There is a reason so many top café and coffee roasters invest in their staff to join coffee competitions. Actually, we think there are at least five of them. Here are our top picks on why we think it’s a good idea to encourage your staff to enter coffee competitions.
- They’ll make better coffee! You can’t enter a coffee competition without becoming obsessed with the quality of your coffee. The scoresheets are designed to bring attention to the things that make coffee great – extraction time, frothing milk texturing technique and so on. And better coffee for your café means happier customers who come back often!
- They’ll be highly motivated. When you enter coffee competitions, work isn’t just a matter of counting down the hours and getting through the day. It’s practice time!
- They’ll make friends with other coffee nerds. Having quality staff is an important part of running a café, and good baristas don’t just fall off trucks. When new coffee people arrive to Australia, they often hit the competition scene to find a job, and your staff will help you find them.
- Your brand will become cooler. Several scientific studies have proven that the more baristas in a café, or that work as a coffee roaster, take part in competitions, the cooler that brand becomes. (ok not really, but we’re sure if they did the research, this would be true)
- You get money-can’t buy-publicity: Your café or coffee brand gets mentioned to the thousands of people who watch and follow competitions, including social media shoutouts and live streaming. It’s the most targeted and positive publicity you can get.