Basic Coffee Shop Management

Friday, May 12, 2006

This management overview is just going to cover jobs within a coffee business at the moment. While there are many different setups that are possible with getting the proper management of your business setup, this simple overview will show you the basic way to get a one coffee shop business off the ground. If you are looking to create a bigger enterprise there will probably be a lot more varied jobs within this list. Of course, depending on the size of the operation, one person may take two or three of these jobs. For instance, the owner could also be the manager and barista. Or the manager could also be the barista.

The first and foremost person in the chain of management is the owner. Every employee will answer to the owner, and this is most likely to be you. The job of the owner is to make sure the business is moving in the right direction. The owner will have to make sure the funds are flowing in the right direction, and if they are not, it is their responsibility to stir things up a bit to get it profitable again.

The next person in the chain of management is the manager. Sometimes referred to as the general manager. This is the person that is responsible for day-to-day activities. They will typically be in charge of scheduling employees, depositing funds to the bank, doing daily bookkeeping, and maintenance or scheduling maintenance of equipment.

Last but not least are the baristas. Their job is basically to take orders and fulfill them. While this seems trivial, these people are actually the face of a coffee business. They will handle most of the customer service and small-scale public relations. The barista will often set the attitude for the coffee house itself, so if your baristas are always in a bad mood, many people will not like to visit. They are also the ones who will be creating the product on a daily basis, and when a customer thinks about your particular business, they will often think of the baristas they interface with.