Complaint: Starbucks too mechanical. Solution: they came out with a process to better customer service!!

by Chee Leng
(Singapore)

You should have heard of it, Starbucks is the Macdonalds of coffee, fast and mechanical. The so called baristas do it step by step, a process.

People feedback about it, talk about how the fine art of coffee making is being lost in this manner, and some don't even consider Starbucks to be a gourmet coffee shop anymore!

To mitigate the situation, Starbucks came out with an edict -that every baristas to slow down in making their espresso. Under this new instruction, baristas are not allowed to make more than two drinks at once!

I love Starbucks, I mean I love hanging out at their outlets and drink just about anything, but this is hmm...strange!

Personally, I do not equate speed with quality, I have seen so many great chefs churning out delicious food very fast, they love and know what they are doing, thus delicious food.

I thought what Starbucks did with the shutting down of the outlets two years ago to better the skill set of the baristas was very good, but a process to slow down so that the quality of espresso would be better?

If you do not know how to cook, even if you take 10 hours, you still cannot cook an egg (that is stretching a little, who can't cook an egg right?)

If it is to interact with customers that is great. But did they consider the store turnover? Imagine if I am the customers queuing behind looking at how the baristas is chatting with the customer in front when he could probably be making MY ESPRESSO!!

Hmm...that might not spell customer service right?

Personally, there is always good and bad comments. Starbucks is successful because of what it has done, so what if it is not consider to be the best high street cafe?

Does it matter? The formula is correct, why change it? Hope the customer behind can be pacify with the bantering that the baristas is giving...

Starbucks -no offense, really my two cents, I would still be going to starbucks and have my coffee of the dayt.:)

source: Wall Street Journal