The pundits think they know where Starbucks took a wrong turn

Tom Mullaney, who once loved Starbucks, writes in the Chicago Tribune: "When did the romance sour? As in any relationship, the first clue is usually minor but the start of a string of slights. The shops ditched their $1 bagels and baguettes in favor of $2, high-calorie lemon loaves, muffins and brownies. ...Starbucks once defined the coffee market but has lost control of its brand. Its ubiquity has killed the joy of discovering a new hangout."

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Alex Beam writes in the Boston Globe: "What went wrong with Starbucks? To invoke the venerable business cliche, they didn't stick to their knitting. Their core business was overcharging consumers for coffee, and a very lucrative business it was. Then they started selling dreamy CDs, and the company even helped produce a movie, 'Akeelah and the Bee,' that bombed at the box office. Schultz bought a basketball team and started hanging out with Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney, the usual recipe for business disaster."

Comments

[Herman M]

I once received corrective action for not toeing the line and saying what a wonderful uplifting movie Akeelah & the Bee was and how proud I was that my company was involved in it since the story would uplift our customers and make them truly enthusiastic.

I feel somewhat vindicated that Mr. Boston Globe feels the same way. Too bad no one listened to partners before we dove in to that fiasco.

[PhillyBarista]

It really is getting harder and harder to feel "enthusiastic" about what the company is doing. Going from the manual to automatic machines saddened me, but now going from Coffee to "dear god anything that is profitable and might make us a bit of money" is just flattening my desire to go to work anymore. I actually get EXCITED when someone orders a "Tall black coffee" and have to comment to them that "wow, someone ELSE drinks coffee?!"

[Tony]

"Akeelah and the Bee"....that was not the beginning of the end. Remember Chantico and the "Chocolate Decadence" promotion? $3 for a chocolate dessert that looked and tasted like a "Hostess Ding-Dong." It seems to be continuing with the new summer promotions, how are we getting back to our coffee heritage by selling smoothies and sorbets? Like PPR, once the newness wears off, will it really be worth all the hype? If fruit smoothies are what our customers really want wouldn't the Juice-Blends promotion a couple of summer's back have been more popular? I think the articles are right; Starbucks has lost the cafe culture that romanced the customers in the early days, now that culture is thriving in the independent coffee shops that have focused on what the customer really wants: good coffee done right.

[Dallas SM]

I agree with Tony, I think "Chocolate Decadence" was the beginning of the decline in company. I am not saying we did not make some questionable decisions before that, but, I struggle to think of more that one or two things we have really done right since then. I am not trying to be negative, but when you have a week were 12,000 people are supposed to lose their jobs due to some of these decisions it is hard to be 100% positive. Onward.

[COFFEESOUL]

Unfortunately, I do agree with these articles. The romance had to be sacrificed for the BUCKS in STARBUCKS. I remember walking into a Starbucks about ten years ago, way before I was a partner, and ordering a Latte for the very first time. It was an amazing experience, I felt like I was being transported to another time. Things will always change and there's nothing anyone can do about it. As much as I respect Howard Schultz, even he knew deep down inside that one day, everything would change. It just couldn't be the same anymore, the business began to expand and the demand for "faster" service had to be put into place. When I began my training as a Barista, it had been a long time since I walked into a Starbucks, but I clearly remember that sound of the machines that were used to produce espresso. I wanted to use one so bad, it looked incredibly fun. Instead, I was told that all I had to for the espresso to come out is push a button. Push a button and your problems are solved, fast. The push-button espresso machine became the mentality of a company that sparked a revolution. My loyalty to the company remains intact and I will be criticized for my loyalty, but I know, just as everyone else that works here, that nothing will ever be same. In a world such as this one, it just can never be the same again.

[now ex-sm]

I always tell people that I stopped being a Starbucks customer long before this happened. I would go to my store and get coffee and kid's drink for my son, but I don't go to other starbucks. it seems that if you are not their friend then you don't matter... that is never the way it was when I start, I remember trying to make every customer that came in the door the next regular. But not it all about the promo and USD and bottom line sale (which are good but not what I needed to be yelling to my baristas and shifts.)

I think it's okay that I'm gone I'll miss the benefits but a better job is out there I'm sure. hell I would rather work for the oil company right now then Starbucks

[Herman M]

Tony, I remember it well. At least there I could keep my tongue because the deserts were chocolate, and we have always said chocolate and coffee were a perfect pairing. Chantico? Meh. It sold in the store I was in, but it was a pain having an entirely separate channel. Kind of like Vivvvvvvvvannnnnno. (ahem)

The real pint of no return? Summer of 1995. At that point it was no longer all about the coffee. That was a painful (literally) summer.

[scot phelps]

Today is the day I went to Target and bought a french press and then went to the local hardcore coffee place and had them grind a pound of french roast. I was on the verge this morning when I went into the Starbucks on First Avenue and 16th Street BEFORE NOON and there was only Pike Place- I just walked out. I'm done- a daily (sometimes twice daily) customer has given up on Starbucks- it is too much hassle to get a decent cup of coffee. Thank g*d I live in Manhattan when I have other alternatives.

[Nerfebarista]

Scot Phelps,

You could always ask for a french press of whatever coffee you feel like in any starbucks. This works 1 of 2 ways. 1. ask for the entire french press which is more bang for your buck. 2. Ask for whatever size drip you normally do, from a french press. You'd wait a bit longer, but you'd end up with what you want, rather than what we have on tap. I personally enjoy splitting a french press with the customers that come in and get one made just for one cup. Makes for great conversation about which coffee the customer ordered. Give it a try sometime. If you aren't interested, so long and farewell!

[Nerfebarista]

P.S. Chantico/chocolate decadence was one of the worst things I've seen since joining up with Starbucks. Akeelah and the Bee isn't a horrible movie, but the era it ushered in at Starbucks, I hate.

This new Vivanno coming out looks good and I'm excited to have something new in the store, but I don't work at Jamba Juice...yet.

[Dallas SM]

Vivanno looks like it will be good. I think it will be the first in a long line of smoothies. I haven't figured out how I feel about that.

[GoneBabyGone]

I LOVED the coffee. My very first experience with Starbucks was in a Barnes and Noble in a remote market. I only drink one cup a day but it had to be Starbucks. Because I did believe that it was indeed the finest coffee in the world I wanted to be a part of the team that expanded the market in that area...and I was proud to be a part of it.

I loved the coffee...there was nothing else that we sold that made one bit of difference to me - a manager - but the coffee was truly exceptional.

When I left Starbucks I still went for my coffee, but increasingly over the last few months I could barely bring myself to step inside one. So much so that I began to venture to the "other" places.

I, too, have now invested in a french press and a grinder (because I can't even depend on Starbucks to keep their grinders adjusted!) and I have become pretty good at making my own.

I cannot foresee ever going back - I'm not bitter or upset just very, very disillusioned and simply will not support it. My heart is broken as I mourn for something that I see as...GoneBabyGone.

[Tony]

Nerfebarista;

I think Scot Phelps was upset about the fact, that yet again before noon his local Starbucks was only brewing PPR. Why should he have to ask for a french press and wait the extra five minutes for it to be served? We are a coffee company! This is exactly why our customers are leaving in droves; we are not providing them with what they are asking for. Making a gesture of a french press is nice, but how about if we do it right from the beginning and just brew coffee?

[hasbeen]

I, too, recently quit Starbucks after nearly 5 years with the company. I have another job in my degree field (which I make a decent amount of money). I didn't need the money or benefits, just the friends I made at Starbuks.

Unfortunately, my leaving was bittersweet. I've been a coffee master for 4 years, never got written up, and never even got upset with my managers. I just went to work and enjoyed the coffee and people. What a great time.

But I was fairly tired of the politics of Starbucks. I didn't feel comfortable recommending new drinks I thought were a joke. I didn't like the Verismo espresso shots. Too many baristas didn't know anything about the coffee they sold. It's not that they didn't care, but the managers and supes didn't have enought time or motivation to train them. It was always "Hey, hasbeen (not my real name, shocking?), could you train so-and-so on whole bean coffee...while you run drive through...and get the closing duties done...and do a coffee tasting."

Where did Starbucks go wrong? When it became a game of labor hours and numbers. Shift supervisors and managers were pulling their hair out trying to figure out the labor so they wouldn't get fired. Regional managers were verbally threatening them to do so. It came from the top that numbers were more important than people. Before that nonsense, they were doing coffee tastings and trying to get to know the baristas and customers.

I haven't been in Starbucks since I quet (except to get my paycheck). I love the people there and they're my best friends, but I have no reason to go to a Starbucks. The drinks are outrageously priced now that I don't get a discount. And with gas prices and food prices, I just can't get myself to budget it in when I can make the same coffee and drinks at home.

Starbucks. Too proud for punch-cards. Too good for daily specials. Too greedy for the Starbucks Experience to survive.

Darn it Starbucks. You had such a good thing going. You blew it.

[Nerfebarista]

Tony,

It fills me with a profound sadness to know that we only brew one coffee per day after noon and even deeper a sadness when I hear that some stores stop brewing the morning pick before that timeline. People should be held accountable to that brewing standard. Having said that, what is wrong with informing and offering a process that we don't use nearly enough to a customer that is obviously dissatisfied with how 'his' local store takes care of buisiness. I can't speak to what other stores do or don't do, but I can speak to what I know we offer. Failing a morning pick choice of drip coffee, he can always get what he wants by taking advantage of our french presses. Lord knows we need to get back into them anyway. As for the wait time, it can't be helped, but for me personally, it is worth the wait. Then again, I don't hit Starbucks if I'm running late for something, so a wait never bothers me.

P.S. Customers leave for various reasons. Don't make it sound like this is the 'one' thing that drives people off. I know I've stopped going in on my day off because I am suddenly broke at the gas pump and don't have the cash to spend on luxuries at the moment, not because me store stopped brewing sumatra half an hour early.

[disillusioned]

The switch to PPR completely backfired. I just got home from a closing shift, and we had almost no customers - we were at about half of our sales goal, which makes me think we could be slated for closing but we've only been open a few months - and I had *three* separate customers request a bold coffee and decline the offer of a french press. One of them settled for PPR, one took an Americano, and the third left entirely.

I know that the customers in my store are far from alone in this. So why isn't anyone in Sbux leadership listening to this kind of feedback? Consumers still want bold coffee offerings, all day long - not just before noon - and the message they're getting from Sbux is that they aren't going to find what they want here. Bad move. Sbux has made a series of really bad business decisions that are at least as responsible as the state of the economy in the company's decline.

[jermajesty]

Sadly, within the next two months I may just demote myself to barista. There is no longer much incentive to move up in this company, I am really starting to hate my customers, hate the promos and I especially hate my paycheck. I don't feel I make nearly enough to put up with the aforementioned two things.

Vivanno, whoopdedoo. Why don't I go work at Jamba Juice where at least it is done right?

I wish there was an independent shop somewhere nearby where I could just be a barista, make drinks I am proud of at my own pace, not hear the constant ding and various beeps in my ear, and actually connect with people without having a million other things to do.

Til then... being a shift is a joke, something they don't really tell you before the promotion. Slightly more money for way more responsibilities, way less appreciation and a hefty spoodle of reasons to hate your job on a daily basis.

I loved this job. For so long.

I was so optimistic.

Sorry, Bux, but you let me down. And the 70% turnover of longterm baristas at my store in the last two months is not helping.

[boo]

It used to be a serious responsibility to own your shift on and off the floor. As a shift supervisor, I think we're all tired of taking the blame for our SMs not doing their part in either cleaning, training, and most importantly customer service. How can our 10 partners be particularly enthusiastic about an SM giving our ASM a whole lot of BS for doing her job. She has been the best one out of the last 5 or so that we've had in the past few years.

Starbucks needs to crack down on the retail SMs to get their team on board. Role Model. Leadership. Customer Service. Composure. Baristas and Supervisors alike are losing respect for the company that they once loved working for. Despite the low pay for grunt work, the experience with great customers was well worth it, at least at the time.

It's true, the company went sour when customer counts per half hour as well as average ticket sales were the only priorities on the list. It wasn't maintaining a great work environment, caring for the partners, or getting the SM on her chair to help, but the numbers, the profits. How sad are we?

[boo]

It used to be a serious responsibility to own your shift on and off the floor. As a shift supervisor, I think we're all tired of taking the blame for our SMs not doing their part in either cleaning, training, and most importantly customer service. How can our 10 partners be particularly enthusiastic about an SM giving our ASM a whole lot of BS for doing her job. She has been the best one out of the last 5 or so that we've had in the past few years.

Starbucks needs to crack down on the retail SMs to get their team on board. Role Model. Leadership. Customer Service. Composure. Baristas and Supervisors alike are losing respect for the company that they once loved working for. Despite the low pay for grunt work, the experience with great customers was well worth it, at least at the time.

It's true, the company went sour when customer counts per half hour as well as average ticket sales were the only priorities on the list. It wasn't maintaining a great work environment, caring for the partners, or getting the SM on her chair to help, but the numbers, the profits. How sad are we?

[jj]

Boo... I think cracking down is one of the worst things they can do right now. Part of the coffee house feel, is the laid back atmosphere, and if everyone is paranoid they are going to get written up for having a smudge on a plate, or a crumb on the floor. It comes across in every possible way making sbux even less of a welcoming place. Get it done, yes, but don't 'crack down'

[Nerfebarista]

that sounded more like an SM expectation, rather than the baristas. SMs should indeed be held accountable for day to day opps (running a good shift) as well as the back of the house opps (scheduling, labor etc.) nothing worse than someone that can't practice what they preach, which is what you are if you are an SM that spends the week in boh.

[Melody]

Nerfebarista, what about brew on demand? If it is 1 pm, and someone says, "I'd like bold coffee, not PPR" do you reply with, "I can brew some ---(insert bold coffee option here) if you have a few minutes to wait ..."

And if it is before noon, you should have a morning pick on the brew. That's my understanding of the current situation. Bold until noon, except "high brew" have it until 5 pm, and then brew on demand for all other situations. But if the customer has to ask, "would you brew me a pot of ---" most will simply walk out the door rather than ask that because they don't know that's an option usually ...

[Tony]

Nerfebarista;

I'm not trying to get into a disagreement about offering a coffee press. I think it is the right thing to do. I'm glad you are considerate enough to offer this to a customer. I hope more baristas follow your example. I didn't say that this is "the one thing that drives people off." I believe if you re-read the post, it was the customer who said he has had enough. when someone expresses that kind of frustration, I don't think a coffee press is going to win him back. Also, if you choose to economize due to rising gas prices, etc., that is understandable. But this customer has chosen to go to a competitor because he is not able to get what he wants at Starbucks. There is a big difference between the two, and it is sad whenever someone who used to be loyal decides that they no longer choose Starbucks for their daily coffee.

[n/a]

all my SM seems to care about is speed of service. speed of service. speed of service. Our DM is a joke. He'll come in one week and tell us everything we're doing is wrong and to do it another way. Two weeks later, he'll come in and say we're still doing everything wrong and go back to how we're originally doing it.

The majority of our partners are leaving the store and I can't say I blame them with such crappy management.

[Drive, He Said]

Chantico was a disaster. We sold maybe one a day, if that.

But there was a symptom of incompetence that the chantico put into full view. Nobody was able to keep the chantico pitchers, with those mixing fingers, separate from the regular frappuccino pitchers.

It is really not that hard to put a square peg into a square hole and use the correct pitcher for the correct beverage. At my store, nobody could do it, which made you wonder about all the other things they also couldn't do right. They couldn't clean the urns right, they couldn't make the mocha right, they couldn't uncrust the steamwands right.....it was never-ending, all the things nobody could do right.

[Cali ASM]

jermajesty & boo:
I completely agree with both of your posts. I don't need to add anything because you are both spot on.

[VERONA4EVER]

Can someone please dump the PPR into Puget Sound?

I cannot understand why mgmt is still saying PPR is a success when customers are underenthused and baristas outright despise it. When we used to ask customers if they preferred bold or mild, 75-85% would chose bold. So now we only serve mild! What gives?

If this is the best coffee we've brewed in 37 years, don't just close 600 stores. Close them all.

Let's own up to the PPR mistake and move on. We broke the one thing at Starbucks we didn't need to fix.

[formershift]

Nerfebarista, what about brew on demand? If it is 1 pm, and someone says, "I'd like bold coffee, not PPR" do you reply with, "I can brew some ---(insert bold coffee option here) if you have a few minutes to wait ..."

And if it is before noon, you should have a morning pick on the brew. That's my understanding of the current situation. Bold until noon, except "high brew" have it until 5 pm, and then brew on demand for all other situations. But if the customer has to ask, "would you brew me a pot of ---" most will simply walk out the door rather than ask that because they don't know that's an option usually ...

I think what nerfebarista is saying is that customers are frustrated at NOT being able to buy a cup of bold coffee during store hours, without waiting for a barista to brew it on demand. Why should they wait? Starbucks was always known for their bold coffees and lets face it, bold coffee always sold WAY more than mild. Only now company policy is to push PPR as the main coffee--every single day. Needless to say that gets old fast, especially when Starbucks customers (coffee drinkers) have their fave bold coffee varietals and are used to a weekly rotating roster of coffee.

The current Starbucks policy leaves customers with no real options anymore, and it should be no surprise that they are getting very frustrated and angry.

[Argentius]

I just don't get everyone bagging on EDB / PPR. "Bold" and "Mild" are pretty dang silly descriptions anyway.

When you think "bold," do you think of something with a super-heavy smoky taste, like French Roast, which has almost no body, or a dense, chewy body like Sumatra?

I, for one, LIKE PPR reasonably well, and dang it, a lot of people do.

The "availability heuristic" is screwing with people. Yes, there are die-hard bold fans who will complain. Yes, I believe that we should keep having a second options available as long possible. But if you have 3 customers frustrated that their "bold" is gone, what about the 30 who got EDB and liked it?

I've had numerous customers tell me that they like EBD, one I recall yesterday who declared it is "bringing him back to Starbucks." I also have plenty of customers who have a different preference.

Vive le Difference!

I'll take EDB over Yukon any day and Verona most days. Komodo Dragon and Anniversary Blend are definitely favorites.

My father is a French Roast drinker, and likes EDB pretty well. He's not a fan of heavy body in coffee, and found Komodo to be too intense.

My mother typically gets Peet's coffees, and I gave her a half-pound of EDB last visit. She's a convert, and buys it regularly now.

Personally, top of my list of late is Panama San Benito, available at Clover stores. I wish THAT could become available in more locations!

[jabanga]

chantico came out right after holiday 2004 at the beginning of 2005. for whatever reason, that was what i perceive to have been a real turning point for the company. wheteher it was because that was when a lot of jim donald's initiatives really took hold or not is something i question now because more and more i believe howard was still running the show all along anyway. 2005 certainly was a year chock full of horrible promos and drinks but a lot more of the problems were back of the house issues. a huge one in our region was that they raised the targets for the performance incentive bonuses tremendously that fiscal year and for most stores were unattainable. i for one know that my store comped at 20% that fiscal year, i managed my controllable and labor like always, and did not get a bonus the entire fiscal year despite the fact that i had missed only one or two bonuses in the previous 6 years. it was a major turn of events in the way the company treated its store staffs. shift-supervisor complement was rolled out in my area and tenured shifts hours were slashed and store managers were forced to demote some to get within the guidelines. turnover was suddenly seemingly encouraged rather than something we proudly fought to avoid. various cost-cutting measures seemed to indicate we had begun to manage from the bottom line more than to drives sales to increase the bottom line. much of this apparently was to help finance the insane rapid growth phase the company was in. i for one gave an open presentation at a district meeting expressing my concerns about the message behind all these issues and was told that i was wrong and all was hunky dory. i had been around long enough to know this was not the case. the company has simply never been the same since and of course, never can be.

[Tall Drip]

I still go to Starbucks. Living in South Florida, you really don't have a choice, as there is little or no independent coffee culture. Plus, what few indie shops exist just don't have the great convenient location of most SBUX stores.

I do notice that for the most part, the baristas are not knowledgeable and enthusiastic about coffee, the way they used to be. These days, it seems that they hire people who don't really give a damn, even high school kids, which was unthinkable back in the old days. I guess they have to populate all those new stores with someone, though.

It's ridiculous to think that, back in the day, when I was in college, *I* couldn't get a job at Starbucks - even though I have a passion for coffee - because I didn't have "food service experience." Everyone and their grandmother wanted to work for SBUX back then; it was actually considered a very cool job, so much so that someone like me got rejected. That was then....these days, they seem to hire anyone who walks in the door and asks. Shame I have no time for it, because I'd still like to go to work at a Starbucks, and see if I can help bring some of the old feeling back.

[Pat Nerr]

Holy crap! As a joke, I applied at 2 Starbucks stores and got immediate call backs from both... It'll be nice to get free coffee again...

Things must really be bad...

[Hmm]

My store brews both PPR and the "Morning Pick" coffees until close. I know technically we aren't supposed to, but if we're now making half and quarter batches, we shouldn't be wasting much anyway right?

[Jamie]

I get better results from my cafetiere at home than I ever do in a coffee shop for regular coffee, so I would never buy a plain coffee at Starbucks, but I did like going there for lattes. I was getting one every day there for a while.

Over time, I noticed that the coffee flavor was becoming less and less prominent in the lattes that that they were often lukewarm. If I want to drink warm milk, I'll order warm milk. Smartworld doesn't have that problem; their lattes taste great.

[Christopher Ray]

I feel that at Starbucks it's easy to get used to something. People like to get comfortable. When I say people I'm talking about the people that work there. What everyone needs to understand is that there has to be new drinks, new ideas, new ventures, other wise there is no growth. I honestly feel that the romance of Starbucks lessened when we went over to the automatic machines, but I don't think it was lost. The romance of Starbucks is lost when the partners don't care. The romance of this coffee culture is about connecting with people. Making sure we are connecting with customers, connecting with the people who just sit in the cafe and ask for a cup of water, connecting with fellow partners, and even connecting with the community outside of the third place. I've read a good majority of these comments and I feel that there is a lot of complaining about the company and not realizing that we are the company. Sure Howie may roll out some questionable beverages to us, or start a movie/music venture that supports the arts (which is what a lot of partners are in to anyway)but ultimately how the products are received are on us, the workers and the lovers.
~Christopher Ray, 3 years 10 months
Shift Manager

[Pat Nerr]

"I honestly feel that the romance of Starbucks lessened when we went over to the automatic machines, but I don't think it was lost. The romance of Starbucks is lost when the partners don't care. The romance of this coffee culture is about connecting with people"

I gotta call BS on that one... I mean, look at where the company is at... Those machines sure did their job. Now that's how you handcrafted pushbuttoning!

[Clean Simple]

I used to breakfast on a baguette with butter and a tall black drip coffee. Those were the days...I sure miss those baguettes.

Nowadays, I almost never buy a pastry at Starbucks. The offerings are just so uninspiring. The last good pastry they had was the lemon poppyseed ginger scone--that was delicious, so of course it was discontinued (despite being sold out much of the time!)

[Moe The Chimp]

For me, Starbucks lost it's appeal when they started playing crappy, adult-contemporary music in store. Many years ago, I could walk into any location and hear the cool sounds of classic jazz, Ella Fitzgerald, and the like. It made for incredible atmosphere and I wanted to luxuriate in it. Back then, you could smell coffee the moment you walked in. I haven't experienced that olfactory delight in a long time also. While I'm not a purist about how the drinks are made, I have to admit it was kind of special to see the baristas "work" to pull shots with the older Marzocco equipment. It sounds corny as hell, but the romance of going to a Starbucks is totally dead. Good luck ever getting it back.

[imstaying]

I've worked at Starbucks for over 3 years, or right from this so called "turning point"... and I think for me the most dissappointing thing was the cut in labor hours. When I first started we had fun, we talked to the customers and neither of us really had much worries. The SM we have now is so focused on being under labor and that we aren't overstaffed. The problem being is that somehow we're supposed to clean, stock, prep frap, do dishes, keep 3 coffees going every 30 min and we have 10 beepers going off and 10 new things that need done. All this while we're supposed to appear calm and really make a connection with our customers, smile, and hand off the perfect beverage. I LOVE Starbucks, but Howie, if you're reading this, alot of your partners feel overworked, underpaid, and that there is too much expected of us to truly provide a "legendary" experience. But however, I truly believe that this is a bad year for Starbucks, and if anyone can turn things around, Howie can. I'm not going anywhere for a long time because I still love my job... many of our customers are sticking with us too.. I'm keeping positive.

[notsoenthusiastic]

SOOOOOOOO agree with Disillusoined. I'm going back to work after having a baby. State of California takes better care of me than Sbux. Just staying for the insurance. The "shift supervisor" position IS a total joke. Tiny raise for way too many responsibilities at one time and now everyone thinks everything is your fault too, but ironically, doesn't want to take any deployment or other suggestions from you cause youre not "the real boss". If I can find something out there that also has flexible schedule plus health ins., i'd rather not work here. it's hard to keep looking "enthusiastic" when you're really not. I am a coffee enthusiast, not a "frappucino" or "energy shot" enthusiast.

[Herman M]

Moe, I agree. Those were the days. Not that we got any less beat up over a shift, we worked hard. But having that wonderful soundtrack (they recently released those Blu Note discs again through iTunes. Bought them right up), and smelling like coffee when you left the store were all right by me. Now, a partner is as likely to smell like an ice cream store with that slightly sour milk smell clinging until they get home.

[Misto]

I love Starbucks, and I'm sure the recent drop in sales can be attributed to less 'extra' cash people have to spend in these times. It's the unnecessary luxuries that are the first to be cut in my budget.

[ACE]

The writing was on the wall over 2+/- years ago. Howard addressed a group of store mgrs in the NYC area. In his delivery, he was more excited and passionate about the fact that Bono came to his home than ANY news pertaining to Starbucks. He even stated that he prayed that one of his neighbors or friends would've seen him walking his dog w/ Bono. It proved once again it was ALL ABOUT the SHOW! It turned me & half the others in the room off. It's been a spiral downward since Howard (wanna be) focused on his own fame & stardom! No brainer.

[mallpartner]

I agree with a lot of what is being said on here, but at the same time I feel that some of the customers might be to blame. I have worked at Starbucks for just over 3 years in two different types of stores. One was in a huge college town and with a line that goes from the register to the door for an hour and a half it is hard to connect with the customers and most of them do just want it fast so they can get to class or to their study group or whatever they may be heading off to. I also worked and currently work in a mall store. The big problem there is that Starbucks has become a social status and that if you are drinking it you are cool. So I see a lot of middle school and early high school kids coming in and asking for Vanilla Bean and Double Chocolate Chip (I refuse to call it Chocolately as we are a coffee shop and not a Toys 'R Us) and so it becomes hard to get excited about coffee when all you make is ice cream. I truly love some of the coffee we have and find it hard to drink any that's not a from a press though I think it becomes harder to get excited about when you have people that come in wanting to jump on the band wagon but not wanting to take them time to really understand what it has to offer.

[bold woman]

I left (after being a loyal and happy customer since the early 80s) on the day I couldn't get bold drip coffee after 12 noon. To me it's a coffee store no more.