Training Up A Diverse Cafe Team

Foreword Coffee Roasters

To commemorate one year of operations in Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music (YST), we sat down with Leena who has been working in YST since day one. Before joining Foreword, she worked multiple years in the F&B industry and is now using her experience to train the newer crew.   Please introduce yourself!Hello I am Leena, an assistant outlet manager at Foreword Coffee.   How did you start working in Foreword?I found out about the job through SG Enable and started working in the Civil Service College branch in July 2018.   What do you do on a day-to-day...

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The Quest for our Last Straw

Foreword Coffee Roasters

Straws have become the strawman for the push for sustainability over the past 3 years since World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Singapore started the PACT (Plastic ACTion) initiative in 2019. Through PACT, supported by the National Environment Agency (NEA) and Zero Waste SG, over 270 food and beverage (F&B) outlets in Singapore have pledged to phase out plastic straws by 1 July 2019.   From sippy lids to Solon straws Foreword Coffee Roasters faced a unique situation at our cafes. Since we started our environmentally conscious journey in 2017, regular customers know us for not providing straws from the...

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Foreword's Fifth Birthday: Five Lessons We Learn Along the Way

Foreword Coffee Roasters

The social entrepreneurship journey for Foreword was not without our ups and downs. As we turn five years old, we reflect on five lessons we learnt along the way as an organization. Although we have had our fair share of publicity sharing about our achievements along the years, we managed along with much help and support from our friends, family, interns, volunteers, community partners, and the government (with the various business grants and subsidies and all). Screenshot taken from Baristas (A Short Documentary).   1) The hardest barrier to overcome is the lack of self-esteem. Many people come to Foreword after...

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Adulting in Singapore with Developmental Disabilities

Foreword Coffee Roasters

Adulting is never easy. But for someone with Developmental Disabilities (DD), how do common responsibilities like financial independence, housing and marriage look like for them?  Before we close the month of March, which also marks the month of Developmental Disabilities Awareness month, *Anne, one of Foreword Coffee Roasters’ staff, shared what adulting is like for someone with DD. Hello! Please introduce yourself. I’m *Anne, and I am part of the admin team in Foreword. I help to take pictures and make use of some of my artistic skills for illustration projects. I also started some basic admin work like packing...

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From service crew to co-leading a cafe: What empowering Persons with Disabilities to take charge looks like

Foreword Coffee Roasters

It’s been a year since we started operations at Foreword Coffee Roasters @ Canberra Plaza. To commemorate this special occasion, we sat Carmen Tan and Josiah Yeap down where they shared their journeys over the past year. Carmen and Josiah are our baristas currently training to co-lead our social enterprise cafe in Canberra Plaza. Josiah (left) and Carmen at Foreword Coffee Roasters @ Canberra Plaza.   Please introduce yourself! Josiah: Hi my name is Josiah and I’ve been working in Foreword for three plus years. I mainly do cashiering, food, coffee and latte art.  Carmen: Hi my name is Carmen....

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Simple Filter Coffee Brew Guide

Foreword Coffee Roasters

Making a cup of filter coffee should be simple and fuss-free. For many of us, it’s the rite of passage each morning before we start the daily grind (pun intended). Filter coffee is easily accessible as we do not require specialized equipment such as the espresso machine and is very friendly to our wallets. In fact, it would be way cheaper to brew a cuppa at home than to purchase that cup of Geisha filter you are enticed to try at your nearest specialty coffee shop. Without going into much coffee theory, I recommend this simple brew recipe which you...

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