Feature
The café chain that pays baristas like engineers
A 40-branch coffee company raised wages by 60% and cut staff turnover to almost zero. Its prices went up by 30 cents.
Economics editor
8 min read
Baristas at the chain’s flagship branch, where average tenure is now four years.
The average barista in Europe stays in a job for eleven months. At this chain, it is now four years.
The difference, the founder says, is simple: “We decided that making coffee well is a skilled job, and started paying for it.”
The maths
Wages rose by 60% over two years. Prices rose by 30 cents per drink. Savings on recruitment and training covered most of the rest.
“Every time someone leaves, you lose three months of training and a lot of good coffee,” the founder said.
Can it scale?
Economists are cautious. Specialty coffee has high margins and loyal customers. Whether the same model works in supermarkets or logistics is a different question, and one several larger employers are now quietly testing.
Tomasz Wren
Economics editor
Tomasz writes about money, work and why the numbers rarely tell the whole story.
