Help! Tips for hiring a Barista...

[kristyb]

What experience/training do you look for when hiring a new Barista? What are the deal breakers?

Do you prefer experience or someone that you can train from scratch? Depending on whether they have experience or not, how long should the training take?

[Journeyman]

For hospitality in general, I would rather someone good with people that needs some training than an 'expert' who doesn't deal with people very well. A good barista inspires loyalty in his clients partly by making good coffee but mostly by being personal with them.

Also I'd think an expert barista WITH personality would be quite expensive to hire, so the couple of days it takes you to train someone fairly new to the job would pay back in revenue very quickly. I'd happily take someone who has done a barista course (& maybe food handling) and train them up.

[kristyb]

Thanks! Appreciate the help!