Blue Kangaroo Coffee Roasters — Restaurant in Portland

Well, I'm just going to be honest in this review, it is my neighborhood and I've been going to Blue Kangaroo for years. So here is what's up....

New owners and staff turnover. I have to say the vibe has done a 180. Was sad to see the old staff go, they were well liked by customers. There are a lot of empty seats in here currently, the engagement has changed significantly (some days before there was a line out the door and no open seating). I have a pretty good idea why. It used to be a neighborhood place where the staff was laughing and having a good time, were friendly, knew you and felt like that '3rd place' we read about often. This was a coffee shop. Now it is a 'place to buy a coffee'. Big difference, and it comes down to vibe and the experience of the space. It still has its corner location going for it (really the only coffee place on the street) and some good seating to the north across from the food trucks. But there is no art on the walls, the staff seem stiff and do not talk to each other or make much eye contact with customers. There is zero laughter. I know that energy, and I think this has something to do with the new owners being physically present in the shop and running the register.

I can tell you from years ago being a young person working at coffee shops, nothing is a vibe killer for the staff and customers more so than the owner being on site continually. No one likes to be watched over while they work, and the owner stress around sales and efficiency begins to permeate the whole space. You'd possibly think it would increase the sales, but this isn't a factory floor, it is a space people choose to come to to interact with the community energy. The only case where having the owner there is a positive thing is if they are charismatic, notably friendly, potentially artsy, community oriented and increase the feel and experience of the space.

My business advice to the owners would be to either become an artsy, naturally friendly, charismatic, neighborhood beacon, or find and train a top notch manager who embodies that who runs the floor, operates the register, books the art, hosts community events and instead be behind the scene owners. I do understand owner operated businesses may do so for cost saving reasons. Ask oneself 'Would patronage/sales increase if I put a charismatic, energetically attractive person behind the register?'

You need the space to match the vibe of the neighborhood and what the customers are looking for, or your business will unfortunately not succeed. Right now I am giving it a 2/5 though (location is the main factor from keeping it being lower). 6 months ago it would have been a 4.25/5.

Best of luck, maybe this is just some static as the space finds its identity. Owners, don't be afraid to ask others for advice on how to increase sales! As counterintuitive as it may seem, it isn't about efficiency or oversight, it...

I'm so bummed to even write this. This was my favorite spot in my neighborhood, hands down. I always loved the employees and enjoyed their attitude and work ethic compared to other coffee shops in the area. Unfortunately, some, what appear to be new hires are starting to convince me otherwise. My partner went in to buy 2 lattes and a gluten free muffin last weekend. The girl tried to charge him $27, he pressed the 15% tip button without thinking and then as it went through he realized the math couldn't have been right (The girl was very offended by him catching this for some reason). The girl then said she changed it to the correct "amount", without ever giving him a new total. Then he asked about the 15% tip he had given, since it wouldn't have been the correct amount. This was when the girl got increasingly more and more unprofessional and rude. She asked him, "if he wasn't comfortable with that tip." He was confused and was trying to explain that she wouldn't get 15% of 30 dollars, when the amount didn't cost that much and then gave in and said it didn't matter since she was making a scene. Then this same girl decided that she would make the last latte and bring it out to him to once again engage in a very strange way. She went on to say she had changed his tip amount to the correct amount (still never telling him a total and having a rude attitude like she was entitled to a large tip or something?). He told her he no longer felt comfortable and that he had asked her to stop messing with charges on his card and she did it anyways (all along, I repeat NEVER STATING A TOTAL EVEN WHEN HE ASKED). He tried to make a light hearted joke to her and her response was, "Well you dont' have to tip you know." Everything about it was just strange. That was when he put up his arms and said, I don't know what's going on here but I'm leaving.

I wasn't going to say anything about this, (I NEVER write reviews online) because we all have off days. I watched as this girl's demeanor became stranger and stranger from a distance. I thought, maybe she's having a bad day. But after going to get a latte this morning and running into the same sort of attitude (the exact opposite of the reason I like this coffee shop) I decided to say something. I hope that you all are hiring people who know how to live out your culture. Because honestly, I'm starting to think that I might have to find a new coffee shop to frequent. Not all of your employees are rude and entitled but turns out, enough of them are to lose...

Okay so I’ve been debating whether or not to write a review on the changes in this place for a bit. This was one of my favorite coffee shops in the Sellwood area, but it’s very obvious they had a change of ownership over the last year or so and things have gone downhill.

At first when the ownership changed the old staff was completely gone and then there were a whole bunch of new people. Drink orders were getting messed up left and right and it was chaotic. Then suddenly all of those new employees got fired and the owners were there almost every day working all the shifts. Listen I get it, the economy is awful and times are rough for small businesses, they’re hustling and probably doing their best but it’s not working. The vibe here also changed, like suddenly they put up all of these weird random objects for sale like sports team beanies… nobody is coming here to buy that junk, I’m sorry but it’s true.

Now a few months down the line there are maybe 2-3 other employees who are there occasionally. If you happen to catch a day when those people are working you can still get a fairly decent latte, but those days are infrequent because the owners are there almost all the time. The one lady owner cannot work the espresso machine or make a latte to save her life. The past three times I got something from her the coffee was burnt and way too hot. You can tell the owners are burnt out from being there all the time too and they aren’t having a good time, I’d be exhausted too.

My advice is to hire some more experienced baristas, spend less energy bringing random objects to sell in your coffee shop, and if the owners are going to be working so many shifts they need to take classes/workshops or something on how to be a barista and how to use the equipment you have...