Coffee Roasting and Marketing Assistant

Tasks & Responsibilities:

As a start-up and a small business we all wear all the hats. This is the expectation for this position as well – which we feel is kind of ideal for a co-op student because you will get the opportunity to learn the most. By all the hats we mean we all roast, package, do sales, solve problems (everything is new and there is a lot of problem solving to do), clean the Roastery, make drinks etc. Pop-Up Cafe: We are in the process of developing a Pop-Up Cafe that we would like you to run. There are a couple of different leads on where this cafe will go but wherever it is it will be your’s to manage. This means being there Monday-Friday to run it… make drinks, sell them and bags of beans and talk to customers. The Pop Up Cafe has two main functions 1) to serve coffee, espresso drinks and tea as well as bags of beans and 2) to provide publicity about our company out in the community. We want you to talk to everyone you can about our company, our coffee and the way we source our beans.

Qualifications:

You do not have to know anything about coffee. We will teach you everything. You do need to be willing to drink coffee though 🙂 We expect you to show up on time and not call off (unless there is an emergency). Reliable transportation is important. When dealing with customers, vendors or other employees we expect you to be professional and polite because you are representing our business and our reputation. We are fairly causal in our dress but 90% of our work is sales so keep that in mind with your appearance… a smile is a must. Although our children are often with us we do not expect you to babysit – that said there is a playroom at The Roastery. A lot of our customers bring their children. If you don’t like kids this is probably not a good job fit. It’s early hours because people drink coffee in the morning. If you are not a morning person this is probably not a good job fit. We encourage you to take ownership of what you are doing. For us a feeling of ownership is the biggest motivator in work. We are looking for new perspectives and opinions. Although we will provide you with a lot of training and access to resources to learn more we want you to feel autonomy. Our needs and opportunities change frequently. A person who can see an opportunity and come up with a plan to run with it is going to thrive in this job. We are looking for energy and enthusiasm.

Learning Opportunities:

This job is a great opportunity for someone who might want to work in the coffee world when they graduate or who might want to run a start-up. We will be available to you and transparent with how and why we are making business decisions so that you can learn. We will give you the opportunity to learn and work in each side of our business. We will seek out your input. Communication will be very open. When you leave this position we want you to have the skills and resume background necessary to find work with a coffee company (its a massive industry with a lot of different types of work). At the very minimum you will have some good sales skills under your belt and a strong understanding of small business operations.