Name: Naomi Gardner
Age: 30
Job title: General manager
Company & location: Roasting Plant Coffee, the Strand and High Holborn stores
Education: Royal Holloway, University of London for a PhD in History
Why did you decide to go for a career in food & drink? I worked in the coffee industry throughout my student years and realised that I’m very much a people person. I love interacting with customers and being busy, which are key skills needed in hospitality and particularly at Roasting Plant, where we have very central, city locations with high footfall.
Explain your job to us in a sentence (or two): My role as general manager of the High Holborn and Strand stores is very operational. I manage the day-to-day store operations whilst also overseeing the barista team, the Javabot technology and the overall customer experience. To give a bit of background for people who aren’t familiar, our unique Javabot technology micro-batch roasts our coffee in each and every store. We’re currently the only multi-chain venue to do this and it’s what makes every cup of coffee ‘just roasted’, with full freshness and flavour. We’ve heard it described as ‘Willy Wonka meets Apple’ tech, so as you can imagine it’s a pretty special piece of kit.
What does a typical day look like for you? My role is really varied across the business. I typically split my shifts between both stores to ensure they are running smoothly. Each day involves serving customers, making coffee and preparing food, placing orders with our suppliers, and checking in with the team. I might carry out a coffee tasting session to train new team members to overview our different origins and flavour profiles, or take on cupping a new origin from the roaster to provide feedback to Genevieve, our head of coffee. As well as this, I prepare and ship coffee bean orders for our internet and wholesale customers and explore collaboration opportunities with new customers.
“I’m very much a people person. I love interacting with customers and being busy, which are key skills needed in hospitality”
Tell us about how you went about applying for your job: Prior to joining Roasting Plant, I was a manager in a coffee shop, which I enjoyed, but wanted to be somewhere I could progress career-wise. From the offset, I loved everything about the Roasting Plant vision: the positive atmosphere, the technology, the innovative process. The emphasis Roasting Plant has on coffee freshness, quality and traceability felt like a great fit for me. After speaking to our head of operations, Kallie Kocourek, and CEO, Jamie Robertson, about my background and experience, I came into the Borough store for a trial to see the Javabot roaster in action, meet the team and manage the general service during the morning rush. Following this, I presented a 100-day business plan to Jamie and Kallie to highlight what I would do for the stores. This final stage really helped me to explore why I wanted the job, why I felt I was a good fit for the company and what I wanted to achieve within my first couple of months as general manager.
What’s the best part about working for a food company? No two days are the same! Each day brings new customers and new experiences. Being able to make someone’s day simply with a great quality cup of coffee and a smile, and seeing your team grow in confidence every day, is really satisfying.
And what’s the biggest misconception people have about working in food & drink? The sheer amount of work that goes into ensuring the customer receives the best-quality food and drink product, in particular the coffee beans themselves. What goes on behind the scenes, in addition to what you see in store, is really thorough to ensure our processes are as sustainable as they can be, from the beans we source to the roasting process to packaging. This takes a long time, but it’s a huge part of what we do and is really important to Roasting Plant.
What advice would you give to other young people looking to get into the food & drink industry? My advice would be don’t be afraid to start as a team member; you can progress quickly if you have a positive attitude and good work ethic. If you are a barista or supervisor looking to progress, ask your manager what development training plans they have to help you learn and progress within the business to show tenacity and enthusiasm to build your career. Observe how your managers motivate the team, communicate with customers, deal with different situations and use that as a reference point to start. Always ask questions and don’t be afraid to try something new!
What’s your ultimate career dream? To continue developing my career with Roasting Plant as we look to shake up the expectations consumers have for coffee with our just-roasted approach. I’m really keen to be a key player in our expansion as we open more stores in the UK, US and beyond.
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