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BY EMILY JOY MENESESBARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE
Featured photo by Nguyen Tran
It’s a question that I’ve come across a lot as a barista over the past few years: Should coffee shop employees be allowed to work on bar alone? Here in the United States, many cafés are working with minimal staff. But how minimal is too minimal?
While scheduling solo shifts does serve some benefits to baristas, it also presents a variety of risks. In this installment of “Let’s Talk About”, we’re discussing working solo and asking Barista Magazine Online readers to share their insight on the matter.
Pros & Cons
At my first coffee shop job, there was a time when many of my teammates enjoyed working alone. Since the café was on the smaller side with a more minimal menu and a slower pace than most other places, there often wasn’t enough to do when two baristas were working—which meant we did a lot of aimless standing around.
Over time, the team collectively decided that they wanted to begin working solo shifts, even for opening and closing. After all, it meant that we could keep our tips to ourselves. It also meant a lot less idle time and a lot more independence, which all of us seemed to appreciate.
However, working solo also presented some difficulties and risks. For example, because we were working alone, we technically weren’t taking our legally required lunch breaks. In addition, I always felt nervous closing by myself; something about working in such a dark, quiet space alone late at night made me feel unsteady. Other baristas I worked with also told stories of customer altercations where they would have preferred to have had backup. Thankfully, nothing too serious ever happened, and all of us, for the most part, stayed safe. However, that isn’t the case for every establishment.
Solo Shifts Gone Wrong
It can be scary to think about, but it’s still important to consider times when working solo as a food and beverage employee has taken a turn for the worst. For example, the South Korean bakery chain Paris Baguette came under fire in 2022 when one of their employees was killed by machinery while working a graveyard shift alone.
Florida-based Barista Magazine reader B. Rodriguez also shares a personal story dealing with a dangerous situation while scheduled to work alone. “I worked alone at a café location—one of two spots—in a part of Tampa that was in the heart of a neighborhood where a serial killer was on a rampage in 2017. This isn’t hyperbole, (there’s) plenty of news reports,” Rodriguez shares. “Anyways, I had to open this café alone in the dark and work the entire shift alone from 6 a.m. (to) 2 p.m. We had no alarm system. After the third killing, I asked the manager if we could implement two openers or some security system for protection. My request went ignored. The following week, a person (the final victim) was killed two blocks away, about an hour before we opened. No one knew or realized (until) sunrise.”
While B. made it out of this scary situation safely, it isn’t enough for coffee shop managers to leave it to chance. Los Angeles-based Zayde Naquib, the original founder of Bar Nine who just recently ventured into Frequency Tea, shares the multiple reasons why he’s firmly against solo shifts, and why he thinks that café managers need to step up to protect their employees.
“First and foremost, solo bar shifts are not only taxing for the worker, they are ripe for many issues—from attending to inappropriate guests without support, to an inability to take legally mandated breaks,” he states. “As (café leaders), it’s our job to provide hospitality and care to both guests and team members. … If our team members do not feel safe, we are failing them—plain and simple.”
The Small-Business Owner’s Perspective
Next week, we’ll release part two of “Let’s Talk About: Baristas Working Solo,” where we’ll discuss scheduling concerns shared by small-business owners and how to find solutions that protect the welfare of both them and their employees.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Emily Joy Meneses (she/they) is a writer and musician based in Los Angeles. Her hobbies include foraging, cortados, vintage synths, and connecting with her Filipino roots through music, art, food, and beverage.
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