Starbucks is Closing for Training? Aw, They Really Do Care
A day of reckoning approaches, friends, for on February 26, 2008, between the hours of 5:30PM and 8:30PM local time, the billion dollar global retail coffee monolith known as Starbucks will close all 7,100 US company-operated stores to train--or, as they call it, retrain--their employees in the elusive art of pulling espresso shots. Well, my word, this is news!
Questions most definitely arise in the wake of this announcement. Is this decision to close for a whole three hours an admission of overwhelming guilt? Perhaps an acknowledgment that, through the many years of endless additions of unrelated coffee product, they sadly lost focus on why they're in the business by not training their baristas well in the first place? Maybe, maybe not.
Either way, let's hope that Mike can get some decent espresso drink justice when he bravely returns to the North Oakland Ave. Starbucks after February 26. But truly, friends, only time--and training--will tell.
Link (via Coffee Talk)
Post originally published by Milwaukee Specialty Food and Coffee.
Questions most definitely arise in the wake of this announcement. Is this decision to close for a whole three hours an admission of overwhelming guilt? Perhaps an acknowledgment that, through the many years of endless additions of unrelated coffee product, they sadly lost focus on why they're in the business by not training their baristas well in the first place? Maybe, maybe not.
Either way, let's hope that Mike can get some decent espresso drink justice when he bravely returns to the North Oakland Ave. Starbucks after February 26. But truly, friends, only time--and training--will tell.
Link (via Coffee Talk)
Post originally published by Milwaukee Specialty Food and Coffee.
Comment
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Comment by Stickman on February 13, 2008 at 6:00pm
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I have had prospects come into the shop applying for work saying they are Certified Baristas...Are they talking about watching a dvd to get their certificate? I sure hope it was a Bellissimo DVD. Good luck to Starbucks...And thanks for making the world ready for shops like mine. It's a fact that if not for Starbucks there wouldn't be the same need for better quality coffee. I owe them quite a lot and you know what? If one ever opens within 5 miles of my shop my second location will go right next door to them. We'll continue to offer what they can't, what nobody can with a monolithic corporate structure and a labour market where the employee dictates the rules to the employer. Don't like coffee? You can work at Starbucks. Good luck Mermaid, you'll need it...Not like they need advice from me but maybe they should try opening boutique stores with semi automatic machines, coffee enthusiasts behind the counter and REAL training.
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Comment by Jason Calhoon on February 13, 2008 at 5:43pm
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hey alex their not changing machines my friend told me that they are adding some thing to them to change the extraction time. but like you said what's the point......
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Comment by Alex Brooks on February 13, 2008 at 5:29pm
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Did they get semi autos? or are they sticking with the supers? if they are (staying with superautomatics) whats the point? I know that they do not deal with Franke anymore, but what kind of machines are they going to be using?
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Comment by Barry Lawrenson on February 13, 2008 at 2:27pm
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Guys in Buckies PR department done guwd me thinks !
excluding the staff who do care and try there best, others will love a piad 3 hour break thinking about whatever they want except coffee while the DVD plays in the background.
its easy I guess to beat the multiples up but in the UK they were at least the catalisyst requires to convince Brits that "brewed" coffee was available and not just instant.
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true that!!!
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Comment by Mary Dally-Muenzmaier on February 13, 2008 at 11:46am
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So true. But really they've brought those types of comparisons upon themselves, and not just because of their take-over-the-world mentality but because they’ve insisted on viewing and treating companies like McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts as their direct competition.
Don’t get me wrong--I’m totally for quality coffee being made available to all, but there are different paths to tread and different customer bases to serve that don’t necessarily merge, and recognizing you're real competition is just smart business.
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I read this a few hours ago and talked to my friend that is a mgr at bucks and she said their gonna watch a dvd and get "re-trained" and certified on bar in 3 hours. I don't think they could teach one employee anything in three hours let alone 20 to 30 per store........
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Comment by Peggy Gargaro on February 13, 2008 at 11:28am
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Unfortunately, S-Bux has passed the point of no return..When you are compared to McDonald's in Forbe's magazine there is no going back.
No amount of training will ever erase that perception (in my opinion).
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Um, well, I think most on this board, whether they be baristas or others in the business, would say it takes a lot more training to pull a good espresso shot, not to mention a great one, than just pushing a button. The position of Barista--with a capital B--is a legitimate profession because it takes more than a little hard to work and education to achieve a high level of skill.
But, hey, everyone has a right to their own opinion, so opine on, friend.
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Comment by Andy Hall on February 13, 2008 at 10:55am
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How much time does it take to train someone
to push a button?
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