Starbucks & Service
The more time I spend on the road, the more time I spend in Starbucks. The more time I spend in Starbucks, the more I see why they stay successful. There are a few locations that I frequent to prepare before meetings and to follow up after. All of them have one thing in common. They all have the feel of a friendly neighborhood coffee shop. They behave exactly opposite of most huge corporations. Yesterday morning, the baristas (or whatever they’re called) in this particular location seemed to know almost every customer that walked in the door. While all the interactions were very friendly, these were especially noteworthy.
Customer number one #
A man (who we’ll call Jim) in business casual attire, who appeared to be in his mid-to-late forties. As Jim reached out to grab the door handle, he paused to talk to someone else. By the time Jim finished up his pleasantries and walked in, the lady behind the counter smiled and said “we already got it started”. The guy smiled, said “thanks!” and by the time his card had been swiped and returned, his drink was ready and waiting.
Customer number two #
A man (we’ll call him Rick) in his late fifties to early sixties. The girl behind the counter called him by his name and flashed him a big smile before asking him where he had been. When Rick said he and his family had been out of town, the girl said something to the effect of “whew! I thought you were cheating on me!” “Never!” Rick said with a chuckle. Again, by the time he was done paying, his drink was waiting for him. He didn’t even actually order anything. He just handed over his card, said thanks, grabbed his drink and was on his way.
Customer number three (different location from one and two) #
My dad. Not long ago, I was helping my dad with some infrastructure work at his office. Before we went in, we stopped by his local Starbucks. The moment we pull up to the drive-thru ordering station, “HEY JACK!” blares through the tiny speaker. My dad laughs and promptly responds with an enthusiastic “good morning!” The voice asks if he’d like the usual. He confirms but needs to add a little something, my beverage. Grande Café Mocha, if you were wondering. When we pull around, my dad and the Starbucks guy exchange a little small talk and before we know it, we’re getting our drinks. My dad takes one sip and mutters a content “perfect.” I asked him what his drink of choice was. I assumed it was simple based on the fact that the guy knew exactly what it was without my dad saying a word about it. Wrong. Venti Cappuccino, extra shot, wet at 120 degrees. Slightly more complex than a coffee with cream and sugar.
While none of these interactions happened during the madness that’s the morning rush, they do tell me a few things. First, the employees are likely building those relationships during non-rush periods. When it’s busy and the lulls come, many people take mental breathers which can often cause the service and enthusiasm to suffer. It’s clear that these people are maximizing the time between super-busy periods. Two, these few Starbucks probably have particularly low turnover. It would be almost impossible for these relationships to form in an environment where the staff is always changing. I can also surmise that Starbucks store employees are either encouraged to think outside the box or at the very least, not punished for it. I would have to assume that making a drink for a customer that hasn’t even asked for one isn’t in the employee handbook. Whatever the case is, it’s so incredibly refreshing to see and interact with people in the service industry that aren’t just constantly beat down to the point where they’re obviously not happy to be where they are. Keep it up, Starbucks.
And in case you were wondering, SBUX stock is up about 40% in the last year. 