"I have been working at The Flour Pot for six years. I started off as an untrained barista during my last year of university. I was coached by the Head Barista at the time and slowly became more confident in my abilities. I graduated from university and decided that I wanted to work full time at The Flour Pot. After a few months, I nervously developed into a supervisor. Within a matter of months, I was asked to take over the role of acting manager until it was permanently filled. After a few weeks, I knew that I wanted to take over the site myself. I had lots of concerns about my ability and doubted myself regularly but my Operations Manager guided me through every step. 

Since then, I've been lucky enough to continue to expand and develop new skills and face new challenges and opportunities. I now manage both our Elm Grove and Sydney Street locations. Alongside this, I also help our Head of HR with the training and development of supervisors across the stores. 

I pride myself on trying to create a culture of happy motivated teams. Work shouldn't be a place that you dread going to, so we make sure to enjoy ourselves while getting the job done to the highest standards. I usually end up being glued to a laptop for a few hours, doing everything from placing and amending orders, planning rotas and delving into the finances and figures of my site but I also spend time on the floor, engaging with our regular customers. 

There are two things that I like most about working at The Flour Pot. On a professional level, that's growing and changing with the company. There is so much development opportunity and support available.  There has never been a time that I've wanted to learn and take on a new challenge and have been told 'no.' The encouragement of my peers, my team and my managers is pretty incredible. 

The more personal thing that I like about working at The Flour Pot has got to be the people that I've met and get to work alongside. Whether they are colleagues who have turned into friends, managers who have turned into mentors or baristas who smash through a coffee rush and  never let the standards slip, there's something really encouraging and motivational about who I get to work alongside. That makes going to work pretty easy."