I have now been working at The Flour Pot for seven years. I started off as a part time untrained barista during my last year of university. I was coached by the Head Barista at the time and slowly became more confident in my abilities. I graduated from university and decided that I wanted to work full time at The Flour Pot and from here I nervously developed into a supervisor. Within a matter of months, I was asked to take over the role of acting manager until the position was permanently filled. After a few weeks however, I knew that I wanted to take over the site myself. I had lots of concerns about my ability and doubted myself regularly but my Operations Manager guided me through every step. 

Since then, I've been lucky enough to continue to expand and develop new skills and face new challenges and opportunities. I took on the role of Duel Site Manager and managed both our Elm Grove and Sydney Street stores. During this time I was also responsible for managing our ‘Flexi’ staff and training new supervisors from across the estate. I loved the opportunity I had been given to learn and develop myself and I was determined to prove I was capable of more.

Within the last year, I also gained the responsibility of assisting our Head of HR with training and development. This came in many forms whether that be spending days training supervisors, creating and running group training sessions for our middle managers, or working alongside specific Assistant Managers or General Managers to help them take on their next challenge or develop into their role. I was thrilled when it was suggested that the business would fund me enrolling onto a CIPD in People Practise. I have learnt so much from this course when it comes to the importance of people professionals and the role they play in helping develop a business.

Although I love working hands-on to help develop our teams and watch them grow, it was during this time that I started to notice my passion for tracking numbers, problem solving and developing operational efficiencies and functions grow. I spoke with my operations manager and asked if I could shadow some of her work and eventually started assisting with lower end operational tasks.

Now I am unbelievably excited to start on a new adventure within my Flour Pot journey as I have been offered the role of Operations Manager (in training). The fact that my skill set, efforts and ability to produce results has been recognised and nurtured makes me feel so valued and motivated. The next few months are all about expanding my knowledge on the areas of the role that I have not ventured into before and demonstrating my abilities with the support of and to the rest of the senior team.

It still feels crazy to me that all that time ago I was so nervous to start my part time barista role wondering how I would ever learn to make a quality coffee or produce beautiful latte art. But now, seven years later and with the support of so many people, I’ve gone further than I ever thought I would go and have loved every minute. I can’t wait to see what’s next.