How to Attract the Best Baristas for your Cafe

18 Mar 2022

For cafe owners in the UK and in English cities, the last couple of years have made it super hard to find staff. With more cafes opening up every day, cafe owners are competing for the best baristas. 

Here at Need a Barista, we know what cafe owners need to do in order to attract and keep their staff! So if you’re a cafe or bar owner, here are some suggestions to help you attract the cream of the crop in terms of staff:

1. Be consistent with your cafe opening hours (if possible).  This will depend on what sort of cafe you run/own, but if you are open long enough for people to go before work or after work then they will. Potential staff will feel as though they have more flexibility with the hours they can work for you.

2. Make sure your cafe atmosphere is inviting and pleasant to work in.  A cafe with a poor atmosphere will put off potential employees, so make sure the cafe has clean tables and floors, good music, and comfortable seating for them to enjoy while they work.  You could even offer incentives such as giving staff a discount on food and drink, or allowing them to take home food goodies once in a while - generosity never goes astray.

3. Provide a cafe staff uniform or reasonable dress code for them to wear.  A team that looks cohesive helps to create a positive team atmosphere and looks attractive to potential baristas.

4. Offer competitive wages and salaries as well as incentives such as bonuses and promotions. At the end of the day, baristas need to pay their rent, too.

5. Provide staff cafe training, so they can learn and improve in their roles and gain valuable knowledge about coffee.  Make sure your cafe staff is trained to the highest standards by offering that they attend courses to improve their knowledge behind the coffee machine.

Need a Barista connects specialises in providing highly trained and experienced baristas to coffee shops across the UK, to cover those gaps in your roster when you don't want to hire a permanent new worker. 

We've covered over 18,000 on-demand barista shifts, so you can book with confidence to cover anything from a few hours, to weeks at a time. Only our pre-vetted and checked baristas can pick up your on-demand shift bookings, and you'll usually have a confirmation of your booking within hours.