There is a phenomenon of low wages and poor treatment for barista positions. How can the coffee industry find a way out?

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In the past and still at present, the career of "barista" is still the first career ambition that many young people think of. After all, compared with many technical occupations, the threshold for baristas is lower, and the content of the job is particularly easy. But helplessly, even if the whole industry is booming and coffee shops are springing up everywhere, it seems that the job of "barista" is not easy to find, and the salary is not as good as imagined.

A few days ago, a Shanghai netizen posted a post entitled "Real Barista Negro Slave", complaining about a shop owner who wanted to recruit baristas with "basic salary + piece commission", which attracted the attention and discussion of many people in the industry.

As a practitioner, out of curiosity about "what should be the salary of a barista", he asked a local cafe owner who was willing to recruit and learned that the salary was calculated on the basis of probation period and after becoming a regular employee:

The basic salary during the probationary period is 3500 yuan and becomes a regular employee for one month. After becoming a regular employee, 3500 + per piece commission is 0.5 yuan per cup of coffee. To better understand, the shopkeeper added that if 200 cups of coffee were made during the day at work, the commission would be 100 yuan. Take six days off, that is, four days off a month.

If you take the store's example of 200 cups a day, you will get about 6100 cups in 26 days. At first glance, it doesn't sound very low, right? but you know, this cup volume is already an ideal "burst" state for many small cafes. If there are only 1 or 2 employees, it will be very busy.

In addition, the cafe mentioned in the post is located in Shanghai, where the cost of living is soaring. For migrant workers, renting and eating accounts for most of the expenses, and such a salary is really difficult to meet the daily needs of regular workers.

But then again, although there has been a surge in the number of both chain brands and independent coffee shops over the years, the low salary of baristas has always been a persistent problem and the norm in the industry.

Not long ago, a barista on social media posted a post asking his colleague: "how much is left if the salary is reduced by 5,000?" "soon there were messages from coffee people from all over the country in the comment area, with positive numbers, negative numbers and every penny left. One word not only appears frequently, but also attracts attention. It is" upside down "!

When everyone reduces their monthly salary by 5k, some people "post" one or two hundred yuan upside down, some people want to "lose" thousands of yuan, and some people have to "make up" 3000. Surprisingly, these "upside down baristas" not only have cafes in second-and third-tier small cities, but also from super-first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. it is conceivable that there are by no means a very small number of baristas with less than 5000 wages.

Perhaps out of love, when you see a coffee shop with a good working environment, good equipment, and opportunities for improvement and learning about coffee, it is all attractive to them with zero basic. so they are also willing to accept such a job as a "barista" whose salary is not in line with the local cost of living. But with longer years of work and no significant increase in pay, they may soon fall into anxiety: is there a "way to make money" in this business? Do you want to change careers with such a low income?

Ask yourself if you really love coffee from the bottom of your heart, and if so, step out of your comfort zone and professionalize your skills, and you'll be sure to reach the level you want one day. But if you find that you don't love coffee that much, the most important thing to do now is to put down the "beautiful" filter for baristas, balance your work and life as soon as possible, and carefully plan your own future.

Picture from: screenshot of Xiao Hongshu

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