Starbucks weighs in on "ghetto-latte" debate

Starbucks issued a statement to the New York Times regarding the "ghetto-latte" discussion that's been going on here. The company says: "Customization is a fundamental attribute of the Starbucks Experience. We provide condiments to our customers so they can make their drinks to their liking and we appreciate their patronage. We trust our customers to make the choices that are right for them." The Times notes that the statement reflects the company's "Just Say Yes" policy, another way of saying the customer is always right. (The "Are You Stealing..." Iimage on the left comes from the cover of today's Chicago Tribune RedEye, which also covers the controversy.) (New York Times via N&O)
> The Daily Breeze in California also covers the debate

Comments

i just want to thank the person who posted the ghetto latte thread because they were so sick of the one person a month pulling the scam...and now we have the nation ordering an iced espresso...thanks guy. dont forget about that raise you are getting from the best company to work for...

[Becca]

Wow, good thing the journalist can read forums properly. The quote attributed to coffeeguy was actually written by Gayle... but whatever, who needs to quote properly anyways??

[blonde barista]

yup, went from NEVER seeing this trick to seeing it like 5 times a day. we had so many people doing this the other day, and my manager caught them every time. he told us that, if we see them obviously doing it, we can say, "you're stealing from the company, next time you have to order a latte." like it'll work, but whatever.

[VEGASASM]

Wow I was actually quoted. Nice. LOL. Too bad they said a barista and not VEGASASM. It's too bad that now a lot more customers are going to be doing this. Oh well.

[Sheik]

cough... PUSHOVERS... cough

[Jimmy Chang in NYC]

Expect a price increase now. What dupes you all are!

Starbucks has most of you by the you know what. They continue to make more money than ever and "ghetto latte" aside, they and their stockholders are laughing all the way to the bank. If people want to customize their drink at the bar. Let 'em! This was great for business and my portfolio!
Hahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahah!

[coffeeguy]

Well if starbucks says it's ok. Then ok.

That's that.

Still don't know why they bothered posting me.

[justme]

its less labor for me to hand them a cup and let them screw it up at the condiment bar. I have to visit and restock ever 10 minutes anyway. now I just put out cold milk. It's not nearly as great tasting, but you get what you pay for. Also, I've worked in plenty of stores that do not keep up there standards on pulling the milk and it gets old out there. Buyer beware.

[jabanga]

"yup, went from NEVER seeing this trick to seeing it like 5 times a day. we had so many people doing this the other day, and my manager caught them every time. he told us that, if we see them obviously doing it, we can say, "you're stealing from the company, next time you have to order a latte." like it'll work, but whatever. "

but they don't have to order a latte and if your manager told you that you could or should say that they just don't get it.

and anyone reading this who wants to order it the easiest way: don't ask for espresso over ice just order a no-water iced americano. it is not a trick, it is not stealing, and it tastes just as good.

[Patty]

BB, your manager said tell the customers they are stealing? Good grief, you may get punched in the nose. What a way to lose customer loyality.
I sure hope you don't do that.
Besides, it is not stealing when the milk is on the counter for the customers to use.

Here's my thing - and it comes back to the giant "tea misto" ringing question a couple of months back:

We only charge for four or more ounces of milk added to a drink. So if someone wants a tall Caffe Misto with only 1/4 cup (3 oz.) milk, we don't ring the beverage as a Misto, we'd ring it as a drip coffee. Now - if someone orders a Caffe Misto with 9/10 milk, we'd only push the Caffe Misto button, because the new ringing procedures eliminate additional button pushes for extra milk, syrups, etc.

The result - the customer obtains, rather than 1/2 a cup (6 oz.) of milk, 11 oz. of milk, almost twice, but for the same $0.55 (I think, in Canada.) This is the same as a Tea Misto, which is even more confusing, because a Venti size (20 oz.) gets charged the ADD DAIRY price ($0.55), a tall size gets charged the *same* ADD DAIRY price ($0.55), and the Short size gets charged the *same* ADD DAIRY price. So that's 4 oz. for the price of 6 oz. for the price of 10 oz.

So who's really getting ripped here? It's the little guy buying short Mistos and other drinks with added dairy that are subsidizing the cost for the INSANE Venti size. That's why Starbucks won't do anything about the ghetto-latte, because it's unreal to whine about customers taking dairy when the charging scheme is all wrong.

ON THE TOPIC: Why are kids' white hot chocolates ringing $0.65 more than the menu price? And why can I now get a Venti 20-pump no water no milk Tazo Chai (a cup of concentrate) for the same price as a Venti 10-pump no water (so extra milk - again!) Tazo Chai...?

WHO CAME UP WITH THIS RIDICULOUS RINGING SCHEME!! IT'S SO FRUSTRATING TO TEACH NEW PARTNERS!!

Hmm, writing this out, I think its good Mission Review time..

For all the people that get all fired up about this, do you get mad when people order extra room in their drip coffee? What about a tall in a venti drip? Now they're adding 8 oz of milk or half and half to a $1.50 drink. At least with an americano we're getting $2.40. Iced drinks are a rip off anyhow. There's only about 3 oz of milk in an Iced Venti mocha!

[dhhbasso]

Did everyone forget that noone forced them (those who choose to cheat) to go into Starbucks in the first place? Gee whiz coffeeguy/Gayle/whoever-you-are...you cannot complain about Starbucks extorting money from you when you go in of your own free will to buy their coffee. If it is too expensive, don't buy it, ANY of it!

[Becca]

3 oz of milk in an iced venti mocha??? Uhhhh..... mocha syrup+espresso= (app) 5 oz, there to the second green line is milk= (app) 10 oz of milk.
Nice try though

[Floormaster Squeeze]

I have not noticed one single apology from any of the tools who wagged their morally righteous fingers at their customers and called this "ghetto latte" behavior theft.

I am sure those righteous moralists are spending this time humbly improving their own moral lives.

[BaristaBess]

Jabanga, why is you're manager telling you to tell people this when the "company line" is to let them do it? Doesn't sound like saying "Yes" to me.

[jabanga]

baristababess i was quoting "blonde barista's" earlier post...i'm sorry i didn't properly attribute it to her. believe me i think this whole thing is ridiculous especially because i have been an iced no water americano drinker for ages. by the way, i don't put anymore milk in it than anyone does in a drip coffee or an iced coffee anyway...not that it matters if i did...

[Scorpio370]

Floormaster, I refuse to "appologize" for someone who is cheating/stealing/ghetto-izing or whatever you want to call it. It's wrong. There are guidelines for the drink recipes and people should ask for what they want. I won't be remaking any drinks that weren't made the way it was ordered. If you want a iced latte, ask for it, if you don't like the coffee or think it's to expensive, then don't drink it.
I am a loyal customer and if I didn't have the money, I don't cheat the company and ask for something else to "customize" at the condiment bar. I just didn't go until I was able to afford it.

[nickname]

"I won't be remaking any drinks that weren't made the way it was ordered."

does that include when people make mistakes on what it is that they actually wanted? or just when you decide the limit has been reached?

even if it goes against starbucks' policy as well as their ANSWER to this specific query??

[Scorpio370]

Basically if someone comes to me and says their iced latte is wrong and they ordered a no water, light ice americano, then I'm going to remake exactly what they ordered, not a iced latte. And I'm not going to stress over it as much as someone who actually pays for their drink the right way either.

[Stacey]

I don't hear any of you complainers talking about how people like me were getting RIPPED OFF before getting wise. I would order an Iced triple short Latte w/ SF vanilla. What would happen" They would jip me out of espresso that would not fit in the cup (why were they putting the milk first??!!)... I watched them do it. OR, I would get all three shots, then about 1 tablespoon of milk. Should I pay a latte price for 1 Tablspoon of milk???
It sounds like most of you barrista's are cool, but you whiners ought to really look at the big picture.

[Liane]

Ya know something, people try to cheat business out of money wherever thye go. This is not some plague of Starbucks. I work at a store where it is wall to wall customers all day long. The "ghetto-latte" happens all the time in the store now. But we have other problems as well. The same girl, everytime she comes in, tries to tell us when she picks up her drink that she ordered 2 extra shots in it. The cup isn't marked, so we ask if she paid for it, the partners at the registers say no, and we tell her we will put the shots in when she goes back and pays for them. She usually just says nevermind, but now everyone knows what she tries to pull. Even if the "ghetto-latte" craze blows over, there will be something creeping up on its tail to replace it.

[sbuxgrrl]

Stacey, how can you say you were getting ripped off??? And how can you say that you were getting a tablespoon of milk? You were not getting ripped off. You were getting more than four ounces of milk. If you wanted more milk, then order a triple tall. I don't understand what you have to complain about. A short has eight ounces. So, you got three ounces of espresso, a little less than one ounce of syrup, and a little more than four ounces of milk.

[AZBarista]

Stacy, where are you at that you can order an iced short? As far as I was aware, that's only available in like, Japan.

Regardless, Sbuxgirl is overlooking the fact that iced cups aren't completely filled with the drink like hot cups are because it's almost half ful of ice. An eight ounce iced cup would only have room for about 5 ounces of liquid. So it's true that if you had 3 shots, you'd only be getting 1 to 2 ounces of milk, unless maybe you asked for light ice. Also, pouring the milk first isn't a way to rip you off, it's just standard. It shouldn't, however, lead to leaving out shots--pouring too much shows a lack of forethought on the part of the barista.

If you really only wanted a *touch* of milk, I, as a barista would have reccommended you order it as an americano. I actually have several regular customers I've made that reccommendation to. It helps both save them some money and make sure baristas aren't giving them too much milk. That's not cheating, that's knowing what to ask for. I'm sorry nobody suggested that sooner.

The reason people start feeling like somebody's cheating is when they order the cup less than half full and then fill up the other half with the condiment milk. That's like trying NOT to pay for half a drink. Nobody'd judge you for trying to pay only for what you're actually getting.

[Mike]

We all should know what is wrong and right. Taking advantage of a courtesy such is this is just low class. It is on par with taking all of the pennies out of the take a penny leave a penny thing to pay for half of a meal. Even though it's there for free use it is an asshole thing to do. People are going to be inconsiderate and do these things, so I am going to make sure and at least point out that they are a douchebag.

[RFS]

Stacey, we add the milk first to prevent the shots from being "lost" and the cup from melting. If the milk wasn't added first, the time it takes to pull the third shot would make the first two taste really bad, or you'd be drinking plastic. Your baristas were actually trying to make you a drink you would like by adding the milk first.

Ugh, customers who think they know more than us suck.

[Bella]

I think too much hype is being played out over this. For example I like quite a bit of half-and-half in my coffee. I usually get the dark roast, and ask them to only fill it 3/4 of the way so that I can top it up with the cream. I simply prefer it that way. Occasionlly I'll order a latte, but sometimes I just want a nice STRONG coffee with my creamer. Is that so bad? I'm not asking them to fill my cup up then pouring it into a larger mug and THEN adding creamer.... just my 2 cents. I've been doing this for years now and when I go to Starbucks, the barista's know me and are always happy to brig out more creamer if they've run low.

[Bonnie]

The Tazo Chai that Starbucks serves is different than the boxed liquid concentrate they sell. Anyone know how to buy the real stuff?

[JB]

Solution: man up and drink your espresso drink black.
Tall Americano, no room. Mmmmm.

[Finnerty]

"Solution: man up and drink your espresso drink black.
Tall Americano, no room. Mmmmm."

Agreed, but why water it down?
Doppio is the way to go.

[XCR CRF]

who cares about this. what i hate is when people order fraps with no whip and expect me to pour the "LEFT OVERS" in the cup with a dome lid. A tea misto is NOTHING.

[Mike]

LOL, I have always ordered a venti coffee and dumped 1/4 of it out in their trash and replaced it with half & half - I was searching on wikipedia for "latte" and found out what I was doing was a ghetto late, searched that and ended up here... wow.

[Sickof it]

If anyone even thinks about calling my coffee "Ghetto" or even implies that I'm stealing you will be wearing it before I drink it. Why don't you take a walk through the ghetto before you start flipping off at the mouth with your fake MTV/BET colloquialisms. Here's another one: "Ghetto pass" who gave you one? Your Black Girlfriend from work/school?

There are some shitty green apron behaviors on this board. Anyone hear of Just Say Yes, Surprise and Delight,Right Now Recovery... No wonder customers bitch and moan about the level of service that they are being provided. If you have a smidge of frappuccino in the pitcher, put on a dome lid and give it to the customer. It's just going down the sink anyway. As for ghetto lattes it is kind of wrong, but we just want that to be a satisfied returning customer. Starbucks is still going to make their money. Do you honestly think it costs 5 bucks to make a Frappuccino???