Program Overview

The La Marzocco Café and Showroom opened in April 2016 in Seattle. The café is unique in that it is designed to serve as a platform to showcase the diversity and creativity of specialty coffee. Each month, a new “resident” takes over the café in order to present their vision of coffee service. Residents curate the coffees that are served, design the complete menu (every item and every ingredient), select the equipment that will be used during their residency, design supporting bar flow, and train our team to execute the coffee program.

In addition to designing the coffee program, residents are also invited to use their residency as a platform for education and community engagement. Residents are encouraged to develop and present educational programming and unique engagement experiences for café guests during their residency, as well as design a launch event to begin their residency.

Our goal is that residents will fully embrace the opportunity to express their creativity and showcase their work. No idea is too far-fetched, and our team is eager to be challenged, and to bring each resident’s vision to fruition.

We are now accepting applications for one-month residencies beginning May 2017, through April 2018.

Applications for the 2017-2018 cycle need to be completed no later than January 31st, 2017 at 11:59pm Pacific Standard Time.

Selection Criteria

Our goal is to create a slate of 2017-2018 residents that are diverse in their perspectives, geographies, and size. We will be selecting individual residents based on the completeness and of their applications, and the unique perspectives and creativity expressed in their applications. We will also be prioritizing creating an overall slate of residents that is diverse; we will be considering the group overall, in addition to reviewing the individual applications.

Each residency is meant to recreate the resident’s coffee experience that they present to the communities they serve. Applications should highlight the applicant’s unique perspective, and a commitment to creating something special, novel, and unique while in residence. Applications will be evaluated based on our ability to understand the applicant’s perspective, and the supporting elements (menu, educational programming, company background, etc.) that help showcase that perspective. We will also be giving special consideration to applicants who can commit to having team members train our team in Seattle in the days leading up to the start of their residency, and in the first few days following the launch of the residency.

To summarize, residents will be selected based on these criteria:

  1. The applicant’s unique perspective within specialty coffee, how their perspective is creatively expressed.
  2. The overall diversity of the set of 2017-2018 residents (perspective, company size, geography – international and domestic).
  3. The completeness of the application.
  4. The applicant’s ability to commit to being in Seattle to train our team in the days before and after the residency begins.

Application Instructions

The application consists of an online form that the applicant should fully complete. We suggest you begin in this way:

  1. Download and read the Café Resident Application Instructions
  2. Download and read the La Marzocco Café Resident FAQs
  3. Download, print, and read the application form (this is a PDF of the online form you will fill out)
  4. Work with your team to design your residency
  5. Begin your online application. We expect it will take you 8-10 hours to complete.
  6. Complete your application by January 31st, 11:59pm Pacific Standard Time.

The application form will serve as the basis for your residency; by applying, you are essentially designing your residency as you envision it. The details of your residency should give us guidance on every element of what we need to prepare for in order to bring your vision to fruition. No detail is too small, and you should not expect that there are any baseline parameters (we want to know everything from the sizes of each of the beverage menu items, to the specific brand of honey or sugar you want to offer at the condiment station).

Be as thorough and complete in your answers as possible. To do this, know in advance that it will take a good deal of time to complete the application – about 8-10 hours. Please keep this in mind, as the application period will not be extended.

We have found that the Seattle community we serve enjoys being challenged by unique experiences – and they have come to expect it. We hope you’ll surprise them!

If you have questions as you complete your application, please first refer to the FAQs provided. If you have additional questions, you can contact Amy Hattemer at amy at lamarzocco.com. We will be updating the FAQs document throughout the application period as we receive and answer questions from applicants.

We look forward to reading about your vision for a residency at the café!