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Planned changes at Starbucks don't please everyone

The fact that Howard Schultz wants to tweak Starbucks operating procedures and the cafe atmosphere to be more appealing to coffee lovers is admirable, given that the current "sterile" formula seems to have brought the company a great deal of success. A recent Time Magazine article goes to show that there is no pleasing everyone, as writer Bill Saporito expresses no pleasure in the fact that the cafe atmosphere might improve. Doubtless, he is expressing the sentiments of millions when he says that all he cares about is not having to wait for more than a millisecond for his cup of black coffee.

Unfortunately for Mr Saporito and people like him, they seem not to realize that just because their drink doesn't take that long to make (although brewing the coffee takes several minutes), that it doesn't mean that other people don't want a latte, a mocha or a cold, blended drink and, as with service in all restaurants - even McDonald's - you have to wait in line. There are also people who like their coffee black, but enjoy a few minutes in a cafe setting in the morning.

Perhaps those looking for instantaneous service above factors like quality, taste and experience should just stop at the convenience store on their way to work in the morning. The coffee that comes out of those automated machines doesn't seem to take that long to dispense and they won't be bothered by all those pesky people waiting for espresso drinks on their way to work.

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Filed Under: Magazines, Drink Recipes, Coffee Shops, Fast Food
Tags: black cofee, black coffee, BlackCoffee, cafe, coffee, espresso, sour grapes, starbucks, time

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

Poppy

2-28-2007 @1:21PM Poppy said... I think there needs to be a happier medium. If there is going to be a pile of 50 people at the bar waiting for their drinks then this is not a good business model. I'll wait 10 minutes for my drink because I love Starbucks coffee, but the visual of all those people stacking up freaks me out. I want a calm and soothing environment to accompany my coffee experience. A bunch of people waiting around isn't soothing to me. It's already very bad at my local Starbucks locations and I live in a small state so the idea that more people are going to be stacked up inside doesn't appeal...
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Amy

2-28-2007 @1:39PM Amy said... Or heaven forbid, save the exhorbitant costs and brew a cup of coffee at home. Sheesh.
Reply

calamari

2-28-2007 @12:44PM calamari said... If you look at a typical Starbucks, the reason the latte is so slow is not the time to make the drink itself -- it's that there's almost always a bottleneck for fancy drink preparation. Why is there a bottleneck? Because the preparation area is quite small in relation to the number of patrons, you have one or two barristas shoving each other aside for a single machine.

This kind of bottleneck would never be tolerated on an assembly line -- you'd have a slew of engineers out trying to "balance the line." Starbucks didn't always have this problem -- it is much worse in recent years -- and really could stand to look at the relationship between their menu and their service space.

It doesn't help in creating a cozy cafe environment when people sitting at tables are surrounded by hordes of people waiting on their lattes and getting crankier by the minute. One local Starbucks has made their cafe section extremely unpleasant by arranging it to guarantee long lines snaking through the seating area ALL the time.
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Jessica

2-28-2007 @1:53PM Jessica said... A bag of whole unground beans at the grocery store costs $4 and lasts me for weeks. A fancy Starbucks super-latte (not even the largest size!) costs $4 and lasts half an hour. I am a poor college student. The decision is clear.
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juan.leah

3-03-2007 @9:19AM juan.leah said... I'm happy with your rendition and reaction to the Bill Saporito Story. I too, expressed my reaction. Kindly share it with your readers too. Thank you! Also, due to your experience blogging, please leave a comment on the content on my blog if you can. I'd like to know if it was well written.

Thank you!

Juan

http://starbucks-defender.blogspot.com/
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5 Comments / 1 Pages

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