Writer: Starbucks should stop trying to be highbrow

Forget trying to be a zine publisher! (Remember those days?) Dump the faux-indie coffeehouse! "Starbucks has repeatedly tried to prove its indie cred or to position itself as more highbrow than it really is," writes Dan Mitchell. "But those efforts are always shallow. ...The company succeeds best when it is at its most middlebrow. That's its strength." || Read "Keep it middlebrow, Starbucks"

Comments

[PictureThis]

When I first went to work at Starbucks 4 years ago, what I found there was truly radical. The entire job of a manager was to create a great work experience for all of the partners. Period. We had a great deal of autonomy and were truly given a great deal of respect. Customers could see the cult in the employees eyes. Everyone loved their job! I had come from the restaurant industry so this was totally radical! Now. Well. It is not radical in that way. NO RESPECT FOR PARTNERS. PERIOD.

[Coffee Drinker]

It's curious to me how often SBUX employees say they don't respect their employer, for not respecting them.

I mean, I've never been able to inspire someone to respect me when I don't them. It just doesn't work. Someone has to blink first.

SBUX is trying, they are screwing up a lot of things, but they are trying. Maybe the primary motivation is to make a few people rich. I don't respect that mentality, but I do respect a great cup of coffee, a nice ambience, mostly professional baristas, and the RED program, among others.

[Enlightened Coffee Sage]

"I don't respect that mentality, but I do respect a great cup of coffee, a nice ambience, mostly professional baristas, and the RED program, among others."

The problem there is that, because the primary motivation is to make a few people rich, Starbucks stops doing things the way that really allows for that. They cut corners, fail to give baristas proper training and support, understaff stores, and make other decisions clearly based on immediate profits rather than long-term customer satisfaction.

Starbucks is trying to be McDonalds while pretending to still be a highbrow coffee bar. You can't be both at once.

[Amazon]

Hey did any hear about a new dark cheery drink...

[Mrs. Tillinghamshackles]

Dark Cherry Mocha. March 9th.

But this isn't the proper thread for that.

[Artemis]

From what I gather, SBC is actually ramping up its efforts to promote itself as the company's everyman brand, differentiating itself from the Starbucks brand in that way.

[Dan Mitchell]

Hello, Dan Mitchell here. Just want to say that, while I make several points of my own in the post you link to here, the point you cite, about Starbucks' failed attempts to go hip or highbrow, was originally made by Greg Beato, whose post at Reason magazine I was riffing on.

http://reason.com/archives/2010/02/09/starbucks-midlife-crisis

Thanks.

[Shifted]

@Enlightened Coffee Sage:
"Starbucks is trying to be McDonalds while pretending ..."

I agree, they are trying, but even failing at that. Have you been to a McDonald's recently?
All the ones I have been to are properly staffed, clean, employees know what they are doing (of course, they're not doing brain surgery, but they have been well-trained to run the deep fryer, or whatever...). MCD succeeds partly because they understand both the long term and short term, and run their business accordingly. Lately, *$ just fails.

[FormerBaristaGo!]

I agree with PictureThis.
Just from personal experience (not making a connection to the generalized experience) I found that the more Starbucks catered to the "middle," the harder I worked and the less I made. But, the more the company made. I also found that even while employed there I sought out other places to go for my coffee when not working. Mainly due to the pronounced ambiance shift. But bottom lines speak louder than individuals in business.