so my current work obligations are coming to an end, august-ish/ september-ish.and i'm searching for a new place to call my coffee "home".
i'm not incredibly partial, just no -20 degree winters and no 110 degree summers. i have alot of experience, both in chain-store type shops and small third wave type shops,too. i currently have a pretty awesome job as staff trainer and lead barista at the shop i work at which is an awesome 3rd wave shop . however i think it's time for me to move on.
dont get me wrong, i LOVE my job.

places i have considered: olympia, wa , washington,dc , philadelphia, western mass. , new haven, ct., los angeles, portland,or ( though i would probably spend my first 6 months unemployed), and atlanta,ga.
my main issue with pittsburgh is that it is very isolated. it takes at least 6 hours to drive someplace else that's kind of awesome ( cincinnati, toronto, philly). the economy is pretty stable here and lots of forward-thinking individuals. buying a house is really cheap. plus the coffee scene is pretty cool. i'm just getting restless here. ( yes, i know. it could be worse.)
i just need some baristas to weigh in their opinions about where they think a modestly talented fellow barista with a lack of direction should move to...
help?

Views: 72

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Why not move to Cinci? The coffee scene is a little young but is always looking for new spin. Plus a good 5 hour drive will get to Chicago, which would prolly also be a great place to work, except for -20 winters.
Philadelphia has really affordable housing, culture, art, history, proximity to other great places, and someone is getting ready to host a monthly T-N-T. Send me a resume and I can get in the hands of some great places. And probably a little less winter than you get now.
Western MA is awesome. I went to Hampshire College and the Amherst/Northampton area is a wonderful place, My brother is still there. There's also few outstanding coffee shops, two started by Scott Rao (one still bearing his name), A couple of Synessos at Amherst Coffee and Northampton Coffee (both serving Barrington Roasters), and a whole plethora of decent to good ones, too many to mention. With five colleges, one being UMASS, there's plenty of coffee to serve! What struck me most about the food scene is the incredible community. I worked in a restaurant in Amherst when I was there and I could walk in the back door of any place in the industry and ask for help or products. Really progressive community in general and it extends to the restaurant community. Give me a shout if you want to visit and I can set you up with a tour guide! Oh yea... The Moan and Dove, in and of itself a reason to move there.
Well as you know, the west coast job scene isn't the best, but I Lived in Los Angeles for about a year and it was amazing. Granted traffic is no fun, its expensive, and there are places that have cleaner air. However, there is nothing you can't do within 50 miles of LA. You can snowboard in the morning and jump in the ocean the same evening. The coffee scene definitely depends on what part of LA you end up in. South Pasadena, Glendale and Burbank have pretty cool shops. It would definitely be easier to find a job than a place like Portland; how much easier I don't know.
saint louis
Kalamazoo is just now starting to really get into educating the customer base so our coffee scene is starting to become pretty cool...

but we have some painful, PAINFUL winters here... Having lived here my whole life, it's funny to me that some people don't know what "Lake-effect snow" is...

-bry
philly is definitely in the top 3. i'd really appreciate that. i'll send it on over when it gets a little closer to "go" time. cheers!
definitely less winter in philly. this past winter was so brutal in pgh that i vowed to not spend another winter here. too harsh.

Phil Proteau said:
Philadelphia has really affordable housing, culture, art, history, proximity to other great places, and someone is getting ready to host a monthly T-N-T. Send me a resume and I can get in the hands of some great places. And probably a little less winter than you get now.
this past friday night, at dinner with friends, we were all talking about how a bunch of our friends are moving to LA this fall, purely by coincidence. then one of my friends who was visiting from portland proceeded to tell me about how he almost got into a fist fight with a barista at the intelli store in silver lake. i dont really know the whole story behin it, but the coffee scene seems to be shaping up in LA, esp. with the intelligentsia invasion. what is commuting by bike like in LA? impossible or no?

Caleb James Hastings said:
Well as you know, the west coast job scene isn't the best, but I Lived in Los Angeles for about a year and it was amazing. Granted traffic is no fun, its expensive, and there are places that have cleaner air. However, there is nothing you can't do within 50 miles of LA. You can snowboard in the morning and jump in the ocean the same evening. The coffee scene definitely depends on what part of LA you end up in. South Pasadena, Glendale and Burbank have pretty cool shops. It would definitely be easier to find a job than a place like Portland; how much easier I don't know.
what are your feelings on Canada?
umm. i love the parts of canada that i've been too like toronto, ontario lake shoreline and the st. lawrence seaway. but doesnt it really cold in canada? and i've been hearing alot recently about US nationals being turned away from canada. i'm not sure what the situation would be with securing a work visa and all the bureacratic stuff but i'm all ears as to a suggestion for work.???

Chris Tellez said:
what are your feelings on Canada?
Have you considered opening up your own coffee shop in Mexico? South and Central Mexico states, have incredible places and zones, and the coffee culture is there but there are not so many places to get a decent cup, I'm one of the few trying to get specialty coffee to a wider share on the incipient specialty coffee market... Places you should visit, Leon Guanajuato, San Luis Potosí, Ensena Baja California, those are great places, with a lot of english spoken tourism. Besides, being a coffee producing country you can access lower costs on coffee beans... and the start up costs are not the same as in US..

Reply to Discussion

RSS

Barista Exchange Partners

Barista Exchange Friends

Keep Barista Exchange Free

Are you enjoying Barista Exchange? Is it helping you promote your business and helping you network in this great industry? Donate today to keep it free to all members. Supporters can join the "Supporters Group" with a donation. Thanks!

Clicky Web Analytics

© 2024   Created by Matt Milletto.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service