Starbucks Baristas: The daily grind
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tips for training new closers? (self.starbucksbaristas)
submitted by avacynrising
i'm a new SSV, been a shift for about four months now, I work 5 closing shifts a week at 32-35 hours. usually about 2 of 5 shifts I'm my own mid, the other three I'm just the closer. I work in a cafe store so DT isn't an issue.
I have a green bean who just finished working with his trainer, and he's usually on my shift for a few hours when I step on. he's doing really well for his first week solo and I want to make sure I'm present and supporting him as well as I can, but my PM staffing is usually pretty tight and I'm finding that I'm struggling to be present on the floor and keep an eye on the new guy while also doing the million things I need to be doing.
(typically I'll have a 3pp including myself in the early afternoon; the mid swaps out for the closer, and then my pre-closer leaves 2 hours before we lock the doors. 3pp means that I usually station one partner on bar and one partner on POS while I take care of the SSV tasks and cleaning, and I'll usually hop on bar to cover breaks. on very rare and lovely occasions the mid and the closer will overlap, so I'll have a 4pp for about an hour.)
what can I do to make sure that this green bean, and any future newbies who come onto my shift, are learning everything they need to learn about the PM tasks that have to get done? I'm trying not to overload him with information since he's still settling in and getting comfortable, and I usually will ask him to do one thing at a time and explain it thoroughly (ex cleaning the ovens, prepping teas, rinsing coffee urns, certain clean play tasks, etc), but I'm not sure if there's anything else I can or should be doing. I also have no idea how I'm going to afford to get him bar time without completely screwing over my preclose, either. I don't think I can ask my SM for more people in the PM because we're already overspending on labor and PM sales don't really justify a 4pp--i already had to ask her to cut my pre-closer only 2 hours before we lock the doors instead of 3 or 3.5, because I was really struggling and needed the 3pp.
we have the afternoon play caller task list that I think is listed as a resource somewhere else on this sub but I found that newbies struggle with that, since it uses a lot of unfamiliar lingo, and a lot isn't super relevant to how we do things in my store. I'm debating writing up a new one for my store with more information but i'm not sure how much that would help.
I'd super appreciate any advice anyone has!! I'm not shy about coaching or asking for support, I just don't know how to manage coaching and teaching new partners while also trying to do a million other things.
I have a green bean who just finished working with his trainer, and he's usually on my shift for a few hours when I step on. he's doing really well for his first week solo and I want to make sure I'm present and supporting him as well as I can, but my PM staffing is usually pretty tight and I'm finding that I'm struggling to be present on the floor and keep an eye on the new guy while also doing the million things I need to be doing.
(typically I'll have a 3pp including myself in the early afternoon; the mid swaps out for the closer, and then my pre-closer leaves 2 hours before we lock the doors. 3pp means that I usually station one partner on bar and one partner on POS while I take care of the SSV tasks and cleaning, and I'll usually hop on bar to cover breaks. on very rare and lovely occasions the mid and the closer will overlap, so I'll have a 4pp for about an hour.)
what can I do to make sure that this green bean, and any future newbies who come onto my shift, are learning everything they need to learn about the PM tasks that have to get done? I'm trying not to overload him with information since he's still settling in and getting comfortable, and I usually will ask him to do one thing at a time and explain it thoroughly (ex cleaning the ovens, prepping teas, rinsing coffee urns, certain clean play tasks, etc), but I'm not sure if there's anything else I can or should be doing. I also have no idea how I'm going to afford to get him bar time without completely screwing over my preclose, either. I don't think I can ask my SM for more people in the PM because we're already overspending on labor and PM sales don't really justify a 4pp--i already had to ask her to cut my pre-closer only 2 hours before we lock the doors instead of 3 or 3.5, because I was really struggling and needed the 3pp.
we have the afternoon play caller task list that I think is listed as a resource somewhere else on this sub but I found that newbies struggle with that, since it uses a lot of unfamiliar lingo, and a lot isn't super relevant to how we do things in my store. I'm debating writing up a new one for my store with more information but i'm not sure how much that would help.
I'd super appreciate any advice anyone has!! I'm not shy about coaching or asking for support, I just don't know how to manage coaching and teaching new partners while also trying to do a million other things.
rositalagata 1 points 10m ago
I'm trying to make sure I communicate with my new baristas so they get a sense of the whole closing routine and are aware of what everyone else is working on. (Right now, my main priority is getting them up to speed on reg and bar, but I want them to understand all the task work going on around them, not tunnel-vision on their current position.) For the actual closing tasks, I paired them with one of my experienced closers for their training close. Since then I've been helping collect and put back dishes so they don't need to remember every single one yet, telling them exactly how much time they have for a task (so they figure out how thorough they have time to be), leaving prioritized task lists for when I can't keep an eye on them (I have a little notebook that I carry around), and having them follow me on my last walkthrough of the store so they learn to notice the quick details that are easy to overlook.
pinkshoesarecool 1 points 10m ago
I’m a green bean who got trained as a closer just right last week. For me I liked being paired up with someone who showed me one aspect of what to do.
So, my first closing shift I was paired with someone who showed me how to close the outside (clean areas, garbage, floors, mats, move stuff to the back room etc etc). My 2nd shift I did the outside myself
My 3rd shift I was paired with someone who showed me how to do bar. And yesterday (4th closing shift) I helped close bar as coverage.
So you get the idea of the systems my SSV’s have used. It worked well for me
So, my first closing shift I was paired with someone who showed me how to close the outside (clean areas, garbage, floors, mats, move stuff to the back room etc etc). My 2nd shift I did the outside myself
My 3rd shift I was paired with someone who showed me how to do bar. And yesterday (4th closing shift) I helped close bar as coverage.
So you get the idea of the systems my SSV’s have used. It worked well for me
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