Recruiting the ideal candidate for a coffee shop position can be quite challenging. For this job, you need to have certain skills, a deep understanding of the coffee culture, and a genuine love for helping people.
Because we’ve interviewed hundreds of people for similar jobs, we’ve divided our questions into five groups to make your next coffee interview go more smoothly.
So you have an interview coming up for a coffee shop manager position Congratulations! This is an exciting step forward in your hospitality career As you know, landing this role won’t just be about showing your passion for coffee – you’ll need to demonstrate strong leadership, customer service and operational skills as well.
The interview will likely touch on all aspects of overseeing a bustling cafe. To help you do your best, I’ve put together a list of 31 common interview questions for people who want to be coffee shop managers, along with advice on how to write great answers.
Leadership and Team Management
Running a smooth-operating cafe requires keeping your staff motivated and working together as a cohesive unit Expect several questions aimed at gauging your management style and approach to team dynamics.
What is your preferred management style?
This question establishes what kind of leader you aim to be. Do you lead by example? Take a hands-on or hands-off approach? Focus on nurturing talent versus efficiency? Highlight the aspects of your style that align with the company’s needs. Emphasize skills like open communication, transparency and cultivating a positive work culture.
How would you deal with staff members who refuse to follow instructions?
Keeping control in a hectic coffee shop environment is crucial Demonstrate you can address issues of insubordination firmly yet professionally Explain how you’d have an honest dialogue to understand their viewpoint, provide clear expectations and warnings, but won’t hesitate to take disciplinary action if needed. Convey the ability to make tough calls when required.
How do you handle conflicts between team members?
Personality clashes are inevitable – good managers diffuse them quickly. Give an example of a time when you successfully settled a disagreement by encouraging open communication, finding common ground, and taking steps to stop future fights from happening. Outline your conflict resolution approach focused on team harmony.
What strategies do you use to motivate your team?
Beyond competitive pay and benefits, a manager needs creative ways to keep spirits high. Discuss tactics like setting clear short-term goals, recognizing achievements, promoting bonding and fun, cross-training for enrichment, and practising open communication to understand concerns. Show you are in touch with what incentivizes your team.
Customer Service and Quality Control
A café lives and dies by its service standards and product quality. You’ll need to display meticulous attention to detail and passion for the customer experience.
What would you do if there were numerous complaints regarding poor customer service?
Acknowledge the gravity of frequent complaints and your diligence to pinpoint the root causes whether it’s underperforming staff, inadequate training or flawed processes. Provide solutions like retraining personnel, soliciting customer feedback for improvements or leading by example in delivering exceptional service. Convey your commitment to world-class hospitality.
How do you ensure food/beverage quality and consistency?
Highlight measures for quality control like extensive employee training on preparation techniques, strict adherence to recipes, frequent sampling of menu items, equipment maintenance, and tracking ingredient supplies. Share how you instill a culture focused on excellence, precision and taking pride in every order.
How would you handle a situation where a customer becomes sick after consuming a menu item?
This is a crisis situation requiring swift, decisive action focused on the customer’s wellbeing. Outline immediate steps like attending to the customer’s needs, examining if other customers are affected, isolating the suspect ingredients, and contacting medical help if required. Emphasize how you would use transparency, timeliness and care for the impacted customers to mitigate damage.
How do you gather, evaluate and implement customer feedback?
Soliciting input is simple – acting on it smartly is key. Discuss evaluating patterns in feedback to identify priorities. Share how you run ideas by staff to gain buy-in before testing changes, implement in small batches and monitor results before expanding. Highlight how you close the loop by informing customers of improvements based on their suggestions.
Operations Management
You’ll need rock-solid organizational skills to manage inventory, scheduling, budgets and more in a hectic cafe. Operational excellence is a core requirement for this role.
What would you do if you noticed a particular menu item wasn’t selling well?
Acknowledge poor performing items drag down profitability but discontinuing favorites risks alienating loyal customers. Share a measured approach like analyzing sales data to understand reasons, exploring options like tweaking recipes or prices, and soliciting customer input before removing any items. This shows balanced business sense.
What processes do you implement to minimize waste and food cost?
Reducing wastage is a priority but so is quality. Discuss strategies like tracking ingredient usage patterns and ordering accordingly, daily staff meals utilizing leftover items, batch cooking based on demand forecasts, repurposing unsold food into new menu items, and monitoring expiry dates diligently. Demonstrate creativity and business acumen.
Can you share techniques you use to create work schedules and assign duties?
Balancing worker preferences with operational needs is tricky. Share factors you consider like staffing requirements throughout the day based on customer volumes, individual strengths, experience levels, and requests for time off. Discuss how you leverage software tools to efficiently manage scheduling. Show how you seek staff input and remain flexible to keep morale high.
What measures would you take to reduce employee absenteeism?
Explain how you enforce leave policies equitably – excessive absenteeism disrupts operations. Share techniques like using calendars to monitor leave usage, having return-to-work interviews to address reasons behind absences, and clearly conveying penalties for chronic absenteeism. Outline fair enforcement while also displaying care for staff needs.
Business Acumen and Growth
While hospitality skills are essential, you also need business savvy to control costs, drive profits and strategically expand. Prepare to showcase your financial, marketing and entrepreneurial abilities.
How would you go about increasing sales and profitability?
Demonstrate you’re brimming with ideas to boost the bottom line. Discuss strategies like analyzing sales data to optimize high-margin offerings, introducing seasonal specials, conducting local marketing and social media campaigns, refining processes to reduce waste, redesigning layouts to accommodate more covers, and identifying new revenue streams like catering or merchandise.
What key metrics would you track regularly to gauge the café’s performance?
Share vital indicators you’d closely monitor like sales and transaction volumes, customer wait times, wastage and cost percentages, labor costs, customer satisfaction scores and marketing campaign engagement analytics. Discuss setting targets for each and reviewing frequently to spot issues, adjust strategies and measure growth.
How would you optimize staffing schedules to keep labor costs in check?
Balancing staffing needs with wage bills is difficult – showcase how you do it. Explain how you’d align schedules tightly to customer traffic patterns throughout the day, cross-train staff for flexibility, offer overtime judiciously, tap part timers for peak periods, and leverage any software tools available for streamlined scheduling. Demonstrate strategic human resource management with an eye on costs.
If you were allocated a budget for shop renovations or equipment upgrades, how would you prioritize spending?
Highlight prudent allocation focused on improvements that enhance customer experience, operational efficiency or food/beverage quality. Share how you’d solicit staff and customer input to guide spending priorities – whether it’s refreshed decor, new furniture, kitchen equipment, point-of-sale systems or signage. Demonstrate wise investment balanced with a sharp customer-centric outlook.
Regulatory, Health and Safety
Don’t forget the backbone of any food business – strict health, safety and cleanliness standards. Be prepared to showcase your diligence in managing these non-negotiable aspects.
What measures would you take to ensure the café adheres to all food safety regulations?
Reinforce your meticulousness when it comes to health codes. Discuss measures like maintaining food handler certifications, monitoring refrigeration temperatures, dating all prepared items, documentation best practices, keeping pest control current, adhering to equipment/facilities cleaning schedules, and executing inspections to identify any issues before they become violations.
What would you do if a health inspector pointed out a potential violation during a site visit?
Illustrate how you would address the issue immediately and directly – resolving it on priority if possible. Share how you would be transparent in communicating lapses to staff and ensuring protocols are strengthened to prevent any recurrence. Maintain humility but outline decisive action steps.
How do you ensure top cleanliness standards are maintained in the café?
Share proven tactics like implementing cleaning checklists for front and back-of-house, designating clear responsibilities for daily/deep cleaning tasks, maintaining stock of supplies, Training staff on sanitization best practices, leading by example, and monitoring consistently even during the busiest periods. Good managers inspect what they expect.
How would you handle a situation where a staff member suffers a minor injury onsite?
Detail the step-by-step response highlighting urgency – attending to the employee immediately, administering first aid, contacting emergency services if required, notifying family, documenting the incident properly and reviewing to prevent future occurrences. Outline diligent but caring handling of any workplace injuries.
Industry Knowledge and Growth
Great managers are passionate about their business and constantly striving to learn more. Be ready to showcase your commitment to growing your coffee knowledge.
How do you stay updated about latest industry trends
Interview Questions Focused on Soft Skills
- What would you say about the way you lead? For example: “I believe in setting a good example and encouraging open communication.” ”.
- When you give and receive feedback, how do you deal with it? For example: “I see feedback as a chance to grow.” I give it in a constructive way and take it in with an open mind. ”.
- When it seems like everything needs to be done right away, how do you decide what to do first? Example answer: “I think about how each task will affect how the restaurant runs and then go from there.” ”.
- Tell me about a time when you had to settle in for a big change at work. Example answer: “When our restaurant changed its name and logo, I saw it as a chance to learn and helped my team make the change.” ”.
- How do you make sure that you and your team have a good work-life balance? For example: “By making sure that schedules are efficient, respecting off days, and encouraging a supportive work environment.” ”.
- How do you handle disagreements with upper management?
- Tell me about a time you went the extra mile for a customer.
- How do you ensure continuous personal and professional growth?
- How do you foster a team spirit among staff?
- How do you handle underperforming team members?
Questions About Experience and Background
- Have you worked in a coffee shop or café before? If so, what did you do there? For example: “Yes, I worked as a barista in a local café for two years and learned how to make coffee and deal with customers.” ”.
- Describe your experience with using coffee machines and equipment. “I know how to use different kinds of coffee machines, like espresso machines, drip coffee makers, and manual pour-over methods.” I also know how to clean and maintain these machines. ”.
- What did you do in the past when you had to deal with a difficult customer? I dealt with a customer who didn’t like the taste of their coffee. I listened to their concerns without getting angry, offered to make the drink again, and gave them a free pastry as a sign of goodwill. ”.
- What strategies did you use to sell more products or deals in the past? For example: “At my last job, we had a loyalty card system.” I always made sure to tell customers about it and how it could help them, which led to more repeat visits. ”.
- Can you think of a time when you went above and beyond in your previous job to make something better or add something new? For example: “I noticed that many customers were asking for dairy-free milk options.” After talking with my boss about it, we added almond and oat milk, which went over well. ”.
- How do you prioritize tasks during a busy shift?
- What are your favorite coffee beans or blends, and why?
- Describe a situation where you had to work under pressure.
- What did you do when you had to train a new team member?
- How well do you know the rules for health and safety in a coffee shop?
BARISTA Interview Questions And Answers (Starbucks, Costa Coffee Barista Jobs!)
FAQ
How to do well in a coffee shop interview?
What to say in a cafe job interview?
How can a coffee shop manager help you prepare for an interview?
Leveraging decades of experience, they deliver valuable advice to help you feel confident and prepared for your interview. Common Coffee Shop Manager interview questions, how to answer them, and example answers from a certified career coach.
What questions should you ask a coffee shop manager?
19. Describe a time when you had to make a difficult decision as a manager. Coffee shop managers often have to make difficult decisions, such as firing an employee or cutting hours. These types of questions allow the interviewer to assess your problem-solving skills and how you handle conflict.
Why is a coffee shop interview important?
Interviews are an important way for a coffee shop to learn more about a potential candidate. Targeted questions can help hiring managers to learn about a candidate’s applicable experience and skills. It is also important for the candidate to become familiar with questions they might encounter and know how they might respond during an interview.
How do I become a coffee shop manager?
They also need to be able to manage their shop’s budget and handle customer complaints. If you’re interested in becoming a coffee shop manager, you’ll likely need to go through a job interview. In this interview, you’ll be asked questions about your experience in the food service industry, your knowledge of coffee, and your customer service skills.
