My passion
started at first as a way of spending my free time. Back in the days of my
teenage years, as a high school student I used to enjoy spending my free time
by hanging with my friends at cafes. By the time that I graduated I was aware
of all the cafes in Bucharest. For me it was more than drinking a cup of
coffee, it was like a third place between home and school, and I was living the
whole customer experience. It was then when I had my first thought of opening
an own café in the future.
Later on,
according to my interests and personality I have decided to pursue an education
within the business field. Despite this
fact, I have continued to work summer jobs as a barista or bartender both in my
home country or in UK. But it was in the
last year of my university that I rediscovered not only my passion but also a
way to connect this with my business education.
Randomly as
I was interviewing for a cross cultural management project an Irish business
man, who was running a pub in my home city, he suddenly saw the potential in me
and offered me to work within the business administration of his company. At that time I was only familiarized with
beverage preparation and customer service but that experience allowed me to
make use of my knowledge in terms of accounting, marketing and my organizing
and planning skills, while applying them into a real context. The days I have
worked there, I never felt one day like I was working. I was spending most of my time at a table,
checking payments, cash, and salaries and organizing events. My boss was more than happy with my work
there, but after one year I was going to graduate my bachelor and start a master degree
in Sweden.
During my
master, I have made a lot of research on Starbucks, its licensing model; I
analyzed the coffee market in Sweden, conducted marketing research and wrote a
project about the opportunities of opening a Starbucks in Sweden. I did not
know at that time I will work today for the company, knowing the little
expansion in Sweden of the coffee shop chain.
Spring 2013, together with my thesis partner Klara, I have started to
conduct an intense research about the business concept, the so called Five
Aspects of Meal model, and by conducting interviews with café owners, we
managed to successfully come up with an interesting academic research which
illustrates how small café owners adapt their business concept through customer
interaction, which were the factors influencing this level of adaptation and
how exactly they affect its flexibility.
After a few
months I have moved to Stockholm in order to study more intensively the Swedish
language. One day I was looking for jobs and I saw a post that Starbucks was
soon going to soon open in Stockholm and it was hiring baristas. I smiled only
at the sight of it, knowing how much I have read about the company, identified
with its concept and the values of the company. It has always been my dream
company, fact which I did not hesitate to mention over the phone or at the
interview.
Later I
have went through two weeks of barista certification training and practice at
the Starbucks located on the Arlanda airport, time which I learned a lot about
growing and brewing coffee, how to conduct a coffee tasting, how to make all
the recipes, to create latte art, to work on a routine, to deliver a high
quality customer service. I must admit,
working at Starbucks is actually tougher than in other places, but behind the
hard work of the passionate baristas working there, lays the unbeatable high
quality offered by the coffee shop. The products, the service, the personnel,
everything is premium and it definitely distinguishes us from all the
competitors.
Even today,
while looking at my education, a lot of friends and people are surprised when I
tell them that I work as a barista when I could work in accounting or
economics. My answer is still the same. I have always followed my heart and my
passion. I admire Howard Schultz, what he did for Starbucks; I think it’s a great
company which brings a lot of pleasure into people’s life, at the same time
contributing to the society. I have started this job in order to learn
everything about the company and the industry from the bottom, while I will not
give up in working my way up to the top.
I love working with people, it makes me happy when I see them satisfied
of the service or when they smile back and leave happier through our
doors. For me it is also important to
share my knowledge to others. I am more
than sure that I will continue to grow, develop and become better and that one
day I will be entitled as an industry expert. Nevertheless, there are two things which will always be a part of me, writing and my educational background. I am aiming to combine these two with my passion for the industry and contribute to the current research by writing my own book.
