Is Blue Bottle Coffee a good company to work for?

Blue Bottle Coffee has an overall rating of 3.4 out of 5, based on over 549 reviews left anonymously by employees. This rating has been stable over the past 12 months. 50% of employees would recommend working at Blue Bottle Coffee to a friend and 57% have a positive outlook for the business. The best reviews about Blue Bottle Coffee have been left by employees working as Lead Barista , Cashier/Barista and Barista .

Does Blue Bottle Coffee pay their employees well?

According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, Blue Bottle Coffee employees rate their compensation and benefits as 3.2 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at Blue Bottle Coffee. This rating has been stable over the past 12 months.

How satisfied are employees working at Blue Bottle Coffee?

50% of Blue Bottle Coffee employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews . Employees also rated Blue Bottle Coffee 3.4 out of 5 for work life balance, 3.3 for culture and values and 2.8 for career opportunities.

What are the top reviewed jobs at Blue Bottle Coffee?

Barista (300) , Cashier/Barista (29) , Shift Lead (17) , Lead Barista (13) , Cafe Leader (Store/General Manager) (9) , Cafe Barista (8) , Assistant cafe leader (7) , Assistant Manager (6) , Senior Barista (6) , Cafe Lead (4) , Shift Supervisor (4) , Baker (3) , Barista, Shift Supervisor (3) , Cafe Leader (3) , Manager (3)

What are the pros of working at Blue Bottle Coffee according to real employee reviews?

"Good Free Coffee & Owner was friendly" ((in 46 reviews)); "Benefits are good and the connections made help upward movement" ((in 46 reviews)); "Coworkers are great" ((in 33 reviews)); "I loved working and there are many great people" ((in 33 reviews)); "Fun fast paced environment with decent pay." ((in 31 reviews))

What are the cons of working at Blue Bottle Coffee according to real employee reviews?

"no raises, poor management, no advancement in the company, baristas treated as very disposable, hours cut very regularly." ((in 37 reviews)); "Upper management {above store manager} are really far removed from the barista position, and yet will come into the store and critique your abilities...when they arent even able to do it themselves." ((in 11 reviews)); "Work life balance can be challenging at times" ((in 6 reviews)); "Long hours" ((in 6 reviews)); "Chaotic communication, schedule conflicts" ((in 6 reviews))

What are the top reviewed Blue Bottle Coffee locations?

New York , San Francisco , Los Angeles , Oakland , Boston , Washington , Chicago , Palo Alto , Berkeley , Brooklyn , San Diego , San Mateo , San Jose , Sacramento , Newport Beach , Santa Monica , West Sacramento , Woodland Hills , Malibu , Pasadena , Brentwood , Midtown New York , Dallas , Beverly Hills , Orange , Studio City , Richmond , South San Francisco , Union City , Pullman

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Blue Bottle Coffee

Blue Bottle Coffee reviews

3.4

50% would recommend to a friend

(541 total reviews)

Karl Strovink

42% approve of CEO

57% positive business outlook

Ratings by category

3.8

Diversity & inclusion

3.4

Work/Life balance

3.3

Culture & values

3.2

Compensation and benefits

2.8

Career opportunities

2.7

Senior management

Blue Bottle Coffee has an employee rating of 3.4 out of 5 stars, based on 541 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Blue Bottle Coffee employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Retail & Wholesale industry (3.5 stars).

Ratings by demographic groups

Race / Ethnicity

Gender

Sexual orientation

Disability

Parent or family caregiver

Veteran status

Reviews by job title

541 reviews

3.0

Jun 18, 2014

Great place to work if you want to work in coffee for the rest of your life.

Barista

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

They spend a lot of time training you, I mean hours! So if you love coffee you will definitely get a world of new knowledge. They offer benefits and have a very tight community.

Cons

If you don't drink their punch (or coffee, rather) than you are quickly seen as an outsider. They are too focused on their brand. I worked with a new manager at the time who was trying to prove themselves to the people above. They were coming from the right place, but at the end of the day they were a terrible manager. They pride themselves on all of their managers and administrators as starting as baristas - but what they don't recognize is that admin/managers need completely different skill sets than barista's.

2.0

Jan 26, 2017

Barista

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Great health care benefits Employee discount allows free coffee at all locations worldwide

Cons

CONSTANT company changes & policies Apparent FAVORITISM in upper management & HR making it impossible to move up within company Pay & raises do not match individual employees worth ethic or skills

3.0

Oct 30, 2022

no ethics behind this so called “ethical” company

Barista

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

- I’ve met really cool people and became really good friends with my coworkers. They’ll probably be some of my life long friends. - paid time off, paid sick time, commuter benefits - the pay is good but only when the location is understaffed (which means more stress & exhaustion for you)

Cons

- awful upper management; no ethics, not a soul behind the eyes of people in upper management - company does not care about you at all—they will treat you like garage and will tell barista staff that they are replaceable. - no room for growth. baristas/cafe managers will put in countless hours, lose sleep, skip breaks, stress, etc over this job, but the company will still view them as stupid, wrong, replacable, not good enough. essentially, you will not get recognition for all your hard work, actually get told you’re not doing enough, despite everything you have done that was far above your pay grade. - customers will treat you like you’re an object with no feelings, and company will not care and actually penalize you for standing up for yourself. - upper management will instruct employees to do the impossible yet still requires them to open on time and perfectly - cutting hours with no warning - favoritism within management - manipulative upper management

Viewing 10 - 12 of 541 Reviews

Jobs at Blue Bottle Coffee

Leader in Training - New York

Cafe Leader - South Bay

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Great place to work if you want to work in coffee for the rest of your life.

Barista

no ethics behind this so called “ethical” company

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