Before someone gets to taste our great coffee, they get are introduced to our coffee bar.  Regardless on which coffee bar they visit, we still need to setup the best experience possible.  Remember, this is possibly their first experience to our church, let's make it a great one.

Imagine you are throwing a dinner party for some very important guests, you want to make a great impression.  At our worship services we need to view every guest as very important, because God does.  

3 elements to a great coffee bar

  1. Keep it clean

    • This will be ongoing throughout service, there will be spilled cocoa, empty creamer containers and stir stick wrappers left on the counter.  Walking up and seeing a messy coffee bar communicates that we don't care.  Don't wait for someone else to do it.

    • Use the drip trays provided to go under the airpots, this will help with the mess.

    • Make sure trash cans are easy to use.  If they aren't visible or easy to reach they won't be used.  If they look full, empty them.

  2. Keep it looking great

    • A great looking setup goes a long way.  Take a step back and look at the setup and see if it is visually appealing, just getting everything out isn't good enough. 

    • Take 5 minutes and fill the supplies.  Make sure everything is stocked and looks great.  

      • Keep an eye on this during service, keep things looking great even for those that show up late.

  3. Keep it from running out

    • Nothings worse than putting creamer in your cup just to find that the coffee is empty.  Know how full the hot water and coffee are.  If we make a pot when one runs out, we are already behind, this is a great area to be proactive in.

Cleaning up

I have to admit, this is the most tempting area to cut corners on.  We all want to get home and on with our day, but realize that any mess that you leave or don't cleanup correctly is passed onto the next person setting up the coffee bar.  Take the few extra minutes to make sure that you are setting up the next team for success.

  1. Clean every Airpot.  
    • Use hot water, soap and the scrubbers provided.  Don't just rinse, that will not properly clean things.
  2. Clean every Half/Half container. 
    • I use the smell test, use hot water, soap and the scrubbers.  Rinse well and take a sniff, if it's funky, try again.
  3. Put ALL of the supplies back in the closet
    • Don't leave anything on the counter next to the coffee pot, everything has a space in the closet.
    • Leave the 3rd shelf for all the airpots to be stored on *after they dry
    • Notice if any supplies are low, we need 1-2 weeks to restock, so let your team lead know or email the church office.  *if we have less than 4 bags of full coffee bags and 4 bags of half, we need to order more.
  4. Dump any open Half/Half containers. *very important
    • once opened, they have a short shelf life, we HAVE to use a new Half/Half every week.  (it's not worth trying to save $1.99 to risk getting people sick)

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