Retail and Cafe Associate

• Industry: Food and Beverage
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As a Retail Associate , you’ll first learn everything about chocolate from where it’s grown, how it’s processed, and how to make your own batch of chocolate. You’ll become an expert taster of all of our drinks, treats, and bars and know how the chocolate origin impacts the flavor. While we’re chocolate makers, we partner with an equally passionate coffee company, Ritual Roasters who provide us with our coffee beans and extensive training program. Barista experience is not required. This role starts at $19/hour plus tips.

A typical café day might start with working through your opening checklists, reading the daily cafe report to see when the dishwasher repair person will be arriving and ensuring the retail space is clean, stocked and ready for the first guest to arrive. When the line is out the door, your focus turns to ensuring each person receives a thoughtful, exquisite experience. During welcomed breaks from the rushes, you might restock the retail shelves, sweep the parklet, or adjust the espresso machine to ensure that shots are pouring consistently.



Our ideal candidate is a mature, team-oriented, outgoing person who is excited to learn and share their chocolate knowledge. You develop authentic rapport with guests, can work independently as necessary, and you have the know-how to navigate unexpected situations with confidence. You love going above and beyond for a guest to ensure their visit is memorable, whether it’s a regular asking for you to hand deliver their hot chocolate to their car so they don’t wake their sleeping baby or a camera crew showing up to film in the café, you maintain your cool and jump in to help when needed. You aren’t intimidated by a long line of excited people and you love making spaces more efficient in downtime so that you’re ready for the busy period. Ideally, this isn’t your first time working in guest service, and you have the bandwidth and scheduling flexibility for a 30-day chocolate onboarding. You are excited to grow in your role, learn about chocolate and take on more responsibility.

Responsibilities:
- Guest Service: Regardless of the day of the week or the crowds, customers can depend upon you for amazing hospitality. Be timely, dress professionally, and develop long-standing relationships so that visitors look forward to your thoughtful attention and friendliness.
- Chocolate & Coffee Excellence: Create hot chocolate drinks and espresso drinks with our manual machine and brew coffee using our Ground Control Cyclops machine with a consistent level of excellence. Know allergen information and be able to answer questions about our chocolate and coffee products with ease. Make recommendations for pairing chocolate with espresso drinks based upon your chocolate knowledge and experience.
- Systems & Processes: Identify ways to improve operating procedures, checklists, and documentation so that your individual observations benefit the entire team and lead to all-around cafe improvements.
- Team-player: Be a positive, team-oriented player who brings the team up even when the line is out the door. Your coworkers want to work with you again (and again and again).
- Other tasks as necessary

- Great Interpersonal Skills: you should be able to develop a quick rapport with customers by detailing our chocolate making process and why you relate to it, inspiring guests to learn more about chocolate! Proven ability to work well within a team environment. Excited to connect with people.
- Previous experience: Minimum of 1 year of retail or customer-facing work experience in a fast-paced environment.
- Weekend & Weekday Availability: Depending on the location, evening and weekend availability is required. We can offer anywhere from 24-40 hours per week.

$19/hour plus tips

The benefits and perks continue beyond a robust chocolate education. Dandelion Chocolate constantly invests in our people and culture. All team members receive heavily subsidized medical, vision, and dental benefits as well as the option to enroll in our 401k program. All team members receive paid vacation time, holiday pay, and paid sick time. In addition, our team members enjoy commuter benefits, FSAs, chocolate tasting opportunities, and a range of opportunities to grow and develop within the company.

Depending on the location, evening and weekend availability is required. We can offer anywhere from 24-40 hours per week.

Dandelion Chocolate is growing and we are invested in employees who take ownership over their role in order to contribute in a bigger way with us. To stand out from the crowd, send us your resume and a cover letter that details your favorite food experience or influence. Keep in mind that we value passion, attitude, and hard work, so tell us what inspires you to join our team.