I’ve just gotten word that all Starbucks in town (and most across the country) are closed tonight for training. I know plenty of folks, my daughter included, who are going to panic when they go for their umpteenth cup of the day and find their Starbucks closed. Then the one on the next corner closed, and so on down the road.
If you HAVE to have a fix and no other coffee will do (I’m not a Starbucks fan myself), I believe the ones that are inside other stores will be open. Maybe–call first. I’m just getting my info from a wire story and it is time for me to go home; you coffee drinkers are on your own tonight.
Restaurant business
Responses to “Huh??”
February 26th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
What a great time for coffee-lovers to branch out and try some other places, like High Point Coffee and Seattle Drip!
February 27th, 2008 at 10:52 am
otherlands
java cabana
Cafe Eclectic (just opened!)
highpoint (e. memphis and midtown)
and these are just the ones inside 240
plenty of good places for coffee…
February 27th, 2008 at 11:29 am
Consumer Reports rated McDonald’s coffee better than Starbucks, so go to golden arches.
One of the Cable news shows sain Dunkin Doughnuts was givint out a free small coffee during that time to customers. I totally prefer Dunkin Doughnuts coffee to Starbucks.
February 27th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
I have a friend who works at Starbucks outside Washington, DC, in add’n to her “day job” in order to be able to afford to live there. She is a shift supv. & she conducted part of the training at her store, along w/a barista & the mgr. I sent her this post & the article from the paper this morning. She wrote back that shift supvs. are supposed to be actively watching the baristas. If they notice a drink being made incorrectly they tell the barista to remake it. If that causes a back-up, they aren’t supposed to worry about it. She predicts it w/be interesting to see if the customers are going to be patient. Starbucks thinks it’s more important to make perfect drinks than to worry about how fast they can get them done by letting the customers rush them. They expect to lose some business if customers decide to go elsewhere. My friend’s part of the training was about taste tests to show how improperly pulled shots of espresso taste horrible & how to calibrate the machines to time them appropriately. She also demonstrated how to calibrate thermometers that are used in steaming/aerating the milk. Since I’m not a coffee drinker, I don’t understand all of that. But I thought it might be useful for those of you who do go to Starbucks or know people who do.
March 1st, 2008 at 6:40 pm
That Starbucks takes the issue of properly prepared drinks is not the issue here. They disenfranchised their entire customer base by closing all the stores “for training.” Were they concerned about the overtime had they chosen (rightly so in my opinion) to conduct the training after hours? Not to mention that the time frame chosen must be one of the most lucrative for the chain; a chain that is feeling some financial threat anyway.
5 comment.