Barista Hack 101: The art and power of remembering someone’s name

Photo; Shoes for Crews

While this is not a new thing in the world of hospitality, I didn’t really learn the power of personability until I started working as a barista in Sydney. Previous jobs that I worked in had little emphasis on customer service and relations. It always seemed like a bit of an afterthought or a procedure that people have to adhere to and often seemed forced and over-formal.

Being a successful and effective barista is far more than just making a delicious beverage in the most efficient way. Usually as the face of the cafe you have to make your customers want to return every time they want a coffee and even more so attract them to your cafe in the first place. While attracting customers maybe has other factors, retaining customers is something that a strong barista really excels at. 

Being a barista is like no other profession in the hospitality business. You have a unique bond with your customers who invariably a lot of the time become your friends. You are an escape from the draining strip light atmosphere of office life and a burst of energy that is like a cup of coffee itself. Also there are not many other places where you can get over 100 customers a day every day at the same time so it is beneficial not only for the business but also for yourself to build a relationship with them.

People confide in baristas because they may be the only non-colleague they speak to all day and because the coming togethers are only for a matter of minutes, it cuts out all the bullshit. It’s almost like a 2 minute morning therapy session before arriving in the office.

Photo: Espresso and Coffee Guide

To remember someone's name is the most effective way to start and build a relationship with anybody. You instantly feel special and important enough that this person knows your name. 

It’s something that the majority of us struggle to do. I think for me it's because of my awkward English nature that when I meet somebody for the first time I’m concentrating so much about what I’m going to say next that I instantly forget people's names. It happens all the time and still now. But I have managed to improve my name retention by initiating a couple of useful techniques.

Whenever I meet someone, get into the mindset of not rushing out to try and make a witty comment or consuming myself with the thoughts of what to say next. I just relax and wait for the name. As soon as you hear it, think of someone else you know with that name whether it's George Clooney, Aunt Mildred or your next door neighbour's dog Toby. This will provoke a long term memory of this person and when your new acquaintances name vanishes out of your head good old Aunt Mildred will be there to rescue you. 

This sometimes may not work when you meet a person with an unusual name like my friend Huang. But I always try to liken it to a word or phrase that sounds like a name, so Huang is always hungover in my head.

This is one of the techniques that I use when I meet people outside of work but when as a barista trying to smash out 16 takeaway lattes it's hard to find the headspace to remember someone I know called Gerald. So at work I always write the peoples names down, subtlety of course, I keep a post-it note stuck to the side of my coffee machine with scribbles of peoples names on. This technique is great because you can go back to your post when it has quietened down a little and look back at your names for the day but also I find that a lot of the time there is no need to go back and rehearse the name. Once you have heard the name, written it and seen it you are much more likely to be able to remember it in the future. 

This is such a powerful tool not only in the competitive world of the cafe scene where every barista is fighting for customers but also in real life. You will be shocked at how easy it is to form solid relationships when you recall someone's name.

Now you’ve done the hard part of remembering people's names, then the small part of remembering their coffee order. The obscure ones are the easiest, anything with soy or almond i can usually remember without really trying, (this is unless you’re in a particularly hipster end of town) or any macchiatos or cortados. But caps, Lattes and flat whites tend to be rather tricky. I’m not sure whether it's my mathematical background but I find it easy to remember symbols and digits, like equations. This has come in handy as a barista for remembering peoples coffee by abbreviating the order and putting it as a precursor to their name. For example Marcel has a Skinny Cap with a sugar so i remember him as SC1 Marcel. 

Hopefully these two or three techniques will give you a slight edge as a barista and maybe make you a couple of extra friends along the way. We do love hearing other baristas tips and tricks so please leave a comment with any more useful knowledge that you have.

Looking for a job as a barista? Visit Jooble.org for barista jobs in your area.