Barista Resume: Skills, Job Description & Examples for 2024

Barista Resume: Skills, Job Description & Examples for 2024

Your barista resume should be like a ristretto—strong and impactful. Read on to learn how to list your barista skills and job description to make your barista resume stand out.

Maciej Duszynski, CPRW
Maciej Duszynski, CPRW
Certified Professional Resume Writer, Career Expert

Sometimes all it takes to get a barista job of your dreams is to leave your resume in the right place at the right time.

The problem is, you need to have a barista resume in the first place. And not just any resume. But a job-winning one. So, let’s start brewing the barista resume just for you.

This guide will show you:

  • Best barista resume examples that get jobs.
  • How to ace your barista job description for a resume.
  • How to write a resume for barista positions that gets the interview.
  • How to list your barista resume skills like a pro

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Barista Resume Example

John Roaster
Barista

Phone: +1-299-456-7888
Email: j.roaster@gmail.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/johnroaster
Twitter: twitter.com/jroaster

Summary

Certified and passionate barista with 2+ years of experience. Eager to join Lettuce Entertain You to help ensure paramount quality and service by focusing on engaging with the customers. In previous roles scored 95% in customer satisfaction surveys.

Experience

2016–2017
Starbucks
Barista

  • Provided quality beverages, whole bean, and food products consistently for all customers by adhering to all recipe and presentation standards.
  • Delivered outstanding customer service to all customers by acting with a customer-first attitude.
  • Anticipated customer and store needs by constantly evaluating environment and customers for cues.
  • Followed operational policies and procedures (incl. cash handling, safety, and security) to ensure the safety of all partners during each shift.
  • Maintained a clean and organized workspace.

Key achievements:

  • Assisted in training and coaching 5 new baristas that improved performance by 17%.
  • Consistently scored upwards of 95% on customer satisfaction surveys.
  • Identified a crowding solution that led to 20% line reduction.

2015–2016
Peet’s Coffee
Barista

  • Prepared 20+ menu items according to prescribed recipes and special requests and presentations.
  • Maintained menu item counts and communicated to management when running low.
  • Answered telephones, took orders and messages according to restaurant specifications.
  • Counted a cash drawer and was responsible for the security and reconciliation of the cash drawer.
  • Used sales techniques to present and encourage current promotions to guests. Exceeded sales KPIs by 20–30% on a regular basis.

Key achievement:

  • Streamlined procedures for carryout orders that reduced packaging and accuracy checking times by 40%.
  • Won the 2nd prize in a latte art competition.

Education

2017–present
USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, LA
Communication, Student
GPA: 3.8

Relevant coursework:

  • Public Speaking
  • Communication and Culture

Associations

  • Specialty Coffee Association (SCA)—Member

Certifications

  • CSP Barista Skills—Foundation
  • CSP Brewing—Foundation
  • Latte Art Grading—Verde

Interests

  • Psychology of communication
  • Triathlon

Key Skills

  • Oral communication
  • Time management
  • Collaboration
  • Latte art
  • Coffee/tea brewing
  • Cash handling
  • POS operations

Languages

  • French (Bilingual)
  • Italian (Advanced)

A barista is key to giving customers great coffee experiences. This role demands a passion for coffee, precision, and a friendly demeanor. Baristas need to be able to craft a variety of coffee beverages to perfection while providing excellent customer service. 

1. Choose the Best Barista Resume Format

Just like a single slurp of coffee can tell you a lot about its quality—A single glance at your barista resume can be pretty revealing. So start by preparing the perfect barista resume format.

Here’s how to make a good impression with your resume for barista positions:

  • Follow the reverse-chronological resume order in your resume. This way your experience and accomplishments will gain prominence.
  • Opt for simple and readable resume fonts. The safest range is between 10 and 14pt.
  • Write simple resume headings to separate sections.
  • Keep your barista resume nice and clean—use white space strategically.
  • Make your barista resume one-page long. Focus on what’s relevant, and don’t squeeze in too much information. The length of a resume matters.
  • Start off with a barista resume profile. Follow it up with the experience and education sections.
  • Put your barista skills for a resume in a separate section. If you belong to a professional association or hold a barista certificate, do mention them.
  • Add a section on your interests and hobbies and foreign languages.

Expert Hint: The safest format for your barista resume is PDF. It’s machine-readable and keeps the formatting intact.

2. Start with a Barista Resume Summary or Objective

Why do people visit coffee shops they’ve never been to before? Because of the welcoming aroma. See the point? Your barista resume objective or resume summary must be just as inviting as the smell of fresh coffee.

Here’s a recipe for a barista resume introduction that always works:

1. An adjective

2. Job title

3. Years of experience

4. What you can offer and how it will help

5. Your biggest achievement

Barista Resume Examples: Summary

Good example
Certified and passionate (1) barista (2) with 2+ years of experience. (3) Eager to join Lettuce Entertain You to help ensure paramount quality and service by focusing on engaging with the customers. (4) In previous roles scored 95% in customer satisfaction surveys. (5)
Bad example
Experienced barista wishing to join the team and develop professionally. Loves great coffee and company.

The difference? Let’s put it this way: The first barista resume summary is a cup of La Colombe Corsica Blend. The second, a mug full of cold diluted instant Nescafe. Why force the hiring manager to drink the latter?

What about a no experience barista resume?

Well, things don’t change that much if you have no barista experience. An entry-level resume must also dazzle from the word go. Period. If your barista experience is limited, start with a barista resume objective, not a summary. The difference is subtle:

A resume objective highlights your barista skills. In contrast to a barista resume summary whose primary focus is your professional experience.

No Experience Barista Resume—Objective

Good example
Open-minded and coffee-loving business communication student with 2+ years of experience as a home barista. Familiar with the essentials of roasting, cupping, and latte art. Eager to join the team at Starbucks to delight the customers, and create an unforgettable coffee-drinking experience.
Bad example
Communication student looking for a part-time job. Enjoys a cup of good coffee and friendly atmosphere.

If you put two resumes side by side, who would your invite to the interview at Starbucks? Obviously, the guy willing to join the team at Starbucks to delight the customers with their favorite triple-venti-half-sweet-non-fat-caramel macchiato. If he cared to personalize his resume objective, he’ll care to personalize customers’ cups.

Expert Hint: Write your intro at the very end. Remember: the barista resume objective summarizes your entire barista resume. It will be hard for you to summarize something that hasn’t yet been written.

3. Write the Perfect Barista Job Description & Add Barista Resume Skills

You’re full of beans. You know how to invite the recruiter to step in. Sorry to disappoint you, but if your barista resume job description is severely under-roasted, it will strike a sour note.

Not to worry. This is how to make the best barista job description for resumes:

1. Read the job listing closely.

2. Identify what barista skills the employer looks for.

3. Prepare the barista job description for your resume using the phrases from the job ad.

Barista Job Description on a Resume (Example)

Good example
  • Prepared 20+ menu items according to prescribed recipes and special requests and presentations.
  • Maintained menu item counts and communicated to management when running low.
  • Answered telephones, took orders and messages according to restaurant specifications.
  • Counted a cash drawer and was responsible for the security and reconciliation of the cash drawer.
  • Used sales techniques to present and encourage current promotions to guests. Exceeded sales KPIs by 20–30% on a regular basis.
Bad example
  • Responsible for food and beverage preparation
  • Responsible for stocking
  • Helping guests with orders
  • Responsible for money transactions

Let’s break it down. On average, a recruiter receives… a lot of resumes. In the case of large chains, barista resume heaps may consist of applications from 250+ candidates. Most of them read like the bad example above.

This is when ATSs (Applicant Tracking Systems) come in handy. They screen the resumes for barista job description keywords. Thanks to them recruiters end up with dozens (not hundreds) of pre-selected barista resumes that meet the criteria laid out in the job posting.

Since the job posting is where the resume keywords are, you have to respond to a specific one and present the barista skills on your resume using the phrasing you see in the job ad.

Okay: If you’re looking for coffee shop jobs locally, your barista resume may be just a formality. Because it’s networking that gets you the job. But you can still make your barista resume worthy of a pound of Kopi Luwak. How? Do this great trick:

Refer back to the job posting, and pepper your barista job description with resume action verbsProvided, prepared, delivered, maintained, answered—they all tell the hiring manager what you actually did. Not what you were merely responsible for.

Plus, use numbers wherever you can. It’s best to pick out up to 2–3 key achievements of yours and make a separate key achievements subsection on your resume.

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Barista Resume: Sample Achievements

Key achievements:

  • Streamlined procedures for carryout orders that reduced packaging and accuracy checking times by 40%.
  • Won the 2nd prize in a latte art competition.

And finally, make sure your barista skills for a resume are clearly visible. Go back to the job ad to see if the employer spelled out the desirable skills for a barista resume there. Have them? Great! Now put those barista skills on your resume.

The Most Important Barista Resume Skills

  • Coffee bean grinding
  • Latte art
  • Milk steaming
  • Automatic coffee brewing
  • Knowledge of coffee varieties
  • Espresso machine
  • Cold brewing
  • Coffee roasting 
  • Knowledge of milk substitutes
  • Bean grinder maintenance
  • Ordering, receiving and distributing stock supplies
  • Cash handling
  • Health and Safety codes
  • Customer service 
  • Point-of-Sale system (POS)
  • Cash register 
  • Card payments
  • Attention to details 
  • Verbal communication
  • Time management
  • Collaboration
  • Conflict management
  • Organization
  • Problem-solving
  • Interpersonal skills
  • Computer skills

Expert Hint: Don’t go overboard with the skills you put on your barista resume. List only those you have a good grasp of, and limit yourself to up to 7–10 key barista skills.

4. Mention Education on a Barista Resume

At the end of the day, what really counts is what you can do. Not what you know.

But if your barista resume education section shows that you know you’ve learned the right things, you’ll come across as a well-rounded candidate. Focus on what’s relevant. Things like relevant coursework or extracurricular activities are welcome. So is your GPA if it’s upwards of 3.5.

Barista Resume Sample—Education

Good example

2017–present
USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, LA
Communication, Student
GPA: 3.8

Relevant coursework:

  • Public Speaking
  • Communication and Culture
Bad example
USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism

Expert Hint: If you decide to include the education section in your barista resume, don’t treat it as an afterthought. Show why you think it’s relevant, and put something more than the college name.

5. Light Up Your Barista Resume With These Additonal Sections

Is coffee more of a lifestyle than a hot beverage to you? Show it. Here’s a couple of barista resume examples to inspire you. Add some of the following resume sections to your barista resume:

Associations

  • Specialty Coffee Association (SCA)—Member

Certificates

  • CSP Barista Skills—Foundation
  • CSP Brewing—Foundation
  • Latte Art Grading—Verde

Interests

  • Psychology of communication
  • Triathlon

Languages

  • Spanish (Bilingual)
  • Portuguese (Advanced)
  • Italian (Conversational)

Expert Hint: Make your resume kicks like a double espresso by attaching a cover letter to it. Learn here how to write a cover letter for a barista position. More than half of the recruiters would like to read it.

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Key Points

Here’s how to make the perfect barista resume:

  • Choose the best barista resume template. An entry-level barista resume requires a smaller experience section than a barista resume with a lot of Starbucks experience.
  • Give your barista resume a great look. Fit it on a single page. Embrace white space. Avoid clutter, and bring up relevant experience only.
  • Reply to a specific job offer. Your barista resume skills and job description should target a specific job opening.
  • Let your education section work for you. This is particularly important when your education is relevant to the position you’re applying for. Don’t let it go unnoticed, especially on a resume for a barista with no experience.
  • Spice it up with extras. To make your resume for a coffee barista stand out, list your barista certifications, membership in professional associations, and interests.

Questions on how to write the best barista resume? Want to give advice on how to apply to Starbucks (or get other coffee shop jobs). Would you like to share your barista resume ideas? We’d love to hear from you. Leave your comment below.

About ResumeLab’s Editorial Process

At ResumeLab, quality is at the crux of our values, supporting our commitment to delivering top-notch career resources. The editorial team of career experts carefully reviews every article in accordance with editorial guidelines, ensuring the high quality and reliability of our content. We actively conduct original research, shedding light on the job market's intricacies and earning recognition from numerous influential news outlets. Our dedication to delivering expert career advice attracts millions of readers to our blog each year.

Maciej Duszynski, CPRW

Experienced in the education management industry, Maciej shares his knowledge for every step of your job hunt, from landing an internship to moving to an executive position. Maciej has helped job candidates at all stages of their career paths, from interns to directors to C-suite members, to thrive in their job. His mission is to help you find the right opportunity and create a job application that gets you the career you deserve.

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