Starbuck’s is facing backlash over a recent change in decor. Some insist the world’s largest coffee shop chain is not only changing its look. It’s changing its whole identity. Originally seen as a spot to linger and lounge, it’s removing its legendary comfy chairs…
Former Starbuck’s CEO Howard Schultz, expounding on the
chain’s identity, philosophy and goals back in 2017…
It’s all part of the inevitable move by all Fast Food chains to streamline their operations and save money. And it’s just one component of their collective ‘Restaurant of the Future’ business model. Other parts of the master plan include getting rid of as many human workers as possible using AI and robotics, increasing drive-thru and delivery capacity, and encouraging folks who ‘come in’ on foot to take out.
‘Quiet revolution’
It’s been a sort of quiet revolution’. Over the past year or so, Starbuck’s has stealthily removed the comfy chairs and love seats from its 9,500 US locations. And that’s triggered a torrent of online rage from its most loyal fans.
They remember the beginning, in 1995, when inaugural CEO Howard Schultz outlined the company’s philosophy to a major business magazine: “If you look at the landscape of retail and restaurants in America, there is such a fracturing of places where people meet. There’s nowhere for people to go. So we created a place where people can feel comfortable.”
A ‘third place’
Positioning itself as a ‘third place‘ between home and office, Starbucks was envisioned as a spot to meet and socialize. AND the lobger you stayed, the more likely you were to buy another coffee. And maybe even something to eat.
Long-time Starbuck’s employee Michelle Eisen of Buffalo. NY, remembers, “It was a cheerful, amazing thing to be part of it,” she said of working at Starbucks and forming close relationships with custom-ers. “It’s why so many employees stayed for so long.”
Now, it appears, employee retention is also taking a back seat to streamlining customer flow and optimizing revenues.
And Starbuck’s revenues dropped 3 percent in just the most recent fiscal quarter.
70 percent ‘grab and go’
“Mobile app and drive-thru orders make up more than 70% of Starbucks’ sales at its […] company-operated stores in the United States,” CNN reports. “In some stores, customers complained online that Starbucks pulled out comfortable chairs and replaced them with hard wooden stools. Starbucks has also built pickup-only stores without seating.”
And machine-printed labels have replaced baristas’ hand-written notes on cups.
Blast from the past
Schultz, oddly enough, gets the last word. “U.S. operations are the primary reason for the company’s fall from grace. The stores require a maniacal focus on the customer experience,” he said, in a lengthy message on LinkedIn last May. In short, he says, the company needs to, “focus on being experiential, not transactional.”
My take
Schultz has hit the nail on the head. Customers – especially fans – aren’t just sheep who can be pushed, pulled and herded in any direction that profit and convenience dictates.
Starbuck’s built a monumental following on its original promise of being that ‘third place’ where folks could meet, greet and socialize. Or just get away from work or home for an hour.
Now, it’s finding out just how important that heritage identity is to its ongoing prosperity…
~ Maggie J.