I work as a barista in a chain brand: I earn 5,000 yuan a month, and I make 300 cups a day

With the rapid expansion of major brands, coffee, which was once regarded as a niche foreign product, has successfully broken the circle in recent years. Brands roll up prices and services, and baristas, as the closest person to customers in the brand, often lay the foundation for customers' perception of the brand. What is it like to make coffee in a chain coffee shop? Zhongxin Jingwei chatted with several baristas.

Do baristas only make coffee?

When it comes to the profession of barista, many people understand it as "coffee maker".

Chen Chen (pseudonym) is a clerk at a chain coffee shop in Beijing and has passed the store's barista certification.

Chen Chen said that after preliminary training and learning, new employees will be required to go through barista certification soon after joining the company, and after passing the certification, it also means that the employee has officially become a barista.

But a barista's job isn't just about making coffee. "Making coffee is a priority, and you have to do things like packing and cleaning." Chenchen said.

Wang Qiang (pseudonym) is the supervisor on duty at a store of the above-mentioned chain coffee brand in Shenzhen. He also mentioned that in addition to making drinks, their work also includes making orders, delivering meals, replenishing stocks, hygiene, etc., "making drinks is the easiest job".

Luo Jie (pseudonym) is a full-time barista at a chain of coffee shops in Dongguan City, Guangdong Province. She also told Zhongxin Jingwei that baristas not only have to make drinks, but also do packaging, replenishment, inventory, sanitation and cleaning.

It can also be seen from the recruitment information released by many chain coffee brands that the job responsibilities of baristas include store takeaway packaging, sanitation and cleaning, customer reception, coffee making, and cooperating with store managers to do a good job in store operations.

Do part-time baristas pay more?

In some chain coffee shops, there are many baristas who work part-time.

Chenchen introduced, the chain coffee shop where it is located, there are usually three kinds of part-time posts recruited, namely social part-time jobs, student part-time jobs and "part-time plus", different part-time jobs correspond to different working hours requirements, such as social part-time jobs require 96 hours per month, part-time jobs plus 167 hours per month. In his store, the hourly wage of the three part-time posts is 27 yuan per hour.

"Part-time employees, after working 167 working hours in the month, the store may give an hourly wage increase, generally 2-3 yuan / hour, social part-time and student part-time jobs do not have such opportunities." Chenchen said.

Wang Qiang also mentioned that part-time plus is a relatively good position, although there is no five insurances and one housing fund, but the overall salary will be higher than that of full-time, and you can also be promoted to deputy store manager, store manager, etc.

Wang Qiang introduced, after the new employees joined, generally have to go through training, in their stores, the hourly salary during the training period is 20 yuan / hour, after passing the barista certification hourly salary mentioned 24 yuan / hour, followed by the supervisor on duty, the hourly salary of 26-29 yuan / hour, and then up is the deputy store manager and store manager, the deputy store manager and the store manager are generally full-time, of which the salary of the deputy store manager is about 6000-8000 yuan, and the salary of the store manager is about 9000-14000 yuan. The salary of an ordinary full-time clerk is lower, about 3,000-5,000 yuan.

At present, Wang Qiang's monthly salary is between 5,000 and 5,800 yuan; Chenchen's monthly salary is about 5,000 yuan. "It mainly depends on how many hours are worked each month." Wang Qiang said. According to data from a workplace information platform, as of June 17, the average salary of baristas in China was about 4,904 yuan/month.

In Shanghai, the salaries of full-time baristas of Luckin Coffee, Manner Coffee, and M Stand Coffee are 5,000-7,000 yuan, 8,000-10,000 yuan, and 5,000-8,000 yuan respectively, and the hourly salary of part-time coffee is 25-30 yuan/hour. The salary of a full-time barista at Cudi Coffee is 5,000-7,000 yuan, and on June 22, Zhongxin Jingwei has not yet seen the company's part-time barista position in Shanghai posted on the recruitment platform, while in Beijing, the hourly salary of a part-time barista at Cudi Coffee is 20-30 yuan/hour.

It is possible to work 4-12 hours a day

Wang Qiang said that the daily working hours of the store staff are arranged by the store manager, and it is possible to work 4-12 hours, but they can also communicate with the store manager about their own needs.

Chenchen also mentioned that if you feel tired, you can apply for a half-day shift with the store manager.

"Our store is open from 9:30 in the morning to 9:30 in the evening, sometimes in two shifts in the morning and evening, the morning shift is from 9:30 in the morning to 3 in the afternoon, and the evening shift is from 3 in the afternoon to 9:30 in the evening, and sometimes we have to work commute, from morning to night for 12 hours in a row. If you have any needs in the shift, you can tell the store manager. Typically, store managers give employees two days off each week. Chenchen said.

However, during the working day, the barista's task is not easy. "There are two people in our store, and the amount of cups a day is usually between 500-600 cups, and the average person makes 250-300 cups of coffee a day, except for the meal time of about half an hour at noon, there is almost no time to rest." Chenchen said.

In Wang Qiang's view, the work intensity of baristas is related to the management mode of the store. "In some stores, the staff is idle and the store manager does not let them sit and rest, and in some stores, the store manager allows the staff to sit down and rest for a while when they are not busy."

Luo Jie also mentioned that the work intensity is mainly related to the order volume of the store on the day. "Our store is a school store, so we will be busy, and we can work 200 hours a month full-time. Each store is different, and the average staff works three shifts in the morning, noon and evening. ”

▲Recruitment requirements for Manner coffee baristas. Screenshot of a recruitment platform

In the recruitment information released by Luckin Coffee, Kadi Coffee, Manner Coffee, and M Stand Coffee, the job requirements for baristas include "excellent communication skills", "strong team awareness", "excellent customer service awareness", etc., among which some of the recruitment information of Luckin Coffee and Manner Coffee, "strong ability to work under pressure and able to accept high-intensity work" is also one of the job requirements of baristas.

According to the "2024 China Urban Coffee Development Report", the scale of China's coffee industry will reach 265.4 billion yuan in 2023, and the average annual compound growth rate of the coffee industry in the past three years will reach 17.14%, which is expected to increase to 313.3 billion yuan in 2024. Among them, the number of coffee stores in Shanghai will lead the country in 2023, with a total of 9,553, accounting for 6.1% of the total number of stores in the country, which can be estimated that there will be about 156,700 coffee shops in the country in 2023.