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Just because Starbucks did it doesn't mean it's an actual drink...
John P said:Just because Starbucks did it doesn't mean it's an actual drink...
True. But they did serve an awful lot of them and train many, many people how to ask for them and what to expect the drink to look and taste like. Hence the statement.
This is good and bad. Good because the bar is set reasonably low, its an easy drink to properly execute and it tastes much better with a properly pulled espresso. Bad because a large majority of our potential customers believe that they represent THE coffee authority and governing body. This fact puts us in the position of having to choose to either re-educate or just execute.
I think we should certainly try to do both, but can understand the decision not to do a copycat drink. Regardless, it seems unwise not to try to understand what your customers are looking for when they ask for a drink. Not to suggest we need to know their whole menu, but learning the popular drinks seems like it might come in handy for recommending alternatives.
Anytime we have a customer ask for something "a little different" I simply ask them to describe what they expect/want. I then go on to tell them if I have the ingredients I can make them anything they are looking for and proceed to do so. I'm a purist at heart, but IMO to thrive you have to make what people want to buy from you and put those purist feelings aside.
Ask them what they expect an iced macchiato to be... volume, flavor (if any), etc. If they're not happy with what you give them, tweak the drink or dump it and start over. One customer with a bad experience can tell countless others in a short time.
If a customer asked me for this drink without really being specific, my first thought would be to extract a double shot over ice and top with 1-2 oz. of cold milk or half-n-half. Hand them this in a 4oz. sample cup and see what the response might be. We have all sorts of "customized" orders that aren't typical, but our regulars appreciate us knowing exactly what they like and how they like it prepared. Later!
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