Big League Food Company
Barista Trainer
Description
About the Role
This role supports coffee quality, training, and new store openings across the BLFC retail network. The core purpose is to keep our coffee program consistent, professional, and scalable as we grow Dark Horse, Dear Grain, Village Juicery, and future café locations.
Big League Food Company exists to scale the best local food brands into regional leaders while preserving product quality, brand integrity, and community focus. Coffee is a key part of that promise. This role protects the standards customers experience every day - including espresso dial-in, milk steaming, latte art, filter brew, matcha and overall coffee and tea service.
We are looking for a strong coffee professional who combines technical bar skills with teaching ability, organization, and leadership. The right person is accountable, proactive, comfortable moving between stores and brands, and energized by helping teams improve. This position is for an existing vacancy.
Responsibilities
- Training & Onboarding: Lead recurring barista and manager training, including Barista Academy / Coffee 101, espresso dial-in and troubleshooting, café refreshers, new hire onboarding, and new store opening support.
- Training Materials & SOPs: Maintain coffee training decks, Ringlet materials, café SOPs, recipe cards, and brand-specific resources across Dark Horse, Dear Grain, Village Juicery, and future locations.
- Program Tracking & Reporting: Maintain a monthly training calendar, track employee training status, and share follow-up notes so managers and senior leaders understand priorities and progress.
- Store Quality & Execution: Conduct structured café visits and spot checks, including espresso and filter dial-in reviews, refractometer testing, milk texture, latte art, equipment use, and on-bar workflow feedback.
- Coffee Culture & Education: Support Sip & Slurp, manager tastings, team learning sessions, and other education moments that build pride, consistency, and confidence across the café network.
- Cross-Functional & Menu Rollout Support: Work with café managers, senior retail leaders, operations, training partners, and marketing where coffee training, launch support, or in-store execution requires follow-through. Provide input on beverage launches without owning the full seasonal beverage development process.
Qualifications
- Strong working knowledge of espresso, filter coffee, milk steaming, dial-in, café equipment, and on-bar workflow.
- Experience training baristas or café teams, with the ability to teach clearly across different skill levels.
- Organized, dependable, and able to manage calendars, training records, follow-up notes, and basic reporting across multiple locations.
- Positive culture builder who can raise standards without making teams feel policed or discouraged.
- Retail café experience required. Flexible schedule required, including occasional weekend training and travel outside downtown Toronto.
Schedule & Pay
- Part-time, approximately 8-10 days per month, with potential to grow
- Pay: $25/hour
Location & Travel
The role should be based in or near downtown Toronto, with most training held centrally. Training may continue at First Canadian Place on weekends in the near term and shift to a central BLFC training room as available. The role should assume regular GTA travel and approximately two days per month outside the Toronto core.
What We Offer
- Real ownership over coffee training and quality across a growing multi-brand café network.
- A hands-on role with visibility across operations, retail leadership, and brand teams.
- Potential to grow as business needs increase, with access to BLFC products and team learning opportunities.
We are committed to equal employment opportunity and respect, value and welcome diversity in
our workplace. In accordance with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 and
the Ontario Human Rights Code, accommodation will be provided to candidates with disabilities
during the recruitment and selection process. If you are invited to participate in the process and
require an accommodation, please let us know in advance.
Compensation
$25.00 per hour