For those of you who have set up your cafe and are now getting more and more customers through the turnstiles the next question normally is ‘How can I do more?’. There’s no doubt speeding up your service times will go a long way towards putting more money in the till. But how can I speed things up. Here are 4 tips that have worked for us here at Wanderer Coffee:

1. Your Setup and Workflow

Making sure some time and thought has gone into your barista’s work space is the first and most important step in nailing speed service. Truly fast and efficient barista’s never rush through a service, they glide. They move with purpose and know exactly where every step of their workflow is – they never rush they never waste a movement. This gliding effect is 10% talent 90% preparation. The best way to get to this stage is really simple. Start by stepping out every little detail of every service scenario in slow motion. This will help you identify any stumbling blocks or speed-bumps in your workflow.

One of the biggest service speed bumps is a concept we call the ‘double movement’. This is where you find yourself moving back and forth between your service areas to complete really small tasks. If you apply some basic logic while analysing your service these ‘double movements’ should become easy to spot. Then, get rid of them!  Placing tools or ingredients that go together in the same space is often the easiest and most obvious adjustment.

2. Customer Service

Bad customer service will always slow things down. When customers don’t get the right information or they feel as though they aren’t getting what they need problems arise. If customers need too much attention at the counter staff can become distracted and mistakes will happen! The challenge for staff during a busy service is conveying a large amount of information to customers in clear and concise manner. Let me tell you it isn’t always easy.

There’s a balancing act to consider. Customers should never feel like they’re being rushed or the staff are being short with them. Good service when it’s busy is about managing the customer’s expectations as best you can. People all want to be given the same attention and care they’re given during quieter periods but at the same time they don’t want to wait all day while someone is talking to the barista. Bottom line for good speed customer service is – be clear, be concise information and friendly! If staff are doing all of this it’s hard to go wrong.

3. Team Management and Task Delegation

This is essential to fast service! An unorganised and sloppy team will never be able to smash through a busy rush. Assign each team member clear and concise roles for the service, this way there’ll be no confusion around who’s doing what. In addition to this you should also make them aware of the priority of each of their roles.

You see it so often when things get busy people will stop what they are doing to help out someone else who is struggling. Whilst we always need to help out someone who is getting smashed during a service it creates more problems leaving your section behind. So make sure before every service you sit the team down for a quick brief and make them aware of their roles and the priority of them.

4. Slow Where It Matters, Fast Where It Counts

You probably didn’t expect to see the word slow used one of the four 4 keys did you? Well let me explain. Some aspects of your service simply cannot be rushed. This concept was coined by a friend of ours Don Meij of Dominos Australia.

In the pizza space you can’t rush the dough making process – the dough needs time to do its thing. It’s the same with coffee – your espresso extraction time can’t be rushed, if you do that the quality of your product will deteriorate. That matters!

On the other hand, it really counts for something when you greet a new customer as soon as they enter your coffee shop – that first moment is critical.  If you are slow to recognise that new customer (or your regulars) that can be death. That new customer might just walk away.  That counts!

So celebrate the “slow where it matters” aspects of the making of great coffee with your staff and your customers!  But only if you make it super fast when it counts