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Starbucks reaching for the customer experience
Jan 30, 2008
Starbucks tries to revive its business with a focus on, guess what...
[Starbucks CEO] Schultz has said he wants to refocus on the "customer experience," recapturing some of the magic of the chain's early years, when employees — who had heard the term barista before Starbucks came along? — made the drinks by hand and customers were excited by top-notch coffee.
Mr. Schultz faces a difficult task: He has to slow down the company to make stores feel more like hip neighborhood coffeehouses while also delivering the steady growth that investors have come to expect from Starbucks.
Now they just need to learn that I do NOT want room for cream when I ask for a tall black coffee.
They've got a long way to go to revitalize in store CE. Starbucks is currently building a store in my apartment building and its the same ol' same ol. Nothing unique or enticing about the experience. They are following a recipe, nothing more.
Maybe the coffee fad has reached its life cycle ending. Maybe Starbucks should install water slides with their new stores to entice customers in. I go into a coffee place for the coffee, not the name on the cup and definitely not for the paintings on the walls
Yup, they are becoming more and more like the McDonalds of coffee... consistent but completely unremarkable in product or customer experience. They blew it a few years back when they acquired the great Torrefazione chain of coffee houses and then proceeded to shut them all down. Thankfully there seems to be continuing growth of quality independent coffee houses. (at least hear in western Canada)
When they stop flash-roasting their espresso beans so the coffee actually tastes good instead of that crappy undertaste it has, I'll care if they make the stores more enjoyable.
If you want to know what a good coffee chain is, look at Caribou Coffee. They have good coffee, a great log-cabin based chain-wide look, and friendly staff without the pretentiousness of Starbucks.
I don't mean to be the defender of Starbucks here, but as I date a musician who's a part time Starbucks barista, I've heard a little bit about the inner workings of the biz.
When I get a drink at Starbucks, I'm sure of three things:
1) My soy latte will taste exactly the same no matter what Starbucks I visit, because each store uses the same soy product & coffees
2) It's not going to taste bitter or sour because I've gone to a local coffeehouse that hasn't trained their baristas properly (Starbucks has pretty hardcore training and certification for their baristas)
3) There's no question the money I pay for my drink goes to a corporation instead of a local business, but that corporation has the power to positively affect the industry, which they do:
http://www.starbucks.com/aboutus/origins.asp
The customer experience, however, varies too much. I agree with Doug, they're "more like the McDonalds of coffee" when it comes to experience.
I use Caribou Coffee and a local coffee shop for my usual morning blend and a little internet browsing. What a surprise to me when I found out I had to pay $10 for internet access at my local Starbucks. I did send in a comment card. Let's see how serious Mr. Schultz is.
People here talk about product consistency. I'm not sure I agree that they are good at delivering a consistent product.
It seems like every Starbucks creates their drink a little different. However, it isn't because they are being creative. It is because many of the baristas are lazy and don't following the standard recipe or preparation directions correctly.
Also, one thing that kills me is that that no store, anywhere, has ever prepared me a green tea latte correctly. There is always a huge layer of green tea powder/sediment at the bottom of the drink that they never properly mixed.
I knew things were getting bad at Starbucks when I used an apology/free drink coupon and they forgot about my order for 15 minutes and then gave me another coupon -- not even realizing and acknowledging that I used one in the first place.
In Seattle, Starbucks is definitely the McDonalds of coffee. There are so many great independent coffee houses here that make Starbucks taste like burnt, stale water (ie. Cafe Vita, Cafe Solstice, Star Life Cafe, Cafe Victrola, Cafe Zoka, Cafe Vivace, Cafe D'Arte, and Zeitgeist to name a few). All the marketing hype in the world won't attract people who know what the real deal tastes like. I guess people still go to Starbucks for the convenience since there's one on practically every corner. But to be fair, there's no way Starbucks can make coffee comparable to the previously mentioned cafes when there are lines of people waiting for their coffee and baristas have to bang out one automated cup after another. Starbucks can't have it both ways, quality and volume. They're saying they can but it's all marketing b.s.
Sensory experience of place deprivation. New coffee machines at Starbucks = no more wonderful coffee aroma when you walk in the door.