Barista Hustle Training

A note on the power of investing in our people:

We Are Zest is a social enterprise committed to solving employment barriers and providing work training. Over the course of December – February 2022, Zest has invested £6000 back into its employees’ training and development. Not only has the additional training provided more work hours during the Covid-crisis and slower winter months, but it has also had a serious impact on employee confidence and capability.

I have personally been working in coffee for four years but never received formal training until I joined the team at Zest. This past winter I completed eight coffee courses through the respected Barista Hustle, fully funded by Zest. From the basics of immersion and percolation brew methods to the complex minutiae of terroir and processing, my knowledge and confidence in my abilities have expanded exponentially. This increase in capability and confidence has also provided me with new opportunities as an employee.

Most recently I stood as a Brand Ambassador, overseeing our market stall at the Rose & Thistle Makers Market in St Andrews. The investment in my training showed through success in both sales and customer relations. Despite anxiousness about my first-time representing Zest on my own, I quickly realized that answering customer queries and engaging in casual coffee-chat had never felt easier. Team-member training and development does not stop at the completion of a course but is continued on the job. Customer queries and orders give us the chance to put our training into practice, consolidating what we have learned and proving to ourselves how knowledgeable and prepared we really are. The profit then feeds back into Zest’s ability to invest in training, ensuring the quality of your next cuppa.

Similarly, these courses have given me the specific knowledge grounded in coffee science to take the lead in training new team members and opportunities to present at coffee events Zest holds. Investment in individual worker training becomes an investment in training for future employees and the local coffee community more generally. Ultimately, the improvement in quality control and employee confidence that training affords is priceless.

– Greysen, Zest