Claim: Starbucks' bottom-line hurt by long lines in the morning

Starbucks says there's an unprecedented demand for blended beverages in the morning, and that's a problem. "We believe we are losing some espresso business due to longer than normal wait times in both cafes and drive-throughs during peak morning hours," CEO Jim Donald said during an analyst conference call (read the transcript). The lines could be holding back Starbucks' sales of blended beverages as well, he said. (Seattle Times)
> Fortune columnist: Essentially this company was turning [customers] away! Sure this means the company has staffing issues, which are difficult to manage because the way traffic at its stores ebbs and flows. They have to address this, and they have to try to get customers coming in all day long, but SUCH a problem, right?

Comments

[Melina]

i haven't time to read all 50 comments, i will later, but i'm rushing to the end and just saying:

LONG LIVE THE DRIPS!

hahahahahhahahhahahaha.

Frapps are for AFTERNOON...aren't they?

God, I'm getting old.

[Scott]

Ok, yes I've noticed the long lines. I don't need to do a time/wait study to know what is wrong. Once cashier at peak times doesn't cut it. Drive through associates running through inside cash line for supplies doesn't work. Limited space where a third person behind the counter can't pass easily though...doesn't work. Mixed and blended drinks taking too long. Customer waiting area for drinks too crowded. Good problems I guess. I'll continue to order drip because it's faster and I don't have to wait.

[Jeff]

I'm a pretty new partner (two months) and I can say that all the deployment terms are pretty alien to me. At least in my store, deployment is incredibly inconsistent - if I'm on R1, a shift will ask me to go fetch something from the back one moment and tell me to get the hell back to my register the next. Unless my store is the exception, Starbucks needs to emphasize deploment more.

Also, when I am on cashier I get frustrated when a floater starts calling out drink orders to the bar for me. It seems like an incredible waste of labor - why not let me call the drinks as the customer is getting out his/her wallet, and have the floater mark them to save the bar time?

Is the problem with deployment or standard? This is the first year we build our frappuccino's in the pitcher. At our store we are about standard, we shake all our tea's, call un-receipe dricks by custom ex: so-called teasto a (size)+(milk)+(#ofbagstea)+(teatype)and chocolate drizzel on hot chocolates. But the one standard I can't support or do, is building in the pitcher. Speed of service on CBB suffers because of it.

[coffeeguy :)]

How so?

I've found with builing in the pitcher speed goes up.

Especially becuase you don't get that sticky mess in the bottom of the cup.

One thing I do miss though is our old lemonade. No one makes a good sour lemonade anymore. :(

[udmiou1]

This might sound a bit cheesy, however it is pretty cool to read through this stuff and see you problem solve and help each other out.
The first time I went to this site all I read was a bunch of useless Starbucks bashing (yes, I am a partner), and it just pissed me off - BUT - after coming back a few times I can clearly see that you are helping each other out.
I work at the SSC - yes, I know what some of you think, that we are just a big building full of people to further complicate your day. I am not in a role which directly supports our Retail side of the business so I can only share my perception. The most significant thing I see at a 10000 foot level, is that they are getting way too complicated and too far from what made us great - for instance Hear Music (I can not tell you what we went through to get their 2 coffeehouse stores up), Warm Bfast sandwiches (just say no), on top of a new promo every 6-8 weeks, and a kajillion manuals, forms, signs????? Good Lord it is a wonder you guys are still speaking in full sentences.
If it is any consolation, we at the SSC suffer from precisely the same challenges you do - deployment, efficiency, the fine balance of more headcount vs. process optimization etc. and it is not all sugar and spice every day. For example, between november 2005 and July 2006 I worked an additional 289 hours on a large systems project - and do you know what I got for that 7 weeks of my personal life lost? Not a thing, because as a salaried partner that is just the way it is sometimes - BUT - I get to work in a pretty nice building with lots of great coffee every day.
It's all relative I guess; one other thing, if you want your great ideas to be "heard", build your case, present it professionally with FACTS about pros and cons and then get behind it and PUSH! I know it sucks but do not think you are entitled to being heard just because you have a great idea; sometimes, you have to "will" it.

[Boston Starbucks Rebel]

Build in the blender because it is a race against the clock. The one second that you take pouring into the cup is one second somewhere else. Also, the volumetric scoops are ways of shaving off another few seconds because it takes two regular scoops when filling the ice for a venti beverage. The shaker aerates the beverage and therefore increases the flavor of the product.

No way I agree building in the cup is much faster. If you have 15 to 20 frappuccinos lined up your telling me that building 2 at a time is faster. Pour the frappuccino add your banana, strawberry, soy, or tea to the 2nd line fill with ice and its waiting to be dumped into the proper pitcher. As a bar position and I see that CBS is behind yes I am helping building and topping. All the CBS position needs to do is dump, pour, hand to bar,rinse and dump ago. FAST!! Alot of stores have the room to have more than 3 clear pitchers but my market we have a 3 differant pitchers; CLEAR, YELLOW and PINK(soy), OH yes soy Frappuccinos. So I argee building in the cup is much faster.

[Boston Starbucks Rebel]

The official policy of Starbucks in the Beverage Resource Manual concerning frappuccino(r) production is to build in the blender. Even if we think we can do it faster and better by building in the cup, yes I was trained to do it that way, it is very prideful to think I know better than what they have obviously put alot of thought and work behind. We have to use correct deployment to be able to make the CBS work at optium efficiency. My store has 6 regular frappuccino(r) blenders available so we do them in batches which increases the overall efficiency. The ways of the Siren may not be questioned or disobeyed.

Well the Siren is being questioned because Jim even said "customers are walking away." 85% of us do not have 6 blenders, with 6 blenders you can have 4 partners on CBS. 75% of us have 2 blenders and 7% has 3 blenders and so on. The company has said that 1 partner on CBS can only handle 2 blenders and most of us only have room for 2 blenders with 6 PITCHERS. This is the FIRST time WE(+Jim)as a company are questioning the CBS. The Siren sometimes needs questioning and sometime ingored. DISOBEY!!! I take it you never put together a promo and product wasn't sent. YOU FILL IN!! The Siren isn't always correct.

[jabanga]

the rebel didn't say they had 6 blenders bases he said they have six blender pitchers so you can build drinks down the line (as long as you got time to rinse them all!).

[SbuxNewbie]

Hi, all. I'm a Newbie, just starting my 3rd week as a partner - although I've been a steady customer of my store for more than 8 years.

As a trainee, I'm still learning. But from an ergonomic standpoint, there is no real way to safely speed up the cold drink deployment at our store.

Why? Well, the short bev fridge is under the bar. We have 1 blender. The entire bar/blender/sink area is 4'x4'. The sinks are about half the size of those shown in the TBT. The behind counter space narrows to 3' deep behind the tills - unless the sanitizer door is open, in which case it is 1-1/2' - and pastry case. R1 takes pastry case, drip coffee, tea, and slides to CBS.

The lighting is not the greatest, and the colors of the syrup/flavor bases in the fridge are similar in low light. (think banana/lemonade/tangerine, in the dark...)

I have to admit, I do work with an awesome group! As a customer, I felt like I was at home (the whole "third space" concept had never occured to me), and I feel even more a part of the family now that I'm behind the counter.

The manager is terrific, and our RMT looks like she's carved out of the same stuff. The shifts are great teachers, and with a bunch of new stores opening, most look like they'll be moving up soon.

[Becca]

we have 2 blenders and 10 pitchers (5 yellow, 5 clear) and it is a godsend. Yes the pitchers take up a lot of space, but you can set up each pitcher as a drink comes along, and our cbs is waaaay faster because of it. True, if I built in the cup I could line up a neverending amount of cups, but that would be no faster than setting up the amount of pitchers I have. I just wish some of the stuff would be more shelf-stable so that they could stay out of the fridge for longer during a rush.

[rk]

I can only speak for myself as a customer. I pass a Starbucks on my way to work in the morning, and there are times when I think, "Hey, some Starbucks would be nice..." and then see a line out the door, and think, "But, not nice enough to wait in that line."

Does that effect the bottom line? Well, if the line is too long, they've got tons of paying customers. But, could they be making more money with shorter lines? I think they would.

I know it'll probably never happen, but I'd love a vending machine outside of the shop that served the canned iced coffee. That's 99% of what I'm ordering from Starbucks anyway... Japan has them on almost every street corner, we need them in the US too!

[Scott]

Ordered an Venti Ice Tea with no water added and no sweetner. With no line waited over a minute before someone helped me (everybody was cleaning and stocking. She took my name wrote it on the cup and while the cashier came over to take my money. Made the drink and handed it to me over at the pick up counter. Lots of procedure but no real quick service.

[sbuxmanager]

Have you seen the new machine from office coffee solutions? It grinds and brews at the push of two buttons. Good cup of coffee too. Definitely one of the waves of the sbux future...in order to capture customers who wouldn't come in otherwise, get their office to buy coffee and lease machines from sbux.

I never understood why people wait in lines so long, but they do. I'll never understand why people pay so much for their coffee, but they do. If I was a customer, I wouldn't wait in the line or pay the exhorbitant prices, with or without the "human connection." I would buy the beans though and brew at home or take the free coffee from my office.

[Jeff]

Well, SBuxManager, some people think they're saving themselves time by stopping to get coffee instead of taking a whole twenty seconds to make it at home...

[416barista]

Pink soy Frap blenders?? wha??

Is this just that one store or do others have this as well?? I've never heard of it.

[Boston Starbucks Rebel]

At least somebody knows the use of builing in the blenders. Also, I was reading through the deployment book last night. There was an update last month so there is some new information that we should all look at. And no, deployment says there can be two partners in the CBS not just one, so therefore the floater should get their !@#$% over there and help out. If espresso station partner wants to help out the book states that the partner should help to hand off. The CBS partner should hand-off through espresso and not by themselves. However, the idea is that the floater should assist at the CBS according to the deployment book, hence why they are called floaters. If people are able to build more blended beverages then ideal labor hours should increase , which is always a good thing. The Siren would have not given us something we cannot handle, it is through our disobedience that we lose our speed of service but in obedience may we once again provide the Starbucks Experience.

[Jeff]

How would you have a soy pitcher? I didn't know there was a soy-based frappucino base.

[DT]

Soy is a test product in some markets (i honestly don't know where).

And BSR...I don't think people are quite understanding your sarcasm...

[SBuxNewbie]

Hey, Jeff. Some people want their Blended Creme Beverages made with Soy, rather than the Creme Base.

Not my idea of a good time, but we give them what they want.

Of course, we just use the Non-Dairy pitcher, and wash it well. We don't have Soy Blender Pitchers...

[Ash]

Extra Staff is not always an answer, the back counter of my store is a mad house with more than four baristas back there. I manage a store in Myrtle Beach... Imagine how many frozen drinks we make!! we've found the best system is one person on the register, one person on the two verissmos, one on cold beverage, and one floating around filling everything. If the Espresso Bar is clear, they come over and whip and cap the frapps. Usually we find that most people are pretty good about waiting, and those few that make a fuss... Well, let 'em go to Dairy Queen. We can only do so much, right??

[Ash]

I am so experienced with frozen drinks (three and a half years of frapps by the beach) that I love to build in the blender, usually I can start and finish the order by the time the register partner brings me the cup. I know it's harder for some people, but I am actually faster on frapps than the espresso bar, and we only have two blenders! I do keep four clear and two yellow out at all times though.

[rachel]

i just happened upon this website and thought i'd put in my thoughts:)

i worked at a starbucks in california (bay area). we were the busiest store in our district (i heard that it was also for all of california, Nevada, washington and organ too..but don't' quote me on that). for the longest time we were one of the only stores to cover Pittsburgh, Antioch, brentwood, oakley and discovery bay...so yeah, it was busy:) it was also a DT. we also had a high-school just across the street :)

We set a record of 1,000 frappuccinos in one day! and every other day we were making just about that much! and believe me, the bar was just as busy...the main bar was a double and we had a DT bar as well. we had two registers (one main one, and one down maybe 20 feet or so in "bean land". we really didn't use that one all that much...we found that expediting the line made things much fast then opening the other register (also i don't think the store was really set up to have both open when busy..cuz you couldn't really have two lines)

this is how our deployment was during busy rush (like sunday morning):

one person on register
one person expediting the line
two people on the main bar
two people on frappuccinos (one with headset also expediting the DT)

DT: one person on window
one person on DT bar

one person in the back making wippers, base and all that.

yeah that's a lot of people! we had a manager and two assistant managers (awesome and hard working!) at the store, and they usually all worked sunday morning. usually one would be at the bar and the other expediting the line in house, and one in the back at the safe and doing stuff like that.

you would think we would all be running into each other...but really it ran so smooth! our manager knew where to put who and to schedule the the right people together! if you could make it at that store, i would think you could make it at any store:) a lot of people would quit after the first few weeks or ask to go to a different store:)

i honestly miss working there!

[Becca]

ahhh to have someone constantly restocking mixes, whip and fridges.... extremely jealous right now.

[Ash]

That does sound like a amazing luxury. If only they would let me schedule someone to do that. Damn labor percentages!

[rachel]

i don't think our manager had a choice :) if no one was back there to make it...we would have nothing to sell! with SO many frappuccinos..those wippers didn't last long. nor did the frappuccino mix stuff...and sunday mornings with all those people coming out of church wanting their mochas! yeah it was crazy...

you guys ever find that SOME customers are in really bad moods on sunday? i guess cuz they had to go back to work the next day...oh..another thing i learned...never get in the way of a mom in an SUV and her coffee (especialy if she hasn't dropped her kids at school yet :) but the smiles on those people's faces when they get it: priceless :)

hey how many frappuccinos do your stores do these days? i know they have a lot more kinds then when i worked (around 2002). i haven't even tasted any of the new ones (not that i liked frappuccinos)...i'm not in the US anymore, and we don't have Starbucks in the Eastern Caribbean yet :)

[Ash]

At our location at the beach we make about one hundred to a hundred amd fifty a day sometimes more, sometimes less.... after about two o clock it's like sevnty five percent of our business.
We have about fifteen different ones posted on the menu now, we can make almost any kind you want now, what with light, decaf, and cbb bases available too.

[Barista sUz]

I would think that making espresso drinks would be a lot slower. Especially when it's totally customized to where you need to pumps a certain amount, steam new milk, etc.
Frappuccinos can be made quickly if you have someone that knows what they're doing and are efficient. I mean, if you have more than one of the same thing, you can consolidate and blend into one picther. And most of the time, people don't even know to customize. And even when they are, it's as simple as just an extra pump of whatever.
On the weekends we typically have 2 people on registers, one on bar [1] that deals mainly with espresso drinks, &hand off/finishing. And bar [2] person that does cold drinks/marking [teas, iced coffees, frapps, etc]. Our register person grabs the coffee.

However, we don't have a drive-thru. So whatever you guys do is prolly different. Cos I have been a borrowed partner at all of our stores. &feel like I'm just a total waste of space when I'm there cos I don't know where everything is. Hahah.

[Barista sUz]

As for the Soy Frappuccinos, I had a partner from California [visiting a friend here in Iowa] come in on the weekday and ask for a Tangerine Soy Frappuccino Juice Blend. Her store seemed to be a test store for it. It was interesting. I tried it with a Strawberry, using equal parts cos filling it to the bottom line is too much, and filling Soy to the bottom line would be too much Soy. But it separated into this nasty puss-coloured liquid. I don't recommend it [but one of my partners I used as a guinea pig for all of my concoctions enjoys it]. The Pomegranate Soy Frappuccino Juice Blend isn't very good either. I DON'T recommend it. *barf* All I can say is STRONG

[Santiago]

In order to qualify for itlabisidy from SS,you would have had to worked and paid into the system for 10 years. If you didn't work for that amount of time,you would have to apply for SSI. But,SSI is based on household income. Your husbands income would be used to determine if you would qualify. If his income is over the allowable income,you wouldn't qualify for SSI.

[Asad]

Fidatevi sono screen della nvisroee Wii. Questo gioco sfrutta il motore grafico di Spyborgs che (anche se non lo sa nessuno perch Spyborgs non se lo filato di striscio nessuno) tra i migliori mai fatti per Wii.