A Starbucks customer wonders if bureaucracy is hurting the company

Here's one example from the author: "There is a lot of unused floor space in this particular [Starbucks] shop. I asked employees why they don't just add more tables. The answer: the company won't let them buy any new tables and chairs so they have to wait until they can get furniture if another unit someplace else closes." Is this guy right-on? Or is he just another uninformed customer/pundit? || Read "Is bureaucracy hurting Starbucks"

Comments

[Darth Sidamo]

Most companies do not open at 5am and are so steady throughout the evening that closing duties are started at 10:30am.

The pastries? Because you decide you want coffee at 11pm we have to start the closing tasks sooner. You cannot clean every surface in a store and restock it in half an hour with two people.

If we went to the store and bought bananas twice a day think of the gas for the barista as well as the labor it takes off the floor to help you. Dont forget the quality control you lose when purchasing that kind of product. Imagine if the authors wife picked up bananas in this story and got in an accident. From liability that screams lawsuit.

Bureaucracy is not the problem. It is the incredibly strive to appease stockholders.

Wall Street expects us to eat your money and crap out gold for you. You want a quick dollar? Slash labor, benefits, and training. The short term ideas to appease stockholders are just quick fixes usually and can hurt your investment in the long run. Investors do not care to hear that increasing labor and improving product might make the stock dip for a short period, but that investment back into the partners will put the focus back on customers as well and drive growth.

The hard push of VIA might have slightly improved sales, but each time you treat a customer like a goal and not a person can kill the whole reason the customer comes a few times a day in the first place.

The fix you are wanting lies within changing everybody's unreasonable expectations.

I leave you with a few Henry Ford quotes.

1. A business absolutely devoted to service will have only one worry about profits. They will be embarrassingly large.
2. If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person's point of view and see things from that person's angle as well as from your own.
3. It is not the employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle the money. It is the customer who pays the wages.
4. If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.

[Waltie]

This guy has plenty of reasons for why this store he goes to sucks, but it's not indicative of the company as a whole. Of course baristas aren't supposed to empty the pastry case until after we're closed. That's a no-brainer. If the store always does that close to an hour(!) before closing, he should call the manager to complain because that's pathetic. It's also pathetic that the barista didn't understand that removing the pastry from the markout menu used to take about two seconds, and now it's even quicker.

And I have to question this guy's research methods. He really asked some random barista about the amount of tables? I'm not surprised he got some bogus answer that doesn't make sense. It sounds to me as though the SM and DM haven't coordinated properly with the facilities people to have the proper amount of tables for that store. That is a problem with the company, but not the problem he was citing. I'm sure if the company thought bringing in tables would bring in more money, those tables would appear pretty quickly.

And the wi-fi thing again. Funny how quickly all of the complaints switched from us being horrible for not offering to wi-fi to complaining about us bring horrible for offering wi-fi.

And whenever my store runs out of bananas, we run next door and buy bananas.

[TiredofThis]

I think the title is not all that accurate. While I think bureaucracy is hurting Starbucks, the author doesn't really give any examples to support his claim. Instead he gives a list of problems caused by the mismanagement of one store. I am not saying that some of these things aren't going on in other stores,but is definitely not common to have all these things happen in the same store.

[Doppio con karma]

Quasi unrelated but kinda,
do you close at your posted closing time or stay open an additional 10 mins? I've seen stores both ways in my area

[Spazzy Starbucks Student]

Valid points raised, but agree with the above posters... this is a very poorly titled article.

In fact, from the customer perspective, I've been in right till closing and never encountered the pastry issue. I don't believe, either, that Starbucks would benefit from covering outlets as the author seems to imply. It's hard to call your local store a "third place," if you go to be productive and are constantly stressing about battery life. The majority of laptop-wielding customers I see are more than happy to buy more than one drink if they are staying for long periods of time.

Do a little bit more research, please, before making sweeping generalizations based on the negative experience of one location. It's not like that everywhere... really.

[Stan]

with the new system this sounds alot like my store.

facilities will not order new tables, because there is a remodel about to happen.

pastry orders are closer to what we actually sell now, so we run out alot earlier, and what's more pathetic, one tray in the case that's going out when we close? or an empty case. the choice is yours, that's your opinion. my store is old and busy, and beat up, the pcard is constantly held up due to max out, just for normal upkeep of a 20 year old store.

the banana thing is rediculous, and maybe they asked an uninformed barista, who made up a BS answer to appease the customer. or maybe the way to buy the bananas was used up.

either way the man got his pastry, and a whole bunch of free stuff afterwards, that hardly seems like a valid "complaint" we made you extra happy.

free wifi is an issue, that we couldn't win no matter what. either we charged, and it was quick and people bummed around complaining about it not being free. or it's free and people complain about it not being fast enough, or "we can't sit now" the best answer wouldve been you get the password when you make a purchase and it changes weekly, but even that's not fool proof, and not really easy.

[sbucksmngr]

Absolutely! Heck our store was without an ice machine for 7 days. When we finally got one it was a used one that didn't work from another store that closed! We had to run to the grocery store for 7 days to buy ice...absolutely ridiculous for a company that boasts such a large cash reserve! Mickey Mouse if you ask me!

[dottie]

Why didn't you go to a nearby starbucks and get ice from them? Every time you purchase something it hits your dairy variance no matter what it is so that was a bad call on your part, sbucksmngr.

[newbie no more (was sbuxnewbie)]

Wow, dottie! I don't know about sbucksmngr, but if my store needed ice, we'd go to a grocery or convenience store about 1/2 mile away, for the 5 minute round trip, rather than the 20 mile, 45-60 minute round trip to the nearest Starbucks. Especially in the heat we've been having in the Northeast lately. So what you may think is a bad call on the part of one store is the correct call for another.

[hmpht]

How come the closing crew has to stay until the work is done, when everyone else that works that day gets to leave exactly when they are scheduled. It would be okay if we got to leave early on the days we were done sooner, but that will get you written up at my store. Right now the average overage time is an hour.

How this relates to the article? Well, it takes an hour to turn over and clean up our pastry case and we only have 35 minutes after close scheduled.

[Ste]

Dottie, if the ice is helping the blended line on the P+L, which is hugely profitable, who cares if it hits the dairy variance? Would you rather be out of ice and not sell the most profitable item (which is also a promo goal)or have to explain a little variance? Agree with newbie, you assumed a lot about that particular situation.

[looong time shift]

How does ice hit dairy P&L? So if I have to go use the P-card to buy sharpies because we are out then it hits my dairy variance? I thought dairy was milk(maybe soy) all this time...

[Hipsterdufus]

The only time P-Card purchases are charged to anything except dairy is when it is used at staples. All other purchases are charged to the dairy line because there is no system in place to charge it other wise.

If you store's ice machine is broken, however, you should look into ice delivery services. In my area alone there are at least 3 companies that deliver ice. When the machine goes down, you have ice delivered (30 lbs, 100lbs, what ever you need) and it is stored in the ice machine.

@hmpht: why on earth does closing down the pastry case take an entire hour?!?!?

[Dottie]

I guess since I have 4 stores within 3 mile radius of my store, it just makes more sense to go to them to get ice. Besides, you need to control the middle of your P&L just as much as you do your top line sales. Maybe where ever you are from, you don't focus too much on the middle of the P&L which would make your store less profitable...learn the business guys. You're getting paid to take care of someone else's money, so you should do it in the most responsible way.

[hearbutloud]

@Hipsterdufus - think about it - if you clean your pastry case, from top to bottom, including marking out pastries, storing for tomorrow, setting it up for tomorrow, and setting up donations.... AND you're still helping customers.... an hour is actually pdq. If you can go straight through without stopping for ANYthing or ANYone, then the pastry case --- IF cleaned properly --- still takes some time.

[I.Heart.Spirit.]

@Dottie

Thinking of the business. I'd rather send a partner to the store to buy $10 worth of ice to last the evening, than spend an hour of already tightly schedule labor. How long does it take someone to scoop enough ice out of someone else's ice bin? Where do you store it for the ride back? Seems that would cost money too. And the upset customers because you're spending even more time not having ice, with the bigger line...

Looking at the bigger picture I'd rather have a slight off variance of milk that can be justified for having a broken ice machine for a week over losing future regular customers. But what do I know about business? I'm just a barista.

[Hipsterdufus]

bearbutloud: I don't have to think about it. I DO it several times a week. It takes 30 min max while serving customers. LIGHT a fire under you ass and get it done faster!

[Darth Sidamo]

I thought only store managers were insured by the company if an accident occurs while retrieving product or am I wrong on this policy. I remember reading it somewhere a few years ago.

If an accident happens outside of the store while you are getting product I believe you are not covered by workmans comp as well.

ps. Labor laws are different from state to state but atleast I believe this is how it works in my area.

[Noah]

Darth Sidamo - you are basically correct. The company insurance for on duty injuries is actually Workingman's Compensation run by the state government. The employer does pay a premium based upon the inherent danger of the job. A barista in a store is rated a much lower risk and premium than a DM driving a car about their territory all day long. It makes sense to keep the baristas in the store avoiding the higher premiums.

[formermanager]

I think it's BS to have to use your personal vehicle to transport store product, especially the front line people. No one gets gas or mileage reimbursement. However, everyone wants to do these trips because it gets them the heck out of the store for a while. This is when the DM should step in and help. Short staffed to begin with, now we have to spare a partner to go get ice.

[Dottie]

You transport ice with trash bags...but I guess you aren't too smart to figure that one out. And the nearest grocery store for me is farther than the nearst bux...and if it takes you longer to scoop ice then 10 minutes then you are too slow and maybe shouldn't even work for bux.

And in cali we get reimbursed for mileage so it doesn't matter what vehicle is used.

[Austin Bearista]

@Dottie: What's the QASA standard for transporting ice in trash bags? I'm guessing you need a day-dot, right?

[baroosta]

@Austin Bearista: "@Dottie: What's the QASA standard for transporting ice in trash bags? I'm guessing you need a day-dot, right?"

AHAHAHAHAHA! Don't forget to stick a label on the bag itself that says "ICE" - just in case someone confuses it for Caramel Sauce!!! Oh, and don't forget a thermometer attached to the inside of the bag somewhere...

[Chris H]

Oh dear, are we really going to get into a name calling session? Everyone here is smart, no need to insult them because they have different ways of keeping their store running. If we ran out of ice, we'd probably hit the store 2 miles away up, but if I were the Starbucks near coulombs, Indiana, I would hit up a supermarket. It's the same end result, just a different way of getting to it

[formerpartner]

I think EVERY partner who has posted so far has completely missed the point of the article, rather choosing to focus on the line-by-line.

The point is that Starbucks has restrained itself from working from within an entreprenuerial spirit and that ultimately is going to be what constrains us from being back on top.

managers should be paid to manage- to make decisions, to act according to what their store demands, and to stop having to focus on what corp. wants, and to have corp start focusing on what the store needs.

I am an ex-partner but wholeheartedly agree with the premise of the article.

The challenge has been, and will continue to be attracting the right management talent that is capable of making the right decisions, at least 90% of the time.

That comes from experience, and education. And when your entire platform is based on promotion from within, then it's a self-fullfilling prophecy.

Poorly trained baristas turn into poorly trained ss, to poorly trained managers, to poorly trained DMs. And by the word "poor", I mean our training completely lacks focus on running the business as a franchise owner, with entreprenuerial spirit. All it focuses on are policy, process, and how to kiss enough a$$ to stay in your position.

[Frustrated]

formerpartner - this is what my current district (and store to some degree) looks like at the moment. We have a lot of poorly trained employees, mainly due to our DM.

Our manager knows what she is doing and knows what our store needs. We are the busiest morning store in our district with the most amount of warming, yet we are the only store with one oven and are not allowed a new one because "we aren't driving our business enough."

Same situation with espresso machines. We are a drive-thru store with two espresso machines. The two other drive-thru stores in close range to us both have three. We do more business than one of the those stores, and they only use two of their machines! But we are not allowed to get another machine because of the cost, or god forbid, gasp, take their machine.

Starbucks needs more highly trained managers who can run their own store and drive business and be allowed to make their own decisions. Half the time the DMs don't even know what it's like to work in a store. Frustration.

[Gold Coast]

Waltie: Not every store has bananas next door. Facilities is infamous for not getting you what you need. A new oven was shipped to our store, but was "lost". Turns out that a DM friend of our DM talked our DM into giving it to his/her groups store. Meaning we got an oven that was unbelievably dirty, the casing and front panels look like they've been run through a metal shredder. Saying nice things about Facilities is BS.

[Gold Coast]

Noah: Your DM might help out in transporting product? Incredible. We exist to serve our DM, support runs the other direction. Don't get me wrong, she is a butt load better than the other DM I worked under in a different city, but it sounds like your DM is hands on. Are you in a district in a big city where there are many DM's?