Head Barista

Bluestone Lane; New Jersey; On-site; USD 40,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

Bluestone Lane is seeking a Head Barista in New Jersey responsible for upholding coffee quality and training other baristas. The role involves managing coffee-related tasks, ensuring exceptional customer service, and building relationships with locals.

The ideal candidate has at least 2 years of barista experience, excellent technical skills, and the ability to mentor teammates. Join a vibrant café environment focused on quality, service, and community engagement.

Qualifications

• 2+ years of experience as a Barista or Head Barista in Specialty coffee.
• Strong technical barista knowledge and skills.
• Ability to train and mentor teammates.

Responsibilities

• Ensure quality of coffee and beverage program.
• Train and educate new baristas.
• Manage inventory of coffee products.

Skills

Barista skills

Customer service

Technical coffee knowledge

Interpersonal skills

Job description

A Head Barista is responsible for upholding the standard of quality of the Bluestone Lane coffee and beverage program within their home store. The Head Barista is a positive influence over other baristas and strives for the highest of standards in drinks, local interactions, attitude and brand ambassadorship. The Head Barista acts as a role model in their own drink quality, local interaction and food preparations while also taking significant responsibility for on the job training and education of their teammates in store. The Head Barista is responsible for all aspects of the coffee menu in full in their assigned store as well as strong support for their relevant manager. This role follows the Steps of Service to maximize sales while providing a high level of customer service. The Head Barista serves our locals and runs drinks to tables Monday through Friday. The Head Barista is a cross‑functional role and rotates off the machine with responsibility for POS and take‑away orders working alongside their Server Teammates.

Positioning: The Head Barista is cross‑functional and positioned either behind the machine when assigned, at the POS, or on the café floor so that they are accessible and within eye’s reach of our local.

Essential Functions/Responsibilities:

• Ownership: Store level extension of Education team; coffee/beverage quality and processes gatekeeper for café
• Teamwide holistic education and training of coffee product & coffee/beverage program
• Face of Bluestone Lane coffee to locals & teammates
• Manages coffee related equipment and tool cleaning and maintenance (daily cleaning and periodic maintenance)
• Inventory management of coffee and coffee‑related product
• Spend through Service: Deep understanding of the menu in order to educate and excite local
• Services tables with focus on upselling food & beverage. Keen eye to refill beverage at right time
• Comes around the machine to personally deliver drinks to locals
• Engages and attends Monthly Head Barista meetings
• Upskills teams and initiates training and accreditation requests for teammates when needed
• With Manager, responsible for upskilling team and initiating training and accreditation requests when needed
• Train, educate and acclimate new baristas into store and BL system
• Human Connection: Serves as Teammate rotating off machine to run POS, serve locals, clear tables & process takeaway
• Locals focused, interacting and servicing locals with beverage needs
• Sets tone in store with recognition and connection with locals – name, face & order every time. Builds relationships and human connection through personalization and conversation. Provides input to GM/Ops in selection and hiring of new baristas
• Attends regular calibration sessions with Education team (1 every 6-8 weeks, ability to travel may be needed)
• Premium Broad Product: Contributes to and builds upon innovations which assist workflow and operations in store and speed of service
• Zenput inputs such as monthly staffing reports to Education team, monthly coffee and process audits & ownership of store achieving correct extraction via daily dial in
• Focus on coffee, beverage product and workflow systems of each barista within the team while providing a positive influence in upholding BL standard of hospitality.
• Coffee product rotation, ordering and quantity management following standard operating procedures (i.e. coffee used within 3 weeks of roast for beverage preparation, Retail coffee no older than 7 days on shelves)
• Minimizes waste – ensure proper ordering
• Beautiful Spaces: Ensures bar and workspace are always clean and fully functioning
• Speed of service – provide quality product with speed and accuracy
• Maintains grooming guidelines as all times
• Shift leader who assists General Manager to direct and manage live labor; ensures operational excellence in absence of GM
• Measures of Success: Cross‑functional operations – flexible and agile moving from machine to serving local – service focused and quality driven
• Baristas in training are ready for test within 30 days of employment
• Pipeline of Baristas ready for accreditation
• Knows locals’ name & order – provides genuine escape by delivering great service. Good communication & working environment with Servers – working together to service local efficiently and effectively
• Consistent coffee quality from all baristas in the café
• Reduces coffee waste

Skills, Knowledge & Experience:

• You have 2+ years working as a Barista or Head Barista in Specialty coffee or 4+ years working in non‑specialty coffee in a high volume fast paced environment.
• You have 2+ years of relevant hospitality experience, previous management or leadership roles are preferred.
• You are DOH accredited or Safeserve Certified.
• You are keen to train, mentor and support teammates in their coffee education.
• You have strong technical barista knowledge and skills (extraction, texturing, pouring).
• You have strong interpersonal and communication skills.
• You can work in a high stress, fast paced work environment.
• You can stand for extended periods and lift to 40lbs.

Work Environment:

Working conditions are typically indoors in environmentally controlled conditions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.