Schultz says job cuts, store closures "will ultimately make us a much stronger company"

Howard Schultz adds, though, that they're "painful and difficult" now. He says closing the Australian stores was necessary because the market had high rent and expensive labor. Back in the US, he wants to do more with the Starbucks Card. "Unlike a fast-food restaurant or a quick-service restaurant, we don't want to get into the game of happy meals and deep discounts," he says. "The Starbucks Card is the perfect place" to build on the company's brand in new ways." (Read the Seattle Times story) || More quotes from Schultz)

Comments

[Seen It All]

Starry: I personally know of two baristas who have been separated from the company for selling goods stolen from stores on ebay. there is definitely a department of P&AP that deals primarily with ebay sales and investigates non-retail items being sold in that forum.

[baristagirl]

you know what? I feel really f*cking dumb right now. Back when we had our retraining when all the stores closed at once, I was so jazzed as were my fellow partners. Many of us across the country had "drank the Koolaid" and were praising Howard for all his worth. We were even looking forward to how the Pike Place would do. All these changes and we figured they were only for the best. It was around the first hour of my shift the day after that training session that I quickly realized the PPR was a HUGE mistake and that the training meeting had been nothing but a big ass publicity stunt. and now we are bringing breakfast sandwiches back? WTF?! Why are we trying to be like a fast food place? Myself and all my fellow partners in my store have woken up to the fact that it seems as though he's preparing for a buyout. He's trying to get the company in a good position so that he can finally be rid of it forever and walk away with a fat profit in his pocket. The wool has definitely been pulled off my eyes. It really feels as though Howard doesn't give a CRAP about all of us. I go to work everyday hoping I'm wrong in my assumption, but today I have a sinking feeling that I'm right.

[pablo]

Wow! There's a bag of mocha powder going for almost $40 on ebay right now.
If people are that desperate for it, maybe we should be selling it directly and gaining a new source of revenue.

[Cut Out The Heart]

Rogerthebarista is a perfect fit for the tranformed Starbucks. Good luck to you and I hope you don't get that txt message letting you know you are gone. I have a thought for you, why don't you just use a half a shot in all the drinks you make in order to drive the profit up. Wake up man. Most of the posts are about how people were treated from a "Best Company to work for". What a crock.

[Highlighting the Naive]

My point has been proven by both espressoblend and Sue. Just as they have said, business is business, well that is until that business ends their relationship with the company. Severance and placement services are not respect and dignity. Seriously that is the best you got. It is naive to think business is business when you have for years touted that "Best Place to Work" tagline. I direct your attention to a Wendy's commercial tagline "A promise is not a promise if it is not kept". Howard continues to espouse how much he cares yet at the same time doing the contrary.
Sue and espressoblend, I wish you a great deal of luck and hope that you don't have your dignity and respect equated to a severance package and asked to have your box packed in two hours prior to your departure. That you will not be treated like a person who stole money from the company and given the box walk of shame.

I think that when your employer says that your contributions have no value, then it becomes personal. I hope your supervisors take a much more respectful approach to you then the uncaring attitude you are showing.

Oh, guess what, business is business and gets better when the employee is engaged. I think it is hard to be engaged when you see co-workers treated poorly. I am not talking about slackers but high performers. What business message does that send?

[blackapronZ]

too bad decaf komodo is the only water-processed decaf in the line-up

[Pat Nerr]

probably just stating the obvious, but wouldn't it have been a better business move to close stores first and THEN spend that "training" even money on the stores that were left...

yep... that Howie is one smart logically-driven fella... seems like that might have been a good way to save a half a million bucks.

perhaps someone can set me straight... I won't try to make the argument that not rolling out the new promo in the closing stores might have saved a buck or two as well...

just sayin'

[RogerTheBarista]

Cut Out The Heart.....Use half a shot? What quality manual have you been reading? Thats certainly not the way forward, and what a ridiculous suggestion. Just because someone has a mind to business and aspires to the company being profitable and recognizing that profitibility is essential to future success does NOT mean that they should cut corners on producing a quality product. Perhaps a better way would be to ditch all those partners who comp drinks to their friends, exchange them for pizzas, eat pastries without paying for them...etc etc. Or perhaps you don't support people who want to turn around the business again. If you own any stock in starbucks anywhere, even in a 401k sell it, becuase I don't want to be working my ass off to give people like you any profits.

When will people wake up to the fact that this is a business? It is possible to run a business ethically and do the right thing which starbucks does more than most. Trouble is, a lot of people only what the good times and are not prepared to roll with the bad times.

RogerTheBarista

[snagger]

Hey Roger--Who do you think you are? All that Fortune 50 experience and you can make coffee? Must be a pretty bitter blend.Fits right in at SBUX.I've read comments concerning Howard's ego but you must be his id.

[one.inside.bux]

I am a long term partner and i see some good comments out there. I also see through a lot of this garbage that Starbucks wants people to believe. Severance Package? What severance package? Starbucks is only offering that up as a facade to appear as though they care about their partners. In the last few weeks I have witnessed a 12-year partner (SM) terminated for the most bogus accusation I have ever heard.I remember being at an open house shortly after that "watered down mockery called the Coffee Master program rolled out along with 27 newly ordained DM, SM, ad ASM Coffee Masters. When they quizzed everyone on their newfound knowledge, this SM was the only one who could identify the layers of a coffee bean. Yeah, this is the kind of partner we need to be getting rid of? This partner had more passion and dedication and truly promoted the values and culture of SBUX like no-one i've ever seen except for his wife, a DM and 11-year partner. Together these two have done more for this company than any people I personally ever met. These are people that were around when there were only "scoop" stores, LaMarzocco's, and Ethiopia Harrar was a regular seasonal coffee. There were less than a dozen drive-thru's company wide and there less partners than there are stores today. Did I mention?, she was fired 2 weeks ago because a store partner used the "partner beverage" key for her drink as she purchased her coffee cake on the way to her first account. She didn't ask for it, nor did she ask for her receipt as she never does, being mindful of the mission statement and contributing positively to the environment. It was a direct vendetta from his DM to somehow destroy his life. The compliance and ethics hotline are a full blow "crock" too. I'm sitting here reading the manual and how it states that "if requested, you can speak to a sr.compliance specialist to try and resolve your problem or be heard" That's a sack of lies just like every other thing starbucks has been feeding the public for the last fifteen years. I read some SBUX press release how these store closures were going to cost about $150M in broken leases but the severance packages were only going to cost about $8M. You do the math. Starbucks doesn't care about its partners any more than it cares about non-coffee drinkers. This company has become a joke and its manipulation will catch up with it. I should have suspected long ago, while at an Open Forum, I submitted a confidential question about the possibility of SBUX ever starting a pension as opposed to 'bean stock'...The question was conveniently overlooked. Guess a pension fund would be harder to steal back from partners after they wrongfully terminate them. Come on Howard, Care to respond? You have the number. It's been left with your secretary every day this week.

[Cut Out The Heart]

I have to say that I really hate when my sarcasm is lost on those too caught up in their own narrow perspective. Roger, you make great points about stemming the loss of theft and how important it is to work hard to serve customers to bring the brand back. My issue with your comments is the callousness in which you are remarking on those that were let go. I get that tough decisions have to be made and people may get caught up in those decisions. I realize that to be profitable, cost containment and service enhancements are needed. What I don't get is how a "Best Company to Work For" asks successful partners to not let the door hit them in the arse on the way out. Many of these partners were excellent stewards of the brand doing what you so passionately espouse needs to be done yet who you quickly discard as business is business. Not sure if you are in a leadership position in a location or not but I have great worry for anyone who reports to you. I also hope that you never feel the shame that great partners feel by having been let go. I hope you can become a good steward of the brand someday.

[ssc partner]

One of the big differences between SBUX and any other fast food place.... Barista's, Shift's and Managers actually have a career path. You have NO idea how many partners in the SSC come out of the stores. I actually feel like i am looked down upon sometimes because i did not. The store partners are so valued at corporate. I hear it all the time, and when i first started working there.. i really did not get it. But they really recognize the store partners as the heart of the company and that is because so many SSC partners came from your very shoes. Good luck serving fries at mcdonalds and ever hoping to work at their corporate office......

[Highlighting the Naive]

Glad you get it SSC Partner because there are so many at the SSC who are in decision making positions that don't.

Also, if you have been watching Television, Starbucks isn't so special in that people come up from the ranks to become leaders. McDonalds has a majority of their corporate office employees who once were store employees. They even put it in their ad campaigns.

[Darleen]

Since I no longer work for sbux I guess it really isn't my place anymore to say anything about the company. So I've been biting my lip for awhile until I saw ssc partners post. Not all partners have the opportunity to move on to ssc, some regions are not expanding as quickly and so there are not many opportunities for advancement. While I'm sure sbux will go on to be successful again ask yourself what will happen to all of the great folks they got rid of? Doubtful they will go to McDonald's.

[Herman M]

Hey Darleen. Glad you still come around. Wanted to add to your statement. Bot only are some regions not expanding quickly, the new found slimming has had another affect. I know several people who are either ASM or SS, great partners, promotable, who had been given the "stick around and you will move up" line. They have all quit recently as they realized that the new, slower growing company will mean less likelihood of that happening in an acceptable time frame. Quite sad, actually.

[omg]

supposedly we will receive a severance package of 2 weeks pay at my store in the southern dallas area.but my manager said they are getting rid of an extra 1000 employee's in the coporate office and some DM positions :(

I'm close to losing faith in Howard and Starbucks.

Adding more breakfast stuff = fast food.

2.00 off = a deep discount.

What all this doesn't equal is coffee.