Kylie McCleary

After the Mermaid shut down for the summer, I began working at Biggby Coffee. Here, I was immediately promoted to a Shift Lead, where I am in charge of guiding new baristas and setting an example of proper protocol. It is my responsibility to memorize all recipes, enforce rules and proper conduct, as well as performing excellent customer service. This position has further allowed me to work in a high pressure, fast paced environment, where I am on the line making drinks to get people in and out of the drive through within 5 or so minutes. As a shift lead, I am also responsible for all tills, all money in the safe, unloading food orders from Sysco, and talking to dissatisfied customers. I encourage newer and younger baristas to upsell drinks and other items to increase sales, and ease them into working with a sense of urgency and to maintain speed of service.

• Boosted sales through the promotion of seasonal beverages and upselling bakery items to customers.
• Enhanced customer satisfaction by providing exceptional service and maintaining a clean, welcoming environment.
• Ensured high-quality products by closely monitoring espresso extraction times and milk steaming techniques.

As a hostess at the Mermaid, I was responsible for being the first face most people saw when coming to the restaurant. It was of utmost importance to be professional, friendly, and welcoming, to make sure that the customer would enjoy their meal and desire to return again. Aside from being cordial with guests, it was my responsibility to maintain the cleanliness of the host stand, tables, and restaurant in general. During peak rushes, I would be responsible as the lead door host to manage waitlists of 2+ hours, calling customers, assigning tables, maintain rotation with servers, and helping to bus tables as well.

• Enhanced customer satisfaction by promptly greeting and seating guests upon arrival.
• Implemented table rotation system for optimal server workload distribution, resulting in improved service quality.
• Maintained a clean and welcoming atmosphere by quickly addressing spills and resetting tables after guest departure.

Before my shifts as a hostess at the Mermaid, I would come in at 8 in the morning until we opened at 11 to prepare cocktail batches, fruits, syrups, and other garnishes for the bar. Although my main prep station was the bar, I also was back in the kitchen, prepping food items for lunch and dinner services.

• Improved overall kitchen workflow by multitasking effectively and anticipating needs of fellow staff members.
• Ensured high-quality presentation of dishes through meticulous attention to detail during plating procedures.
• Supported culinary team by assisting with daily prep tasks such as chopping vegetables, marinating meats, or preparing sauces from scratch when needed.

• Now out of school and working full time, I had the opportunity to do even more in this position, such as moving onto to working with expensive and high quality merchandise
• Handled designer brand clothing and shoes as well as fragile home decor and appliances with caution and got the product to the customer in perfect condition, as well as a timely fashion
• Regularly became a "top picker" on my team, meaning I would find and fulfill the most orders out of everyone, sometimes finding up to 400 in one day
• Tasked with time sensitive orders, such as same day pick up in store as well as expedited next day deliveries
• Also tasked with finding the hard and more difficult items that were missing throughout the 5 levels of the store
• Interacted with high profile clients and customers that would be shopping in the store as I found and fulfilled orders, and became an expert at blending in a professional environment
• In addition to high quality merchandise, I was responsible for finding large quantities of orders, especially during the Holiday season and summertime sales season
• Efficiently and effectively was able to handle large amounts of orders all at once, balancing my time independently and staying late until the job was done

• Familiarized myself with 6 floors of stock and memorized every location of merchandise within those 6 floors
• Worked independently and efficiently during holiday season, store received thousands upon thousands of orders that needed to be located and fulfilled within 24-48 hours
• Quality checked every order that was picked and made sure it was in perfect condition before sending it off to the customer