A few months ago the shop that I work at has been bought out by people who live down the street from the old owners. As soon as they took over, they started fixing things that needed to be fixed for a long time.
After a while of fixing things, I think that the new owners realized just how much work it would be for them to completely fix the store. They also have not had any sort of coffee shop experience and know nothing about what it is like to work behind the counter. (The previous owners worked at least once a week behind the counters for 15 years).
I find that even though a lot of the baristas still care about coffee, the newer people are having a hard time getting into it. With the old owners it was easy because they loved coffee and loved learning anything that they could about it. That sort of attitude rubbed off on us and everyone that was new to the business. The baristas were happy and that kept the customers coming.
At the moment, the new owners are really only concerned about fixing up the store and making more money in return for what they have spent fixing it. To do that, they have switched out a lot of what I loved about the store. The food is from sysco instead of being made at a small shop somewhere (which is what we had ALWAYS done). They have changed things around that make things very inconvenient for the staff and customers so that they can max their profits.
Hopefully, all of this won't be forever. At the moment, I am having a very hard time trying to deal with the added stress of someone that I am working for being really stressed out. I have never seen my manager as stressed in her life either. Going to work used to be a lot of fun for me and now I get stressed out and a little sad every time I have to wake up for work.
I would really hate to see the company turn into something that people aren't going to like. It is hard to talk to stressed out owners about coffee and how to make it when that isn't what they want to hear. (At least, not at the moment..i hope.) The way that they treat the employees is a little too close to corporate businesses. They tend to not tell the staff anything that they need and get after the managers when they have a problem. I have worked for a corporate business once before and hated it.
I guess I just had to vent a little bit. I don't want to dislike this change. Maybe it is time to move on to another shop?