How To Become A Cafe Associate: What It Is and Career Path

What is a cafe associate and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

A cafe associate is an employee that helps ensure optimal operations in the café. They perform a variety of administrative and support tasks, which typically include monitoring inventory, conducting quality control assessments, eliminating waste, and helping employees with specific issues.

On top of these duties, a cafe associate may also assist in the preparation of food and drinks. They may also perform the duties of a cashier or server, which often includes bussing tables, processing orders, interacting with guests, and serving food and drinks. A café associate typically reports to managers and owners regularly to keep them updated on the daily operations of the café.

Generally, a high school diploma or GED is enough to qualify for this position. However, most employers look for candidates with experience working in a cafe. In the absence of experience from a cafe, employers may consider experience from retail jobs or other positions that primarily involve customer service.

ScoreCafe AssociateUS Average

Salary

2.4

Avg. Salary $30,081

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

7.0

Growth Rate 14%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

2.9

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.85%

Asian 6.49%

Black or African American 9.64%

Hispanic or Latino 18.63%

Unknown 6.92%

White 57.47%

Gender

female 69.61%

male 30.39%

Age - 21

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 21

Stress Level

7.0

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

5.7

Complexity Level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

9.7

Work Life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a cafe associate

Explore cafe associate education requirements

Most common cafe associate degrees

High School Diploma

46.3 %

Associate

21.2 %

Bachelor's

17.1 %

Start to develop specific cafe associate skills

Skills	Percentages
Safety Standards	31.79%
Food Service	30.42%
Groceries	13.40%
SAM	7.17%
Dishwashers	3.07%

Complete relevant cafe associate training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New cafe associates learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a cafe associate based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real cafe associate resumes.

Research cafe associate duties and responsibilities

tip counting and figuring for employees.
Prepare and serve specialty coffee drinks, smoothies and teas.
Better than average wine knowledge, both old and new world.
Train in all areas of retail including point of sale (POS), shipping and handling.

Prepare your cafe associate resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your cafe associate resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a cafe associate resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Cafe Associate Resume templates

Build a professional Cafe Associate resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Cafe Associate resume.

Apply for cafe associate jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a cafe associate job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do cafe associates rate their job?

-/5

5 Stars

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1 Star

Cafe Associate reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Dec 2021

Pros

A total time you spend knowing and communicate and get attachment to the clients

Cons

Leaving work when it's time to leave

A zippia user wrote a review on Jun 2019