Brooklyn Tea’s Recipe for a Thriving Office: Brewing an Unstoppable Crew
Within the bustling streets of Brooklyn, New York, there’s an area enterprise in Bedford-Stuyvesant that’s brewing up extra than simply nice tea – they’re crafting a recipe for an distinctive office. Brooklyn Tea was based by Alfonso Ali Wright and Jamila Wright, a husband-and-wife duo enthusiastic about creating an area the place each clients and workers really feel valued, heard, and a part of one thing particular.
The story of Brooklyn Tea begins with the couple’s personal journey. Jamila discovered a kindred spirit in Alfonso who comes from a Jamaican household the place tea was a staple morning and night time. All through their relationship, he helped deepen her appreciation for the beverage. “You make these stunning pots and cups of tea with cinnamon sticks on the backside, and it felt so romantic, and it was such an genuine technique to get to know one another,” Jamila recollects. “It actually was the beginning of us enthusiastic about how we may replicate this skill to commune and get to know one another over tea within the type of a enterprise.”
Of their humble one-bedroom condo in Brooklyn, the couple started brewing up their dream. “We simply knew that this can be a enterprise that’s useful for the group and is attention-grabbing sufficient that we may do it perpetually,” says Jamila.
In December 2018, Brooklyn Tea formally opened its doorways on Ocean Avenue, inviting clients to discover the huge and engaging world of tea. However for Jamila and Alfonso, Brooklyn Tea was at all times about fostering a way of group, each amongst their clients and inside their crew.
Constructing a office rooted in belief and shared accountability.
Drawing on Jamila’s expertise as an educator, the couple got down to construct a office rooted in belief, bonding, and a shared sense of accountability. They understood that if you put money into your individuals and create an atmosphere the place everybody feels valued and heard, you lay the inspiration for an unstoppable crew.
“You’ll have your mission and your marketing strategy, however what’s the plan to essentially execute that and make it stay and breathe honestly along with your employees and your crew? And the way would you like your employees to really feel listened to and brought care of,” Jamila explains.
Streamlining operations with Homebase.
About two years into the enterprise, the couple acknowledged the necessity to discover a extra environment friendly technique to handle their crew and operations. Like many small enterprise homeowners, they discovered themselves grappling with the challenges of scheduling, payroll, and communication. “
We had been penning this weekly schedule on a calendar that was smudged and folks’s names would disappear or reappear,” Jamila recollects. “It was actually a really pathetic scenario.”
Happily, certainly one of their crew members launched Homebase to them. Since then, Brooklyn Tea has been leveraging the every thing app to supercharge their each day duties.
With places in New York and Georgia, Homebase helps the couple talk to maintain the crew in sync and on monitor. “Somebody in management sends the crew our priorities for the day, which form of helps them to know what they’re stepping into at present. But additionally, every crew member sends an replace after their shift. So we all know precisely what was completed, what wasn’t completed, how the day went if we’re not there,” Jamila explains. “So it simply actually makes certain that every one of us are- cohesive. Cohesive in any respect factors.”
Along with the communication the crew has with one another, the couple are additionally in a position to monitor how a lot they paid for labor for the day and the way a lot cash the shop made. This has allowed the homeowners to step again and let their crew take extra possession of their roles.
“Homebase has been an enormous assist for our crew to permit for extra work-life stability and adaptability,” shares Jamila. By utilizing Homebase’s scheduling and time-off request options, Brooklyn Tea has given their crew the instruments to handle their very own availability. Their crew can swap shifts within the app and resolve scheduling points with out having to go to a supervisor for assist.”If you’re not caught to that very analog calendar, they’ve extra company and so they have extra empowerment to drawback resolve on their very own,” Jamila notes.
However it’s not simply concerning the sensible advantages – it’s about fostering a way of belief and togetherness. “It helps us join. I ship messages by means of it rather a lot,” Jamila explains. Whether or not it’s a employees assembly reminder or a shout-out for a job effectively completed, Homebase’s built-in messaging retains everybody within the loop and feeling valued.
Making data-driven selections.
The Homebase reporting options have additionally been invaluable. Alfonso significantly appreciates the on-time arrival report, which has helped them deal with attendance points in a extra goal, data-driven means. “When you’re in a enterprise, doing 1,000,000 issues, you kinda discover issues, however you don’t have it written down,” he says. “However then we’re doing a check-in and displaying your worker, ‘hey, you’re on time 37% of the time, we have to repair this, proper?’ It’s means higher than ‘you’re at all times late.’”
The platform has additionally helped Brooklyn Tea maintain a more in-depth eye on their labor prices. “Trade requirements for probably the most half is to maintain your labor at about 30% of gross sales. And earlier than Homebase, we weren’t conserving monitor of that by any means,” Jamila admits. Now the couple have a keener eye on how a lot labor is used for various days and what it prices them. “That has actually helped us to make higher selections shifting ahead,” she provides.
Supporting the entire particular person.
The couple’s assist for his or her crew goes past supporting their staff’ well-being within the retailer. Jamila and Alfonso make a degree of attending their staff’ performs, artwork exhibits, live shows, and open mics, and even showcasing their crew’s artwork within the retailer.
“What you’ll see at Brooklyn Tea is that individuals are extra goal-oriented versus task-oriented. It’s not nearly punching out and in the clock, it’s about how we will actually make our group really feel seen, really feel dignified. They’re actually purchased into what we’re making an attempt to perform as a result of they know the care is just not solely on the receiving facet for the client, but it surely’s additionally behind the bar.”
Jamila and Alfonso beam with pleasure once they hear from their clients who rave about their crew.
“We get emails, texts, critiques on a regular basis of people who find themselves simply enamored with our crew, who simply love them to loss of life, and who ask about them,” Alfonso explains.
“It makes me actually joyful that we, effectively Jamila, selected the suitable individuals and that our group loves the folks that we’ve chosen to serve them.”
“We love when our crew feels motivated and empowered to make these shifts, with out the notice, pun supposed. And I feel that’s what we’re actually happy with is what they do when nobody’s watching,” Jamila provides.
Brewing up success, one cup at a time.
At present, Brooklyn Tea has expanded to incorporate a second location in Atlanta, a thriving on-line retail presence, and a rising wholesale enterprise. Regardless of this progress, Jamila and Alfonso stay dedicated to the values which have guided them from the beginning – a ardour for group, a curiosity for the huge world of tea, and a deep appreciation for the facility of human connection.
With Homebase, they’ve been in a position to streamline their operations, make data-driven selections, and foster a tradition of belief, flexibility, and possession. “Homebase means that you can rapidly do a factor that you simply’re most likely not nice at. Scheduling and communication as a frontrunner is at all times one of many hardest elements and this makes it somewhat simpler,” Jamila shares. “So you will get again to mixing your tea or making your muffins or no matter it’s you do in enterprise.”
As they proceed to brew up success, one cup at a time, Brooklyn Tea is proof that with a shared imaginative and prescient, numerous experiences, and a dedication to placing individuals first, even probably the most humble beginnings can result in a unprecedented office.