barista

retail sales associate

store manager

business intelligence developer

fulfillment manager

Black-Rock-Coffee-Bar

I’m super grateful for the opportunities that Black Rock has given me but this company needs some serious work. I started out as a Barista and worked my way up to Store Lead. I was super exited to take on these new positions at first but then the more I went into the role, the more I realized how underpaid I am. 
They pretty much want you working for the company all the time. Your phone is constantly blowing up with text messages either from team members, or from higher ups and their group chats. There’s been many days where my higher up will message me on my day off telling me I need to do something. 

This company will come up with different policies on the fly out of nowhere. All of a sudden we have to use our hard earned PTO if we call out when we’re sick. If we don’t use it then we’re threatened with a write up. Sorry but I’m not wasting PTO when I’m genuinely sick and can’t come in, I’m using that for a well deserved vacation! This company will threaten to write you up for the littlest things. 

I thought I was leaving retail when I was going into this job but now we’re having to suggestive sell so much that it feels like a retail job. We’re constantly having to pushing extras items onto our customers. 

Being paid barely above minimum wage is definitely not worth it. I think it’s a great job for a high school or college student but seriously save the stress of it all and don’t ever move up in the company. 

Higher ups will get onto store leads if our team members aren’t meeting secret shopper requirements that are pretty much unobtainable. 

The constant threatening to write up is seriously ridiculous. 

This company was founded in 2008 and still has outdated policies. 

Going into work isn’t fun anymore when I already know I’m going to be put down by my higher ups because I’m not making them their quarterly bonus money even though store leads are doing all the heavy work for them while they get to sit behind a computer. 

They’re constantly reminding you about a quarterly bonus and shoving it in your face when you’re clearly over worked and tired. 

There’s been so many other issues with this company and I’ve heard so many bad things from other stores that it’s pretty evident that they don’t care about their employees and just care about their bonus’.

There’s been issues of one of the higher up being misogynistic and they didn’t do anything about it. There’s also been issues about harassment and the higher ups again, didn’t do anything about it. 

Baristas will be fired for voicing out their frustration and opinions with the company. If you call out a higher up on their bs they will literally fire you instead of taking the time to improve themself. 

I think Black Rock needs to address more of their issues instead of causing more. If you take the time to read the reviews you will notice the commonalities between them. 

The few great things that came from this company is being able to have the management experience. All team members including part time employees receive PTO. The people that you meet are super fun and entertaining.


Blackrock Coffee is essentially a no man’s land. It seems that corporate and many, though not all, in store leadership do not have a real purpose or vision for the company beyond getting sugary drinks out quick and having internally competing drive through times on a leaderboard (it’s fear motivation). Without vision the people perish.

Most management is under qualified or unsupported from their superiors, which creates a culture brimming with passive aggressive behavior that goes unchecked and unbalanced. Many here are forced to link up and band together to maintain favorite status or simply keep psychological calm on shift. The toxic culture will churn and burn inexperienced 17-22 year olds, and the cycle continues.

If you are considering working here, be ready for constantly moving targets of standards, last minute promotional communications, massive amounts of things to memorize, and irresolvable conflicts with coworkers, because HR is almost non existent, and managers are not trained, coached, or supported to be a mediating presence.

Please, don’t fall for the “cool coffee culture”, it can be an absolute Hunger Games” atmosphere. The pay can be good with tips, but there is no benefit or savings option to enroll in for if you are not management. They will continue to open stores and expand, but this expansion phase is not being managed well, time will tell what the end game is.

Steer clear. Hope this helps.

When I began working at Black Rock it was a super fun and easy going job. The training was intense which they have somewhat lessened since Ive worked there, but when I trained there was 20 hours of booklet training and then a written test and then a “physical” test where we were required to make 2 complicated drinks in less than 2 minutes in order to make tips. 
After about 8 months of working there I was told I was up for a possible promotion which I didn’t receive for another 8 months, so I was being “trained” for management duties which essentially meant I was doing manager tasks and duties without the manager pay. 
The owners are all super cool and chill however it seems they lack understanding of what’s happening in the store. Managers have a big workload but it needs to be done within your 7 hour shift or you’re left to do it at home, off the clock. Overtime is a big no no, we get in trouble if we even go slightly over. 
Management seems to be undertrained and seems to get little to no help. Most stores that I have worked at within the company all have different ways of doing things which is odd since they preach consistency. More often than not there are favorites and cliques and if you’re not a favorite or in the cool clique it’s made known to you by how you’re treated and the shifts you’re given. 
Being a barista was super fun, I just don’t recommend moving up to a management position. 

I was put on a PIP 2 months into my role with no notice and was let go a month later despite doing everything I was instructed to do and more. Before the PIP, I had even tried to ask how I was doing a couple of times and my manager told me "there will be a formal review process for feedback." Not very proactive or helpful. It became clear to me that they were just going through the HR motions to get rid of me. I never stood a chance of redeeming myself despite putting in 50-60 hour weeks to try and catch up.

Overall, I was given almost no support from my manager as I was acclimating to the role, orienting myself to the several dozen reports I was handed, and learning the data. When I would ask for help, I was made to feel stupid for having asked anything at all. The reports I took over were horribly designed and there was no onboarding. There was a massive lack of clarity from leadership as to what was expected and zero space given for figuring things out.

I've been in corporate for 10 years across several different companies and have never experienced a culture so brutal, cutthroat and unforgiving. The culture appears cool and fun on the outside, but none of it reflects the way you'll actually be treated.

your experience will depend greatly on management. for me, the only parts of the job i liked were interacting with my coworkers (i was lucky enough to meet some lifelong friends at my location) and my regulars. however, everyone in management that i interacted with (store, assistant, and regional managers) is severely under-qualified and unprofessional. they are immature, passive, very cliquey, and non-communicative. also, when the covid outbreak happened, they were slow to put in place any safety precautions that most other customer service jobs had (the use of masks, extra sanitization, plexiglass barriers, etc.) and they overall had too much of a chill attitude. something worth noting as well is that they only offer part-time hours unless you are management. on a good week, i would maybe get twenty hours. 

The first year of working for this company, I thought I loved the job. That changed very quickly as soon as our original manger moved locations and the assistant took over. I don’t even know where to begin on this “manager”. They said extremely rude comments about all the employees behind their backs, usually about their weight, the way they looked or dressed, I even overhead them say they wouldn’t care if one of our employees got in a car accident . When the manager was confronted during meetings about work ethic (when we were literally asked to speak our minds and opinions on the managers performance), they would later pull us aside and threaten us to never do that again or it would cost us our job. A couple ex-employees tried speaking up to the higher ups about this situation and they denied any of it because all the higher ups are extremely close and they play favoritism. Later down the road, that manager was promoted to become a higher up. I used to love the morals and values of this company but that very quickly changed when I saw the type of “leadership” they promote.

This company wants to think they are fun loving and caring about their employees.  But upper management is fake and two faced.  The longer with the company I spent the more I realized they do not care about you as a person.  It’s easy to say that your employees are a family.  But to portray that in a real way is totally different.  You have 3 levels of growth.  You can be a barista an assistant lead or a manager.  The regional managers are all buddies so good luck getting in that unless you started off friends with all of them.  

There are some good people in upper management but some are not being held accountable.  There is favoritism.  
It’s not a bad job if you’re in high school or college.  But if you are looking to move up and grow.  You either need to fit into their little click or not work here.   You can tell they promote one type of person.  

It’s not all bad. You get free coffee and it’s pretty breezy once you get the hang of it.  Also building customer relationships is also a plus.  
That being said.  You can find a much better customer service job else where

I was hired by phone call and told training would start soon. The store was new so everyone would be training at the same time. 
By the time they actually started training, which wasn’t until the end of the next month from when I was hired, my schedule was getting super busy and I had limited available time. Once I was available, the manager wouldn’t start my training even after I reached out multiple times and was told she’d find a time for me.
Finally I did get two training shifts (2 hours each) only for them to get pushed to the next week.
I ended up going in 1 time for less than an hour because we breezed through the training packet. When I was supposed to go in the next time, I was called and told they weren’t going to continue my training since I haven’t finished and they made a mistake hiring too many people. 
Do not recommend this company, especially this location. Super unprofessional and unorganized!

Managers were all 20 something year olds (my age) and yet constantly talked down to you. We were constantly under tight supervision and getting written up for mundane things. Everyone I worked with ended up quitting within the 6 months of opening. Managers would gossip about you right next to you and then try to be your friend. It seems to be a universal location thing because we had managers come in from other locations who all knew each other, and would all treat us the same-awful. Some people were favorites and got better treatment and were invited to outings with the managers, but if you weren't a favorite you're out of luck. Never allowed anyone to call in sick. Never worked with my availability. The most snake-ish, gaslighting, absolutely vile managers I have ever encountered. Do not work for this company. Ever. They do not care about you as a person. 

This was probably one of the worst jobs I’ve ever worked at. I have never felt such stress and pressure. The managers are extremely cliquey and if one has a problem with one, they all have a problem with you. I tried to go to Regional manager about an issue, but I ended getting told to basically suck it up because the person I was having an issue with was their best friend. You can make some good friends here, but if you don’t bend over backwards for your managers, and if you’re not perfect within your first three days of training, you get yelled at and told you’re replaceable. 

I had a friend work here a couple years ago and I’m not sure if it’s changed since then, but they got in trouble for having emergency surgery and not being able to get their shifts covered in time and were even even asked to come in if they couldn’t find covers, even though they would have been under the influence of medical substances from surgery. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Barista 862 salaries reported	$14.56 per hour
Retail sales associate 22 salaries reported	$16.63 per hour
Store manager 9 salaries reported	$19.68 per hour
Business intelligence developer 1 salary reported	$95,000 per year
Fulfillment manager 2 salaries reported	$19.23 per hour

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