I'll start by saying that I have almost no experience with this issue in the coffee business.
But I was recently hired by two cafes, and thought that I'd be able to keep both positions. I'd work one on the weekends(when they most needed it) and the other on the weekdays. Management at one of the two shops let me know that they considered this to be a "conflict of interest" and that it would be an unacceptable arrangement. I was surprised, but it was clear that I needed to decide between the two. Just to add a few details: both the shops are independent, they are about 12 miles apart, I'm not being hired specifically to train or manage either shop.
I'm not complaining, but I am curious to hear if this happens often. Have other baristas run into this issue? Has anyone really enjoyed working at two cafes? From an owner's perspective, are there real proprietary issues? I am starting to understand the perspective that says that cafe owners don't want to train their competition's employees. But I wonder what conditions are necessary for two cafes to be competitors. Is it proximity? aesthetic? coffee program? or just a zero-sum mentality?
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