MOKA — Restaurant in Madison

First of all, coffee and service were both phenomenal and definitely deserve 5 stars.

I have a bone to pick with whoever runs this place. Their system doesn't allow for credit card tips, so the only way the baristas are getting any tips are people who still carry cash. I'm not sure about everyone else, but I have not carried cash regularly since the pandemic started.

I was a barista for 7 years, and it is hard work. You are constantly multitasking and dealing with the general public before they've had their coffee. Again, I'm not sure about everyone else, but I wouldn't wish my pre-coffee self on my worst enemy. I see tips as a way to make up for my still groggy, less than friendly self.

After leaving with my cold brew today, I wondered if maybe MOKA pays a living wage to make up for lack of credit card tips. I took the liberty of going to the employment section on their website.

They advertise barista positions as $14-$20 an hour. Awesome! A living wage! However, take a closer look and you'll find they pay $11 an hour and get the $14-$20 figure by assuming $3-$9 in tips hourly. Let's say you have 3 baristas working, that means you need to be getting $9-$27 in tips per hour to be making the advertised wage.

Let's be generous and assume 3/4 of customers tip a full dollar. That means if you have 12-36 customers an hour, the wage should be accurate and fair. That's not a tall order for a drive-thru coffee stand.

But back to the point! This assumes all customers who would tip pay exclusively in cash. Let's be generous again and say 1/2 of customers use cash payments. With MOKA's current cash tips only system, they need to be pushing through at least 24-72 customers an hour for their advertised wage to be met. Maybe this works out during morning rush hours, but the drive through most certainly isn't packed all day. $14-$20 an hour means every hour.

LONG story short, pay your staff more or update your POS system to allow for credit card tips. People in Madison care about how employers treat...

The list of reasons why I love Moka (and have for years) continues to grow. I was a regular at the East Washington location for a long time, but I recently moved to central Madison. I was delighted to discover the west side location close to my job and gyms. I was thrilled when they got CHOCOLATE almond milk back at this location. No where has chocolate almond milk, but MOKA does! I deeply appreciate how customer experience is at the forefront of how they operate. There is a reason I’m at one of the locations most days of the week. Today, twice. Shamelessly.

This afternoon Emily and Jessie made my day. I got some tough news about a family member passing after work, and knew my favorite cup of joe (Jamaican blend with an obscene amount of chocolate almond milk) would help lift my spirits. These ladies’ good energy and encouragement really helped. So did the stickers, napkins and coffee. It’s about the little things in life. These little things were really big things to me today. So grateful. I can’t say enough...

Umm VEGAN OREO SHAKE ALERT. Well, just like... Get to the new @mokacoffeeshops on Mineral Point, and order either the luscious "chai-ppuchino" (blended tea, with one to four additional shots of coffee, and almond milk), or the Oreo blended with almond milk, with or without coffee. Just remember to order it without the whipped cream :-) My chai was indescribably delicious. What put the experience over the top is that the service was amazing. Someone saw us torturing ourselves over the menu, and came out to our CAR to help (never had that happen at Starbucks). She explained all of the products and how they could be ordered, and told my other daughter what kind of warm oatmeal they had. :) OH! And they gave my dog a biscuit!! It was really awesome. New favorite...