Who is a barista and what does he do?

Barista is a word that comes from the Italian language, and it means a specialist who prepares espresso and coffee cocktails based on it. That is, lattes, Americano, cappuccino loved by millions. In translation, it will sound like "man behind the counter", but the term is interpreted nevertheless already. Technically, the barista is responsible only for making coffee, working with the coffee machine, while other functions are delegated to him by the management (or not).

Barista is a relevant profession, quite in demand and hung with labels. Someone thinks that only students who do not pretend to special career growth can be engaged in it. Someone is sure that you can learn this in one day, and all courses are a whim and knock out money.

The barista profession is still quite young, so all these labels and stereotypes are present. Yes, and more than 30 years ago people in coffee houses, bars, cafes made coffee, but this was just one task from the professional list. But the emergence of a network of coffee houses, which spread throughout the world, became popular and more than recognizable, led to the fact that the history of the profession started. Now, customers often go not so much to a specific cafe as to a specific barista. Specialists are gaining fame, they are even interviewed.

Pros of the profession:

• creative component;
• it is relatively easy to find a job;
• work on the provision of services - gratitude for the work is expressed not only in receiving a salary, but also in kind words from clients;
• more or less easy entry into the profession;
• new acquaintances and the so-called shop solidarity;
• a great place for those who are very fond of coffee;
• availability of training.

Cons of the profession:

• ambiguity of professional prospects (both the opportunity to become a famous barista and the inability to jump higher than this position);
• the whole shift on your feet;
• the salary is not the highest;
• sometimes irregular schedule;
• an introvert will have a difficult time - a lot of people and contacts;
• accuracy, responsiveness, switching attention - all this should be on the list of professional tools, but not everyone can boast of this.

Of course, the search for pros and cons does not really matter if a person is sincerely interested in the profession and sees himself clearly in it.

It should be noted that until now, many specialists, applying for a job, do not read the vacancy the way they should. But if there is no specifics, if the duty is to do something that the barista should not do a priori, this can cause conflicts with the management in the future.

Barista is engaged in both the preparation of natural coffee from beans and the creation of drinks based on it.

What the specialist is doing:

• fulfillment of customer orders;
• advice on the choice of drinks;
• calculating the proceeds and submitting it to the cashier after the shift;
• preparation of purchase orders;
• selection of coffee varieties.

And now a little more detail. A barista does not just make coffee, he must understand it well, distinguish Arabica from Robusta, know the varieties and their characteristics. He must be able to handle the coffee machine, which is the barista's main tool. It also works with a coffee grinder, both manual and automatic. He monitors the state of technology, keeping it clean.

Whipping milk, drawing on coffee, adding syrups, a barista should also be able to professionally. By the way, in most cases he will have to make tea and even cook something elementary like a sandwich. Well, of course, the barista must also understand the inventory and work with the cashier.

Everything is simple here: a barista has the same rights as any worker according to the Labor Code of the country. He has the right to know his schedule in advance, not to work overtime without personal consent and adequate pay. He is entitled to a social package, and must also know in advance what is included in it. The barista is not obliged to clean the premises of the coffee shop, unless, of course, additional actions are prescribed in the instructions and are not paid accordingly.

It follows from the list of responsibilities. What is imputed to the specialist, he must carry out in full. Questions of tracking equipment, cash register are also on it.

Some important information:

• 12 hour shift for a specialist - the norm, but this should not be scary, because the barista does not serve clients without interruption, he has time for a break;
• two days of work after two days of rest - the most common schedule, although "three through three" is also not uncommon;
• according to sanitary standards, the employee must have medical book, and the employer usually gives time to acquire it;
• readiness for management control - permanent, sometimes this is done using video cameras installed in the coffee shop;
• fines for violations - a common practice, and they can be for violation of the recipe, as well as for flirting with a client, for example.

The main thing is to maintain adequacy and professional attitude, not to be enchanted ahead of time and clearly understand the requirements put forward by the employer.

The work of a barista involves not only contact with people, but also communication. The pros say you need to be prepared for what people will expect from you for the show. That is, being a showman is partly a professional requirement.

What else do you need for a successful career.

• Politeness, tact - without this, in the service sector, in principle, it is difficult, and even where you have not only to give people a tasty product, but also to create a mood, atmosphere, such skills are paramount.
• Willingness to hide your mood... It doesn't matter how the barista is doing, whether he gets enough sleep, etc., his appearance should not betray personal problems. People want to be served by a smiling, pleasant and well-mannered employee.
• Expertise... This is not quite a personal quality, but it is associated with the ability to deeply immerse yourself in the profession, not stop there, learn, get to know, listen to the masters and see new horizons. In a word, to be, not to seem.
• Attentiveness - where without her. The client's mood, the appearance of the coffee machine, and the order at the checkout should not be ignored. If a barista wants to be a person who lacks this focus, and multitasking is the most frustrating for him, he will clearly have problems.

Sociable, friendly, pleasant - this is how clients see a specialist, and meeting this expectation is probably, in many ways, a guarantee of success for a barista. In addition, a specialist must have such important qualities as neatness, punctuality, and discipline.

There are several options here. You can take courses where you have to pay from 500 to 1000 rubles per hour of training. Therefore, a person can pay up to 20,000 rubles for a full course. Of course, during this time you can not only learn how to work with coffee, but also understand whether this is your profession or not. Although real, full-fledged impressions are formed only directly at the workplace.

Another option is to study on the job. And this is real. Management can arrange this as an internship and allocate an average of 5 hours per day to train a new employee. How many days such an internship will take is decided individually in each case.

A diploma or certificate of completion does not have the same value as a graduation diploma. Not all coffee shops even ask to show him, it is enough to mention that a person has completed his studies and is aware of the requirements for his specialty. But the passage of various advanced training courses already in the course of a career is perhaps more relevant than the initial passage of the courses. So you can become not just a good barista, but one of the best on the market, one that makes the name of your coffee shop.

You can search for work directly on sites where employers post job advertisements. Today, these sites are often inferior to thematic sites in social networks. And this is a good option: monitor them, look for those cafes and coffee houses where they are ready to take a person with no experience, a beginner. Also, at such sites, it is easier to track the conditions of employment, the level of wages, and so on. That is, the ultimate goal is not just to get a job where they are taken, but to find the most suitable job for oneself.

What you need to ask your employer:

• what is the work schedule;
• how long will the change be;
• will the barista work alone or with other employees;
• what is the salary schedule;
• what is the permeability of the trading place;
• whether an internship is necessary and whether the internship will be paid.

In some, especially personally attractive to the applicant, coffee shops, you can just go and wonder if they are looking for an employee. In a number of places where such a vacancy is currently irrelevant, nevertheless, they are allowed to fill out a questionnaire, and in the future everything may work out.

Work in this area is never called a specialty that will help you get rich or make a career jump. Growth within the profession is certainly possible, but it still has its own ceiling.Very often, a person who has worked as a barista just begins to take a serious look at this business and plans to open his own coffee van over time, to work for himself. This is a more realistic goal than becoming the coolest barista in Moscow, for example.

The salary is influenced by the number of worked shifts, the length of the shift itself and the flow of visitors. Interestingly, in small coffee shops the average salary is higher than in chain ones. Usually, a shift salary at 12 o'clock ranges from 1,500 to 2,000 rubles. Earnings depend little on the format of the coffee shop, but how much depends on the traffic. The barista receives a percentage of sales (not always, but in the overwhelming majority of cases) - the more revenue the coffee shop, the more his salary. Therefore, it turns out that a small island in a large shopping center may well be a more profitable place of work in terms of salary than a stylish coffee shop.

As for the tip, the most honest calculation is 200-500 rubles per shift. The barista puts boxes and jars under the tip himself, you can accompany them with a romantic or motivational signature, for example, "Saving up for a wedding" or "Collecting for Elbrus". Such adorable markings increase visitor loyalty.

Management can pay either as standard, twice a month, or every day. Usually you can agree on this. There are fewer risks for an employee in case of shift payments, the risk of being underpaid, being calculated for something, is minimized.

Probably few people dream of dedicating their whole life to serving customers by preparing coffee for them. But the profession is interesting, allowing you to know yourself, to earn (for a young man without a family, the word "earn" certainly sounds without exaggeration). Moreover, it is not particularly difficult to start in it.