Oh Noes! Panic at the Starbucks!
For those of you who are addicted to those bitter beans at Starbucks you should be aware that they will be closing all 7,100 stores for 3 hours in order to re-educate their baristas.
This seems to be the realization of the new CEO, Howard Schultz’s, desire to revitalize the company “by getting back to the essence of what drove Starbucks’ past success.” There was a time in the earlier days of Starbucks’ expansion when the company sent new baristas for a weeks training. As they expanded further and further they moved away from that and instead got smarter machines so they could save on costly training. That move assured them consistency but also served to turn the job of barista into “just another job.” My coffee-snob brother still laments the day when Starbucks’ switched to automated machines and had high hopes when he heard Mr. Schultz talk about getting back to basics.
Perhaps that day has come. Since returning as Starbucks’ CEO, Schultz has stopped stores from carrying hot breakfasts, which interfered with the aroma of the coffee. Starbucks’ has done a great job of upgrading the palette of the average coffee consumer. Possibly too good. In response fast food joints like MacDonald’s have upgraded their own coffee. In a survey a year ago, consumers declared MacDonald’s Premium Roast to be superior to Starbucks with tasters finding finding the coffee giants offering to be “burnt and bitter.” Go figure. I could have told them that myself.
The re-education of Starbucks employee’s will once again find them acting as “real” baristas, leaning to pull the perfect shot, steam the milk to order and forgo the push of the automatic button. This move follows last weeks lay off of 600 Starbucks employees. With stock prices dwindling the company has no choice but to figure out where they’ve gone wrong and try their best to fix the problems.
The beans, however, will remain the same over-roasted burnt offering. If you want Starbucks that tastes good, might I suggest Seattle’s Best?
Seattle, Starbucks, Howard Schultz, stores, closure, baristas, re-education, Seattle’s Best, beans, bitter, burnt, MacDonald’s, Premium Roast, training, layoffs
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