Like any other job, when a barista position opens up, the cafe has two weeks to fill the open position. It’s in the best interest of the cafe  to hire someone who has experience as a barista so that they are able to get back to normal staffing as quickly as possible. This doesn’t give much opportunity for people who have little to no experience, or would need a considerable amount of training to start on the floor to be considered for these positions. 

Our hope is that Sweet Renaissance Coffee Academy will disrupt this system by equipping people of varying cultural backgrounds with barista training, making them some of the most desirable candidates in the Twin Cities because of their coffee knowledge and skills. In this way, we believe we have the opportunity to decrease the monocultural expression of specialty coffee and create long term and sustainable interest in coffee that could lead graduates to consider more positions in the coffee industry after being equipped with barista training.

We’re looking for someone who is interested in pursuing coffee as career option and professional path. We prioritize applications of individuals from underrepresented backgrounds and communities.

To apply, you’ll need to be at least 18 years old by the time the cohort begins.

• SUMMER: runs from June-July (application period is mid April-mid May)

• FALL: runs from mid September-mid November (application period is in August)

• SPRING: runs from mid February-mid April (application period is in January)

Someone from Sweet Ren will be in contact with you as soon as possible but no later than two weeks after the application period has closed.

There is no cost to attend our program. In fact, the barista training residency is a stipend based program that provides participants with two $275 stipends.

The program is designed to be flexible to accommodate participants’ lives and other commitments. We don’t expect that Sweet Renaissance will be the only commitment participants have while they are going through training. The majority of hours are scheduled on a sign-up basis to accommodate the needs of each participant. There are a few courses dedicated to group activities that will be scheduled around all participants’ schedules. To say it briefly, the program aims to be as flexible as possible within the 8-week time frame for each cohort.

Typically, many of our classes are held in the late afternoons on weekdays and mornings/early afternoons on weekends. However, depending on trainer availability, we may be able to schedule classes outside of these general timeframes.