"Trickle-down effect": Starbucks forces other companies to serve better coffee

This story says quick-service restaurants and makers of popular brands of supermarket coffee -- Folgers, for example -- are introducing coffee drinks designed for those who have become accustomed to Starbucks quality. I noticed, too, that one independent coffee shop in Evanston is taking a page out of the Starbucks playbook to fight the chain. Starbucks brags that it offers "legendary service"; this indie shop (it's under new owners and is across the street from a Starbucks store) is attempting to offer what I calls ULTRA-LEGENDARY SERVICE. The friendly baristas ask your name so they can give you a personal greeting on your future visits. On top of that, they insist on loudly bidding you farewell when you leave. The employee will shout across the room, "Thanks for stopping by, Bill," or whatever, and of course everybody looks up to see Bill make his exit (when Bill would probably prefer to slip out without notice). My suggestion: Knock off the theatrics and just give naturally friendly decent service. (Cox News Service)

Comments

[Bergie]

What are they trying to do, create a super version of “Legendary Service”? Do they even understand the intention of the philosophy behind Starbuck’s “Legendary Service”? Legendary Service isn’t a code of conduct, but simply an ideal that Starbucks promotes to its employees. The idea is to create an atmosphere where customers can relax, forget about their daily lives, and feel good about them selves. One thing my store has continued to discuss, is the fact that “Legendary Service” isn’t shoving yourself at the customer; it’s just simply being welcoming and completing the transaction in a responsive manner. The coffee shop should follow the advice of the writer of this article, and “just give naturally friendly decent service”. That’s the whole point of “Legendary Service”.

[XCoffee]

I have also found that other coffee shops try to imitate Starbucks, it seems so phony to me. My question is, do you think Starbucks grooms its consumers? I have gotten a tall, extra-hot mocha everyday for the past two years (for the most part) and if I ever try a new shop I am always displeased. Maybe it's a personal problem, but does anyone else seem to notice a similar avoidance to change? Perhaps that's why other companies seem to be trying too hard.

[Leigh-Ann]

Ooh, I hate it when a store gives service which is so attentive that it borders on sarcastic. Our local Stone Cold Creamery always bugs me because every employee says hello when we walk in, and they all sing a loud song if we tip them, and then they all make a big production of saying goodbye when we leave. We now tell them we'll tip them ONLY if they agree to keep quiet about it. I'm not such a narcissist that I need the entire staff of a place to worship me -- if they simply remember my name after a few visits, that really pleases me.

[-m]

Ha...Cold Stone is a good example. I like that baristas usually seem to just be nice, laid-back and genuinely friendly. Not OVERLY friendly...just cordial enough to make it a pleasant visit. Other coffee shops should stop trying to copy starbucks and just concentrate on making a decent cup of coffee. I honestly think that is why a lot of them are failing...their coffee is BAD.

[Spaz Cadet]

I used to work at a Waffle House (I know, I know) and we had to yell "hello!" at everyone who walked in as soon as they did. The managers called it "friendly" and "good service." I hated it more as a customer than as an employee.

It's like at Safeway, how they always say your name when they give you your receipt (if you use the club card). Like I want my personal information broadcast all over the store! It's not friendly, it's intrusive.

And while I'm at it, drugstore employees, stay away from me while I'm shopping for tampons and condoms!

[Patrick]

One thing that i think is very important is that a person working in the customer service industry, such as starbucks, should be able to "read" a customer and adapt their skills to give that person the customer service they want. You should be able to tell when a person walks in, wants their cup of coffee and wants to leave without being asked questions and tied up at the register with small talk. At the same time you should be able to tell if it is appropriate to engage in conversation with a customer.

Legendary service is not an idea Starbucks promotes to its employees. Its a set of guidelines that are either adhered to or you are in trouble.

Lets not sugar coat legendary service people. It is manufactured friendliness. Its set up in such a way that you can't really tell if the barista serving you really cares to remember your name or if they are doing it in fear that they will be part of a bad snapshot.

Starbucks doesn't create friendly people or a friendly environment, it merely sets up an elaborate display of one.

As a person who is actually very friendly and sociable in real life I take offense that my employer feels the need to structure how I should be friendly.

You think its silly that the independent coffee shop has its employees holler at people as they leave? Starbucks has us make sure that we use a complete sentence when we hand off a drink to our customers at the bar.

People wouldn't come to Starbucks if we didn't use proper grammar... Gimme a break.

So if you are a Starbucks customer who thinks your favorite barista really likes you. Think twice about that one my friend because we have been trained to make you think we like you. You should hear the stuff we say about you after you leave which isn't part of a script.

Question your preceived reality. Starbucks might have you fooled.

[pnwgal]

I hate to be this way, but...I really don't care if my barista likes me or not. As long as they don't spit in my latte, they can say whatever they want about me when I leave. What I do expect is good customer service, which means pleasant staff greets me in a friendly manner, thanks me for my business and makes my drink in a timely manner.

Starbucks is one of the few service industries left that actually promotes friendly customer service. What I find sad is that they have to mandate it! If you can't find it in you to give good customer service to your CUSTOMERS, you are in the wrong business.

I know the baristas aren't my friends. I'm not stupid. But that doesn't mean they don't have to be friendly. One surly employee can keep customers out of a business permanently.

And yes, it does make a difference when you say, "I have a grande nonfat latte for Bob" rather than "Bob! Grande Nonfat Latte!"

[kellyclark]

Are any of you employees or Mgrs of Starbucks? How do they train that "sincere" customer friendliness? What sort of training do they do to make it real vs Cold Stone fake!

[-m]

We don't train people to act sincere, we just ask them to be sincere. We like our baristas to be genuinely kind to our guests. I think most people like to treat other people with respectand dignity. We just provide them a place to do this.
I don't think I'm being Pollyanna-like by saying this either. When I see my baristas in action, their attitude doesn't look forced or hammy. They are just people who enjoy doing what they do well. We take great pleasure in serving people....unless you're an asshole.

[Boston Starbucks Rebel]

I would like to correct the above statement. ABout a year ago, Starbucks came out the Green Apron Book. It gives actions that are part of Starbucks. One of the Green Apron actions to be modelled is "Be Welcoming." At Starbucks, that means greeting every customer with a "Hello. How are you?" instead of "What can I get for you today?" Second, another important Green Apron action is "Be Genuine" which means you really should be friendly, authentic. This all comes down to the fact that Starbucks emphasizes the human connection. Our world has become incredibly impersonal, persons viewed as a means to an end. Having a name written ona cup offers the persona sense of belonging a uniqueness. A good Starbucks store should be able to memorize all the regulars name and/or drinks. In the customer snapshot that is one of the items that can make the difference of being five stars and four. Finally, Starbucks tries to be the "Third Place" through the Starbucks Experience. The Green Apron Book gives stories and actions necessary to accomplish the goal and means.

[Rivah City Barista]

An old saying is the sales profession is that the sweetest sound you hear is your own name.

Either the BBC or NPR broadcast a segment yesterday that mentioned that crime is lower in neighborhoods where people knew the names of three or more of their neighbors.

You can look at the Green Apron Book as either rules you must follow "or else," or a license to be yourself. Not every job allows this. Ideally, managers at *$s hire folks who are genuine, welcoming, considerate, etc.

In the long run, one cannot fake these qualities, especially under the pressure of a morning rush. Not everyone is temperamentally suited for a job as a barista.

Stores staffed by baristas who are unconsciously competant at providing the sort of service outlined in the GAB are indeed special places to enjoy that Third Place between home and work.

I see the end results every day in my store, which gets consistant 4-5 star ratings. We genuinely enjoy working together and for the folks in our community. Our customers respond in kind, if not monetarily (tips),then in other ways.

And this all starts with learning peoples' names.

[Mia]

I agree. I CRINGE every time I walk into Coldstone Creamer or Moe's tex mex whatever it is restaurant. I hate when they yell and sing, it makes me sick. At Coldstone it's just EMBARASSING. Nobody likes it. It's just rediculous. At Moe's, it's obvious the staff hates it too as instead of articulating "welcome to moe's!" they yell "t'cMOE!". I feel sorry for them, these places don't pay near enough to compensate for that embarassing yelling and singing. As for the coffee shop described, I'd hate people knowing my name or yelling it as I leave. I'd avoid the place, that's just how I am... or I'd make up a name like Hildegarde, but then people would STILL look at me as I leave.

In New Orleans, Louisiana I would say the trickle down effect works against Starbucks. We have many different local coffee chains and independent coffee houses that offer excellent product and service but more importantly cater to our local color.

Starbucks is unable to expand in New Orleans like they do in other major US cities because people don't go for cloned big box stores here.

If someone in New Orleans wants to get a cafe au lait and a barista tries to hand them a misto more than likely there is going to be an unpleasant exchange of words. So at Starbucks in New Orleans it was decided we would call our mistos cafe au laits.

A misto at Starbucks mind you is however, not the same as a cafe au lait and just because Starbucks says it is doesn't make it true (something you all should learn). A cafe au lait is half chicory coffee and half boiled cream not steamed milk. So in this case I would say Starbucks has lowered the quality bar by serving mistos the way we make them.

I just want to let everyone know that Starbucks is not the be all end all of coffee chains and this "trickle down" argument to me at least, doesn't really seem to hold any water. Starbucks didn't invent good customer service and by no means at all did they invent good coffee.

And by the way since Huricane Katrina has devestated our city all of the coffee chains in New Orleans have opened at least one outlet in the city except for Starbucks. All of the other coffee chains are contributing positively to our community by helping to rebuild our economy while Starbucks waits for the young urban professionals to return.

So my thoughts on the previous post.

You imply that people from New Orleans would have an unpleasant exchange of words if they got a misto. I doubt that. Most people from N.O. are much nicer than that.

Cafe au Lait- is most defintely coffee and steamed milk.

There is a version of this found in N.O. that people will make with coffee and chicory and scalded milk. I don't like scalded milk as much it imparts a flavor I don't like.

Don't bash on Starbucks just becuase they havne't opened up yet. They did collect a lot of money for the red cross effort in the entire region.

As for Starbucks inventing good coffee. They didn't but they did perfect and popularize a concept in the US and that is the coffee house. Name one major coffee shop that was around before Starbucks and that is still around.

Cafe au lait directly translates to COFFEE WITH MILK.

cafe=coffe
au=with
lait=milk

New Orleans, pre-katrina, was one of Starbucks fastest growing markets.

[Boston Starbucks Rebel]

According to my sources inside Starbucks, the primary reason why none of the stores have opened up is because 1) there are not enough well trained partners in the region 2) distribution is very difficult at this time 3)Starbucks is still assessing the damage done and whether or not it is completely safe to open back up in the city. If one remembers, after the tsunami, it Starbucks approximately 3 months to restart operations. It was only one store that was effected in New Orleans, it was an entire market that was effected, therefore requiring more action and time to reestablish operations. Starbucks will most likely reopen in the city by the end of January.

Well if they do open up at the end of January they are going to be coming in dead last as far big box chains reopening.

Many companies donated to the red cross and have been helping us out down here in New Orleans including GASP! Wal-Mart. In fact Wal-Mart arrived with aid to our city before the government did.

So to stay on track with the trickle down effect topic the only conclusion I could draw from the situation is Starbucks gives money to the red cross as to not be upstaged by Wal-Mart in the charity department.

As far as reopening is concerned let em take their time. The longer they wait the more and more customers they will lose to people and small businesses who actually care about this city.

Dear person in the previous post,
Starbucks doesn't NEED to donate money to anyone. Starbucks doesn't NEED to provide a great work environment for its employees. Starbucks doesn't NEED to donate millions of dollars to locale communities and the communites of the coffee growing countries. Starbucks doesn't NEED to grant money to all of the employees affected by katrina. The company would make just as much money without doing any of these things. They do it because the employees have a passion to make a difference...even if we lose money on it. You are insulting all of the partners and customers who donated their own time and money to the relief effort.

[MGR]

As previously stated, one of the main reasons N.O. hasn't reopened as a market was due to lack of workers. As a global company, Starbucks was able to find a large number of partners stores to work in the cities in which the relocated-- in several cases, paying for housing and food for months. Especially in Baton Rouge and Atlanta, many are simply staying and not going back, including DMs.

Starbucks puts its employees first above all else. I think its unfortunate that the indie coffee houses, though I love them, had no choice but to reopen and work since they have no support system and must produce profits. I can assure you the stores in N.O. were banking plenty o' money and will do so again.

If Starbucks puts its employees about all else including the shareholders it is in fact violating the law.

I think the "indie" coffee shops are doing New Orleans a great service and not just acting in a self interested way by reopening. The smaller community oriented coffee shops are reopening because they are local and have a greater interest in rebuilding this city than Starbucks. But don't ask me, talk to the owners yourself, I have.

Another thing I find interesting is the lack of workers driving the wages up here in New Orleans. McDonalds, Dominos Pizza, Burger King ($5000 sign on bonus), and other large chains are offering more money for people to come back to work.

Starbucks seems to be just waiting for all this living wage business to blow over before they reopen. When they do reopen however they should follow suit with the rest of the big box chains in New Orleans and offer a higher starting wage.

[Coffee Lover USA]

While Starbucks is great...there are company's out there who are just as great, just not as big. Example given is PEET's Coffee and tea. They have been around longer than Starbuck's and have some of the highest quality of product around. While they have not expanded to a large portion of the U.S. yet...watch out. They have started to push further East into hotels and various Bohemian cities like Austin, TX with great success. They also sell their whole beans in higher end grocery stores around the U.S. Starbucks had nothing to do with the quality of their product...just the way they market themselves. So congrats to Starbucks for a GREAT marketing strategy...but as for crediting them with better quality might be going a bit too far.

well other than the fact that the original owners of starbucks bought peets

yada yada yada

everyone likes one chain or the other.

the roasting strategies of peets and sbux are the same. they came from the same people. peets does have the benefit of not needing to buy such large amounts of coffee.

Peets and Starbucks are the same company in so many ways. People who have had a bad experience at one will always praise the other. It gets a bit old after a while

[Boston Starbucks Rebel]

One of the reasons why Starbucks is targetting opening in the end of January is because universities should be reopened. The student population is very important because it will provide a large surge of customers. Also some of those students will provide a necessary workforce. Starbucks is most likely treating New Orleans like a new market by preparing partners willing and able to reenter the city. At the present projections it may take about 100 partners to at least restart operations and that is a very skeleton crew. Starbucks is attempting to take action and respond to these very complex issues.

I never said I did not like Starbucks or had a bad experience with them. I just pointed out that they were not the creator of quality control. I am an avid fan of both companies. PEET's and Starbucks are similiar in many ways like you pointed out...the only difference is, is that PEET's still has that "neighborhood" charm. Anyone would and should be just as happy drinking either brand. I just "prefer" to sit in PEET's if the opportunity arises.

yes, that Ultra-Legendary Service place you are referring to is pretty silly.
however, get off your high horse. sure, starbucks gives good service. any business that wants to be successful will strive for the same thing.
in fact, there are quite a few starbucks in the city i live in that fail miserably to give even adequate service. i usually give them another chance after a bad experience, but after 2 bad trips there, i never go back.
many starbucks associates give excellent service that is far above many other chains, but it is also far above other starbucks. there is truly not alot of consistency from store to store.
I am obviously a fan of starbucks, since I frequent this site, but get off the soapbox already

while unintelligable, your comments are rather amusing.

next time call someone's comments "unintelligible" try to spell it right, as you look like a moron when you don't.

idiot.

haha you spelled unintelligible wrong

Thanks for the response to the original comment and for caring. I knew that would get you riled up:) I love it when people react to something so insignificant.

Peets hasn't been around longer than Starbucks. Peets was founded by one of the original founders of Starbucks after Schults bought the company.

PEET's was founded in 1966!

That is true PEET's was founded in 1966 and Starbuck's in 1971. PEET's first store was located in Berkely, California. It was founded by Alfred Peet. So the answer to this "which came first, the chicken or the egg" question is that PEET's Coffee and Tea came first not Starbuck's.

I like that Peets roasts in their stores. I wish Starbucks would do something like that instead of 3 new frap flavors every month.

Most of peets is not roasted in their store. I'd lean towards all but I haven't been to a peets store in a long while but I have had their coffee from a vaccum sealed container and I know that those machines that do all that are pretty big

The Peets in downtown Portland roasts in-store.

[Boston Barista]

Legendary Service isn't just "ok and friendly". If you are in any mood less than friendly, you are sent home and FIRED. Legendary is going above and beyond for a customer. IE) It's pouring buckets outside and the store is dead as a result. You see a customer roll up. You grab an umbrella (and his/her drink if you know it) get the drink order and bring it to the car and say, "hey, it's on me today".
But thank you for shamelessly promoting the said "indi" shop... you don't have to mud-sling and bash 'bucks to do so.
Respect.

some starbucks give good service
some do not
they all certainly don't give legendary service, sorry. it is better than the average food service establishment, but it really isn't noteworthy

[Boston Barista]

Well, I'm sorry to hear your experience wasn't stellar... I'll give you a free beverage coupon ;)

[thinksdifferent]

Other companies are starting to imitate starbucks, but I am finding that the coffee drinks I get at other stores like dunkin' donuts is much better. Shit, the drip coffee at 7-11 is better than starbucks hands down.

[ED]

That is so funny that the customer service at Starbucks is labeled "legendary." I have never noticed, from the many stores in my city, that S-bucks seemed to be above and beyond any other typical business. Average.

[Joe Drinker]

People dont come to starbucks to drink coffee. They come to suck down shakes. If all starbucks had were its acidic coffee, it would go broke.

Now if you have ever been to SoCal and had a Diedrich coffee, you would know that people go to Diedrich for the coffee and not the shitty partner attitudes and bitter coffee that starbucks servs up.

[-m]

There is no other coffee company in the world that puts the time, money and resources into its whole-bean coffee purchasing and roasting. You morons who say that it is acidic have obviously never had a cup of Verona. You piss-palated asses who say that it is burnt have clearly never tasted a cup of Guatamala Antigua. If you want to hate Starbucks, that is fine with me. Just don't be so petty. Anyone who knows coffee knows that Starbucks in among the best. Anyone who thinks that swill they serve at 7-11 is actually coffee has major issues.

[cuppa joe]

Do u work 4 sbux joe drinker?

[cuppa joe]

sorry joe, i was questioning -m.

-m do u work for sbux?

REGARDING PATRICK'S NOTE....I don't know which Starbucks you work in, but my experience with the company is that we hire the legendary and train the skill. IT'S NOT ABOUT BEING FORCED TO PRETEND WE LIKE OUR CUSTOMERS. Most of us actually do. We really look for Bob and Al and the whole gang sitting at the corner table every morning!! We really mean it when we say "thanks" and "have a nice day". Our guidelines, training, and snapshots are to help us guage whether or not we are meeting our goal to TRULY provide legenday service and to make our customers feel welcome each and every time they visit.

ALL YOU CUSTOMERS OUT THERE....WE DO APPRECIATE YOU AND HOPE YOU WILL NOT HOLD PATRICK AND HIS BAD ATTITUDE AGAINST THE REST OF US!!!!

[-m]

Yes, I work for Starbucks.

I have also worked for 4 other coffee shops in the northwest.

[B]

Wow! so much excitement over a hello or thank you! Wonder how you guys would react if somebody saved your life!
As for the Training employees how to behave part... There are some people out there with bad attitudes that require training on how to treat people right...This is why most companies that care about serving the customers (so they can keep their pockets full - they are in the business to make money, Can't blame them for that) have to "train" people so they can prevent the one or two bad apples that might have slipped in thru the hiring process from becoming rotten apples. And No, I do not work for SBucks or any other food/service industry, never have.