shift leader

locator

store manager

barista

assistant manager

Caffè Nero

I’ve worked for the company for over 1 and a half year, only stayed that long cause I had no choice...it’s great if you really need something to pay your bills, as you’ll always find a job in Nero (thanks to the massive staff turnover that the company just simply ignores), but work even harder in your own time to get yourself somewhere they appreciate you and you’re not only “family” when they try to make you work 20-30 mins unpaid overtime almost every day or work on your days off. 

People are mostly lovely, that’s true, but eventually everyone becomes pretty much like a robot and - I truly believe that it wasn’t only my store - it’s not fun, even though I'm genuinely trying to say something positive about Caffe Nero. 20 mins break should be illegal especially if you work 9-9.75 hours (which is 15 mins less then 10 hours) on your feet, while you literally have no time to stop and have a sip of water (it actually happened to me at least 70% of the time). I wouldn’t mind having unpaid breaks, but then at least an hour. Also, trying to push staff to do more and be faster, friendly when the store is understaffed, having an all day long queue with 2-3 people on shift because area managers wouldn’t allow more staff to work, saying the “sales forecast isn’t that high”. Giving loads of free things out for customers, O2 Tuesday when it gets reslly busy but thanks to the free coffee, sales numbers won’t allow you to have an appropriate number of staff according to how busy the actual day is.

I’m just happy I’m out of there. If you wanna stay in the coffee industry, go and benefit from your experience in a nice, independent coffee shop instead of the McDonalds like atmosphere, where they try to sell rubbish coffee for a ridiculous price. Literally, I couldn’t see the difference between the 2 chains, only that McDonalds actually pays more and less expensive...

Not an awful company to work, but… pay is just above minimum wage yet expectations are through the roof… Baristas have it easy, just come in, make coffee, stock up and clean up, not nearly enough time on an evening to do extensive cleaning list though, near impossible when store is busy right up until doors close. Shift-leaders expected to go above and beyond within their role, key holder responsibilities, in charge baking pastries, taking out furniture, ordering, running the shift - including making sure coworkers get breaks, stocking, cleaning, cash handling - again another extensive list of things to do both on the open which can be as early as 6am and on the close which latest scheduled finish is 7:30pm, although unlikely to ever get out on time. Management/company always on your back to upsell things customers simply do not want. Work/life balance is okay as almost all shifts are 9hrs max although contracted hours are never met, no stability there. Pressured to leave early when there’s a need to “save labour” again decreasing hours you’re entitled to. Sick policy fairly reasonable, but god forbid you have ongoing health issues, they will be investigated or pressure to “get it sorted, or else…” Holidays easy enough to request but not always guaranteed. Very gossipy place too, have to be very careful who you speak to about what. No incentives, well dones or thank you of any kind for a job well done or “hitting targets” it’s just an expectation. Overall,  an ok place to work, but definitely a lot more going on behind scenes of “just a cute little coffee shop” Would think twice before joining. 

I’ve been working there for a year and almost two months and I can tell you I haven’t learned anything that could help me in my future besides the position status. I started out as a barista then quickly got promoted without actually talking to me about it and they needed a shift leader fast because at the time, they only had one. The amount of horrible employees that this company has gonna through is ridiculous and they refused to get rid of them until they actually wanna fire them or they straight up rage quit from the lack of management support. They have employees that they favor and they don’t understand the concept of teamwork. They rather belittle and gaslight you into thinking your an idiot when they can’t do their own jobs. They use up all your energy until you have no energy left to get through your shift.
You end up doing major of the work because the favored get leverage and don’t have to work as hard. No matter how hard you work, you’ll never get a thank you or good work for literally putting in the work. This company drains you to the point where you don’t even look forward to clock into your shift. If I could turn back time before I work here, I would’ve told myself, don’t even bother cause this place will make you miserable and tired of humanity. The only good thing about this job is meeting new people and improve on customer service skills and having conversation with the customers but after that it’s not a fun job after awhile.

The work itself is alright. Making coffee isn't too taxing, and despite a few rough ones the customers are generally nice. What is awful about the job is the management, and the tools you're given at the store. Almost every common appliance is broken. From the steamer for washing dishes to expresso machine which never spits out the correct time.  There was even a ceiling leak for multiple weeks. Some of these issues will be patched over (mostly the ones visible to customers) but most won't and you'll have to be constantly compensating for the faulty hardware. Or alternatively take the brunt of serving poorly made coffee. It sucks, what's worse is their tendency to hire unreliable people who don't contribute. What keeps happening is that there is an exodus where most of the staff leaves, then they hastily replace them with half people expecting a Dunkin Donuts style job, and half overly competent people that work themselves to the bone. At some point this stress on the few will cause things will go haywire as they fire people, and others quit. Leading to the cycle to continue once again, it's maddening. There are other smaller problems like the poor communication, and  impossible to read schedule that's sometimes put up on only 2 days notice. It's just a bum location, and I could say more about the troubles, but I think you get the point. Other locations are better, and have more functional equipment, but I seriously wonder how long JP can last when they aren't making a profit, and go through employees like flies. 

corporate will tell you during training all week that they love to promote from within. getting them to actually do this is another issue. Most of the Shift Leaders I've seen go for ASM have quit before they were ever signed off or given a raise, while outside hires immediately start to make the salary when they're hired, even though they're only just learning to run an effective shift. 

The difference from store to store is astounding. I had both my best and worst managers of my lifetime within the span of a few months in this company. The absolute worst employees have been allowed to stay indefinitely and the few good ones they do have are put under such scrutiny that they do quit eventually or stop trying. 

Raises and promotions are promised and never put through. Shift leaders MAKE LESS THAN BARISTAS AFTER TIPS. I know that's been said before but it bears repeating. How dense can you possibly be to think that's a good strategy?

I really like working here for the most part. The food, pastries and coffee are all a really enjoyable part of my job, I like overseeing a pretty cafe and making sure guests are taken care of. I like the ritual and the local feel. I also enjoy the BOTY contest and the opportunities for education with induction and training classes. I just really don’t like how much costs have increased since I’ve worked here. Coffee is a luxury but it’s getting silly. I have a hard time charging people when the average iced latte is well over 7 dollars now, and having to charge people to eat in? And having try to then upsell single origin for 35 cents? It just feels scammy to me. Overall I’ve really enjoyed my time working here, the team I have and the atmosphere. I love the coffee. It just feels crummy to know we’re charging people so much only for them to turn around and then take away our paid birthday benefit while adding to the work load of food production. Also hate the dress code lol. But overall  good place to work.

Terrible company full of incompetent managers who think they are gods gift to earth. All promotions will depend on managers favourites, NOT hard work. Pay is diabolical. 11 hour shifts with a 20 minute break ( only because it’s a legal requirement, if they could get away with not giving you a break at all, they would ). Lunch is often an interrupted break, which is illegal in itself (see Gov guidelines). This company breaks multiple safety and hygiene standards, using the same knife to cut vegetarian products and meat products, making up use by dates on baked goods and leaving them out until they’re stale, just to name a few, because god forbid this multi million pound company loses a couple of pennies! A customer could literally punch you in the face, you could tell them ‘Hey, that wasn’t nice’ and management would send you to a disciplinary because cuStoMeR iS ALwAyS kInG!! If you have any self-worth... like... at all... don’t work here. Bunch of clowns 🤡

Stressful and busy environment or contrasting to absolutely dead. Was never a comfortable pace. Made better by the staff but feel like staff do too much at the job and you are expected to do a lot more for the place than others places I have been previously hired at. Staff discount on lunch break for any food in the cafe and free coffees to your hearts desire!. Strict management though. Have never been in a company where milk wastage had to be managed and thought it was odd. Overall, a good experience but severely lacking staff and absolutely zero indication from higher up management that they wanted to hire anymore staff to help out. I felt bad for managers within the cafe as there were many issues that they couldn’t really resolve but would get the blame at both ends for it.

I've been with Caffè Nero Americas for awhile now. For the first few months the job was great and I felt supported by upper management. This did not last as I finally woke up when it hit me that we are expected to do so much for so little. Baristas make more money per hour when including the hourly tip rate, this has been mentioned multiple times to management but they do not care. Baristas sometimes are hired at a higher hourly rate than shift leaders all together. There are no benefits for employees other than health insurance and a auto-enrolled 401k plan. There is no separation between work and personal life, I would specify the amount of hours than I usually work but I am afraid that would make it easier to identify me. As others have mentioned, this is modern day slavery.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Meeting the friendly customers who can chat about anything, whether it’s something you’re interested in or something they are interested in.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Management, they either don’t answer you at all or try to argue with you just to prove they are right.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Occasionally you’ll have proper workers, but most of the time expect to do a lot of the work yourself. Depending on the store you could either get a slow store or a busy one, good luck if you get a busy store, the customers and workers get ruder.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Doing the best you can while leading the team, just to see the manager didn’t do their job and now I have to clean up after them while taking care of their team even though I’m not getting paid enough to do that.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Shift leader 9 salaries reported	$19.94 per hour
Locator 24 salaries reported	$46,867 per year
Store manager 3 salaries reported	$61,000 per year
Barista 1 salary reported	$15.50 per hour
Assistant manager 1 salary reported	$46,867 per year

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