Barista Training for Cafés, Hotels and Restaurants

If you run a café, hotel, restaurant or bar, the coffee your customers get depends on whoever is behind the machine that morning. One person pulls a lovely shot and pours a neat rosetta. The next person's flat white tastes burnt and the milk sits on top like a meringue. Customers notice, and they don't always say so. They just don't come back.

Consistent coffee comes from training. This post covers how we train hospitality teams, and how our consultancy works if the problem is bigger than the coffee.

Why train on your own equipment

You can send staff to a course, and many owners do. Our Barista Workshop suits café owners, managers and people starting in a café, and it's a good option when you have one new starter.

When you have a whole team, there's a better way: we come to you. On-site training has a few practical advantages.

• Staff learn on the equipment they'll actually use. The machine and grinder they work on every day, not a different model they'll never see again.
• No travel costs for your staff, and no downtime for the business. We work around your opening hours, not the other way round.
• Everyone gets the same instruction. The whole team hears the same recipes and the same standards at the same time, which is what makes the coffee consistent.

We train teams anywhere in Ireland, and we work with hotels, restaurants, bars, cafés and coffee shops.

Getting the set-up right

A lot of bad coffee isn't the barista's fault. A grinder set too coarse, or a machine that isn't set up correctly, will undo good technique every time. When we come to you, we check your espresso machine and grinder are set up right, so your team is starting from a sound base.

We'll also advise on the smaller tools that make a difference behind the bar: milk jugs, tampers, scales, timers and the rest. Scales and timers in particular take the guesswork out of espresso, and they make it far easier for a new starter to match what your head barista does.

What your team will learn

On-site training draws on the same course content we teach in Bandon, taught on your own machine. Depending on what your team needs, that can include:

• Espresso machine and grinder set-up
• Dialling in and perfecting espresso, the base of almost every coffee shop drink
• Steaming milk properly, and troubleshooting milk that isn't behaving
• How dairy, almond, soya and coconut milk behave, so plant milk drinks are as good as the rest
• Latte art, from the heart, rosetta and tulip upwards
• Barista station management, so service stays clean and quick during a rush
• Customer service
• End-of-day cleaning and procedures

If you'd rather send people to us, we can also hold places for a group on any of our courses. Just get in touch.

For new staff who want a qualification

If you're hiring someone with no experience, or want to give a staff member a qualification, the BSI/QBA is our most complete course. It's two classroom days covering the Barista Workshop, Barista Level 2, station management, customer service and advanced latte art, followed by a day of work experience in a busy specialty coffee shop. It comes with a BSI/QBA certificate and a HACCP Level 1 certificate. It costs €395 when booked online (€495 standard).

Hospitality consultancy

Sometimes the coffee is only part of the picture. Service is slow, waste is high, the menu has grown out of control, or the numbers just aren't adding up. Our trainers have years of experience training, competing, managing and consulting in hospitality, and we've seen what works behind a bar and what doesn't.

Our consultancy follows four steps:

1. Initial meeting. A one-hour needs assessment. There's no charge and no obligation.
2. In-depth assessment. A closer look at the areas we highlighted together.
3. Detailed report. What we found, in plain language, with priorities.
4. Action plan. Clear next steps, and help putting them in place if you want it.

The approach is flexible and built around your business. Some owners want a full review. Others just want a second pair of eyes on one problem.

Some practical things you can do now

While you're thinking about training, a few changes cost almost nothing:

• Write down your recipes. Dose, yield and time for espresso, and milk temperature for each drink. If it isn't written down, every barista will do it differently.
• Put a scale and a timer on the bar. Check shots against the recipe, especially at the start of the day.
• Keep the menu manageable. A shorter menu of drinks done well is easier to train and quicker to serve.
• Clean as you go, and clean properly at close. Group heads, steam wands and grinders affect taste as much as technique does.
• Ask your customers. Feedback, good or bad, tells you where to focus.

Talk to us

The first hour is free. Tell us about your business and your team, and we'll come back to you, usually the same day. See training for cafés and teams for more, or get in touch.

If you have one person to train and want to get them started, you can book a place on the Barista Workshop online.