Starbucks Korea said on the 23rd that it has completed its first senior barista training of the second half and will begin in earnest to cultivate senior baristas.
On the 20th, Starbucks held about three hours of senior barista training for 20 older adults at the Gunpo Senior Club in Gunpo, Gyeonggi Province.
The training is part of a senior barista job support program that Starbucks, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and the Korea Senior Club Association have continued since 2019.
The second-half training, resumed after about three months, saw applications that began on the 24th of last month close in two days on a first-come, first-served basis, Starbucks said. Starting with this training, it plans to run more than 30 programs through December.
The average age of participants in this training is 65. The training covered everything from basic practice such as coffee extraction, milk steaming, and latte art to theory including major coffee-growing regions and flavor characteristics by origin.
Recruitment has also begun for the senior barista latte art competition. The senior barista latte art competition began in 2022 and marks its fifth edition this year. In last year's competition, about 100 senior baristas working at cafes affiliated with the Korea Senior Club Association took part in the preliminaries.
In addition, Starbucks held an agreement ceremony last month to open a co-prosperity training center with the Korea Senior Club Association and is preparing to open a second senior barista co-prosperity training center. The first co-prosperity training center is located at the Gunpo Senior Club.
Starbucks plans to expand the senior barista job support program by supporting the interior and related incidental expense of the new training center.
Shin Dong-woo, CEO of Starbucks, said, "Senior barista training is meaningful because it helps older adults build their capabilities as baristas through professional coffee education and connect that to real job opportunities," adding, "Including the opening of a new co-prosperity training center, we will continue sincere social contribution activities for older adults and local communities."