Miss Erica A. has more than 8 years experience managing Drip Coffee in Park Cities, Dallas.
She's the shop ninja and visual artists behind much of what we do. Her familiarity with customers and passion for great service makes her irreplaceable and a breath of fresh air.
When chatting with Erica we asked just a few questions and her responses were epic:
Why do you like Drip Coffee? / What has kept you around so long?
"I like Drip coffee because we have a good quality product that I feel proud to serve. It makes it easier to be into what you're selling if you have a good product. I've stayed around so long because this has been the best job I have had. I feel like I'm important here. The customers care about us just as much as I care about them."
What are you biggest challenges at work?
"My biggest challenge was trying to get previous employees to care about Drip as much as I did. Honestly, I just felt like I was trying to make everyone get along, and make everyone love the job as much as I do. Now that those people have left, I feel better about moving forward."
What do you like about coffee in general?
"I didn't try coffee until I was in college. I had to sweeten it with lots of sugar and cream to get rid of the taste, but I drank it because it made me feel happy, alert, and creative. All my best [art] pieces in college came out of long nights staying up drawing and drinking coffee. It helps me get my juices flowing when I have to brainstorm. I'm no coffee expert, but I can definitely recommend a coffee to someone based on what they tell me they like in coffee."
What about your job inspires you and gets you out of bed in the morning?
"Getting up so early is still hard for me, but I look forward to getting up and helping to start someone's day off in a positive way.
I've left jobs in the past because I felt like the company I was working for didn't actually care about their customers. Going to work was nerve wrecking because I felt like I was in a position to try to make that company seem like they cared when I knew they didn't, which made me feel like i was a liar. I always left work thinking about all the people I could have helped but wasn't allowed to. I like that our priority at Drip is our customers`and we're selling a product that is good quality and makes people happy."
If you could define a vision for the future, what would it be?
"For the future of Drip Coffee, I hope that once we start opening more stores, we can keep them all running like a well oiled machine. Each location should have the same quality and efficiency as the others. I want quality to stay high as we grow."
In addition to being Drip General Manager and Barista Ninja, Erica A. is an accomplished visual artist.
Visit her portfolio at: www.oopsshearted.com