How to Be an Amazing Coffee Shop Manager

How to Be a Better Coffee Shop Manager

Coffee Shop Management Series

How to Be an Amazing Coffee Shop Manager

No one likes working for a terrible boss. This includes baristas and kitchen staff, who are often underpaid and feel expendable.

Indeed, coffee shop owners must use everything at their disposal to inspire and motivate their employees to be their very best – every day. Anything short of this increases the risk of a coffee shop failure.

In fact, poor coffee shop management can completely devastate the full potential of a coffee business.

It's no secret that poor management is among the leading causes of failing coffee shops (right behind burnout and lack of cash flow).

Poor morale and high turnover often lead to dismal customer service, reduced sales numbers, and a tarnished coffee brand. From there, it snowballs into horrible online reviews, employee resentment, employee theft, and, at worst, employee sabotage.

In other words, you cannot afford not to be a good coffee manager!

So, how can you elevate your game? How to have successful employees who enjoy their job and lift up your business?

In this post, we will talk about how to be a good (or better) coffee shop manager.

Steps to Better Coffee Shop Management

1. Understand Your Needs

Good coffee shop managers know what skills and knowledge they have and what skills and knowledge they don't. Understanding what you need helps you hire the right people and value what they bring to the table.

For any coffee shop manager, it's essential to have a strong understanding of your vision and mission and assess the daily operations. Having a clear picture of your coffee shop operations, including inventory management, scheduling, customer relations, positive internal communication, barista training, etc., will help you make better hiring decisions.

You might have to hold a dozen of barista interviews to find an employee who will totally fit into your coffee shop's culture. During the interview, we recommend asking the questions that will help determine if your prospective barista has the traits you need to have a winning coffee shop. Among those traits are a positive attitude, friendliness, responsibility, efficiency, flexibility, stress-resistance, etc.

2. Get Feedback

Good coffee shop managers welcome feedback. They seek it out. A suggestion box” might be okay, but having an “open door” policy to your office is even better. Good managers get feedback from multiple sources – customers, employees, and paid consultants.

Good managers value and reward feedback. If you don't have a reward-feedback policy, create one. That is, offer your baristas or employees money or other benefits if they come up with great ideas that further the mission of your business.

For ideas that save money, reduce waste, improve morale, generate more sales – whatever it is – acknowledge it, reward it, and encourage it!

Hold weekly or bi-monthly meetings with your employees to discuss your goals, objectives and address any issues. Cultivate a sense of openness and a non-judgmental atmosphere.

Additionally, meet at least every three months with each employee. These quarterly meetings can be a part of their more extensive annual review, allowing for a more in-depth and personal discussion.

These one-on-one meetings can allow employees to share things with you that they may be afraid to bring up in a team meeting. Knowing what is going on can also help you address a small problem before it gets out of control.

How to Manage a Coffee Shop

3. Look at the Numbers

Good coffee shop managers constantly analyze complex data. Good managers know what products are selling and what aren't. They know their turnover rates, sales numbers, cash flow, variable spending, how their employees are doing, and other essential facts. In this process, they rely on accounting documents, POS data, and their own observations.

• Could your numbers be better?
• How can you waste less coffee, milk, or other products?
• What weekly deals can you offer to push your inventory?
• How can you organize the product by the expiration date?
• Can you increase your average receipt price?
• Are you able to increase the number of sales?
• How can your baristas help you in this process?

If your data can be better (and most likely it can be), what type of management decisions or course of action can you take?

4. Value The Uniqueness of Employees

Good coffee shop managers know that they are not just managing a “shop” or room with four walls. In fact, good managers know that they are managing people – baristas, chefs, cooks, and other staff.

Each employee has their distinctive value. Good managers appreciate that value, foster that uniqueness, and leverage it to achieve higher success and satisfaction among their staff.

Excellent managers foster employee growth, development, and confidence – and utilize them to achieve the ultimate vision.

5. Make The Best of What You Got

Good coffee shop managers make the best of what they got. But isn't that true of anyone who has reached some level of success? Many coffee shop owners start small – from a coffee trailer or a drive-thru coffee stand business – but if they make the right decisions right from the start, they can soon develop into a coffee shop or a café with a full kitchen.

You might start with one or two employees, but if you motivate them and foster their best qualities, you can go far with it.

Those who make the best of their situation often position themselves for future success. They work to develop excellence with their people, the skills they have obtained, put in the hard work, and strive to be better.

6. Create Good Systems

Excellent coffee shop management depends heavily on the development of good systems. This includes workflow, inventory management, hiring practices, drink building, equipment maintenance, and opening and closing duties. Good systems aren't cookie-cutter systems. Instead, they are tailored to your specific coffee shop, your specific team, menu, and particular vision.

A good coffee manager needs to be aware of systems they are using and continuously make improvements and adaptations. Develop a system for everything – from the required barista job duties to securing your coffee shop before closing, the systems you create will pay for themselves. 

7. Recognize your employees

Recognizing employee's work and effort should be done multiple times a day. People respond well to recognition and baristas, or your coffee staff is no different.

Recognizing people and thanking them for their work can encourage them to continue their work and be their best every day. As mentioned earlier, it's excellent to recognize employees in front of other staff, but it can be more effective to have a one-on-one conversation.

How to manage a coffee shop

How to Manage the Challenges of Operating a Coffee Shop

As a new coffee shop owner, you are going to have specific challenges. Whether these are considered growing pains or simply a managerial learning curve, you will need some time to get on your feet.

However, even seasoned coffee shop owners with years of experience can be riddled with challenges that never seem to disappear. This may be because the seasoned coffee shop owner never learned – or resisted – steps towards becoming a good manager. Or the system created are outdated and need reworking, or certain employees need to be fired.

Either way, changes will often need to be made quickly.

1. Be Honest About Your Personal Management

If you are beginning to see problems, consider taking a look in the mirror. What are (or aren't) you doing that is leading to mismanagement. How does your example impact your staff?

For example, if you are constantly late in opening up your business in the morning – how is this affecting others from being on time when it's their turn to open the coffee shop?

Are you managing consistently and fairly? For example, are you favoring certain employees over others?

When you are the owner and general manager of a coffee shop, everyone is looking for your leadership. Your actions and attitude set the tone for your entire business.

Further Reading: How to Start a Coffee Shop Successfully

2. Push The Reset Button

At times, you may need to push the reset button and start over if your coffee shop is in dire straits. This may mean holding a general organizational meeting and laying out new policies for each employee – and the business in general.

Additionally, you might go even further and hold a new coffee shop grand opening or hold an “Under New Management” event. You may also upgrade your branding by refreshing your logo, color schemes, and general menu.

A reset is a great way to start fresh. Indeed, it can give you and your employees a morale boost and inject some much-needed energy into your coffee business.

However, while the ceremonial aspects will be necessary for your reset, it will be critical to adapt and change the systems that led to issues in the first place. This could take time, require lots of thinking, feedback, and changes.

3. Actionable Goals

Create new goals that are easy to see and manage. This might be anything from generating new sales to improving customer reviews online. One of the best ways to see if the implemented changes are working is to create benchmarks. Having benchmarks will make you and your staff feel more accountable for the progress you make.

4. Expect Resistance

Sometimes change can be difficult. Your employees might resist new policies, new systems, your new coffee shop POS system, or your new coffee shop management style. Even you might resist it yourself.

Power through the resistance. You might consider revising your coffee shop business plan or generating a memorandum that everyone needs to stick with. The changes you make will ultimately lead to the survival of your coffee business.

5. Be Ready to Let Go

While you might like certain staff members or specific policies that have been kept in place for some time, you may need to make some difficult choices.

You might need to let go of some staff members who won't fit your new changes or systems. That's okay. These decisions need to be made and can be challenging on a personal level. In the end, however, letting people or systems go will help improve the business's health and survival.

How to manage a coffee shop

How to Be an Amazing Coffee Shop Manager

Being a coffee shop owner doesn't automatically make you a good coffee shop manager. It's a learning process. Often it's a path of trial and error. To boost your own business, you have to start with yourself and expand the qualities and skills that help you be a good coffee shop manager:

• communication and motivation skills
• planning and organizational skills
• strategic thinking
• accounting skills
• business planning
• ability to delegate

Managing a coffee shop is no small feat. It requires a dedication to your business and a willingness to learn, adapt, and make tough decisions. But if you move forward with a plan, you will ultimately save your business, re-energize your staff, boost your sales and profits, and realign back towards your original mission.

Small Steps to Being an Amazing Coffee Shop Manager:

• Have regular check-ins (one-on-one)
• Have more general meetings
• Improve overall communication with staff
• Have a reset (grand opening)
• Update your business plan
• Create actionable goals
• Have benchmarks

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Coffee Shop Startups

Based in Seattle, Washington, USA, Coffee Shop Startups is dedicated to providing you with the most relevant information on how to start a coffee shop business successfully. Over the last 11 years, we've helped thousands of aspiring coffee business owners worldwide. We harness the experience, wisdom, and knowledge of many successful coffee shop owners to help you increase your chances of success and profits. We support business owners who want to start a coffee business by providing them with valuable information on starting their coffee business successfully.