Making coffee inclusive - our new CM workspace
Now begins what we've been preparing for ten months. Under the leadership of Jael Lützelschwab, we are building a new workspace that aims to make access to coffee knowledge and coffee as a field of work more barrier-free. We are focusing on several key areas.
- Coffee specialist training
- Inclusive workplaces in our own company
- More barrier-free coffee knowledge online and in our courses
Coffee specialist training
Together with Café Einzigartig and the Wydehöfli residential home in Arlesheim, we are conducting a six-month pilot coffee training course for people with support needs. The goal is to provide trainees with comprehensive, holistic, theoretical and practical knowledge about coffee and to train them as baristas. The pilot phase of the training takes place with a closed group and will be evaluated after six months with the participants' support persons. During the pilot phase, participants from the Wydehöfli residential home are taking part. Subsequently, the course will be opened and conducted regularly.
Upon completion of the training, the foundation is created to take up a job in the gastronomy sector. In cooperation with various partner institutions, entry and placement are supported.
The course is led by our barista trainer Jael Lützelschwab and social pedagogue Claudia Glaser.
The pilot project is funded by the Kaffeemacher:innen and the Wydehöfli.
Update: In the meantime, the training has been completed and the Baz reported.
Inclusive workplaces in our company
As a company, we have entered into a process in which we question ourselves across all work groups about where we can create inclusive workplaces. We have visited various companies and projects that work exemplarily in this area, such as the Restaurant Tanne in Schaffhausen. We want to learn from them and reorganize our work in the roastery, gastronomy, and other areas.
We have been hesitant about new gastronomy projects recently. Now we have decided to open a new café that will have a strongly inclusive character from the start. This is still music of the future and we will report more about it later.
More barrier-free coffee knowledge
Our coffee courses are occasionally attended by people with limited vision or hearing. In these courses, we have learned a lot about how we can communicate better, more clearly, more slowly, or more structurally. We know that our YouTube videos are also watched by at least one person who hears the content but does not see it. This person has made the request to us to describe the texture of materials a bit more.
We have committed to becoming more aware of all content and also to develop some videos and courses that specifically break down barriers. We have some ideas for this and are open to ideas and collaborations.
A first step is that we will consistently publish all future videos with clean subtitles in German.
Another step is that we now have Jael Lützelschwab as a contact person on our team who works for us to reflect and help us improve.
Jael has years of experience as a barista in our cafés, was successful at coffee championships, and is part of our gastronomy management. Most recently, as co-leader, she built up our shop in Switzerland.
Contact for cooperation requests, suggestions, and inquiries: jael.luetzelschwab@kaffeemacher.ch
