For starters: congrats on getting promoted!
One thing that always helped me with running breaks (specifically opening/peak shifts) is to write them out in advance! Take 5min to look over everyone you know you’ll have to run breaks for during your shift and map out everyone’s 10s and 30s. I always kept them about 15min apart to give room for a small task if necessary. So say you send someone on a 10 at 6am, your next would be at 615, then 630 etc. When I was opener I always ran my 30 before peak just to ensure I got it and I wouldn’t have to worry about it the rest of the shift. I would run whoever opened with me’s 10s then my 30 then they’d one lunch during the busy part of the morning I don’t have to worry about. Gives more wiggle room in case breaks start to get behind a little bit.
As far as positioning yourself, I’m assuming you’re a drive thru store. I highly recommend putting yourself as DTO. It’s a central position giving you full visibility of your floor and control of the shift. It’s easier for you to coach when necessary, flex yourself over to support another role, and easy to have covered when you need to flex.

You got this! You’ve just barely started this. It’s a LOT to learn in a short period of time and then they just throw you to the wolves. A lot of this is going to come with time and practice.

SSVs at my store (during peak mainly) plant themselves in DTO. at my store it gives you the largest vantage point to see everyone at once and identify bottle necks. If we are shorter staffed they use the Handheld POS and do warming/DTO. it’s challenging and makes it a little harder to view your team, but it’s possible. As far as breaks, always run YOUR lunch at 6am. It’ll refresh you and get you prepared for peak. Never run breaks during peak unless you know you can. Easier to just avoid it. Find the one or two baristas on the floor that are more experienced. Barista trainers or just those star players, you know? And confide in them that you are stressed and need support. They will (hopefully) step up and help you identify bottlenecks and keep the customers happy. Utilize your team! They want you to be successful. Find the fun and the joy to keep the shift flowing. Take moments to thank your team and point out successes, no matter how small. Morale is important and your feelings are valid. If you feel overwhelmed step off the floor, compose yourself, reach out to another SSV if you can for advice, and above all else remember: it’s just coffee. The customers will get their drinks, your shift will end, and you get to go home and relax ❤️ you got this!!

If your availability allows you to, get a different time slot for the time being. If you're that fresh out of training, you need practice coordinating tens and lunches around peak and tasks. Doing mids and closes is far easier than being saddled with peak when everyone is moody and grumpy first thing in the morning and needs to get in and out, and throw needing to do the order and the morning pull on there? It will always feel like you're drowning. Practice the stuff that is consistent no matter the day part: breaks, plays, and CSR delegation before you move back to mornings.
Every store is different, but the most I can say is utilize your tools efficiently. Use the playbuilder and look at the overall customers per half hour from previous days to make your plan. This info is also consolidated and averaged on the linechart. When you're running an open, you may want to take lunches and breaks first, especially if you're going to be busy later and can't get lunches or breaks in. Yes, they're early. But better an early lunch and break than a late one, especially if you're in a district that meal break penaltys.
Lastly, rely on your baristas and their feedback. Ask them what they prefer and \*trust them\* to be alone on your tens and breaks. If you can't trust your team long enough to walk away and recoup, then the problem isn't you. If you help them, they'll help you.
You're doing great regardless because you're looking for help. You're going to get better, it just takes time. Congrats on the promotion.

hey i just got promoted a couple months ago! It really does get easier but what i do is go to starbucks partner hours online and look up the line chart before your shift and plan out your day and get an idea of who you’re working with and who you want where. Idk how it is at your store but SSV’s at mine are always CS. It’s the most flexible. If not that then i would be front and warming because that’s also a flexible role.

Congrats on the promo! I’m a returning partner that came back as a SSV, so I felt the stress right away. We are a Pick-up Store, so everything is *new* in a sense.

Not sure how long you’ve been working with your current crew, but being observant can be one of your key successors. You can get a feel for their strengths and improvements by watching how they are during their shift. I think this helps when it comes time to utilize the Play Builder.

How long is your peak usually? I try to give breaks before and after peak based on the times our baristas are scheduled for (sometimes after 1.5-2hrs into the shift, we start giving 10s and then 30s after the current partners have taken their 10s). Also, do you have enough coverage where you feel you can send people on breaks without being short on the floor? If not, CS would be the best position so you have full mobility to help out wherever it’s needed.

But all in all, it’s going to take time to find your routine. It’s not going to happen overnight, but you’ll get there. Also, picking up shift at other stores as “coverage” helped with my SSV development. I was able to observe how other SSVs ran their shifts and how it worked- or didn’t work- for them.

Best of luck!

I’m a barista now, but used to be an SSV and it gave me soooo much stress and anxiety. My advice would be to take a step back and remind yourself it will be okay, and this is a *team effort*. What made me freak out was the thought that everything was on my shoulders, but it’s not. You’ve got a team of partners with you, and you’ll make it through! My advice is to plan out the shift by writing in breaks on the DCR so you aren’t having to figure out breaks while you’re running around on the floor, and be on the early rather than late side for taking/giving breaks. If you’re late on breaks not everyone might get theirs, but if you’re early it’s ensured everyone will.

Also, a routine and checklist is very helpful. When it comes to work I’m a routine person, I like to go in each day with an organized and strong routine because it’s pretty much guaranteed there will be other unexpected factors that come up. When I opened, I’d do all my shift stuff before open (counting the safe, brewing coffee/iced coffee/teas) and then once the store was open I’d make backups and do the temp. log and prep cold brew while it was slow. The pull was always a struggle because it felt like I couldn’t leave the floor, but I had to and the team would make it work. That was my routine every open and it really helped to have a strong routine, even if I had to be flexible with it sometimes depending on the day because it always kept me on track.

I’d recommend being on CS when you run the shift, I find it to be the most flexible role and it always helped me to make sure I gave a good handoff to the night crew. It was a way for me to keep things stocked and an eye on the store to make sure everything was working well. It also made it easy to take someone’s place when needed for them to go on their break and I could get the things I knew needed to get done in between giving those breaks since I was CS and knew what was done and what wasn’t done. I’ve found some partners on CS don’t get much done, which isn’t their fault given how much there is to do, but since I’m running the shift I know what needs to get done for a good handoff.

You’ve got this! Be confident in yourself, trust your team, and remind yourself everything will be okay and it’s not all on you! As long as you’re positive and try to provide a good store atmosphere and communicate with your partners, they should be helping you. Wishing you all the best 💫