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Everyone agrees what steps one and two should be for the CS cycle—Coffee and sanitizer. See if your timers are going and if not do the things.

The time in between those things has to be flexible depending on what your store actually needs at the time. The by the book training works if you’re having a chill time of it, but if you’ve got a pile of dishes in the back and mild haven’t been stocked in two hours you have to adjust for that. So what I do because I have hella adhd is I quickly look around the store and make a list on receipt paper of everything I think I should be fixing. Then in between my timers I work through that list by order of priority. Stuff like ice, cups, lids, & fridges has to take priority over stuff like making backups and dishes. Lobby might be high priority if there’s been a spill but it can probably wait for you to get milks if it’s just a couple of tables with crumbs on them. But having everything I could be doing in front of me & picking the biggest issue on the list helps me immensely.

Sticking to the Custer Support Cycle helps loads, and it has really helped me to have it written out on a card in my apron so I can refer to it when needed! It always starts with brewing coffee, so your CSC will depend on the time of day (because we drop blonde and dark as the day goes on). So early in the day, you will have 10 minutes to get through each cycle before needing to rebrew coffee, so you only have time to make small improvements for your partners. This is why it’s so important to have everything ready for peak, especially when you don’t have enough people to put someone solely on CS. Later in the day you will have 15 or 30 minutes to run through the cycle (when you are brewing two urns or just pike), and this is when you have time for larger tasks that take more time.


If you feel annoying, it is probably because your partners may be annoyed - but I don’t think this is your fault! You’re a green bean and you’re just doing the best you can! I would bet my tips that they’re likely just annoyed at the situation, we don’t expect you to know and excel at every position right out of training. ❤️

first off, regardless of how experienced the people around you are, starbucks is not a mindless job and it definitely takes time to learn everything so don’t beat yourself up for not being there yet! everything takes time. i think the #1 thing that helped me when i was newer with cs was familiarizing myself with the demand and what’s a priority. it could be different for your store, but mine for example i know that a large majority of our hot beverages are in the morning and very minimal refreshers/teas during peak. so based on that i know that i’m gonna want to pay attention to the stock for beans, hot cups&lids, etc and i probably won’t have to check tea bar often. in the mornings especially you want to be very attentive to hot coffees, syrups, ice bins, cups&lids, and basic stock. and once the early afternoon rolls around is when you’re going to want to make sure refreshers and lemonades are stocked, inclusions for both refreshers and fraps, iced teas, stuff like that. it also helps to have a headset on to pay attention to what’s popular today, or at least pay attention to what bar the bar partners are going to more. and make sure to check in often about what the bar partners need, ask them about milks, ice, lids, or anything they would need that you can’t check. during peak especially it’s important to be stocking as often as possible so nobody ever runs out because then that creates more work for you and stress for them. so any time you have down time, stock at least one thing. any time you have to run to the back, grab some lids or something while you’re back there. make a point to make every moment productive! you got this!!!

I feel this way too a lot of the time CS is just running around putting out fires especially now since were so busy. It helps when people on the floor can restock their own things during downtime. They should be telling you if they need something urgently and you can assess from there. Also if you familiarize yourself with what food you have left in the back it’ll make it easier to restock warming and get used to your cycles: coffee, milk, ice, cups, etc. I hope this helped a little bit I’m sure they’ll be better advice in here💚