working at starbucks alone

[flexbucks]

so i’ve worked at target for 1.5 years now, all of which were spent in fufillment. recently i transferred to starbucks, and in total i’ve worked there for 7 days. in those 7 days my TL and ETL both said i should get certified, so i did. now, on my next shift, i open alone, and stay alone for a good hour and a half. i’m really really nervous about it because im still so new to everything. i know how to do most fraps, and refreshers, but when people order a drink with lots of custom add ons, i just have no idea what to do.

does anyone have any tips on how to successfully navigate being alone for the first time?

 

[redeye58]

What a seasoned barista once told me: Write the cup before you ring it up.
While taking the order use the check boxes on the side as a guide:
Drink name code in the bottom box, type of milk in the milk box (dairy, non-dairy, sweet cream, half & half, etc), type or # of syrup pumps, additional shots (if any), light ice?, etc.
Read it back to the guest to make sure you got all the details then ring it up (including add-ons when justified).
Pull any food items out as they order so you know what needs warming vs simply bagging up.
With long lines, take one face at a time & pace yourself.
Apologize for the delay & thank them for their patience.

 

[Zxy123456]

If you get overwhelmed ask for help. Sometimes there is a leader who has Starbucks knowledge. At my store we have a couple of flex members who used to do Starbucks. Ask around if anyone knows Starbucks just in case.

 

[DBZ]

If anyone tells you something you have no clue about, tell them it is your first week and you will try your best. Our store has some starbucks trained TMs on the floor who may be able to help you. My store and the sbux are high volume. No 7 day kid would be alone.

 

[flexbucks]

If you get overwhelmed ask for help. Sometimes there is a leader who has Starbucks knowledge. At my store we have a couple of flex members who used to do Starbucks. Ask around if anyone knows Starbucks just in case.

If you get overwhelmed ask for help. Sometimes there is a leader who has Starbucks knowledge. At my store we have a couple of flex members who used to do Starbucks. Ask around if anyone knows Starbucks just in case.

ahhh thank you for the advice! now that i think of it i think there’s like 2 other TLS that were starbucks a while back

 

[flexbucks]

If anyone tells you something you have no clue about, tell them it is your first week and you will try your best. Our store has some starbucks trained TMs on the floor who may be able to help you. My store and the sbux are high volume. No 7 day kid would be alone.

thank you! i hope the guests are understanding! i’m sure most will be, but we all know how some guests are😂

 

[DBZ]

Ignore the stupid ones. Most people are very understanding. I cover starbucks sometimes. I nearly transferred over there, but opted to stay where I have more options

 

[Coqui]

Great advice on here. It can be frightening to be alone when you’re new but if you take one order at a time, it’ll be manageable. When I was a Starbucks TL years ago, I realized that most people are pretty considerate of baristas working alone. I was in a mall store and at the time we were the 3rd highest volume in the company. I had payroll to always have my team working with 3 or 4 at a time but on ocasional gaps, one order at a time made the long lines manageable.

 

[jackandcat]

I've often been puzzled at how often our Starbucks has only a single barista TM. Our Starbucks definitely does a good volume of business -- it's the Seattle area, after all -- so I just don't get why we don't have enough payroll hours for keeping up with demand. Corporate-owned Starbucks stores in the area never have merely a single barista on duty, and our lines of addicted SBUX junkies guests can get as long as the Company-owned SBUX stores.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

I've often been puzzled at how often our Starbucks has only a single barista TM. Our Starbucks definitely does a good volume of business -- it's the Seattle area, after all -- so I just don't get why we don't have enough payroll hours for keeping up with demand. Corporate-owned Starbucks stores in the area never have merely a single barista on duty, and our lines of addicted SBUX junkies guests can get as long as the Company-owned SBUX stores.

Call offs & untrained Starbucks folks is a common issue,

 

[DBZ]

I've often been puzzled at how often our Starbucks has only a single barista TM. Our Starbucks definitely does a good volume of business -- it's the Seattle area, after all -- so I just don't get why we don't have enough payroll hours for keeping up with demand. Corporate-owned Starbucks stores in the area never have merely a single barista on duty, and our lines of addicted SBUX junkies guests can get as long as the Company-owned SBUX stores.

Hour cuts, call outs, people get fired or quit. Before covid, our bux used to be less busy. Since covid they got extremely busy because the corp stores in the area would have less staff so they would be Drive thru only or have limited hours which put a lot of pressure on our store. We have one bar, one blender, etc whereas corp has at least 2 of everything. Now that things are back to "normal" business is back to normal. They are still busier then they were precovid.

 

[redeye58]

Since school started back up a majority of our baristas trimmed their hours back drastically, leaving me alone most mornings for a few hours in an effort to stretch coverage.

 

[Dream Baby]

Since school started back up a majority of our baristas trimmed their hours back drastically, leaving me alone most mornings for a few hours in an effort to stretch coverage.

Cutting hours at Starbucks never made sense (as opposed to other departments) because it is such a money machine.

 

[redeye58]

It's not leadership cutting the hours, it's the baristas & we don't have enough coverage so we're actually red in terms of our hour usage.
Of course the rest of the store is happy to snap up any unused hours

 

[Dream Baby]

It's not leadership cutting the hours, it's the baristas & we don't have enough coverage so we're actually red in terms of our hour usage.
Of course the rest of the store is happy to snap up any unused hours

Explain.

You mean that the baristas are limiting their availability because they won't fall for the the old "open up your availability and Target will give you more hours line".

 

[redeye58]

They're limiting their availability because they're high school & college students.
There's only four of us who are full-time & have fairly open availability between SB & FA.

 

[Dream Baby]

They're limiting their availability because they're high school & college students.
There's only four of us who are full-time & have fairly open availability between SB & FA.

When we still had our FA (food avenue) is was always closed because they never had enough people.

I just assumed it was never open while I was working.

 

[Rarejem]

There are agreements with Starbucks regarding staffing, closing within hours of operation, training, and more. It's not a good idea to mess with that stuff.