Training Causes a Stir in The Coffee Shop!

Twelve members of staff from The Coffee Shop based in St. Paul’s Church, Walsall, have recently been presented with certificates for success on a range of work based NVQs, delivered by Walsall College.

The Coffee Shop at The Crossings provides a unique and friendly place to meet in the heart of the town centre. Co-managers of The Coffee Shop, Michelle Mitchell and Mike Mannick, decided get the company involved in the training as they are passionate about providing excellent customer service and developing training opportunities for their team.

A Business Account Manager from Walsall College visited the coffee shop to discuss a training and development solution. The result was a training programme which met the needs of the business and the team.

All staff have successfully achieved their qualifications, and their framed certificates are displayed in a prominent position on the walls of the coffee shop for everyone to see.

Tina Rees, Walsall College Assessor, said: “I have been assessing staff at The Coffee Shop for over 12 months now and so far between them the team there have achieved seven Customer Service Level 2 qualifications, a Management Level 3 and two Business Administration Level 2 qualifications. I am now in the process of working with the final three members of staff on Customer Service Level 2. The team are very fortunate to have a supportive manager who strongly believes in and encourages self development.

“Working with such a diverse group of people in terms of age, background, academic ability and self belief, has been enriching due to their determination and commitment to achieving their qualifications. I know that they are all very proud of their achievements.”

Tracey Longden, Catering Assistant, who achieved a customer service qualification said: “The customer care course was very helpful as it highlighted areas of my job that I sometimes overlook and take for granted. The assessor was very helpful and supportive.”

Michelle, Coffee Shop Joint Manager, commented: “My staff are a little more mature and they were all a bit reluctant to take part at first, as they had not done NVQ training before. However, they really enjoyed the onsite training, as much of what they were doing for their course related directly to their job. The familiar surroundings also helped motivate staff to learn.

“The benefit of onsite training is that staff can do their training whilst in the workplace. We only have a small team of people, therefore if too many people were out on training days, we would struggle to cope with the day to day running of the business.

“Because all of the staff have done the training, it has boosted their awareness of good customer service, something that we all sometimes take for granted. It has definitely boosted their confidence and I think that they are all proud of themselves as are we, the Managers.

“We would definitely consider more onsite training with Walsall College and are interested in pursuing basic computer courses in the future.”