Starbucks Baristas: The daily grind
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grande rant (in a tall cup😔) (self.starbucksbaristas)
submitted by Full_Technician_649
okay y'all... my store has this task called the "flip" during which 1 partner (sometimes 2 tag-teaming) clean all smallwares, cold bar blenders/pitchers, all the mats, and syrup pumps+risers. i've seen the flip started anywhere from 3 to 6 pm, and can finish anywhere from 5:30 to a little after 8(our close). thoroughness is a different grande rant, but i'd say i'm one of the more thorough cleaners at my store and my longest flip was probably 5hrs (longer flip hopefully = thorough).
i was trained on the flip since my first day at sbux; i've never really known anything else. however, i've gotten the sense that other stores wait until closer to close to clean these things. waiting until close makes sense to me, too, since it's better to have a clean store sit overnight than having a clean store an hour before close and letting the last hour's gunk sit overnight (we have fly/bug/pest problems so i'm usually pushing for the flip to happen later).
there's some value to the flip; we get to leave pretty quickly after close and a thorough clean is possible sometimes (depends on who's doing it).
so baristas, lmk: does your store have a "flip" or a similar equivalent? or does your store always wait until close to clean up the day's mess?
also lmk if the flip horrifies u, let's talk pros/cons
i was trained on the flip since my first day at sbux; i've never really known anything else. however, i've gotten the sense that other stores wait until closer to close to clean these things. waiting until close makes sense to me, too, since it's better to have a clean store sit overnight than having a clean store an hour before close and letting the last hour's gunk sit overnight (we have fly/bug/pest problems so i'm usually pushing for the flip to happen later).
there's some value to the flip; we get to leave pretty quickly after close and a thorough clean is possible sometimes (depends on who's doing it).
so baristas, lmk: does your store have a "flip" or a similar equivalent? or does your store always wait until close to clean up the day's mess?
also lmk if the flip horrifies u, let's talk pros/cons
sweetxfracture 2 points 7m ago
We don’t have a “flip” necessarily and I only close as a SSV once a week but as soon as I get there, I start shutting down one bar to get ahead of things.
I wait until maybe 3 pm to do the syrup towers and take the actual pieces of the esp machine, but I’ll take anything back to wash if it’s a duplicate of something I don’t need on bar. (Pitchers, spoons, one of the blenders) My store manager got upset at us for doing the syrups and stuff earlier than like 5pm becsuse she said from the customers perspective, looking behind the counter and seeing a station being cleaned and just left there mid scrub while an order is being made looks bad.
She’s kind of a newer manager so she’s a stickler for rules.. it’s annoying lol. I’m okay with cleaning everything right away, leaving it in the back and bringing it out during close to put it away as long as you have what you need to be successful during your shift. My store is WAY slow at night and not a drive thru, so all of our business is peak for us which is like 6-10 (sometimes 11, I’m in DT San Diego)
Management will more than likely tell you that customers of course, are main priority.. but they also don’t close and don’t get all the things they need to be done that can really fuck yoh over it not done in time. Then you get yelled at for staying past your scheduled time because god forbid you leave a bean on the counter for the openers lol.
I just wouldn’t do it for 5 hours. Thorough cleaning is for clean play! Do your best, but be efficient. Taking more than like an hour is not efficient IMO and you may be focusing too much on the task :)
I wait until maybe 3 pm to do the syrup towers and take the actual pieces of the esp machine, but I’ll take anything back to wash if it’s a duplicate of something I don’t need on bar. (Pitchers, spoons, one of the blenders) My store manager got upset at us for doing the syrups and stuff earlier than like 5pm becsuse she said from the customers perspective, looking behind the counter and seeing a station being cleaned and just left there mid scrub while an order is being made looks bad.
She’s kind of a newer manager so she’s a stickler for rules.. it’s annoying lol. I’m okay with cleaning everything right away, leaving it in the back and bringing it out during close to put it away as long as you have what you need to be successful during your shift. My store is WAY slow at night and not a drive thru, so all of our business is peak for us which is like 6-10 (sometimes 11, I’m in DT San Diego)
Management will more than likely tell you that customers of course, are main priority.. but they also don’t close and don’t get all the things they need to be done that can really fuck yoh over it not done in time. Then you get yelled at for staying past your scheduled time because god forbid you leave a bean on the counter for the openers lol.
I just wouldn’t do it for 5 hours. Thorough cleaning is for clean play! Do your best, but be efficient. Taking more than like an hour is not efficient IMO and you may be focusing too much on the task :)
bellamythos 2 points 7m ago
> I’m okay with cleaning everything right away, leaving it in the back and bringing it out during close to put it away as long as you have what you need to be successful during your shift
as a closer, totally second this. customers don’t know or care what our setup is “supposed to” look like, as long as they’re getting their orders. (as an aside, I love the convenience of having a second/small ice bin on hot bar, but as a closing barista I got used to it having been emptied & cleaned during preclose so I forget to use it during the day 😅)
it’s just not practical, or fair to closing baristas, to leave everything until we’re actually closed.
i also agree that 5 hours kind of seems like a lot, if it happens regularly. if you have the kind of coverage/scheduling where cleaning can be your only focus for that long, that’s awesome; we’ve had occasional days like that. but for a typical shift, I’d rather have a solid-if-not-exceedingly-thorough preclose/flip and an extra pair of hands on the floor.
as a closer, totally second this. customers don’t know or care what our setup is “supposed to” look like, as long as they’re getting their orders. (as an aside, I love the convenience of having a second/small ice bin on hot bar, but as a closing barista I got used to it having been emptied & cleaned during preclose so I forget to use it during the day 😅)
it’s just not practical, or fair to closing baristas, to leave everything until we’re actually closed.
i also agree that 5 hours kind of seems like a lot, if it happens regularly. if you have the kind of coverage/scheduling where cleaning can be your only focus for that long, that’s awesome; we’ve had occasional days like that. but for a typical shift, I’d rather have a solid-if-not-exceedingly-thorough preclose/flip and an extra pair of hands on the floor.
sweetxfracture 2 points 7m ago
Yes! My other stores didn’t have the tint ice bin, it was new to me at my current store but I love it lol.
Totally true about the customer not knowing what the setup is.. I thought that was weird of my manager to say. Customers don’t care if there’s a sleeve of cups on the counter and only one blender cover 😭
Also, in terms of “flipping” or cleaning. I usually have another barista there until like 3-4pm working a mid until the actual closer comes in so it’s super helpful for them to just wash any dish they can and do all the side work while the other barista and j are on bar/reg
Totally true about the customer not knowing what the setup is.. I thought that was weird of my manager to say. Customers don’t care if there’s a sleeve of cups on the counter and only one blender cover 😭
Also, in terms of “flipping” or cleaning. I usually have another barista there until like 3-4pm working a mid until the actual closer comes in so it’s super helpful for them to just wash any dish they can and do all the side work while the other barista and j are on bar/reg
bellamythos 1 points 7m ago
interesting!
we’ve split up tasking throughout the day, so syrup pumps/risers and bar parts and certain other things get cleaned in the AM (though we’re discussing moving it to midday, after peak); we sweep/mop/clean mats and bar floors at midday, then bar and lobby floors at close; smallwares get cleaned every 4 hours when the timer goes off; about 3 hours before closing we start to “preclose”: go station by station and shut down one bar, clean the small ice bin, clean one set of cold bar blenders/shakers, one blender house, warming tongs + bagel knife, prep the last batches of coffee then clean the spoodles and tea tongs, pastry case, etc. things that get cleaned during preclose mostly aren’t used for the rest of the day; if they are (like the warming tongs) then they get cleaned again. certain things like the big ice bin, ice scoop tower, second bar, etc. are saved for close since they’re still in use until then.
it depends on coverage, but usually the AM cleaning is done by CS and/or bar; preclose is CS and/or POS. on a good day, with the benefits of practice & routine, i can knock out preclosing in maybe 30-45 minutes (if it’s my only task and we don’t have other dishes piled up), but i’ve also seen it take 3 hours.
as a closing SSV who’s been a longtime closing barista, I definitely value a good preclose; as you mention, it saves a lot of time and helps us get more done than if we had to do it all at/after close. (we tend to run 30-45 minutes past schedule on closes as it is, but that’s a separate story.) there’s also a chance to catch things that get missed, for example if you know the precloser didn’t wash the spoodles, you can get them at close. but everything should be pretty much clean when we leave the store!
we’ve split up tasking throughout the day, so syrup pumps/risers and bar parts and certain other things get cleaned in the AM (though we’re discussing moving it to midday, after peak); we sweep/mop/clean mats and bar floors at midday, then bar and lobby floors at close; smallwares get cleaned every 4 hours when the timer goes off; about 3 hours before closing we start to “preclose”: go station by station and shut down one bar, clean the small ice bin, clean one set of cold bar blenders/shakers, one blender house, warming tongs + bagel knife, prep the last batches of coffee then clean the spoodles and tea tongs, pastry case, etc. things that get cleaned during preclose mostly aren’t used for the rest of the day; if they are (like the warming tongs) then they get cleaned again. certain things like the big ice bin, ice scoop tower, second bar, etc. are saved for close since they’re still in use until then.
it depends on coverage, but usually the AM cleaning is done by CS and/or bar; preclose is CS and/or POS. on a good day, with the benefits of practice & routine, i can knock out preclosing in maybe 30-45 minutes (if it’s my only task and we don’t have other dishes piled up), but i’ve also seen it take 3 hours.
as a closing SSV who’s been a longtime closing barista, I definitely value a good preclose; as you mention, it saves a lot of time and helps us get more done than if we had to do it all at/after close. (we tend to run 30-45 minutes past schedule on closes as it is, but that’s a separate story.) there’s also a chance to catch things that get missed, for example if you know the precloser didn’t wash the spoodles, you can get them at close. but everything should be pretty much clean when we leave the store!
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