Specialty Coffee Retailer is a publication for owners, managers and employees of retail outlets that sell specialty coffee. Its scope includes best sales practices, supplies, business trends and anything else to assist the small coffee retailer.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/109835
REGIONAL UPDATE intangible work life benefits with some telecommuting and flexible scheduling. Both have a limit, of course, as it's pretty hard to roast or serve coffee from your home. Finally, it's not uncommon to see some dogs roaming the halls of the roastery office—everyone knows they really run the show." Shaw's Coffee Ltd. St. Louis At Shaw's Coffee in St. Louis, the ideal employees are "honest, clean-cut, polite, hard-working college students with flexible hours and a people-friendly personality," says Gail Maher, the shop's owner. Shaw's, founded in 1999, is located in an Italian area of St. Louis known as "the Hill." Maher and her colleagues renovated their space—a 1920s-era structure called the Riggio Building—and earned the building an entry on the National Registry of Historic Places. The building enchants customers with high tin ceilings, an old bank vault, and quarter-sawn pine wood flooring on one half and fine terrazzo floor on the other side. Wood four-top and two-top tables are spread throughout, as well as leather swivel chairs and couches. "We are located on a corner and have redone all the large display windows on both exposed sides of the building," Maher says. Shaw's Coffee also has a roaster, and approximately 30 percent of their sales are of beans. "We procure the best beans and roast them to our discriminating standards," Maher says. The shop has seven to nine employees. Maher says openings, which are relatively rare, are usually filled by referrals. College students often fill those spots. "They must like coffee, but we are happy to train them to be baristas," Maher says. "It's their personality you can't change, so that is definitely something we look for." Maher says retaining good employees at Shaw's involves flexibility. "We have them provide us with their school class hours and we schedule them around their class schedules. If two employees want to change shifts, they can call each other and do so." However, Maher says they also provide bonuses to employees, and health benefits to senior management. SO UTH Heine Brothers' Coffee Louisville, Ky. Heine Brothers' Coffee is a growing chain in Louisville with 13 locations and another one on the way. Each shop employs 10 to 20 employees, which means hiring, training, and retaining employees requires constant attention. Chuck Slaughter, the firm's community manager, says new employees are recruited primarily through referrals and social media. "Many of our existing employees have friends that want to work for us, so some get in the door that way," Slaughter says. "When we are opening a new shop we'll post on Facebook and Twitter that we're hiring, and usually end up with 20-plus applications in a few hours—all from people who are already fans of ours." When they're evaluating the applicants, they value customer service skills more than coffee experience, Slaughter says: "It is easier to train someone on how to make an amazing cappuccino than it is to train someone to remain positive and calm when they have a line of 20 customers waiting for their drink." Turning new employees into productive, longterm team members involves solid training, but not just in how to make drinks. Slaughter says their training program also covers the history of the company, information about Cooperative Coffees (of which Heine Brothers' is a 31