But what exactly is a barista competition? A barista competition is an event in which people compete to produce the best espresso-based coffee drinks.
The top 20 baristas from across all branches went head-to-head and they were only given five minutes to prepare and serve their masterpieces to three independent Judges. The panelist of judges comprised of Managing Director at Fine Brands Eve-Tendai Mpofu, Training Coordinator at Retail Group Isaac Ranonyana and founder of Casious Café Casious Ntona who is also a former barista at Wimpy. The 10 stores were represented by one manager and barista each. The branches included Game city, Western Bypass, Riverwalk, CBD, Airport Junction, Maun, Palapye, Mahalapye, Francistown and Orapa.
Speaking during the competition, Wimpy Botswana Marketing Manager, Reginald Kefitlhile said as management, they have used this competition platform as means to try enhance the passion in their baristas and keep the spirit of this unique skill alive. Said Kefitlhile, “Through the barista competition we aim to encourage continuous improvement as there is an added competitive element. We believe our baristas will want to spend as much time as possible perfecting their skills and coffee experience for our customers.”
“The focus of the challenge is to up-skill, motivate and identify the store's top baristas as there is always room for improvement. We consider the competition a useful reward and recognition tool, which is a great motivator for our barristers to go over and beyond just offering coffee or a service, which contributes to encouraging their dedication to our stores and the brand,” Kefitlhile concluded.
Next year, Wimpy hopes to take the competition a notch further by participating in regional competitions. Yolanda Kenosi, Koketso Moatshe and Orapeleng Oitsile are the top three baristas for 2022.
