Giving baristas a boost
The easier your baristas' job is, the more productive they'll be. This means giving them the tools, training and support they need. The rewards are happy employees, fast service and a consistent product. Coffeehouse owners across the country shared their tricks with Specialty Coffee Retailer for helping their baristas do their jobs fast.
BY PETER SUROWSKI SOUTHEAST
Hypnocoffee Shepherd, W.Va.
Getting good results from baristas means giving them good tools, says Tony Williams, owner of Hypnocoff ee. His shop sits in downtown
Shepherdstown, W.Va., just a short walk from the Potomac River, surrounded by a big yard under the shade of massive maple trees. Th e 550-square-foot shop serves as
his roasting facility and has only bar seating. Nonetheless, the place is a go- to spot for gourmet coff ee lovers. His customers are mostly upper-class
connoisseurs, and that makes sense, considering the town's demographics. Of the approximately 1,000 people living there, more than half have master's degrees and make about $70,000 a year. Th ey're no dummies, and they expect
great coff ee. "Th ey are looking for good quality," Williams says. His baristas do a lot of hand-brew,
so equipping them with trusty presses is a must, but one piece of equipment stands out, Williams says: the Aeropress
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Coff ee and Espresso Maker, a plastic hand-powered press. "It's fun to use, and people like to
watch it. Th ey dig it," Williams says. "It's an ingenious, quick solution." Th e only downside is its construction
materials. Being made of plastic, it doesn't seem as elegant as his pour-over brewers. "It doesn't seem as nice because it's
not ceramic or glass," WIlliams says. He also treasures his scales, which are
made by ADE. Th ey save the baristas' time because they work with liquids and solids, measuring both volume and mass. Th ey also have a nice look, adding to his shop's presentation. "Th ey're very sleek and stylish looking.
If it's on the bar and customers can see it, it should look appealing," he says.
NORTHEAST White Mountain
Gourmet Coffee Concord, N.H.
In an industry where the human touch is being automated out of every task possible, Richard Clark fi nds a little training and
by offi ces in tall red-brick buildings. His customers are mostly politicians,
businessmen, lawyers and other government workers. Th ey're always pressed for time, so his employees have to work fast, Clark says. So if something goes wrong—say, one of the espresso machines somehow gets a glitch— there's no time to reprogram it.
simpler equipment saves time. His 2,500-square-foot shop, White
Mountain Gourmet Coff ee, sits on a major thoroughfare in downtown Concord. It's just four blocks away from the state's capitol building, surrounded
