Brooklyn Tea’s Recipe for a Thriving Office: Brewing an Unstoppable Group
Within the bustling streets of Brooklyn, New York, there’s a neighborhood 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 keen about creating an area the place each clients and staff 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 method to get to know one another,” Jamila recollects. “It actually was the beginning of us occupied with how we might replicate this capacity 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 it is a enterprise that’s useful for the neighborhood and is fascinating sufficient that we might do it perpetually,” says Jamila.
In December 2018, Brooklyn Tea formally opened its doorways on Ocean Avenue, inviting clients to discover the huge and interesting world of tea. However for Jamila and Alfonso, Brooklyn Tea was at all times about fostering a way of neighborhood, each amongst their clients and inside their staff.
Constructing a office rooted in belief and shared duty.
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 duty. They understood that while you spend money on your folks and create an surroundings the place everybody feels valued and heard, you lay the muse for an unstoppable staff.
“You could have your mission and your marketing strategy, however what’s the plan to essentially execute that and make it dwell and breathe in truth together with your workers and your staff? And the way would you like your workers 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 method to handle their staff 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 other people’s names would disappear or reappear,” Jamila recollects. “It was actually a really pathetic state of affairs.”
Fortuitously, one in every of their staff members launched Homebase to them. Since then, Brooklyn Tea has been leveraging the every little thing app to supercharge their each day duties.
With places in New York and Georgia, Homebase helps the couple talk to maintain the staff in sync and on observe. “Somebody in management sends the staff our priorities for the day, which type of helps them to grasp what they’re entering into at present. But additionally, every staff member sends an replace after their shift. So we all know precisely what was accomplished, what wasn’t accomplished, how the day went if we’re not there,” Jamila explains. “So it simply actually makes positive that each one of us are- cohesive. Cohesive in any respect factors.”
Along with the communication the staff has with one another, the couple are additionally in a position to observe 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 staff take extra possession of their roles.
“Homebase has been an enormous help for our staff to permit for extra work-life stability and suppleness,” shares Jamila. Through the use of Homebase’s scheduling and time-off request options, Brooklyn Tea has given their staff the instruments to handle their very own availability. Their staff can swap shifts within the app and remedy 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 downside remedy on their very own,” Jamila notes.
But it surely’s not simply in regards to the sensible advantages – it’s about fostering a way of belief and togetherness. “It helps us join. I ship messages via it loads,” Jamila explains. Whether or not it’s a workers assembly reminder or a shout-out for a job properly accomplished, 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 notably appreciates the on-time arrival report, which has helped them handle attendance points in a extra goal, data-driven approach. “When you’re in a enterprise, doing one million issues, you kinda discover issues, however you don’t have it written down,” he says. “However then we’re doing a check-in and exhibiting your worker, ‘hey, you’re on time 37% of the time, we have to repair this, proper?’ It’s approach 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. “Business requirements for probably the most half is to maintain your labor at about 30% of gross sales. And earlier than Homebase, we weren’t protecting observe of that in anyway,” 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 individual.
The couple’s help for his or her staff goes past supporting their employees’ well-being within the retailer. Jamila and Alfonso make some extent of attending their employees’ performs, artwork exhibits, concert events, and open mics, and even showcasing their staff’s artwork within the retailer.
“What you’ll see at Brooklyn Tea is that persons are extra goal-oriented versus task-oriented. It’s not nearly punching out and in the clock, it’s about how we are able to actually make our neighborhood really feel seen, really feel dignified. They’re actually purchased into what we’re attempting to perform as a result of they know the care shouldn’t be solely on the receiving aspect for the shopper, however it’s additionally behind the bar.”
Jamila and Alfonso beam with delight once they hear from their clients who rave about their staff.
“We get emails, texts, opinions on a regular basis of people who find themselves simply enamored with our staff, who simply love them to loss of life, and who ask about them,” Alfonso explains.
“It makes me actually completely happy that we, properly Jamila, selected the suitable folks and that our neighborhood loves the people who we’ve chosen to serve them.”
“We love when our staff feels motivated and empowered to make these shifts, with out the notice, pun meant. And I believe that’s what we’re actually pleased with is what they do when nobody’s watching,” Jamila provides.
Brewing up success, one cup at a time.
In the present day, 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 neighborhood, 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 shortly do a factor that you just’re most likely not nice at. Scheduling and communication as a pacesetter is at all times one of many hardest elements and this makes it a little bit 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 folks first, even probably the most humble beginnings can result in a unprecedented office.
