Heads-Down Service is Plaguing the Industry

Try, for a moment, looking up. Right now, wherever you are reading this, simply shift your gaze up. Survey what’s above you, eyes moving Left then Right. What do you see? Are you inside or outside? Does this feel like relief to your eyes, perhaps to your neck? 

Now, more than ever, we keep our gaze locked below us, glued to screens. Our necks, short term vision, and brains suffer the consequences, as do our digits that continue to mindlessly scroll. It’s really no fault of our own, our Dopamine Reward System has never faced such an easy or attractive way to get “hits” than they do now in the Smart Phone era. You’ve doubtlessly read much about this over time, although one area I’ve yet to see a lot of conversation around this topic is how this is impacting Service in fast-casual restaurants, coffee shops, and cafes.

I remember learning the basics of Service and Hospitality and being mindful of a “Heads Up” style of service, constantly making sure that your surroundings are cared for, that eye contact is happening with guests, and communication is kept up with your co-workers. In any bar, kitchen line, or on the floor of any restaurant, this simple mentality is crucial to optimal workflow and creating a great guest experience. It’s a very simple idea, but very important.

Even then, before we were all addicted to our devices, staying “Heads Up” had its challenges when working in a coffee shop. Monitoring shots, tamping, steaming milk - all these tasks required focus and looking down for best execution. The mark of a great barista was not just balancing the variables of the technical aspects of the work, it was also doing so while maintaining eye contact with guests, smiling through anything, and communicating effortlessly with your fellow team members. When all of that comes together, there is an intangible buzz to a place that is so much fun to work in. This buzz is also felt working on the Line, serving Guests with table-side service, operating a busy rush behind a Bar. It’s a blast when it all comes together.

The issue today is that simple “Heads Up” baseline is harder and harder for the modern worker to achieve, largely in part to our never-ending pull to “the screen” in our day-to-day lives. I am as guilty of it as anyone, perhaps this is why it irks me so. In managing cafes, it was always my standard to keep cell phones in lockers, with team members able to check them on their breaks. I wanted every person working to be fully present and in-the-moment, mindful of their movements, and connected to their environment. Over the years, this practice became more and more controversial amongst team members I’d manage, who simply couldn’t imagine going an entire hour without checking. Their visible anxiety away from that pull also impacted their ability to deliver Service, the distraction clear across their face.

When I go into coffee bars nowadays, it’s rare that I feel seen or validated as a Guest. I see baristas focused on their tasks, or whipping out their phones at the first sign of a break in the action. I have been with friends where people in our party need to ask the same question multiple times before the person behind the counter even registers the question. All of this leads one to feel pretty hollow. Couple that with the function of coffee shops being WiFi hubs for those parking laptops and what was once a vibrant, community-focused space is somewhere between a Library and “Drink Factory” with little warmth or atmosphere. More effort is focused on architectural elements, with many places looking gorgeous, but missing the Soul and intangible elements of what matters most: the connections we make with other people.

Let’s go back to the first paragraph in this piece. Let’s look up. An interesting thing happens in our brains when we do so, it actually engages our Dopamine system in positive ways. It feels like a cool bath for our brain and can help engage our imagination. It’s the same sensation that enables the dreamers to think about new possibilities, for scientists to imagine cosmic origins, where inventors create, musicians play, artists conceive. It brings our awareness to the New. It is a simple counter-balance to the incessant looking down we all do each and every day.

Connecting this back to the cafe world, how do we re-engage our team members, guests, and community to look up, forward, and to another human being instead of their laptop, mobile phone, or daily distraction? We must think radically and dare to do something totally foreign to our modern society - we must live in the Present moment.