OPEN THREAD conversation-starter: Your thoughts on this Starbucks vs. Dunkin' Donuts Pumpkin Latte taste-test?

Discuss this contest -- or anything else Starbucks-related in the OPEN THREAD. (If you're wondering, the Pumpkin Latte "judge" calls Dunkin' the winner, but with some caveats.) || Jump to the second page of comments.

Comments

[Hipsterdufus]

i said 50/50-60/40.

THose numbers are based on realities in the disctricts I have worked in. (I have worked in 11 districts in multiple states thank you)

[Darth Sidamo]

Awesome. I have worked in 48 states.

[spence]

I'm venting. We do not have time to promote our store anymore. There just isn't enough time unless I add one more item to do on my personal time. Meanwhile, we are losing more and more customers to licensed stores.

[(former) NJ_newbie]

If someone has never been to a starbucks before, and thus does not know what a tall is, let alone that talls are still on the menu, and is still going through the drive thru, i would bet good money that they will just say "small extra extra caramel milkshake coffee thing with lots of whipped cream"

Further more, if you really want a small, and you are too stupid or scared to at least ask if the option is available, you deserve to spend more money.

On a completely unrelated note, I walked into the cafe at a DT store yesterday and asked for a salted caramel mocha...and the barista looked at me like i had ordered a potato latte. Good thing I didn't hit the DT for that one. They had all the ingredients for it...but had not a clue that it was even a possibility as a drink order. It's on starbucks.com's menu...Is that not being rolled out everywhere?

[curious]

mornbecomes - what did you end up doing?

Not sure how I would handle

[StLouieDrip]

Drip coffee. With room. Simple.

At sbux that very simple beverage is still so complicated, eh?

Thanks to all who responded, I'll just ask for a tall pour-over in a grande cup from now on.

But as a "with room" customer I simply can't comprehend why a pour-over "with room" wasn't part of the original recipe/technique/training?

Also, from a customer perspective, when one store happily says "hey, any bold you want, just choose which one!" and then the other store says, "we only have one bold for pour-over, and we'll tell you what it is," well, that's annoying, confusing, inconsistent.

[mornbecomes]

@spence, @curious-
I wasn't such a fan of the customer request (SS, banana on the side), but I checked with my ASM and we decided to go with it. I think when the same customer has requested it in the past partners have put the pre-peeled banana into a separate cup with the lid on it.

other pricing conundrums:
- Starbucks Doubleshot.
Particularly a problem when ordered in a venti because of the extra shot... how do you charge?
(I do iced -size- Americano, add shot/add classic as applicable)

- "Short Misto in a venti cup with extra milk"
today was the first time I came across this order, but apparently this customer has ordered it before and gets charged as she ordered it. And here I thought we charged by cup size... (I had my barista ring it as a short misto add dairy, because c'mon, that's more than 4 extra ounces, but I would probs ring it as a venti misto in the future.)

[SBUX1]

Corporate has posted on their Twitter page that PSL will be here until the end of October. Does that mean that the holiday lineup will premier around the same time, probably first of November? Seems a little earlier than last year, or maybe I'm just remembering incorrectly.

[perky shift]

@Trixi- sounds like you needs to start using the SERVER (food equipment lubricant). It looks like this http://picasaweb.google.com/vicarofvibe/Facebook#5517116456499718018
After you wash the pump, apply the lubricant to the gaskets at the bottom.

[jelllllo]

any suggestions for implementing bev. repeatable routine in a dt store? who does the cup marking?

[GrassIsAlwaysGreener]

spence. I don't know what market you're from, but we a definitely not loosing customers to license stores. How people would pull into a Target and go to the Starbucks on their way to work?

They actually help introduce people who think they would NEVER go to Starbucks to our style of coffee. Granted the quality of license store in suspect. But it does normalize and democratize the idea of walking into one.

I can tell you for certain that our CC is up from last year with no new construction or businesses in our area.

[SbuxCustomer]

I have a question for all of the resident baristas here -- is it normal procedure to stir a white mocha before serving? I ask because this is my daily drink, and I always go to the same corporate store, but the drinks are always totally inconsistent. Now, I'm not one to be "that person" who makes the barista remake my drink, but today I came close to it. In fact, if I would have had the time to wait, I probably would have had it remade. Once I got down to the bottom of the drink, however, it was obvious that all the white mocha sauce was at the bottom. It was so sickeningly sweet that I couldn't finish the drink. I guess what happens is that the sauce goes to the bottom, but it is difficult to get it to stir up while I'm in the car without making a scalding hot mess. So, is it supposed to be stirred or should I start asking for it? I don't want to be a pain, but I've been getting this for a while and it hasn't happened.

[Angella cavallo]

i just watched the abc news at 11pm about the "tall" size coffee rejoining the starbucks menu. Did anyone happen to notice the dirty filthy hands that was in the window of a starbucks that proudly read "warm and inviting"????WHO ON EARTH MADE THAT DISGUSTING ADVERTISEMENT????

[Mrs. Tillinghamshackles]

SbuxCustomer - None of the current drinks are stirred when made to recipe (though I personally always order mochas/white mochas stirred).

[Hipsterdufus]

I never "stir" drinks. It's technically not standard to do so and most stores don't even have a stir spoon anymore.

However, if drinks are made properly (shots into thick syrups) and you give the cup a slight swirl while shots are pouring, the drink will mix.

I understand why customers would ask for it stirred, they obviously have gotten a bad drink before, but Icannot stand when customers to ask me to do things a competent barista would do.

"please make sure its mixed" "please double blend" (if a frappuccino is made right it doesn't have to be double blended!!), "decaf!" "decaf!!", "make sure it's decaf!!" "is that soy!"

again, I can understand where they are coming from, but it irritates me to no end when they assume all baristas suck! esp me, because I am quite good at what I do. Well, the barista-ing part of my job anyway.

[StLouieDrip]

It's not that we think all baristas suck; it's just that the ones who DO suck don't wear signs to tell us so. I also sympathize with the very competent baristas who get lumped in with the lousy ones, but in the end my sympathy ultimately lies with the customer, because I've gotten lots of bad drinks too.

[Hipsterdufus]

It's not even so much the request, is the judgmental tone of voice customers use when they ask these things.

[Amanda Ponzar]

Love your tagline: "America's favorite drug dealer". I never drink pumpkin spice; just frappachinos and just posted on my own Starbucks addiction on my blog : http://www.lipsticking.com/2010/09/starbucks-speaks-csr-to-sweet-tooth.html

[Starbucks Barista 2005-2008]

When you guys make a frappuccino double blended, does it seem to you that double blending makes the drink more chunky/thick? It always seemed when I would make a frappuccino and double blend it (only per customer request), it always made the frappuccino a lot thicker than it would normally be.

Anyone else notice this?

[Jordan Shoe]

More speculatively, it could make long-distance space travel more feasible by slowing down ageing and reducing the consumption of oxygen and food.