Pros
The product was fun to make and learn about - the company really stresses knowing about each individual coffee and understanding the process of how coffee is made. It was fun to learn and challenge myself with sales. Team members' compensation isn't based on sales, but managers would regularly let us know how our store was doing in our district, and how our district was doing company-wide, which helped with motivation to succeed as a team. Caribou wants you to make a connection with every guest and express your unique personality. I was always pushed to keep getting better at what I did. I loved learning guests' drinks and chatting with regulars.
Cons
I appreciate the Rainforest Alliance initiative but a farmers co-op would be better (like Equal Exchange has), as would the across-the-board use of organic coffee, milk and teas. Even though individual store managers were awesome, morale in the district was pretty low and a lot of time managers are put in tough situations and forced to hire or keep team members that just didn't care or didn't make any effort to do a good job, show up on time, follow standard operating procedures, etc. So that's frustrating, but overall it's a fun work environment and everybody tries to work as a team. It's also hard to know you're serving something that's not really the best for people to be consuming a ton of - when people get the same giant, caffeinated, fat-filled drink every single day - it's good for sales but it's not good for them!! And it's hard to hand that over every day to someone you have come to care about when they're a regular. Once in a while, okay, go for the large with half n half and whipped cream and two extra shots but, man! I know it's not my fault or Caribou's that people regularly order, pay for, and consume those types of drinks but it's hard to feel great about it all the time. That being said, I really did appreciate the variety of products and the effort Caribou puts in to making the quality good as well.