We’re introducing you to our passionate team of experts. Today’s featured Deli crew member is Next Door’s Lead Barista, Maddie Allen!
Meet Maddie
Maddie is an A2 townie, growing up on the Old West Side and attending Pioneer High School. She attended Bowling Green for a degree in film production, and also completed a study abroad program during her college career at Aberystwyth University in Wales (she has the name of the city and an image of a Welsh dragon on her name tag)! After graduating, she moved to Cleveland and then Denver, before returning during the pandemic in 2020. She also has two younger siblings who live in the area. She recently graduated from MSU with a master’s in game design! When Maddie isn’t at work, she enjoys painting in a variety of mediums such as watercolor, oil, and digital. You can see some of her artwork on the chalkboard in the Next Door and on windows around town during the holidays! She also loves to knit, and her specialty is fingerless mittens. Before working at the Deli, she worked at Pigtrain Coffee in Union Station in downtown Denver. Maddie joined our team in October 2020 and has worked at the Next Door Café on and off since! After moving back home from Denver, she saw our job posting for a barista, and she seized the opportunity.
Maddie at the Deli
Maddie is Lead Barista at the Next Door Café, which means she trains new baristas that join our team and coordinates the tasks that get done every day in the Café! She almost always is up bright and early for the morning shift. Her favorite part about working at the Deli is experimenting with different drinks, illustrating the Next Door chalkboard, and helping guests decide what they like best. We owe our gelato con olio, strawberry mocha, and our honey halva latte from a few years back to Maddie’s ingenuity! She also loves popping over to Specialty Foods when she can to learn a bit about the cheeses we have in our case — and snag a little taste. She loves chatting with guests about our truffle selection and helping them build a stunning box according to their tastes. Lately, she’s excited about the new arrival of unsweetened matcha, which allows for more syrup additions (like raspberry or rose — yum!) without making the drink too sweet!
5 Fun Facts:
Maddie performed at Carnegie Hall in Pioneer High School’s band on the oboe!
Her fondest food memory is getting a chocolate-dipped stroopwaffel from a cart in Amsterdam.
Her dream Deli meal is a croissant gelato sandwich: a sliced butter croissant layered with two scoops of gelato.
Her favorite Deli sandwich is a #54 Wayne’s Inheritance but swap out the rye for challah.
Maddie’s pantry is stocked with spices. She comes from a cooking family and loves to make cacio e pepe.
