Cafe Associate

Grace Farms Foundation; New Canaan (CT); On-site; USD 25,000 - 30,000; Part time

Job summary

Grace Farms Foundation in New Canaan, CT is seeking a Café Associate to join the on-site cafe team in the River building. You’ll greet guests, take orders, and serve coffee, tea, and light fare while supporting events that inspire connection and community.

The role requires a high school diploma, customer service experience, and a friendly, energetic demeanor. Weekend and some evenings are required, and reliability and teamwork are essential to keep the service smooth and welcoming for every

Qualifications

• High school diploma or equivalent required.
• Customer service experience required, and food/beverage service preferred.
• Working knowledge of a Point of Sale (POS) system.

Responsibilities

• Greets customers with warm, friendly, personalized service and processes orders.
• Follows Grace Farms beverage recipes and procedures to make drinks.
• Assists team setup and cleanup after internal catered events.
• Follows health & safety procedures when fulfilling orders.
• Communicates menu items, retail items and specials to customers.

Skills

Customer service

People skills

Team player

Customer empathy

Flexible schedule

Education

High school diploma

Tools

POS system

Job description

Role: Café Associate

Reports To: Director of Food & Beverage

FLSA: Part-Time, Hourly, Non-Exempt (up to 29 hours per week). Availability to work weekends and evening events.

Location: On-site New Canaan, CT 5 days per week.

Join the cafe team at Grace Farms, a stunning cultural and humanitarian center in New Canaan, CT, where every cup of coffee, tea and warm welcome helps create a place of beauty, connection, and purpose. As a Café Associate, you'll work in the architecturally acclaimed River building, greet guests from around the corner and around the world, and serve delicious, fresh food and drinks while supporting events that inspire and bring people together. If you love working with people, thrive in a lively, team-focused environment, and want your work to be as meaningful as it is fun, we'd love to have you on our team!

Duties:

• Stays informed about all events and offerings of Grace Farms Foundation and shares this information in an accurate and enthusiastic manner with visitors to the Commons.
• Greets all customers with consistently warm, friendly, personalized greeting and service to every guest and customer. Moves quickly, but efficiently, accurately and safely through each transaction to minimize wait time for each guest. Thank each customer for their order.
• Processes each customer order through the Grace Farms Point of Sales and credit card transaction system.
• Follows all Grace Farms beverage recipes and procedures to make requested drink orders for customers.
• Assists team set up and clean up after internal catered events
• Follows all health & safety procedures when fulfilling guest pastry and food orders.
• Communicates and educates customers about menu items, retail items and specials - including ingredient lists.
• Works to maintain a good customer experience and reports any customer complaints to their supervisor.
• Assists the culinary team with getting food orders out to the customers.
• Promotes a safe and clean service environment by supporting Grace Farms sanitation and cleanliness standards.
• Communicates on a high level with the kitchen team to expedite customer orders.
• Helps clear and wash dishes when needed.
• Maintains Commons area clean throughout shift, performs cleaning tasks such as sweeping, wiping down tables, pushing in chairs, collecting trays and maintaining back counter area tidy.
• Practices proper food organization, labeling, and storage.
• Maintains regular and consistent attendance and punctuality.
• Other duties as assigned

Skills/Abilities:

• Exceptionally friendly people-skills.
• Outstanding interpersonal communications skills with external guests, and internal colleagues.
• Excellent team player who regularly assists their colleagues with a cheerful disposition.
• Ability to maintain high-energy throughout the day, and ability to remain calm, friendly and unflustered during high volume periods of operations.
• Must possess patience, empathy and a generous, positive, and can-do outlook.
• Able to work effectively in collaboration with diverse groups of people
• Flexible schedule that will include weekends and some evenings.

Education & Experience:

• High school diploma or equivalent required.
• Customer service experience required, and food/beverage service preferred.
• Working knowledge of a Point of Sale (POS) system.

Physical Requirements:

• Requires long periods of standing and some lifting

Compensation: $20 per hour

MUST have reliable transportation as we are NOT near public transportation.

About Grace Farms

Grace Farms is a cultural and humanitarian center in New Canaan, Connecticut, that brings people together across sectors to explore nature, arts, justice, community, and faith at the SANAA-designed River building and Barns on 80 acres of publicly accessible natural landscape. Since opening in 2015, it has garnered numerous prestigious awards for contributions to architecture, environmental sustainability, and social good and has become a destination for arts, culture, and community. Grace Farms has welcomed 1 million visitors from around the world to experience innovative programming in music, visual and performing arts, while fostering contemplation and connection through architecture and nature.

Grace Farms' humanitarian work includes leading the Design for Freedom movement to eliminate forced labor in the building materials supply chain and advancing initiatives to foster more grace and peace locally and globally. This commitment extends to Grace Farms Tea and Coffee, a certified B Corp that models ethical and sustainable sourcing while supporting Design for Freedom.

The integration of cultural programming and humanitarian action reflects Grace Farms' collaborative approach to generating new outcomes and meaningful change.

Grace Farms is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, and other legally protected characteristics.