barista

coffee shop manager

shift leader

store manager

manager

THE HUMAN BEAN

I had a mostly positive experience working at The Human Bean, especially when it came to the people I worked with. My fellow baristas were supportive, hardworking, and easy to get along with. Everyone really tried to help each other out, and it made the stressful shifts a lot more manageable.

It’s a good job for students or anyone just getting into food service. You’ll learn a lot—how to stay calm during rushes, manage multiple tasks at once, and handle all kinds of customer interactions. There are some nice little perks too, like a free shift drink, employee discounts (50% off drinks, 30% off food), and feminine hygiene products provided in the stands.

That said, upper management was the biggest issue. There’s this feeling like you’re just expected to figure things out on your own, even when it’s clearly something that needs support from leadership. If you need help with shift coverage, schedule conflicts, or short-staffing, it often gets brushed off. Store-level leadership—like assistant managers and shift leads—were usually the only ones who stepped in and helped. They carried a lot.

I noticed a pattern where the company would hire new employees, give them little to no training, and then let them go quickly. This happened multiple times while I was there. The burden always fell on the remaining baristas, who were already stretched thin. There was little acknowledgment of this, and no added support when it happened.

Communication from district-level leadership was usually short, cold, and detached. It felt more like we were being managed from a distance than actually supported. There’s also a strong push to upsell a certain number of food items per shift (usually 15+), but there’s no incentive, no commission, and no real recognition when you hit those goals.

One thing I’d strongly advise: don’t take a double shift unless you absolutely have to. Breaks aren’t built into the culture, so on a double, you’re working nonstop. If you want to eat, you’ll have to buy food from the stand, and that’s assuming you even have a few free minutes. It’s incredibly draining and not sustainable, especially if you’re doing it often.

Breaks were rare in general, even on long, exhausting shifts. Training was inconsistent, depending entirely on who taught you. Some employees were allowed to do the bare minimum without consequence, while others picked up the slack with no recognition.

Before I left, I tried to express concerns through the appropriate channels. I spoke to multiple people and really hoped something would shift. But the responses I received were surface-level polite, with no real follow-up or change. That was the final sign that it was time to move on.

The Human Bean has great people at the store level who care and work hard. I learned a lot, and I’m grateful for the experience. But without better communication, support, and care from upper management, it’s hard for anyone to stay long-term without burning out. This place could be great—it just needs leadership to start showing up for the people who keep it running.

I had fun making coffees and other drinks, but when it came to management, it was awful. 

Paychecks were almost always late and there is no direct deposit so you have to wait for your check to be mailed and delivered to your stand. Also, don't work here if you are not skilled in sales, you must upsell food and extra drink additions. The job is 80% salesperson, 20% barista. If you don't sell enough food per day, you will get fired. During the holidays, this just gets worse - there is new merchandise introduced which also needs to be up-sold everyday. Don't forget to tally every single sale or you will get shamed and written up for not selling enough.

Employees are constantly coming and going. Most people only work here for a couple months before they get fired or quit. Most of the employees are friendly, but it is impossible to get your shift covered. Not to mention that requesting time off takes months to be approved, so you have to be on top of that. Working at THB I was treated like a number, not a person. My skills were not valued, I was not praised for any work I did, and I was constantly being talked to about how disappointing of a job I was doing. I put on my most cheerful attitude and biggest smile, but I was still reminded to be more friendly. Mind you, I would put in every ounce of effort I had in me, but somehow it still wasn't good enough. 

I don't want to talk purely negative about this position, because it was fun for a while. I enjoyed making drinks, talking to customers, and hanging out with co-workers. I made some good friends there and had some really fun shifts. Unfortunately, the negatives outweigh the positives here. I wish I had more good things to say about the company.

I worked at the The Human Bean of Northern Colorado's Midtown location for 3 years while I was in college. It was a fantastic job to have as a student and my manager was very accommodating to the student schedule. Honestly the best manager I've ever had in terms of support, leadership, and overall just an amazing person.

This job is by no means the right fit if you are a timid/shy person. If you're an extrovert you will thrive in this kind of setting. It is very fast paced and stressful at times and customers can be the worst but hey, teaches you to have tough skin. The pay is around minimum wage but the tips really make up for that. If you have good customer service and are a team player then you can make some good money.

Co-worker wise they do a really good job at hiring the right people. 9 times out of 10 they will hire people how fit in perfectly to the work culture. I am still good friends with most of my co-workers a year after leaving. They always encourage development within the company and it is fairly easy to move up if you are willing/able to. 

I highly recommend working for The Human Bean of Northern Colorado if you are a college student, extrovert (or an introvert wanting to break out of their shell), or just someone looks for a fast paced environment!

a typical day is either slow or a medium pace sometimes rush but it is manageable.
management WAS acc ok they were chilled and fun but as time went on their true colors showed and things were tense. they taught us and let us be and then they would leave us alone until they wanted to come back, if we had any questions we had to call and sometimes they wouldn't answer. 
as for the workplace it had SO MUCH DRAMA evb pretty much had smthg they deff did not like abt the other. which would cause miscommunication, tension in the air, delays,  arguing etc. and new ppl were hired there they slowed down the others due to how little training they received from management  and so we had more slack to pick up, or when ppl only wanted to make certain drinks and when we asked for other drinks they did not want to make them.
management would complain abt how we waste "product" and tells us if we mess up on a drink they will take it off our check and there energy drinks we were only allowed to buy them once a week bc they are for "customers" when we dont even get %50 off or %10 off we have to pay full price 
management also have their favorites since they will reprimand or fire others for small mistakes and will excuse their favorite over and over no matter how severe
the most enjoyable thing i like was the friends and new drinks we've got to try

A typical work at at the Human Bean NoCo was simple, and often an ideal experience. Clock in, do your thing, give it your best, clock out, and do it again the next time. The more you work, the more you gain! Whether that be memorizing, improving methods and techniques, building efficiency, any of that. You learn to work more fast paced and under pressure, and it adds a lot of value to your time there. Needing to be addressed, from my personal experience, management was hard to work with at times. From degrading comments during training to passive leadership and denial of care. Depending on who you’re with, the workplace environment can be a place of joy and good work, but it can also be toxic and draining at times. From what I experienced personally, there was a lot of selfish ambition and lack of respect from my managerial superiors. I would agree that these things are the hardest part of the job. But if you’re lucky enough to find yourself with an incredible team like I was, you’ll be just fine. Even on the hard days, they’ll always be there to support you and lift you up. My team was easily the best part of this job, and even though my employment came to a difficult ending, I’ve come out of it with a lot of improved skills and experience, and lifelong friends along the way.

I loved working here. I worked here for a over a year, and I learned to love all my coworkers, management, and regulars. Over time, everything started to fall apart. I had about 6 managers in the span of just a couple months. There were never consistent rules. Management would fire anyone just because they didn't like you, even if the reason didn't make sense. I soon learned that management didn't really care about you. No matter what you did right, they always found ways to bring you down and remind you of what you're failing at. I never felt like I was doing enough, and I was stressed coming into work everyday. They watched the cameras like crazy and would message you if they noticed anything off. Honestly, I had some really great stand managers who I absolutely loved. But anyone higher than them, were awful. They put on this attitude they were better than you in every aspect, and made you feel less than. The pay is horrible. They won't back you up in a tough situation. And honestly the rules the make you follow are a bit of a reach to achieve. It was a great place at first, but when you start to realize what is actually going on, you see how horrible it truly is. 

Honestly, the environment and work culture is great, at least at the stand I was at.  Management is super friendly and inclusive and will to help.  Scheduling was as to be expected in the coffee/retail industry.  They hire with no experience, so it's a great way to get some barista experience, which can be difficult to get into without experience at other places.  

My only complaint is compensation.  The hourly rate is ridiculously low for today's cost of living and recent inflation.  There's also no pay range based on experience, so someone with zero barista skills makes the same as a seasoned barista.  The high turnover rate is not surprising and likely only because of pay, when you can go to another coffee shop and make nearly double + tips.  

Overall, if pay isn't a huge factor - maybe you're a stay at home mom, or student or something - it's great.  It's fun, the customers are mostly cool, co-workers and management are amazing.  But if you need to actually survive off your income, look elsewhere.

Was expected to put work before anything else, guilt-ed and manipulated about job commitment despite working doubles because so many people quit/was fired by the one manager we had and because of their treatment of employees. Was always promised promotions and never saw it and did manager work for a .50 raise that didn't come until months after. There is one person above you with any real authority who is also the "regional manager" and runs the whole Arizona branch (the real owners have never made a cup of coffee in their life) who will fire you at any time. Super catty atmosphere, those who basically "told" on other employees were rewarded so there was basically a cut throat atmosphere for these fake promotions we were promised. From outside the stand it seems like a chill atmosphere and it was when management wasn't around but that never happened because they CONSTANTLY watched cameras, literally on their phones watching us like we were a TV show in their down time. 16 people quit in a little over a month.

I had applied and got hired in June. I started my two week training process in July. Training was extremely rushed and the I felt like one of the supervisors I had was constantly breathing down my neck. After I had gotten out of training, I was immediately assigned the hardest shifts such as closing shifts. The manger was always annoyed with me and would send harsh and unapologetic messages after almost every shift I had. I was a good barista but I eventually got fired after a month because I couldn’t come to a shift. I had actively tried to get anyone to cover it and explained the situation to my manager but would either get no response or just be expected to skip school. The workers are nice and the customers are chill but you’re heavily overworked and underpaid for your efforts. I got a small dose of the poor management at the very industry I expected it to be.

I worked here for almost a year and had one of the best times at any minimum wage job. The work is relatively easy in that it has rush times and time to clean plus time to talk to patrons and make friends. You get employee perks such as free drink of shift, free bakery items for good work, amazon gift cards regularly, and holiday bonuses. Ranjeet goes above and beyond to make working there comfortable and sustainable. He respects emergencies and genuinely wants to see you grow and succeed beyond just the Human Bean. I have worked many places and I can say with full confidence that this was the best job I've had to date. Hardest part of the job was sometimes employees would leave with short notice but that is to be expected in food service, there's only so much you can do with a high turnover rate in the industry. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Barista 33 salaries reported	$15.30 per hour
Coffee shop manager 1 salary reported	$24.75 per hour
Shift leader 4 salaries reported	$16.69 per hour
Store manager 1 salary reported	$16.75 per hour
Manager 2 salaries reported	$20.00 per hour

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