How Much Do Starbucks Baristas Earn? What About Costa and KFC?

Today I am just passing along what people posted on the message board. Today's topic:

Why do Starbucks, Costa, KFC and McDonald's have such high barista turnover?

Low wages are a common problem in the industry. After all, we need to live, support our families and make ends meet, barely able to support ourselves. In their own words, from the depths of their souls, baristas say:

From Starbucks @WoShiZhupèi***

As a former partner, I am truly relieved. I only worked there a year, but it felt like many years. From starting at the first Starbucks in an ancient capital, to the store closing for renovation, to nearly the whole store's partners leaving after one person left, everyone saw things clearly. As people say, joining Starbucks is like being reborn, except perhaps we were reborn into the wrong family. We worry like drug dealers while earning cabbage money. From doing QA until 11 PM without pay, to selling cups, mooncakes and zongzi, to chasing data, all that food-related nonsense can go to hell. Do they really understand the partners' hard work? Today's Starbucks blindly chases data, watches performance and forces partners to sell cards and pastries. Pour-over, temperature, ice cream, the partners' effort is completely out of proportion to their income. As far as I know, almost every Starbucks store in the western region is hiring. Why is turnover so high? Does Starbucks have no clue? And without a good store manager, certain shift managers made going to work a nightmare. Why would anyone stay? What disgusted us most was learning that at a store manager meeting, our store manager called the mass departure a disaster and blamed certain people. As a 10-year store manager, you cannot see your own faults and put every mistake on the partners. No wonder you have been a store manager for 10 years when others get there in 2-3 years. There is no harm without comparison. The more I say, the more the tears flow.

From KFC @Xiao*: I wonder why no one complains about KFC. The wages are lower than Starbucks, there are more promotional products and new items every month, daily tracking of thousands of visits and sales volume, and if revenue targets are not met, bonuses are cut directly. The 13th-month salary becomes a quarterly bonus of only a few hundred. Fail an audit by accident and you lose a few hundred more.

From Costa @ Edison**

Starbucks has low wages, but does Costa have lower wages?

From Starbucks @MoXian*

Working at Starbucks for two years, looking back I do not know how I got through it. Working 6 consecutive days, resting one, then working 6 more. Many might look down on this, saying many jobs are like it, but think about it: at work you have to turn into a cleaning lady, a front desk salesperson, a dishwasher, a mover, a drink maker, and sometimes the customer's babysitter. Excluding meal breaks, you are standing, walking and running for 8 consecutive hours. If that is what being a barista means, I have nothing to say. I happened to live through the db3.0 transformation, attending late-night meetings and then working the morning shift, going home to shower and rushing back. I saw a store change 3 store managers in 2 years, each with a different style, every time starting from scratch. One store manager told me, "Do not work hard silently at home, you need to obviously let others know you are working hard." So the beautifully promised weekends off were actually unpaid overtime at the store. Complaining about wages becomes pointless. Working two years, when I was about to leave my salary was a tiny amount. Wanting to buy anything slightly better meant eating instant noodles for a month. In the end I ruined my health and developed a herniated disc. The last store manager gave me all sorts of difficulties. To put it nicely they were giving me opportunities; to put it plainly they wanted me gone. When my back hurt terribly and I wanted sick leave, I could not get it. Thinking of not making things difficult for the store, I pushed through, and then I was scheduled for four consecutive night shifts. I was desperate to the point of death. When I could not take it anymore and submitted my resignation, the store manager did not try to keep me at all.

From Starbucks @PianZhiKuangxM**

Entering Starbucks for nearly four years, the last two were just endured. Every day I relied on reminiscing with old partners and using bathroom breaks for a cigarette to numb myself. After being promoted to assistant store manager I was more anxious every day, worried about customer complaints, QA, training and various audits, and most afraid of the boss checking the surveillance. The 360-degree bar counter surveillance with no blind spot was not there to protect partners but to monitor their every move. Everything was constrained by rules. Before, chatting with customers was genuine communication; later it became a formality, because making drinks requires you to interact with them. Smiling became a fixed expression, for fear that when a complaint arose and surveillance was checked, the boss would find me with a stern face. Every day you had to write these reports. Going to work was just to sell, to sell promotional drinks, cups, mooncakes and zongzi. Which partner's feed is not doing Starbucks micro-business? A monthly salary of over 3,000 really cannot do anything. Perhaps the only good thing is that medical expenses can be reimbursed when you are sick. Speaking of getting sick, I entered Starbucks a healthy young man, and when I left, my cervical spine had severely lost its natural curvature. The doctor holding my report said this was clearly the spine of someone in their forties or fifties. Every morning when I woke up, my arms were numb. Stomach problems, back pain, neck pain, endocrine disorders, irregular periods, these are all things Starbucks partners often talk about. The annual bonus everyone looks forward to each year makes people want to cry. The vast majority of partners I know say when leaving that this company is too heart-chilling.

From Costa @ WenXiaoMao

Costa employees strongly agree. After working 5 and a half years, management staff only get over 3,000. I hope wages increase soon; we can barely hang on.

From McDonald's @Cookie

I just want to ask why there are no complaints about McDonald's. Store management positions only get 3,000 after insurance deductions, much less than Starbucks, with more floor staff than in coffee shops, more mixed customers and more to handle. People from various industries get poached and leave immediately.

From McDonald's @ShiErJiang

At McDonald's you have to clean the grease separator, which basically means you have to clean everything.

From a soon-to-leave Starbucks partner @DaDa

Outsiders might find this boring, but reality is reality. Some say put yourself in others' shoes, but you are always speaking for others. Do you really consider what is in the employees' hearts? Employees love coffee, but do they not need to live? Other companies have sales targets, but they pay commissions. Every four hours there is a ten-minute paid break, but we stand for four hours for that ten minutes, and when it is busy there is no break at all. 3,000 a month, minus rent, utilities and food, is negative income. Life itself is a problem, so what else are we talking about? Are employees not human? Labor costs in China are cheap, companies control work hours, and to put it bluntly they force full-timers out to hire part-timers. From a partner about to leave.

Being a barista is a profession with a low barrier to entry and even lower industry wages, yet outsiders flock to it. Baristas seem to work in elegant environments, sheltered from wind and sun, with relaxed work, as if they just chat with customers and make coffee, but of course it is more than that. In reality every barista juggles multiple roles. Many well-known chains pay unimaginably low wages. What about Luckin Coffee, which is rumored to pay high wages?

From Luckin Coffee barista @ M

It is all hype. Beijing recruitment information says a comprehensive salary of 8,000+, but in reality even store managers only get 4,500.

From Luckin Coffee barista @Du*

I am a Luckin employee and will not say which store. Since I am speaking out, I am not afraid. Lies need more lies, too tiring. Setting aside the taste question, I think Luckin's coffee is good coffee: good beans, good roasting, very fresh beans, and baristas who get pre-job training before going to stores. Those four points fully satisfy Mr. Taguchi's definition of good coffee in "The Coffee Equation." Remember, good coffee, not delicious coffee. What is frustrating is that when city manager-level leaders inspect stores, they do not ask about performance, employee conditions or operational difficulties; they only ask about cleaning. Their vision is truly high. Even higher-level leaders require women to wear hair flowers, decorations like in hot pot restaurants. This is a coffee shop, my friend. I have been at Luckin almost half a year. There are plenty of videos on how to do cleaning in Luckin University, but not one on professional coffee knowledge. To be honest, although I am your employee and I get excited when my partners and I break order records, sometimes I am truly saddened by those condescending leaders. I love coffee. Coffee expanded my network and enriched my life. I hope Luckin's leaders focus more on coffee. Even in C-level stores you can give customers a great coffee experience. Our partners are not cleaning staff. Only when the team is strong can the company be strong. We all have a coffee dream; please respect it. I hope one day leaders will share their coffee experiences with us.

Once you enter coffee it is like a deep sea, and from then on your savings are merely passing travelers.

Without this feeling for coffee, baristas really cannot persist.

@ CzAR-Nan

Elegant movements, decent appearance and atmosphere-controlling conversation make a good barista so dashing. Even for 3,000 yuan it can make the made-up women at the counter exclaim and marvel. This is a pleasure and numbness that money cannot bring.

@Dynames

I am 24. It took me about 10 years to find the profession I really want to do, and even if it is miserable, I have to keep doing it.

@XiaoYi

I entered this industry at nineteen, three years ago, from coffee apprentice to today's barista, from Wuhan to Shanghai, chasing my dream all the way.

@DaShuDeNaiChaPu

Opened a coffee shop, originally wanted to be a boss but ended up a waiter.

@JoseLus

Coffee is poisonous; once you are addicted you cannot quit. Do not say 3,000, I was happy playing with 1,800.

@wayne=Wei

Every day is very hard and tiring, but the more tired I am, the more I feel I really like coffee, otherwise I would have quit long ago.

Thank you all for your messages. If you want to be a barista, do not think about how much money the coffee industry can earn, but about how much you are willing to spend on coffee to reach your dream of opening a coffee shop.

It is fair to say that I joined this industry because I love coffee. As for the barista profession in China, it can be summed up simply:

Glamorous on the surface, miserable inside.

Please raise your hand if you agree.

Fan Comments:

@MiaoLeGeMiO

The first one about Starbucks, I completely agree. Blindly pursuing data, not meeting good ICs and SMs, life was worse than death, everyone understands. I miss the early days and the former partners.

@So what

Where do these leaving baristas get recruited? A coffee shop preparing to open needs them.

@LinMouMou

If you like coffee, why go to Starbucks? Frankly, except for the management worth learning, Starbucks is useless in terms of skills.

@Simon

Speaking from over six years of experience, I grew up at McDonald's and then changed jobs, but I never think McDonald's, Starbucks or Costa have any big problems. Is your ideal job just chatting with customers a bit every day and sunbathing when there is nothing to do? If these companies are so terrible, why are they still Fortune 500? Read less negative content, have more positive emotions, life is for yourself.

@ k

As a former Starbucks partner, I personally feel what was mentioned above is not really hard. I left Starbucks many years ago and am grateful for the humility, patience, endurance and respect I learned there. After leaving I used that spirit to persist in other industries, and I transformed from a practitioner into a company owner. Most of the feedback is from people under 30. At thirty you are not qualified to complain. Chengdu TKL Starbucks former team member, Asian record holder. Treat coffee as a lifestyle and an attitude. If you say it is bitter, you have not endured enough bitterness. It has nothing to do with peer culture, it relates to the level you stand at.

@ZhanMiWanZzt

To the Luckin person, hygiene issues are actually very important.

@LinLiangXian

Started at the counter in 2019, initially at a bakery's beverage station. Over three years I followed the boss and did sales, training, counter design, machine installation and menu design. Twenty months later the illusion shattered. Looking back, I could not find a 3,000 salary job at home and could not survive, even after contributing over 5 years. By the way, a cold joke I saw today: people say you cannot tell fortunes, the more you tell the thinner your fate, but you have to believe it. A fortune teller once said I would wear a yellow robe after 30, accompanied by delicacies every day, with transportation when going out. Now I deliver food for Meituan. The prediction was too accurate.

@Cody

Why does no one mention Pacific Coffee?

@ChenKaola

Reading the comments, one line stands out: high aims but low ability. Looking at a bunch of comments, you can tell these people are not ordinary workers, they are management, and their work system is not calculated by hourly wage. Is it wrong for companies to pursue data? Do companies not need to develop? Complaining when standards are not met? Want full bonuses when standards are not met? Used to getting something for nothing? As management, if you have no staff to do cleaning, you do it yourself. This is the service industry. Do not think about being some barista. Even if you open your own shop you still have to clean. Try having a storefront full of trash; even if your coffee is good, probably no one will come. You go in to learn management, and those who want to stay survive the fittest. If you think you are at a disadvantage and will not do it, others do it and get promoted. Do not complain about why others were promoted and not you. Society is cruel.

@Nero

So the realistic problems are still on the table. Most comments are from partners earning 3,000, but what about the store manager level? Many times it is not hardship or fatigue that makes people give up, but when effort and reward are disproportionate, even the greatest passion will be extinguished. One comment said he is full of love for coffee and for this company's sentiment, and for 3,000, or even only 1,800, he is willing to keep doing it. Then I want to add a precondition: if he has no savings, his family cannot provide support, and besides this 3,000 he has no other income, how long can this 3,000 support that passion? Unfortunately I am just such a full-time partner, so I completely understand the leaving partners. I am not saying this to encourage partners to leave, but when facing life and dreams someone will always make a choice. I entered Starbucks out of yearning and passion for coffee, passed the black apron exam, became a regional coffee master, participated in competitions and won first place in Zhejiang. These were all efforts I made for my dream. But because of life and reality, I broke up with my girlfriend of almost six years a few days ago. I can only choose to leave. I do not know how much longer my coffee dream can persist; I only know I need to live, I need to eat.

@Nick Ning

Recruiting baristas 6,000+. Can I advertise? I am really short of staff.

@Friday Cafe

Even if you quit, the company will not go bankrupt, because its core backbone is still there. In the same company, why can others become core talent while you become the complaint bucket? Why do others not feel the wages and benefits are poor? What scenery you see depends on your position.

@Mr, Jun

I do not want to hear nonsense like "ability should be proportional to salary," because people who say this definitely have not worked at chain coffee shops like Starbucks. Try working there and you will understand how foolish that is. Clearly a skilled job, which you have described as technical, though Starbucks' pursuit of consistent taste really does not count as technical, and what we want is effort proportional to reward. Old employees can do supervisors' work but still get employees' pay; supervisors' wages are not much higher than employees' by a few hundred. What does ability have to do with salary? No one is a philanthropist, no one can live on sentiment forever. The first thing I need to be clear about when I go to work is that I am here to earn money. The profit of a cup of coffee is six times the cost of ingredients, while our salary is only three percent of the revenue we create. If this happened to you, I do not think you would say such noble words.

@Daphne

I think everyone is misled by the "teacher" character in "barista." In China and abroad, baristas are just waiters. Many people talk about low wages and having to do cleaning. This industry has a low barrier to entry, skills are easily replicated, and the profession itself is not highly valued. Doing cleaning and serving customers should be done, just as great chefs work their way up before apprentices help with cleanup. Everyone should wake up. If you want better treatment, first ask yourself if you have the ability.

@W!NG

McDonald's: I tried working 12-13 hours a day, five consecutive days, and when short-staffed, 13 days straight without breaks including night-to-morning shifts. After being promoted to manager I had to be on call anytime. Salary just over 3,000. Goodbye.

@JACK

Ridiculously, Starbucks also has regulations prohibiting partners from discussing salaries. As a university part-time partner, I immediately knew this would forever be my part-time job.

@ZhuanYan.

Every barista needs to juggle multiple roles. When I read that sentence, I almost cried. Besides my main job, I have two part-time jobs.

@WuMingXiaoBei

What barista? Our Jiangsu RDO Zhuang only comes to stores to clean toilets, requiring partners to stick their hands in the toilet bowl and scrub. For their own achievements, weekend food buy one get one free, buy two get one free, as long as you can sell it, anything goes.

COSTA's wages are higher than Starbucks. Another point, COSTA also gives raises.

@LT

I like Starbucks but the wages are not proportional to the effort, so I chose to leave.

@Connie-chan

Because of coffee, a 1,900 salary, I endured it for five years. Dreams are distant, put down the milk pitcher, became a front desk clerk, salary 4,500.

@AnAn

As a part-time partner, I still have to defend Starbucks. My store manager, supervisor and partners are all angels. They never force scheduling and are very understanding. My mentor is a super refined boy, everyone teaches you step by step, and partners are so tolerant you cannot imagine. Selling cards and pastries, everyone understands each other, please do not be too jealous.

@DengDeng

I want to know if these companies' coffee making has any technical content. All day complaining that companies do not offer coffee training, have you studied privately? All day complaining about low wages, have you seen how much value you have created? The heartfelt words of a diligent barista.

@Arno tsuji

Although I left Starbucks, during my tenure I was fortunate that those who trained me were all experts, with strict store managers, supervisors who controlled coffee quality and partners full of coffee skills. Now we are all scattered. I really miss the busyness and daily routine of that time, at least it was once perfect.

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