We continue our discussion about staff shortages and how they’re impacting coffee workers in the United States.
BY EMILY JOY MENESES
ONLINE EDITOR
Featured photo by Louis Hansel
This is part two of “Let’s Talk About: Staff Shortages,” a series we launched yesterday wherein we explore how downsizing is affecting coffee workers in the United States. In part one, we discussed how staffing in the U.S. food and beverage industry took a hit after the outbreak of COVID in 2019. We also heard from Barista Magazine readers about how they’ve been affected by staff shortages at their shops. Today, we’ll strategize how café workers can adapt to downsizing—or avoid downsizing altogether—to create better work environments.
Downsizing: Helpful or Harmful in the Long Run?
While many café owners may feel pressure to downsize their teams to cut costs, many coffee workers share sentiments that this decision may hurt, rather than help, small businesses in the long run. With less support, baristas may suffer in providing the same level of service as they did before, leading to unhappy clientele and fewer returning customers.
“Lowering staff numbers to cut costs may seem like an effective way to save money, but in many customer-facing businesses, especially in service-heavy environments like cafés, this can have serious drawbacks,” writes Barista Magazine Online reader Louise Scriver. “With fewer hands on deck, staff are forced to multitask under pressure, which can lead to mistakes, slower service, and a generally stressed and hurried atmosphere. … In the end, prioritizing short-term savings over quality and customer satisfaction can turn out to be an expensive decision that impacts a business’s long-term growth and stability.”
Genesis Encarnacion, a New York City-based café manager and barista, echoes Louise’s sentiments. “I’ve experienced firsthand how downsizing can impact every aspect of a café’s operations,” Genesis says. “In NYC, with (how) high costs (are), it’s common for café owners to downsize staff or adjust their product offerings to stay afloat, but these decisions often come at a price. When staff numbers are reduced, it can affect the customer experience, from wait times to overall service quality. (The increased workload) often falls on the team, most times without a wage increase.”
Finding a Workaround
For coffee shops under economic pressure, what’s the answer? Whether or not café owners decide to downsize, there are steps that can be taken to ensure that café teams don’t become overworked. This may mean automating certain tasks or coming up with time-saving strategies, such as only offering espresso-based beverages and drip coffee during busy hours, while reserving more time-intensive brewing methods, like pourovers, for slower periods of the day.
Avoiding downsizing may mean sacrificing certain aspects of beverage crafting, such as limiting your menu or, for certain recipes, opting for more cost-effective ingredients. While this may potentially alter the quality of your product, Barista Magazine Online reader Jes shares how this can help you keep employee morale high, which will be more beneficial to your shop long-term.
“I don’t own a café, but I manage three of them,” Jes says. “We’ve tried our (best) to not downsize in the economy my country is currently in, but we’ve definitely had to make changes in the quality of (our) products. To keep up with the cost of living of our baristas, the ingredients we used to use for our in-house syrups and other products have had to change. We aimed for our baristas to be content with (their) work environment, instead of fighting inflation. … Regardless, we have happy staff that enjoy coming in for work.”
Focusing on the Big Picture
Whether you’re feeling pressured to downsize or your café has already downsized its team, it’s important to keep communication open among your team members and remember what’s most important: the well-being of your customers and employees.
“As a (general manager dealing with downsizing), I’ve had to—in coordination with owners—pump the brakes on long-term projects that take away time from supporting the staff,” writes Barista Magazine Online reader Hunter Forman. “It’s still a balancing act, but at the end of the day, I know that if we don’t have staff that feel supported or are overworked, everything will suffer. Keep the main thing the main thing.”
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