An Aberdeen coffee firm has expanded its training for budding baristas into secondary schools across the north-east.
Caber Coffee is working with a growing number of schools, providing equipment and valuable know-how to help them deliver vital training for SQA barista qualifications.
Schools across Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Moray, Angus and Tayside are offering the vocational course.
For some pupils, the scheme has already led to part-time jobs.
Other students have now left school and used the lessons as a springboard to full-time roles.
After all the turmoil of the last two years, we believe we should be driven to offer every opportunity possible to those young people that have missed out on so much.”
Findlay Leask, managing director, Caber Coffee.
It follows Caber Coffee signing up to the Young Persons’ Guarantee (YPG) earlier this year.
YPG is an employer-led initiative that was launched by the Scottish Government in November 2020 as part of measures to boost Scotland’s economic recovery after Covid.
It brings together employers, partners and young people to give those aged 16-24 the chance of a job, apprenticeship, further or higher education, training, volunteering, or an enterprise opportunity.
For Caber Coffee, joining the programme formalised an ethos written into the corporate DNA of the decades-old business.
The Holburn Street-based firm boasts what is believed to be the UK’s most northerly barista training centre, launched six years ago.
Such has been the demand, the facility is nowadays open only to customers from the retail sector looking to improve their competence in serving the perfect cup of coffee.
Holistic view
While it may have been easier for Caber Coffee to simply serve great beverages and leave it at that, the business takes a broader, more holistic view of coffee-making.
This includes its Spill the Beans fundraising initiative, which highlights the mental health benefits of chatting over a cup of coffee.
For every case of Spill the Beans coffee sold, £8 is donated to Mental Health Aberdeen.
Caber Coffee managing director Findlay Leask said: “Setting up the coffee academy was really an extension of the customer commitment which has been in place since day one.
“It’s an important additional way of helping customers to understand the product, taking it beyond a simple business transaction.
“The hope was they would help us by using the product and equipment well, and in doing so realise the full potential.
“In turn, they would help themselves by serving up the best possible cup to positively impact their own bottom line – and reputation for great coffee.”
Mr Leask added: “I guess the inspiration was to try and get people as enthusiastic about coffee as some wine or whisky drinkers are about their tipple – and it worked.
“The timing was spot on because in the intervening years there has been a lot of focus placed on coffee origins, provenance and taste.
“This has empowered coffee drinkers and sellers to sit up and pay attention to what’s in their cup, and it’s great to be part of that.
“From that and in developing what was already a long-standing and very intentional commitment to education it was natural for us to seek ways of firing the imagination of the next generation.”
Inspiration in a cup
Family-run Caber wanted to inspire budding young baristas and shine a light on “amazing opportunities” in the hospitality sector, Mr Leask said.
He added: “That led to us sort of formalising of our work through the Young Persons Guarantee.
“After all the turmoil of the last two years, we believe we should be driven to offer every opportunity possible to those young people that have missed out on so much.
“For employers like Caber Coffee, being able to demonstrate positivity and encouragement to young people entering the workforce is an exciting chance to be involved in helping them find their place in the world.
“The importance of collaborating with others to create these opportunities must never be underestimated.”
Launched in 1988, Caber Coffee is an independent wholesale supplier of quality ground coffee, beans, teas and vending ingredients.
The company also stocks machines and accessories for the catering and hospitality industry.
Conversation