Shift Lead

Shift Lead

Equator Coffees, founded in 1995 by Helen Russell and Brooke McDonnell, is a retail and wholesale coffee roaster committed to sustainable and fair trade practices. With twelve retail cafes across California, Equator has pioneered industry-leading sourcing and roasting practices and forged partnerships with Michelin-starred chefs, specialty grocers, tech campuses, and more. Women-owned, LGBTQ-founded, and an early adopter of Fair Trade and Regenerative Organic certifications, Equator Coffees is the first California coffee roaster to achieve B Corp Certification.

The Shift Lead assists the store manager in leading the baristas to deliver an exceptional experience to every customer in our retail cafés, including providing the utmost in hospitality and kindness, consistent high-quality beverages, and specialty coffee knowledge. You are responsible for learning operations and leading the team in the absence of the General Manager. The role requires that you act with integrity and respect, promote an accessible, safe, clean, and healthy work environment, act fiscally responsible, produce quality work, and be ethical and passionate about coffee.

Key Responsibilities:

• Share passion for coffee and knowledge of specialty coffee with customers and employees
• Leads team in preparing and serving the highest quality handcrafted beverages
• Provides regular coaching and feedback to team members on drink quality
• Leads the team in sharing product knowledge
• Plan and execute the deployment of staff
• Able to remain calm, professional, patient, kind, and productive in all situations
• Leads and helps with store cleaning, stocking, and organizing
• Ensure and uphold store cleanliness, organization, and food safety
• Always act responsibly in protecting the store assets and facilities by ensuring compliance with Equator Coffees policies and procedures
• Communicates efficiently with the Store Manager on concerns such as employee engagement, work performance, customer feedback, and areas to improve
• Work with the Store Manager to perform inventory control tasks
• You will be the ideal model for teamwork
• Able to make decisions in the best interest of the customer as well as problem-solve in the absence of the manager
• Contribute to store goals for achieving sales and improving profits
• Will be responsible for the opening and closing of the cafe
• Demonstrate respect, integrity, honesty, and knowledge to promote the culture, values, and mission of Equator Coffees

Qualifications and Requirements:

• Kind, welcoming, and patient even amid multi-tasking
• Coffee experience preferred
• Retail and/or customer service experience required
• Demonstrates a passion for coffee and tea
• Able to make customers the priority
• Can provide ongoing positive and constructive feedback with ease
• Curious to learn and gain knowledge and apply it to daily interactions
• Is a Team Player
• Capability to interface and maintain effective relationships with co-workers and customers
• Cash handling skills
• The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds.
• At times, may be required to work more than 40 hours per week to perform the essential duties of the position
• High School Diploma or General Education Degree (GED)
• Able to work agreed-upon full-time or part-time hours that include early mornings, evenings, weekends, and/or holidays
• Maintains a current state-issued Food Handler Card
• Flexibility to work a variable schedule, including early mornings, weekends, and holidays, is strongly preferred
• Must be 16 years of age or older

Compensation will be commensurate with experience.