Enjoying the daily grind of a barista

By ESTELLE SARNEY

Cafe work need not just be a part-time, short-term way to earn money. If you're passionate about good coffee and love mixing with a range of people, you can make a career out of it, travel with it and even become self-employed.

Pien Wise plans to take up those latter two options within the next few years. The 22-year-old started waitressing at 16 and is now the front of house manager at the Crucial Traders cafe in Kingsland, Auckland. She looks after the public part of the cafe while the chef looks after the kitchen.

"I left school at the end of year 12 with good marks, and thought I'd have a break before thinking about going to university," says Wise.

She took the initiative and phoned places she thought she'd like to work, rather than competing for advertised jobs. She got a job at a bakery, and stayed there for two and a-half years learning about food preparation, cake decoration and customer service. She then tried out other cafes, until a friend of her mother's offered her a job at Crucial Traders. Wise has been there for two and a-half years, and loves it.

"I found I really enjoyed this industry - it's quite fast-paced and busy, it's fun, social, and I'm very interested in food and coffee, so it suits me perfectly."

She grew up around the corner from the cafe, and likes that it has a community feel and she can get to know her customers - something that's hard to do in larger city premises.

Wise oversees two full-time staff and several part-time weekend workers. When hiring, she rates most highly an applicant's willingness to offer good service.

"When a customer walks in the door, if there's someone greeting them with a big smile and a welcoming manner, that makes a great impression. For some reason that's lacking in a lot of places, but it's so easy."

Wise concedes that maintaining this cheerfulness can be challenging if you, your colleagues or the customer is having a bad day, but that's when you have to draw on your professionalism.

Marg Ross, who co-owns the Fusion Coffee Company in Tauranga with her partner Andrew Fitzsimons, agrees that coffee-making can be taught, so employers will look first at an applicant's personality.

"Our front people are the public face of our business, so we want them to be well groomed, to speak nicely, to have manners and a good customer focus. It's good if they can show a little personality, but not be overbearing."

Ross and Wise both train their staff inhouse, and Wise also sends hers to barista courses run by coffee companies.

"Making good coffee doesn't happen straight away - it's an art. I'm still trying to make mine better," says Wise.

It's becoming an increasingly valuable skill. Fitzsimons says that when premium baristas move from one cafe to another, they may take many of their customers with them. So it's in the interests of cafe owners to pay skilled baristas well to retain them.

Inexperienced cafe workers can start earning as little as $9 an hour, although most establishments start people on $10. This will rise with experience, and Ross says valuable managers can earn up to $20 an hour.

"There are very few owner-operators who can carry on 24/7 for very long, so most cafe owners employ a manager," says Ross. "That person will be responsible for the day to day running of the cafe, including sorting out staffing problems, screening job applicants, dealing with difficult customers and implementing changes to the cafe."

Most cafe workers are employed for a trial period initially. Wise says this is important to make sure there is a "personality match" between worker, establishment and the type of customer. If you don't feel you fit in at your first job, don't despair. A different cafe in a different area with different staff and a more structured, or more fluid, way of running things may suit you better.

Ross adds that a worker will also show whether they are reliable during this trial period - another valuable attribute for cafe owners dealing with numerous staff working varied hours.

Wise has found many workers use cafe experience as a stepping stone into hospitality courses, and jobs in the wider industry.

"You learn so much in how to deal with people, and working under pressure is good for you."

You can also take your experience on your OE as New Zealand coffee-makers gain an increasingly good reputation overseas. Wise visited relatives in the Netherlands last year and was surprised when she received her coffee how the baristas saw fit to serve it.

"Here we're willing to make a decaf trim soy mocha in a certain glass at a certain temperature - you have to be flexible to meet some very particular orders," she smiles.

Wise did, however, glean some ideas from Europe which she might use when she opens her own cafe one day.

"It'll be somewhere with a bit of a twist, that welcomes families as well as adults without kids. The industry is lacking places with lots of atmosphere, so I think there's potential for more."