Starbucks in Chicago starts serving Pike Place Roast two days early

The barista explains: "We ran out of our other coffees, so we started serving this one without making a big deal out of it." The Chicago Tribune reporter who sampled it says Pike Place roast is clearly a response to widespread complaints about Starbucks' penchant for over-roasting. It "delivers a pretty great cup of joe. It's got a light fruity and nutty aroma, a smooth feel on the tongue but nice body and no wimpy finish." (Read the Chicago Tribune story)

Comments

[JJ]

A lot of stores have started serving it early, as well as using the new cups since they ran out of the old ones and were only shipped the new version at last order.

[Joe B]

Boooooo.

[Ocean]

How does --Starbucks-- run out of coffee?

[Ocean]

If, as the article says, it tastes like Dunkin Donuts coffee...I hope there's an alternative.

why didnt they use espresso roast for their brewed coffee... they didnt run out of that. the correspondence from corp. clearly stated not to use the cups til the 8th.

[D]

I'm sure they didnt run out of 1 lb flavorlock bags. They should've used those first.

[NE Supervisor]

The store in chicago should have used the 1 lb bags of flavorlocked coffees or the 5lb bullets of espresso roast. There is no excuse for any store to serve what was supposed to start on tuesday prematurely. Same thing goes for the cups. I noticed at a store in new hampshire that the brand new cups were being utilized. I am sure there are other stores that could have loaned out the older cups. Its no wonder the stocks have been going down. The stores cant even adhere to corporate rollouts. And for something as big as the pike place roast and newer cups being put out prematurely is such a shame.

There aren't that many stores in New Hampshire. It probably isn't a quick trip to a nearby store to borrow some of the old cups.

[Melody]

It makes me sad to hear that that store didn't start ripping open flavor-lock bags. From a customer perspective, ripping open those annoying flavor-lock bags is a step towards bringing the aroma of coffee back into the store! And, espresso roast does make for a fine drip coffee too! I think some customers are turned off by hearing "espresso roast" as a drip, but a good barista can explain that it makes a fine bold cup of joe!

I was out at a Starbucks Saturday night, and saw a local Starbucks here in Seattle already using the cups. I asked about it and was told that they'd run out of other cups. Though this is Seattle. There are Starbucks everywhere. Seems amazing they couldn't get some more cups from another store. There are 3 other Starbucks within less than one block of that particular Starbucks (2 are licensed, 1 not). Many more Starbucks very close by!

[Bill Jones]

Talked to a Starbucks employee in North Dakota yesterday -- he says the Pike's Place Roast will only be served until noon daily. It will be their morning brew. Is this true? I'm disappointed because I'm an afternoon/evening customer.

I was served a Venti coffe in one of the new cups on Sunday morning, here in Sacramento. I didn't bother to ask about the new cup, but perhaps they ran out of the old ones, as well.

[starbucks is for lovers]

Talked to a Starbucks employee in North Dakota yesterday -- he says the Pike's Place Roast will only be served until noon daily. It will be their morning brew. Is this true? I'm disappointed because I'm an afternoon/evening customer.

Actually, that employee has their facts backwards. Pike Place (and PP decaf) will be brewed all day, along with a different alternating morning brew that ends at noon.

There are 3 other Starbucks within less than one block of that particular Starbucks (2 are licensed, 1 not).

We are not allowed to borrow supplies from licensed stores. Still, no excuse for using the cups before the rollout.

[Zipy]

cups I can kinda understand. Everyones running out here, though we still haven't.

Pike Place though? Come on, bs, you have 1 lbs bags you have espresso bullets serving it early is just lame. Stick to the rollout plans and serve one of the million of other coffees you have stored.

[dani]

depends on your relationship with that licensed store manager. I have helped out my local licensed store, and they have helped me out once or twice. We are all on the same team, (or should be) anyway.

But I agree, there is no excuse. We all have flavorlock coffee coming out the ying yang.

[Two A Day Joe]

"And, espresso roast does make for a fine drip coffee too! I think some customers are turned off by hearing "espresso roast" as a drip, but a good barista can explain that it makes a fine bold cup of joe!"

Espresso roast is my favorite sbux brewed coffee. It makes my day to see that it is being brewed when I walk into the store.

[NE Supervisor]

To anon at 1237:02. You are absolutely right, there arent an abunbdance of stores in new hampshire, however if you dont have the cups...then call other stores, or even better inform your District manager and have he/she pick them up from a store he/she knows has on overstock. Plain and simple. Lets have the DM's do some leg work for a change.

It's kind of funny that we needed to use up much of our 1 lb. supply this past week for use as COD. Why is it funny? Because tomorrow starts a contest that 1 lb. whole bean coffee is a part of that we can't fully execute due to our depleted inventory. GREAT PLANNING SSC.

[Javagal]

Pikes Place Roast will come in regular and decaf, and will be served all day, everyday. I tasted it, and I love it. It's "just coffee," but probably the consistently BEST coffee I've ever had at Starbucks. No acidity, no bitterness, and not over-roasted, but still hearty and satisfying. Stabucks coffee critics will be hard-pressed to complain about this freshly roasted, freshly ground, freshly brewed, everyday consistent cup of coffee. Starbucks coffee lovers will be everyday impressed with this "blend for everyone."

[Ima Partner]

not unlike the coffee, the SSC is depleted of partners to do these jobs... like make sure inventories are in line... so lay off!

unlike the ssc, I work in a store that earns the money for the ssc partners. you lay off.

You know, without the SSC, partners would be complaining even more.

While true that the SSC needs the partners in the stores to do the work so they can get a salary, the partners in the stores need the SSC more.

Frankly, the customers/ investors, executive management, SSC, and district managers are (in that order) far more important to Starbucks' operation than anyone in the stores.

It's easy to replace store employees; they're like cogs. It's when you start to have to replace specialized people in the home office or mid-to-upper management that it becomes a drain.

Anon at 3:24: you were wrong. You need to lay off.

[Stacy]

It's funny how the minority of stores who start promos early always use the "we ran out" excuse. Maybe these stores should think about who is in charge of their orders and if this person understands planning.

If the vast majority of stores can figure out how to transition smoothly, so can you. Quit ruining it for the rest.

anon at 3:41-
I hate to be so blunt, but where were the jobs that Howard shed. Last I checked they weren't in the stores. I guess the "cogs" are actually kind of important.

Stacy-
The stores have had "0" control over their COD inventory for the past 6 weeks. PLanning had nothing to do with it.

anon @ 3:41-
i'd like to hit you in the face..

pike's place roast is amazing. do you think kansas will win tonight?

[anon.]

"It's easy to replace store employees; they're like cogs."

Actually, what I've noticed lately is that Starbucks finds it easier to replace the executives and the DMs. At head office, the execs are TOTALLY replaceable and in my region DMs come and go every 6 months ( OR LESS ) or so.
The SS who ordered a pizza and spent her whole shift in the backroom with her fav barista while one barista only was told to run the store for the night still works for the company. The SS who took 2 hours every day to do the bank run was not fired. The barista who refused to charge for soy milk because she felt it discriminated against lactose intolerant people was not fired, The manager who was caught making out with a partners on the premise was not fired. Store partners are, in all reality, barely replaceable in that the company rarely seems to let them go!

To the people suggesting to use 5 lbs espresso bullets for brewed coffee....shame on you.

The Coffee and Tea Resource Manual states that we can not use French or Espresso for COW.

[wondergekko]

Not being allowed to use French Roast or Espresso for COW is an old policy. In fact, French Roast has been placed on the COW calendar.
Also the new coffees were not allowed to be used prior to April 8 - not even sampled to customers - so stores using them were not following policy.

tallamericanoinagrandecup-
try ordering a mocha and when she says something like "you're not getting your usual today?" you can be all like, " no I worked my pecs pretty hard at the gym today and did some massive cardio, so I'm treating myself" She'll be so hot for you.

[pdxshifty]

Anon @ 3:58...that was before espresso became part of the cow calender. In the last year or two espresso has been brewed every 3 to 4 months.

Personally I hate brewing espresso for cod. Customers are mostly stupid and cannot understand that it is espresso roast and not actually espresso and before you can explain it to them, they are already out of the door in a huff.

[Tallamericanoinagrandecup]

LOL Thanks Anon at 4:30:55 but I'm a girl hitting on a guy. Anyway my post was deleted. I guess it's inappropriate. I was just trying to lighten the mood.

Actually, you're right. It's the ones who don't deserve to be fired that are.

Partners have started complaining about the little support they're getting now that the SSC is empty.

Oh, well.

Howard fired those people first because they were easy. Up next: the real ones that should be fired, the store employees.

Cogs in a machine I tell you.

4:35-
do you have any information to back that up,or are you a "the sky is falling" type. How in the hell will Howard clean house at store level and still operate the stores? The folks at the SSC were good folks, but they were flubber that was added while the profits were soaring. The company had a department for everything for a while, it was not a sustainable reality.

If you run out of COW you brew ESPRESSO you run out of espresso, you brew RETAIL... you run out of retail you close. This was a BIG NO NO!

You are a COG in a machine only if you allow yourself to be viewed that way. PLain and simple.

[TORONTOWYLD]

I'm sort of glad Canada has missed the PPR roll-out snafu. Sure, we're doing House Blend instead but we didn't have to "hide" it from early brewing if our other coffees were depleted (and a lot were with our roasting plant orders turning up completely different from what was placed).

[Mary]

What do the new cups look like?

[Stacy]

"The stores have had "0" control over their COD inventory for the past 6 weeks. PLanning had nothing to do with it."

Even if the warehouse was out, it still qualifies as poor planning. Take notice on how many people have stated that bullets or Flavorlocks should have been used first.

[SirenBlazing]

In this humble (retail) Partners' opinion, this Chicago SM (and potentially the shifts responsible for RP order) should be fired. Running out of coffee? Brewing a *promo*, major release coffee ahead of time instead? Wow. What ever happened to transfering stock from other stores? I'm guessing there's a few Starbucks in the greater Chicago area. What about grinding and brewing retail flavorlocks? Even Espresso, hell - weren't we all (during the Espresso contest) just trying to sell customers on the idea of Espresso Roast being a great everyday brewing coffee? Seems like a lack of planning, if not imagination, in that store. How embarrassing!

On a separate note, regading the whole "retail vs. SSC" issue, I wholeheartedly believe that every - yes, every - SSC new hire should be required to work 1-2 weeks in the retail Starbucks environment (see: Costco Wholesale). I've been to two SSC interviews for corporate positions and in both interviews I've asked the interviewers how much Starbucks retail experience they had - to no surprise none of them had ever worked retail, probably much less stepped foot behind the counter. This is a big problem! These people in the SSC, on a daily basis, are coming up with ideas and making plans that, in some instances, severely impact the retail locations and their operations - and they have no idea what that is like or what that means. I see SSC partners come into my store regularly and they are, for the most part, so clueless about store operations and how things really work "where the rubber meets the road." Things don't always work out in the field they way they do in the test store inside the SSC! I think Starbucks needs to seriously consider a retail component to new hire training.

A retail component to hiring an SSC is idiotic.

If anything, store employees need to see how hard the SSC has it.

Right under the thumb of Howard and his crew, always having to come up with some promo, always having to be in meetings so the partners feel like they have the support they always request.

No way. SSC people do not have the time to work behind the counter. If they wanted to work behind the counter, they'd have applied at the store downstairs.

Wow. I think there are a lot of really jealous store employees on here who wish they could be bright enough for the SSC to want them.

Stacy-
what is your affiliation with the bux? Are you a partner or a customer? Are you familiar with the term whole bean variance? Have you put together how many 1# bags of coffee it might take to support a days business, especially in Downtown Chicago?

Well ANON 5:48. We might not be the brightest, but it would certainly seem that out futures with the company are a little brighter than yours. jerk.

[Melody]

To anon at Apr 7, 2008 5:48:43 PM:

Some corporations really value giving their corporate employees some frontline experience.

I don't know if it is still the case, but it was common at one time at Eddie Bauer that a corporate employee would come work one 8 hour shift in a retail store over the holiday period.

I've worked with a number of those corporate employees side by side on the eddie bauer floor when I was a lowly sales associate.

The corporate employees usually told me that the loved the one day break, and learned a lot by seeing their floor plans, and promos in action.

>>>Wow. I think there are a lot of really jealous store employees on here who wish they could be bright enough for the SSC to want them.<<<

You won't gain credibility when you argue if you resort to personal attacks and insults.

Anon at 4/7/08@3:58:18pm - are you from New Jersey? I know a Starbuck's where one of the shift supervisors has a pizza named after her at a local pizza parlor!!! Talk about free coffee exchange....

Oh my God! I am. That's so weird.

For those of us that like the bitter acid, over-roasted, burnt taste that made Starbuck's famous, what are we to do? The thought of another coffee that tastes like Dunkin' Donuts gives me a headache. Give me the BOLD!

[DuelingDuettos]

First of all, I think some of our partners are failing to realize how much hardship is going down in some of these major markets. My store was out of the regular tall cups, and practically every other store in the area was out too. So, we had to use the rollout cups, and we just used it as an reason to connect with the customers, and get them fired up about the rollout. And, my store isn't in the middle of nowhere, it's in the heart of Miami, and we couldn't find a store that could spare even one sleeve of cups. Now, should you do all you can to preserve the rollout? Yes, but unlike a CD, or other media(There's a law that is on the books for those rollouts), this is coffee people. Did any of you think that A)They were low on Flavorlocks, and B)They have so much espresso business, they couldn't afford to use their bullets for something that wasn't espresso based. Remember, if you are brewing according to the old standard(Which no one really is at this point, because of the reprogramming issues), over the course of a day, that's a lot of coffee, and we're not even including massive peaks, major orders, and the like..One day isn't going to make the biggest difference in this case. In a perfect world, they wouldn't have had to do what they did, but to sit here and criticize them for doing what they had to do to keep their customers happy, is just pathetic..For all we know, they could have tried to do what you guys wanted them to do, and got shot down by the higher ups in their district..We don't know the entire story, so we can't play the blame game, or try to explain what they should have done.

[Stacy]

Anon,
Partner of 3 years and a shift for 2.5, thanks. And I'm quite familiar with all the different variances... I do not know how much a downtown Chicago store does in a day. I do not need to know. Chicago is not Starbucks' largest earning city. So again I say, it's funny how the vast majority of stores (including those in higher earning areas) have figured out how not to brew PPR early. Obviously something from the equation is missing at the stores who started early.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say you work at a store who was "forced" into early promo. I wouldn't happen to be right, would I?

Anon at 4/7/08@6:02:57pm - that's amazing! We must be talking about the same Starbuck's in New Jersey! All I can say is that someday that whole bunch will get what's coming to them. Can't believe that corporate has not figured it out yet. They must have a shopper service or something. But it's nice to know that someone else in NJ cares about Starbuck's!