Barista resume examples & templates

Baristas brighten their customers’ days by preparing their favorite drinks just the way they like them. To land this pleasantly caffeinated position, you need a barista resume that will perk up the hiring manager’s attention.

Entry-level

Mid-career

Senior-level

Use this template

Use this template

Use this template

How should you do that? Pour a shot of energy into your barista resume by displaying your customer service skills, ability to work under pressure, and pleasant personality. 

Resume guide for a barista resume

Resume.io is a great source of inspiration and ideas, with more than 500 occupation-specific resume examples, a resume builder, and plenty of writing guides full of tips.

This guide, along with a barista resume example, will show you how to create a resume that meets the needs of today’s coffee shops. We’ll cover:

• How to write a barista resume
• Choosing the best resume format to make your customer service and personality stand out
• Adding your contact information
• Leveraging a summary statement for maximum impact
• Detailing your barista experience and expertise
• Sharing your educational credentials
• Choosing the right resume layout
• How the barista job market looks today and what salary you can expect

How to write a barista resume

Just like crafting a premium coffee drink, the first step in writing your barista resume is understanding the parts to include. Your resume should contain the following sections:

• The resume header
• The resume summary (aka profile or personal statement)
• The employment history section
• The resume skills section
• The education section

Chances are, you’ve been successful as a barista because of your winning personality and the impression you make on your customers. Think of your resume as a way to provide that first impression to the hiring manager. 

That means you must persuasively showcase how you will fulfill the company’s needs. Think of it as your unique value proposition. Your resume is the first place you’ll show this off before making it to an interview. Stick with these ingredients:

• Highlight accomplishments, not just job duties. Any barista can simply make drinks and work a cash register, but if you’ve earned the highest customer service ratings or successfully increased store revenue, that’s something to be proud of.
• Tailor your resume to the organization to which you’re applying. There may be differences between a large coffee chain and a small coffee stand, for example.
• Put your best foot forward with a polished resume template that conveys a professional image without being too formal.
• Fill your resume with relevant keywords to avoid getting filtered out by ATS screening software or quick-moving recruiters.

Choosing the best resume format for baristas

The reverse chronological resume format is recommended for most job seekers and is generally considered the best resume format. It’s the easiest to review, as it displays your work history from most recent to earliest, broken into concise bullet point highlights.

Other resume formats may be suitable for those who are new to the workforce or changing careers. They might want to emphasize specialized or transferable skills, rather than where they worked, opting for a functional format or the more versatile hybrid (combination) format.

When exploring the resume templates in our resume builder, select a format that best suits your needs. There are plenty of versions of each format available as resume examples.

In terms of design, a barista resume should use a clean, clear, modern layout that is simple and easy for a busy coffee shop’s hiring manager to read.

Include your contact information

When a customer enters the store, it’s important to give a positive first impression. Think of your resume header the same way. 

The most important goal of this section is to display your name and contact information so it’s easy for the reader to understand who you are and how to reach you. Focus on the following:

• Full name & title. List your first and last name and the title of the role you’re pursuing.
• Professional email address. Use a clean and professional format like [email protected]. Avoid using a quirky or unprofessional email address.
• Phone number. List a number where you can be readily contacted, with a professional voicemail greeting. Make sure your inbox isn’t full in case they need to leave a message.
• Location. List just your city and state. There is no need to list your zip code, and listing your full street address can be unsafe. Note ' Willing to Relocate' here if applicable.
• LinkedIn. While a LinkedIn profile is less important for barista work, if yours shows off your expertise, you can include it here.

Don’t include:

• Date of birth. This isn’t necessary and could potentially lead to age discrimination.
• Personal details. Marital status, social security number, passport number, etc. can all be left off.
• Photo headshot. This can introduce bias and takes up unnecessary resume space.

Make use of a summary 

As a barista, you’ll likely be the first face customers see when they walk into the coffeehouse, and your ability to offer friendly service will be an essential part of their experience. The summary serves as that initial greeting for your resume. It gives the hiring manager a taste of your personality, top skills, and previous experiences. 

A few facts paired with action verbs about your previous barista positions can also drive this section home. How many customers did you serve daily? Did you develop any new drinks? How many menu items did you memorize and prepare? Did the business see any growth on your watch?

If you’re applying for a managerial or more senior position, you can also highlight previous leadership experiences or advanced training.

You can find adaptable barista resume examples summary below:

Outline your barista work experience 

Your employment history gives employers a sense of how well you might fit in their coffee shop. List your experiences in reverse chronological order, with the most recent experience first. Only go back the last 10-15 years and try to include only relevant experience.

Below each past employer heading, provide a short description of key job highlights in a short bullet-point list. Don’t just list vague job duties or responsibilities. It’s easy to write bullet points like this:

• "Made coffee drinks.”
• “Provided customers with excellent service.”
• "Increased sales for the store.”

While these are all clearly part of a barista role, to make your resume more compelling, facts and figures are the best way to quantify the impact you had. Consider things like how many customers you typically served, how many employees you helped train, or specific revenue numbers you impacted. 

Take a look:

• "Crafted specialty coffee drinks, including custom drinks, for an average of 50 customers per hour.”
• "Earned the store's highest customer service scores (99%) by providing excellent and quick service.”
• "Increased store revenue by 15% through consistent upselling and creation of new speciality drinks.”

Take a look at the barista employment history resume sample below:

How to write a barista resume with no experience 

Many hiring managers understand that this may be your first barista position, or even your first official work experience. If this is the case, it’s important to show how your transferable skills have prepared you for the work of a barista. 

You can highlight teachability, reliability, and patience, all of which can be learned from other experiences like being a server in a restaurant, for example. Or you may have worked with challenging customers in a retail environment or offered patience and attention as a tutor. 

Showcase your customer service skills and your ability to communicate effectively. Remember that volunteer work counts, too. 

Include the relevant key skills that make you a great barista

As a barista, both hard and soft skills are at the heart of what you do. You’ll need to be experienced enough at making coffee to keep customers coming back, but if you don’t have the personality traits to match, you're just as likely to send customers out the door. 

Hard skills include anything that involves a machine, tool, or hands-on practical knowledge. That includes all the knowledge required to make drinks and food and to keep the cafe clean and attractive.

On the other hand, soft skills are your personality traits and qualities. These include your attention to detail, knack for organization, and your friendly customer service skills.

Our resume builder offers several pre-written key skills to choose from, as well as the option to add your own. 

Here’s what the skills box looks like in our barista resume template. 

The skills section is not the only place to show off your skills, however. You should include them throughout your resume, ideally by showing them in action with examples. 

For instance, in your work experience section and professional summary, highlight your 

• Customer service skills by quantifying the customer volume you served or high customer service ratings you’ve received
• Teamwork ability by detailing the role you play on a team and any hiring or training you’ve helped with
• Coffee knowledge by demonstrating your experience operating espresso machines, crafting speciality drinks, and brewing a mean cup of joe

Look to the job description as a guide for key skills to include.

Detail your education & relevant barista certifications

Many of a barista’s duties can be learned on the job, so formal education is not typically required. However, that doesn’t mean leaving the education section empty. Even if you don’t have a degree in a related field, it doesn’t hurt to show that you’ve studied or are in the process of completing your education. 

This is also a great place to list training or certifications you’ve achieved. For example,

• Training. Courses, workshops, or even webinars in coffee, restaurant service, food safety, or other related areas.
• Certificates. Believe it or not, there are dozens of courses relating to the sourcing, brewing and serving of coffee. Just like wine, coffee is a specialty drink with an entire field of study behind it. If you’ve invested in some sort of coffee or food service education, it’s a great idea to include it in this section.

Pick the right resume layout and design for a barista resume

Just like no customer wants to drink coffee in a dirty cafe with broken chairs, no hiring manager wants to read and evaluate a disorganized resume that lacks critical information or looks like a visual catastrophe.

Your layout plays a key role in getting you hired. You’ll want to choose a resume layout that shows off why you’re a great fit for the cafe you’re applying to. That will probably mean a modern style that still conveys professionalism. For a barista resume, we recommend a design with clean lines, a modern font, and limited color. 

With our field-tested resume templates, you can craft a resume that looks just right without spending hours with finicky programs and word processors. 

Barista text-only resume example

Barista job market and outlook

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that the need for food and beverage serving workers, which includes baristas, will increase 2% from 2022 to 2032, about as quickly as the average profession. This means plenty of positions will be available to you when new coffee shops open up and employees change jobs leaving vacant positions.

Large coffee shops are likely to need the most help, while an independent coffee shop may only hire for one or two positions at a time. In that case, it’s likely that they’ll be looking for someone with previous barista experience who has a passion for the craft of coffee. 

What type of salary you can expect as a barista

Most baristas are paid an hourly wage. According to the BLS, the median hourly rate for food and beverage workers is $14.29. 

Some baristas may earn tips on top of their hourly rate, although this is less common for baristas than for restaurant workers or bartenders. 

Key takeaways for building a barista resume

Positions in food and beverage serving, including baristas, are projected to grow by 2% over the next decade. Coffee chains are looking for teachable employees, while independent cafes often hire baristas with a passion for coffee and previous coffee experience. Your barista resume should reflect your prior experience, skills, and education. If this is your first barista position, try drawing parallels between other types of work and the qualities of a top-notch barista.

Kickstart your barista job search with our online resume builder, then supercharge it with Career.io. 

Unlock 18 powerful tools to search for jobs, track your progress, ace your interviews, and negotiate the best salary—all within our comprehensive career toolkit.