Weekend OPEN THREAD: It's your turn to start the conversation

Discuss anything Starbucks- or coffee-related in the open thread.

Comments

[Dave in Galveston]

I went to my local Starbuks this morning and found they were closed. Apparently the barista who was scheduled to open went out of town to Dallas or Austin and the whole place was locked up.

How do I get some service recovery coupons?

[espressoblend]

What's going on with the weird partnership between Good Magazine and Starbucks? It's sort of... odd. I mean, it just appears that the extent of the promotion is a periodical (and not even the magazine!) in a cardboard stand.

I'd recommend that SBUX not have such a transparent attempt at advertising the magazine or that, you know, the baristas actually know what the magazine is first. It just seems out of place, much like a lot of what SBUX tries to promote...

[espressoblend]

@Dave in Galveston:

Heh! Now even I think that's tacky to say!

[Melody]

In answer to espressoblend:

http://tinyurl.com/SbuxGoodShts

Or long URL -

http://blogs.starbucks.com/blogs/customer/archive/2008/09/11/great-conversations-at-starbucks-with-good-sheets.aspx

[arabica bean]

Dave in Galveston,

I regularly open my starbucks, and without the scheduled second person (because they slept in or forgot they were opening), it's hard to get the store open in time. It's unfortunate that you came by when this happened, but believe me, I'm usually just as annoyed as the customers are that I can't do my job and get the store open. Most customers are understanding though when I explain why I'm standing outside instead of getting coffee brewed inside.

[okie_barista]

I put in my two-weeks yesterday.
Man, it's been a good 2 years.

[Ari]

This is an entry I left on the Baristas Livejournal a few days ago about our craptastic music....Edited for cursing.

*****

You know that song Mr. Rock n' Roll By Amy Macdonald? We now have 2 freaking versions of it!!! If I hear that song one more time I will find her and damage her vocal cords myself. I am so pissed off, I heard it about 6 times at work today and it keeps repeating itself in my head. She has this awful fake folksy sound and it is just grating, horrifying. I told my SS, that if this song is played for much longer, I will be going back to the Mental ward at GWU hospital.

Who is the f**king crackhead that picks the music for our stores? They should trap him in a shop at closing with the system turned all the way up with no way to stop it. leave him there a few days.

It was so bad that the second I got home from work, i gulped down some of Trader Joes best 3 dollar wine right from the bottle in order to wash it out of my brain. That does not work.

I was going to vandalize her Wikipedia page, but my husband convinced me not to.

Who the hell did she sleep with to get her ear bleeding excuse for music to be played every 20 minutes?

[Badeddie]

I would like to thank everyone who expressed an opinion about morale.
I would like to try to make a distinction here.
Store morale vs. company morale.
I love it when I hear people say how much fun it is to work in their store.
That's what it has been, and should always be, about working for Starbucks!
I have been told by my immediate reports that I am responsible for both my store morale and my own morale.
Given the fact that everyone is responsible for the way they feel, why is it only my responsibility as SM to provide a great work environment?
I'm not just asking baristas to help with the environment, I'm speaking to DM's, RD's, VP's, all the way to the top.
What have they been doing to provide a great work environment?
One of the things I expressed to my DM was that since the "transformational agenda" we have been getting hammered continuously.
We don't make drinks correctly, we don't do it fast enough, and we don't do enough of them. On top of that, Customer Voice results tell us that we don't keep our stores clean and we're not friendly enough.
We've been hearing this for months!
I've been a partner for more than 14 years folks. This is not a complicated job, running a coffee shop. It's fun!
But when you hear over and over again about how WE are responsible for the decline in business, it can't help but affect you're morale.
In a very real sense, I helped to build this company, I remember what it was like, and think I know what got us here.
Take care of yourself, take care of your Partners, take care of your customers.
I know I'm not the only one feeling this way.
Give me a reason to stay! I want to be be here, but who is responsible when SM's morale hits the floor?

[BOSTON STARBUCKS REBEL]

Did it ever occur to you that maybe you should be evacuating because of the hurricane? I believe Business Continuity is allowing partners to evacuate from the effected regions for their own safety. Just like you should heed the orders to evacuate for your own safety.

[a nony mouse]

anyone see this new McDonald's coffee commercial?

http://marketplace.publicradio.org//display/web/2008/09/11/pm_mccafe/?refid=0

[Posted by:]

Thanks for posting the commercial. Now I have another reason to hate McDonalds...lame commercials.

Dave in Galveston...Really? Seriously? Are you joking? I hope you are. Were you not getting a little wet waiting for the doors to open this morning with the hurricane swirling over head?

[PDXBarista]

What is everyone thinking about the Anniversary Blend this year? I have done a couple of presses of it and find it rather unacceptable compared to past years.

On the flip side, the Burundy is amazing! This is great coffee! I cannot keep it on the shelf. The great thing is that my partners are absolutely into it which, surprise, means the customers dig it.

Thoughts??

[Posted by:]

Anybody get signature hot chocolate in yet? Anybody try it out yet?

[a]

@BSR My god, take a joke. It's Dave in GALVESTON for crying out loud - the store's probably underwater right now.

--

@Badeddie - You are. Who's responsible when Howard's morale hits the floor? IMHO every partner is responsible for their own morale, but as an SM you create the environment and conditions that set where it's at.

I don't understand your point, though. If your store is dirty, drinks aren't up to standard, etc. etc. then where is the source of meaning for your partners? How are they possibly going to have high morale? And you ARE responsible for the success of your business. Its not up to anyone else to ensure that your business is performing and your partners have high morale - especially not VPs and SVPs, whose job it is to focus on the long-term, bigger-picture things.

Go in on Monday and ask whoever is there candidly what you can do to make their job better. Be serious, nothing like "pay me more", because we all know where that road goes. Find out a list of the top three from everybody, and then spend the next week implementing them. Reach out to your DM for help, if you need, because that's what they're there for.

I tried this in my store, and it worked wonders. Partners felt a better connection with the store, they knew that they had an SM who cared about them as individuals and not as just line items, and they knew they had my unequivocal support.

[CBH]

We just started writing customer's names on cups here in Michigan. My problem is that my partners seem to write the names of 'plain white people' because it's easy but when a customer appears to be from the middle east or is Asian or has a heavy accent, they balk. I think we should either write (and correctly pronounce and spell) every customer's name or not write names at all. Does anyone agree?

[Rob]

RE: McDonalds

You know, if the only way you can take on a competitor is to offer (consistently) free items, they how is it that you're better? Again, the only folks who will bite on this, or who would "switch" on this, isn't the true customer anyway.

[Rob]

How have overall store sales been lately? My usual Starbucks is far away enough from any closed store to have picked up those customers, yet the lines have grown considerably the last few weeks. (I'm not a partner, but a customer). I wonder if sales are picking up?

[lattewizard]

how is everyone liking the new soymilk?
i think it smells like play-doh.

i'm very disappointed.

[flbarista]

Signature Hot Chocolate --We whipped up a batch of signature hot chocolate the other night. it was really rich (assuming we made it correctly0 it kind of made my stomach hurt -- i'm not used to drinking such sweet things, especially on an empty stomach.

it was really good with the sea salt, people are really going to like it.

Anniversary Blend -- i'm not impressed. I'm drinking it at home and it seems a little bland. Agree that the Burundy is awesome.

Names -- my store is also trying to get better at writing names, but sometimes it's hard to hear. I agree that we should try our best to write names correctly everytime, but I hope that people don't get too offended if we can't hear/understand them. Personally, i ask people to spell them out if i cant understand them.

[Rob]

I wish every store wrote names. I really don't care for the stickers...especially since Howie wants the stores to "go back to [our] roots".

[espressoblend]

I have to say I that I picked up some of the Burundi Kayanza recently, and, for a SBUX coffee, is pretty fantastic.

[maxpunx]

has anyone sold a vivanno since the new launch? we're literally selling 2 or 3 a day now. we've been making (and exceeding) sales on po and vpl, but vivanno has sunk like a rock. just wondering if anyone was able to keep those sales up.

[Jim U]

Anybody get signature hot chocolate in yet? Anybody try it out yet?

Yeah, and I think it is awesome! The caramel salt option is pretty cool

[Sample Cup]

I live for French Presses of Burundi Kayanza!!! Try it with the fruit and nut bar - DE-LI-C-IOUS!

I wanted to say that I got to actually interact with my DM this past week and I am so psyched. My DM coached me on the technical aspects of deployment/decision-making and I just kept thinking to myself, "wow! oh yeah - that makes sense! WOW!" Old DM never expressed any enthusiasm for my goals and never really checked on partner knowledge. Old DM, while that person's heart was probably in it, just blinked to much for me not to second guess the few comments she ever made to me. I for one actually appreciate the way New DM seems to give a shit. New DM also has a great way of honoring partner appreciation day: getting on the floor and doing any task delegated - SCHWEET! I think this DM has the potential to keep our district BOOMING and partners motivated! Yay!

[sample cup]

Also, signature hot chocolate is great in small amounts. I've also tried the "Caramel Sea Salt" recipe for it and was thoroughly impressed.

As good as it is though, I'm not looking forward to yet ANOTHER prep. This one is friggin' INVOLVED.

[Gord]

From the McDonalds article...

"But this is beyond a negative campaign, this is condescending, to say that they're not smart enough to go to Starbucks!"

I couldn't agree more. Yep, that's not working for me. :)

[waltie]

I actually think those McDonald ads are really funny. I've worked at Starbucks for years and love it, but I can take a joke. They aren't aimed at Starbucks specifically, just at the snobbish, elitism found at coffee shops in general. They're clever and funny, in my opinion.

[Torontodude]

(re-post; posted in wrong thread in error)

Change is hard.

Starbucks will never again be what it was. Maybe it's morphing into something between a high end fast food place and a casual dining restaurant. lt's now possible to get a complete, hot meal consisting of three items for less than $10. Examples might include:
- 2 venti drip coffees (incl. one free refill), feta/spinach wrap, muffin
- 2 venti drip coffees (incl. one free refill), oatmeal, yogurt

This is great value. It compares favorably to what you could get at a local greasy spoon, Denny's, or even a place like Perkins Family Restaurant. I pefer the atmosphere at Starbucks.

Yesterday, I was at a very busy Starbucks in downtown Toronto at the corner of College and Yonge. The place was hopping! That's not new -- but I did notice the average bill seemed higher. Many people were ordering multiple items, including hot food.

Believe me -- higher average bills are one of the key metrics the Wall Street analysts are looking at.

So maybe -- just maybe -- much of the discussion on this site about the finer points of coffee is misplaced (at least from a business perspective.)

I agree that most of the last remnants of the coffee house culture are being lost in the process. The store I visited yesterday was anything but quiet. But there was a bustling, energetic, "the joint is hopping" type of vibe. Is that bad? There were five people behind the counter, and they all seemed happy to be there -- laughing and joking, even as they pumped the orders out.

I spent over an hour there, but didn't feel rushed. It was still possible to read a newspaper, even over the clatter and music. My only complaint
was no tidying up at the tables. These days, it seems Starbucks customers have to be their own busboys.

But it was an eye-opening experience, and very positive overall. I'll also note that I now load $30 at a time on my Starbucks card, up from $20, because I'm spending more.

Comments?

[BOSTON STARBUCKS REBEL]

Wow, I'll have to try that $10 breakfast deal.

[SPORK]

Two big pet peeves of mine that I figured I'd share.

When people leave ALL of their drinks, their half-eaten sandwhiches, their cigarrete butts, their napkins and their drink spills on a table for me to clean up. I'm happy to do a bus and clean milk spills, tidy the chairs and even throw away a cup that was forgotten by accident, but it's just RUDE to leave your garbage for me to clean up.

And second, let's start flushing the toilet after we've used it okay? Because I don't get paid enough to look at your wastes.

[Torontodude]

To clarify:

I don't mind being my own busboy -- by throwing out my own stuff.

I DO mind having to throw out other people's stuff. If Starbucks is going more heavily into food, it is going to have to solve the garbage problem.

[Lig]

Ari,
I can't agree with you more! You have expressed my feelings exactly. I think there might be a riot at the Leadership conference. I am not even really looking forward to it b/c I am not in the mood for the RaRa cheer leading crap that I know will abound. I don't know if you caught Howard's latest message on the portal about the conference but he is so somber and says he is going to use the time with us to reestablish "expectations". Clearly, we have been loafing for years and we are just now paying the piper, right?

[Trigger Finger]

Has anyone ever transfered to Canada? Is is like trying to work at International or can we do a straight transfer?

[BOSTON STARBUCKS REBEL]

Does anybody call the drinks anymore?

[Ari]

Boston Starbucks Rebel- My shop calls drinks, we do not have a labeler. Is not having a labeler a rarity?

[Want it to be better]

I rarely go to my local store anymore; the shots are bitter and they don't follow recipes. This morning I got a doubleshot and they asked if I wanted it sweetened, I said yes, I want it the way it's supposed to be made. I received a dark brown foamy bitter unsweetened mess. Although I asked for a remake (the manager made it and it was much better), I feel like if I said something (complained) about the overall store experiences that it wouldn't make a difference. Should I bother?

[TCOFFEE]

Anniversary Blend--love it. Always love it. I long for it the 10 months it's not available. Had an AMAZING press of it the other day. Such nice earthy cocoa notes, and I got surprising berry notes as well. So good. Must start stockpiling.

The Burundi on the other hand...eh. Okay. But anything up against Anniversary Blend loses in my book.

[Mike]

Writing names on cups is a waste of time. In two years as an SM we've never done it. Last year my store had the highest snapshot percentage score in all of UMA. This year we are well above our target expectations on customer voice. We tried implementing once because our DM thought she was smart and we were not. All we got was a bunch of people asking us "What for?" Customers want their beverages and they want them fast. They don't want their time wasted by asking them how to spell their names for the cups. The connection with the customer comes from the fact I have baristas and shifts who are genuinely good at connecting with the customer. Any store that thinks writing names on cups enhances the customer experience needs to re-haul its staff...

[Mike]

Has anyone heard anything about an announcement to be made at Leadership regarding SMs having less coverage responsibility? Our DM told us the other day that "rumor" has it this is the case, however he did not know to what extent...

[20secondshotguy@gmail.com]

Badeddie - Here's the source of hope for yourself. You want to be here. Huge. You also know that you're responsible for your morale and happiness. No one else. You said so before you asked your question. All good stuff.

It's not just your responsibility, no. It's everyone's.

As an SM you're on a front line and you're feeling it. As 'a' said, you set the expectation. You build the team that wants to be there and manage the performance of folks who don't, as well as those who do, but can't meet expectations. It's part of the job.

On another thread yesterday, a DM talked about breaking down in front of a peer. Today I received a note from an SM who is thinking about--and by now may already have--stepping down. This is someone who used to joke about succeeding Howard. That's a passionate partner. So you're not alone. Take some solace in that.

RDs, RVPs, Marketing, Training, Category folk - everyone of them that I know is working very hard, to move through this transformation. There's a lot of letting go of old ways of being that is happening here at every level. This has to happen. Why? In too may stores "we don't make drinks correctly, we don't do it fast enough, and we don't do enough of them. . . . we don't keep our stores clean and we're not friendly enough." That's not just your store. That's not new. It's how Starbucks operated when business was good. And it caught up with company results.

That's why Starbucks can't just change. It has to transform.

Can anyone be proud to work at a place where store teams are not friendly and give folks the wrong order in a dirty environment? Can you?

Starbucks received a huge wake up call. It's responding. Will it get better? Yes, I think it will. Will Starbucks go back to the way it was? No. That didn't work anymore.

So. Do your partners still make your day? Do your customers? I know you're not proud of your results. Do you still want to turn them around? You're being stretched. That's uncomfortable. Starbucks is out of balance, I think so. The company has to figure out in the midst of this what the culture looks like now. What does that great environment like now? Maybe N.O. will give some insight there. But there's no magic wand. No speech or voice mail that will make everything good.

It's you with your team. Every day. Trying your best. Admitting you dropped the ball when you do. Holding folks accountable. Inspiring them. One cup. One customer at a time. And they you because your expectation is contagious.

Do that and it's not just the morale on the shift that will change. It's the morale in your store. In your district. In your region. In the company.

[pdxy]

@want it to be better

1)they asked you if you wanted it sweetened to be polite, a lot of people don't realize when classic syrup is in a beverage, and they want to make sure you are aware.

2)I'm also sure that your "just make it the way it supposed to be made" request was polite. You more than likely huffed and puffed and threw your hands up and the "stupid' barista wasting your time with "stupid" questions.

You're an ass. And, no your imput on how to improve the overall visit would not be appreciated since your are a selfish customer who wished to not have to interact with the lowly staff.

You and espressoblend should rent a car and speed directly into a brick wall. But you would probably argue over which one is entitled to drive.

Get bent.

[pdxy]

@want it to be better

1)they asked you if you wanted it sweetened to be polite, a lot of people don't realize when classic syrup is in a beverage, and they want to make sure you are aware.

2)I'm also sure that your "just make it the way it supposed to be made" request was polite. You more than likely huffed and puffed and threw your hands up and the "stupid' barista wasting your time with "stupid" questions.

You're an ass. And, no your imput on how to improve the overall visit would not be appreciated since your are a selfish customer who wished to not have to interact with the lowly staff.

You and espressoblend should rent a car and speed directly into a brick wall. But you would probably argue over which one is entitled to drive.

Get bent.

[CBH]

Mike -

Thank you for confirming what I suspected all along. Plus, couldn't we get in trouble for only writing the names of 'some' customers. I can picture a headline that reads "Racist Starbucks Only Writes Names of White Americans". I maintain that we should only correctly pronounce and spell the names of ALL our customers or not do it at all. Any other comments?

[Torontodude]

Re: writing names

There is another consideration. Many people in -- and from -- many countries find the question "what's your first name?" unspeakably rude when it comes from someone they've just met. They think it evidence not of friendliness, but of presumption and arrogance. It is considered EXTREMELY offensive.

And there are still a few older Canadian- and American-born people who feel the same way.

So why take a chance? Don't write names.

[b]

I can't believe no one has mentioned the new invitation only Starbucks Gold Card yet...

Most customers use credit cards so just read the names off the card.

[BaristaBarbie]

I get yelled at when I ask for customer's names. Like, bad.
Only by older men. Scary...

[CBH]

Torontodude -

Good point. I'm (proud to be) in a very diverse suburban Detroit area and I see that look on some customer's faces when they are asked 'What's yer name?' Hate to be so PC but writing names on cups invites controversy. Comments?

[spence]

I've been with S'bux over a year. Please, what is a labeler????

[An awesome homosexual shift supervisor in northern new england]

I feel that getting customers names is a great idea. It is a great way to further connect with a customer...it is also a great way to ensure the proper drink is being handed to the customer with that specific name. I work at a store that during the summertime is a madhouse. If we didnt get customers names we would have so many customers assuming a drink is theirs and taking the wrong drink. As someone who expedites/floats quite a bit...I ALWAYS get names. And what do ya know I happen to know quite a few of the customers by name and vice versa. And its also a great way to get the newer PARTNERS to familiarize themselves with the customers.