Inclusive coffee-making - our new KM workspace
Now begins what we have been preparing for ten months. Led by Jael Lützelschwab, we are building a new workspace that aims to make access to coffee knowledge and coffee as a field of work more accessible. We are focusing on various key areas.
- Coffee specialist training
- Inclusive workplaces within our own company
- More accessible coffee knowledge online and in our courses
Coffee specialist training
Together with Café Einzigartig and the Wydehöfli residential home in Arlesheim, we are conducting a six-month pilot coffee training course for people with support needs. The goal is to provide trainees with comprehensive, holistic, theoretical, and practical knowledge about coffee and train them as baristas. The pilot phase of the training is taking place with a closed group and will be evaluated with their caregivers after six months. Participants from the Wydehöfli residential home are taking part in the pilot phase. Subsequently, the course is intended to be opened up and conducted on a regular basis.
Completing the training provides the foundation to enter the workforce in the catering industry. Entry and placement are supported in cooperation with various partner institutions.
The course is led by our barista trainer Jael Lützelschwab and social pedagogue Claudia Glaser.
The pilot project is financed by Kaffeemacher:innen and Wydehöfli.
Update: The training has since been completed and the Baz reported on it.
Inclusive workplaces in our company
As a company, we have transitioned into a process where we are questioning ourselves in all work groups as to where we can create inclusive jobs. We have visited various companies and projects that are exemplary in this regard, such as the Restaurant Tanne in Schaffhausen. We want to learn from them and reorganize our work in the roastery, the gastronomy sector, and other areas.
We have recently been cautious about new gastronomy projects. Now, we have decided to found a new café that will have a strongly inclusive character from the start. This is still a vision for the future, and we will report more on this later.
More accessible coffee knowledge
Our coffee courses are occasionally attended by people with visual or hearing impairments. In these courses, we have learned a lot about how we can communicate better, more clearly, more slowly, or in a more structured way. We know that our YouTube videos are also watched by at least one person who listens to the content instead of seeing it. This person asked us to describe the texture of materials a bit more.
We have resolved to be more mindful with all our content and to develop some videos and courses that specifically break down barriers. We have several ideas for this and are open to suggestions and collaborations.
A first step is that we are consistently publishing all future videos with clean German subtitles.
Another step is that with Jael Lützelschwab, we now have a contact person on our team who is working for us to reflect and ensure that we improve.
Jael has years of experience as a barista in our cafés, has been successful in coffee championships, and is part of our gastronomic management. Most recently, she helped set up our shop in Switzerland as co-manager.
Contact for collaboration inquiries, suggestions, and interest: jael.luetzelschwab@kaffeemacher.ch
