Sunrise Barista and Breakfast Host

Sydney By Kayak | Lavender Bay / McMahons Point
Permanent Part-Time | Approx. 30 hours per week | 6 mornings
Tuesday off | Early morning shifts

Imagine starting your working day before Sydney wakes up, making beautiful coffee for paddlers heading onto Sydney Harbour at sunrise, preparing breakfast while they’re on the water, and finishing your shift with most of the day still ahead of you.

We’re looking for an experienced barista and exceptional morning person to take ownership of the breakfast experience at the Sydney By Kayak Eco Hub.

Your focus is easy: exceptional coffee, beautifully prepared breakfasts, a perfectly presented Eco Hub and a warm five-star welcome for our sunrise paddlers.

About the role

Every morning, our guides and paddlers head onto Sydney Harbour for our signature Sunrise Kayak and Coffee experience.

While they’re on the water, you’ll be at the heart of our Eco Hub, preparing everything for their return.

Depending on the time of year, your shift will generally begin between 4am and 5am and finish around 9am to 10am. Because our experience follows the sunrise, start and finish times change slightly throughout the year.

During peak summer, you’ll need to be genuinely comfortable starting at 4:00am.

You’ll work approximately 30 hours across six mornings each week, Wednesday to Monday, with Tuesdays off.

You’ll have another team member joining you for part of the morning to help with breakfast preparation, setup and hosting, but ultimately we’re looking for someone capable, dependable and confident enough to take ownership of the morning experience.

What your mornings will look like

You’ll be responsible for:

- Opening and preparing the Eco Hub before sunrise.

- Dialling in our espresso machine each morning and making consistently excellent coffee.

- Preparing coffees for our sunrise paddlers and guides before they head onto the harbour.

- Making beautiful café-style coffees when paddlers return for breakfast. Latte art would be a wonderful advantage.

- Preparing and presenting our continental breakfast, including fresh fruit, pastries, avocado toast, scones and other simple breakfast items.

- Setting tables and making sure the Eco Hub looks beautiful, welcoming and completely ready before our paddlers return.

- Welcoming paddlers back from the water with warmth, energy and genuine hospitality.

- Cleaning and maintaining the coffee machine, grinder and coffee station properly.

- Rotating food and milk stock, monitoring use-by dates and reducing waste.

- Keeping track of groceries and supplies and shopping or restocking when required.





- Maintaining excellent food safety, cleanliness and presentation standards.

- Preparing for the following morning so the next day's service starts smoothly.

- Noticing the little things before someone needs to ask (sweep the courtyard, water the plants, refill the soap dispensers etc)

The person we're looking for

Reliability is incredibly important to us.

Our sunrise experiences can't wait because somebody slept through their alarm. Our paddlers may have travelled halfway around the world to experience sunrise on Sydney Harbour, and we want the person preparing their breakfast and coffee to understand how important their morning is.

We’re looking for someone who:

- Has strong, genuine barista experience.

- Knows how to properly dial in an espresso machine rather than simply operate one.

- Can texture milk beautifully and produce consistently excellent coffee.

- Is comfortable working with different milk types and maintaining excellent coffee standards.

- Has food preparation and safe food-handling experience.

- Has an exceptional eye for detail.

- Is naturally clean, organised and particular about presentation.

- Is genuinely comfortable with very early mornings.

- Is warm, friendly and confident talking with visitors from around the world.

- Can work independently and take ownership of their space.

- Follows established systems and standards carefully and consistently.

- Understands that consistency matters. If we have a particular way of presenting or preparing something, there is a reason behind it.

- Notices when the milk is running low, the fruit needs replacing, the coffee machine needs attention or tomorrow's breakfast isn't fully prepared, and takes care of it.

- Takes pride in leaving everything beautifully prepared for the next morning.

You don't need to be a chef or baker.

If you happen to make incredible scones, muffins or cakes, we'd certainly love to know about it, but it isn't essential. What matters much more is care, consistency, hospitality and attention to detail.

This role will suit you if...

You’re the person who straightens the chair that's slightly out of place.

You notice the fingerprints on the glass.





You check tomorrow's milk before going home rather than assuming there will be enough.

You don't need somebody standing beside you reminding you what comes next.

And when you're shown how something should be done, you care enough to do it properly and consistently because you understand that the small details are what turn a good breakfast into a five-star experience.

We need someone who takes pride in doing simple things exceptionally well, every single morning.

About Sydney By Kayak

Sydney By Kayak is an award-winning family-owned ecotourism business based in Lavender Bay.

For more than 13 years, we've welcomed visitors onto Sydney Harbour, combining kayaking, coffee, storytelling and conservation to create experiences that people remember long after they leave Sydney.

Our Eco Hub in McMahons Point is the home our paddlers return to after sunrise. It's intimate, warm and intentionally simple: beautiful coffee, thoughtfully prepared breakfast and genuine hospitality.

We're heading into our busiest summer season and are looking for the right person to become an important and trusted part of that experience.

The hours

Approximately 30 hours per week across six mornings.

Wednesday to Monday. Tuesday off.

Typical shifts are approximately 4am–9am in peak summer, moving slightly later as sunrise changes throughout the year.

Because of the early starts, please consider your transport carefully before applying. You must be able to reliably arrive in Lavender Bay/McMahons Point before public transport may be operating.

We are looking for someone who can start soon so there is plenty of time to learn our systems and settle into the role before peak summer.

To apply

Please send us your CV to ••••@sydneybykayak.com.au and a short introduction telling us:

- Where you've worked as a barista and how much barista experience you have.

- Whether you're confident dialling in an espresso machine and texturing milk.

- Your food preparation or breakfast experience.

- Why a six-day early-morning working week suits your lifestyle.

- How you would reliably get to McMahons Point for a 4am start.

- And one small detail you think makes the difference between an average hospitality experience and an exceptional one.

Most importantly, tell us a little about you.

We're not simply looking for somebody to make coffee and put breakfast on a table.

We're looking for the person we can trust with our sunrise mornings. Someone who takes genuine pride in what they do and understands that, for many of our paddlers, this may be one of the most memorable mornings of their entire trip to Sydney.

📌 Sunrise Barista and Breakfast Host (Lavender Bay)
🏢 Sydney by Kayak
📍 Lavender Bay