would be able to manage both or if it's too busy move someone from like customer support to one of them temporarily to get it down. Or if it's not caused by drive thru and it's from drinks see if it's because you need a cold bar person as well as hot bar. Those types of flexing the play
WellEO19 1 points 1y ago
Use the play builder tool as a guide if you need to . Aces in their places for peak. If something isn’t working don’t be afraid to move people for efficiency
Melodic_Journalist_5 1 points 1y ago
Look for where things bottleneck and flex the play. Like if drive thru is backed up see if it's because there's only one person managing DTO and DTR and they can't keep up then see if someone else would be able to manage both or if it's too busy move someone from like customer support to one of them temporarily to get it down. Or if it's not caused by drive thru and it's from drinks see if it's because you need a cold bar person as well as hot bar. Those types of flexing the play
[deleted] 1 points 1y ago
[deleted]
This nonprofit website is run by volunteers.
Please contribute if you can. Thank you!
Our mission is to provide everyone with access to large-
scale community websites for the good of humanity.
Without ads, without tracking, without greed.
scale community websites for the good of humanity.
Without ads, without tracking, without greed.
©2023 HumbleCat Inc • HumbleCat is a 501(c)3 nonprofit based in Michigan, USA.