While we’ve been focusing the past week on our customers, I think it’s important to get a feel for the guys, and Mel, who make Organica run. So we’ll end the week with a kind of behind the scenes look at what happens everyday at our coffee shop.
Currently, Organica is staffed by three terrific employees. Mark takes care of the early morning birds, arriving at the store by 6 AM in order to prepare everything for opening. I come into work at 10, and by that point in the day Mark is ready to take a break from the craziness of having to run everything by himself all morning; and it can indeed be pretty hectic trying to juggle lattes and egg sandwiches! So he’ll take his huge bowl of salad downstairs to relax a bit and catch up on all the latest sports news while I take care of all the people who need a late morning caffeine fix and breakfast.
Jeff, our delivery guy and soup chef, then comes in around 11. From then on, it’s the three of us giving you guys great service, making sure everything behind the counter is nice and sparkly, making grocery trips to get the freshest ingredients, and filling the café with the tasty aromas of stewing soups and brewing chai.
Anytime between noon and two is when all of our days are brightened with Mel’s intense energy bursting through the door heading straight towards the split pea soup. We’ll all make sure everything is running smoothly and discuss anything we’d like to do differently or something new we’d like to try. This is definitely the best part of the day, and can result in anything from starting up a blog to moving the microwave to improve our kitchen feng shui (check it out, some of you guys have already noticed).
From there, Mel and Mark will take off by two, and Jeff and I will start cleaning up all the mess we undoubtedly made during the day. After mopping the floors and cleaning up the sinks, Jeff will take off to enjoy the rest of his day, while I hang around to give everyone afternoon coffee and clean up the rest of the store. By the time everyone has trickled out by about five-thirty or six, I will lock up and take off to go home, relax, and chill out.
One of the best things about working at Organica is that our staff is really like a team; we’re all there to help each other out and all of our strengths combine to be able to make the café run so smoothly. I know I can count on all of these guys for anything, and it’s a really enjoyable atmosphere to work in. It may not look like it, but it’s hard work being a barista and it’s good to know I’ve got such good co-workers I can rely on.
That about sums up a typical day at Organica, giving some of you insight into what’s happening when we’re not fixing up your delicious drinks and food. Next week, we’ll do a meet and greet with our staff, so you guys can get to know us outside of our work; where we come from and what our interests are. Have a good weekend and we’ll see ya next week!
