just as an fyi tip jars can't have anything written on or near them to indicate they're tip jars. they can only be in the clear plastic containers :(

greeting the customers when they walk in and having everyone in a good mood is the main thing i've seen actually boost our numbers. once one person is shouting good morning, everyone follows suit.

good luck!

CC starts with your team. What does your team need to feel motivated to connect? Do they need conversation starters? Do they need more regular breaks from customer interaction to regain their energy? Do they need something to be excited about — a sample, a barista creation, an interactive display? My store loved to do post-it notes on our bar glass with a written prompt. Something like, “what’s your hidden talent?” or “draw a self portrait!” and I would always go around and have my baristas start with their post-it at the beginning of their shift. It encouraged customers to also participate and it gave baristas the chance to settle in to the environment before being tossed on bar. I also liked switching people every hour, on the hour, no matter what they say — giving people a break from their positions is necessary and the 10’s and 30’s just don’t cut it. If your team wants to get CC up, they can get CC up, but please don’t take it on as a one person job when it is far from it.

Customer Connection bingo works actually so well. (Used to work in a mall store) when we did customer connection bingo every quarter our score would jump by like 20 points which was awesome. That extra incentive for partners was great.

My store puts out a bean poll at the end of our bar as a talking point with customers. For it to actually be effective tho you have to make sure that the poll question is something the partners know/want to talk with people about.