In order to answer the questions, research taken from interviews and personal observations would be necessary. The dissection of Starbucks began with a straightforward half-hour-long coffee break in a Penfield Starbucks in order to observe the customers and their habits. At a later date, a primary interview was performed on an employee at the same Starbucks. The second interview was conducted with a younger Starbucks employee at a separate location.
Interview 1
The first interview was conducted early one morning at a somewhat recently opened Penfield location. The informant was middle-aged mother of two who used to own a small coffee stand of her own but was forced to close, due in part to the competition of Starbucks. She revealed some significant insight into the inner workings of Starbucks and their operations. What was made clear to me was Starbucks’ intentions on making their establishment seem like a “third place”, an area other than home and work where one can relax and socialize: “I feel that community is really what makes Starbucks unique. Its supposed to be a secret, but Starbucks definitely has a philosophy and a mission statement. Money is the last thing that they say they want- what Starbucks really wants is a connection to the community. Our company is not necessarily based on our products- it is based on our attitudes and customer satisfaction. Whenever customers walk in, we are told to greet them properly to make them feel included. We want to create a “third place”, a place other than work or home where people can come and relax with others. One of the really unique things about Starbucks is that in addition to our actually jobs here, we can choose other, special duties to perform. For example, in addition to being a shift supervisor, I am what is called the community steward. I organize certain events to draw in people in from the community and get us more in the loop. Last weekend I hosted a gathering to make donations for the shepherd home down the street. That night we doubled our sales just because of that event. That was great for two reasons: we got more connected to the community and we made a profit.” The conversation then shifted towards environmental and free trade matters. The informant was confident in Starbucks’ value of the environment, citing their use of recycled materials and advertisement of Ethos Water. However, although Starbucks advertises itself as being a major component of the fair-trade circuit, the informant pointed out that there are only one or two fair-trade certified products in the store. “Well, we like to advocate fair trade, but we have only one or two products that are designated fair trade products. We support the idea, but in reality the company just has too much coffee to produce to get it all from fair trade growers.” The interview then veered toward a topic of particular interest to the research: the customers. The informant stated that half or more of the total customer base belonged to regulars. The regulars range from retired seniors and middle-aged workers to young people and even children. Then, the question was asked: “If you could do anything to change Starbucks, what would you do?” “First off, I would simply get better coffee. I don’t approve of the roasting methods they use- a lot of the flavor is lost. Secondly, I would put even more focus on the community. We could attract even more customers by being more involved with Penfield. For example, the new Starbucks and the old one at Four Corners really only generate as much profit combined as the old one did. This is because they simply did not have their hand on the pulse of the community at the time. Lastly, I would put more personal management in place. At my old coffee stand, I could make my own blends and beverages and could control my own sales. Here, management won’t let us get away with anything. When I first came here I thought the blackboard was to write down things like daily specials and whatnot. In reality, we get a memo every month detailing what we can and what we cannot put up there. Every Starbucks has to be the exact same, and that is because Starbucks is built on the idea that no matter where you are in the world, you can always walk into a Starbucks and be at your “third place”. You can order your caramel macchiato and know that drink is going to taste the exact same in Tokyo as it would here. That is why Starbucks is so impersonal. I guess its kind of okay though. Even so, I wish we could have a little more creative input into the store.” The informant points out that while customers do get the comfort of having regularity, they give up creativity and surprise in exchange. At last, the interview finished with another Starbucks employee making a dramatic move by placing a Starbucks cup on the table and saying: “Right there. That cup. We have an okay product- but its not the best. Its by far not the greatest cup of coffee you’ll ever have. But that it’s the cup that makes it important. If you carry that cup around, you say something about yourself. You say you are classy, sophisticated, and with it. I’ve seen many a movie with that little green logo in it. Our entire company is based on that little cup.” The original informant adds: “I used to drop my son off at middle school all the time. One day, out of the blue, I saw all the girls walking around with their big, “vente” cups of coffee, showing off their cups for everyone to see. I don’t think they even liked coffee- but we started an entirely new generation of caffeine addicts, all because of the little green mermaid.”
Interview 2
The second interview was conducted with a younger, teenage girl who held the position of the grunt-like “barista”. This informant liked her job because she was able to serve all of her friends who frequented the establishment. She was then asked why she thought her friends came to Starbucks and responded thusly:
I: Well, Starbucks is just kind of cool. I guess most people come just because we have good coffee, but a lot of people come because its just a good meeting place. We’re told that Starbucks is trying to create a “third place” besides home and work. In here its tight and cozy, so we get a lot of couple or small groups just looking for a place to hang out. I think a lot of them do it because going to Starbucks is seen as being “sophisticated” and stuff like that.
R: Sophisticated?
I: I think we try to create a sort of air of classiness. All of our drinks sound European and fancy, and we play all this new music. Also, we have all this environmental merchandise, so we are pretty ahead of the curve as far as that’s concerned. That’s what really draws the people in- you can get coffee everywhere, but at Starbucks its cool. Also, it seems like we are really the place to go for any kind of meeting here. We host a lot of musicians and whenever we’re busy there always seems to be some kind of group here.
With that statement, the informant provided an interesting insight into the mind of the Starbucks Corporation and their customers. The next step was to analyze the information I had been supplied with by these interviews.
Methods
In order to answer the questions, research taken from interviews and personal observations would be necessary. The dissection of Starbucks began with a straightforward half-hour-long coffee break in a Penfield Starbucks in order to observe the customers and their habits. At a later date, a primary interview was performed on an employee at the same Starbucks. The second interview was conducted with a younger Starbucks employee at a separate location.Interview 1
The first interview was conducted early one morning at a somewhat recently opened Penfield location. The informant was middle-aged mother of two who used to own a small coffee stand of her own but was forced to close, due in part to the competition of Starbucks. She revealed some significant insight into the inner workings of Starbucks and their operations. What was made clear to me was Starbucks’ intentions on making their establishment seem like a “third place”, an area other than home and work where one can relax and socialize:
“I feel that community is really what makes Starbucks unique. Its supposed to be a secret, but Starbucks definitely has a philosophy and a mission statement. Money is the last thing that they say they want- what Starbucks really wants is a connection to the community. Our company is not necessarily based on our products- it is based on our attitudes and customer satisfaction. Whenever customers walk in, we are told to greet them properly to make them feel included. We want to create a “third place”, a place other than work or home where people can come and relax with others. One of the really unique things about Starbucks is that in addition to our actually jobs here, we can choose other, special duties to perform. For example, in addition to being a shift supervisor, I am what is called the community steward. I organize certain events to draw in people in from the community and get us more in the loop. Last weekend I hosted a gathering to make donations for the shepherd home down the street. That night we doubled our sales just because of that event. That was great for two reasons: we got more connected to the community and we made a profit.”
The conversation then shifted towards environmental and free trade matters. The informant was confident in Starbucks’ value of the environment, citing their use of recycled materials and advertisement of Ethos Water. However, although Starbucks advertises itself as being a major component of the fair-trade circuit, the informant pointed out that there are only one or two fair-trade certified products in the store.
“Well, we like to advocate fair trade, but we have only one or two products that are designated fair trade products. We support the idea, but in reality the company just has too much coffee to produce to get it all from fair trade growers.”
The interview then veered toward a topic of particular interest to the research: the customers. The informant stated that half or more of the total customer base belonged to regulars. The regulars range from retired seniors and middle-aged workers to young people and even children.
Then, the question was asked: “If you could do anything to change Starbucks, what would you do?”
“First off, I would simply get better coffee. I don’t approve of the roasting methods they use- a lot of the flavor is lost. Secondly, I would put even more focus on the community. We could attract even more customers by being more involved with Penfield. For example, the new Starbucks and the old one at Four Corners really only generate as much profit combined as the old one did. This is because they simply did not have their hand on the pulse of the community at the time. Lastly, I would put more personal management in place. At my old coffee stand, I could make my own blends and beverages and could control my own sales. Here, management won’t let us get away with anything. When I first came here I thought the blackboard was to write down things like daily specials and whatnot. In reality, we get a memo every month detailing what we can and what we cannot put up there. Every Starbucks has to be the exact same, and that is because Starbucks is built on the idea that no matter where you are in the world, you can always walk into a Starbucks and be at your “third place”. You can order your caramel macchiato and know that drink is going to taste the exact same in Tokyo as it would here. That is why Starbucks is so impersonal. I guess its kind of okay though. Even so, I wish we could have a little more creative input into the store.”
The informant points out that while customers do get the comfort of having regularity, they give up creativity and surprise in exchange. At last, the interview finished with another Starbucks employee making a dramatic move by placing a Starbucks cup on the table and saying:
“Right there. That cup. We have an okay product- but its not the best. Its by far not the greatest cup of coffee you’ll ever have. But that it’s the cup that makes it important. If you carry that cup around, you say something about yourself. You say you are classy, sophisticated, and with it. I’ve seen many a movie with that little green logo in it. Our entire company is based on that little cup.”
The original informant adds:
“I used to drop my son off at middle school all the time. One day, out of the blue, I saw all the girls walking around with their big, “vente” cups of coffee, showing off their cups for everyone to see. I don’t think they even liked coffee- but we started an entirely new generation of caffeine addicts, all because of the little green mermaid.”
Interview 2
The second interview was conducted with a younger, teenage girl who held the position of the grunt-like “barista”. This informant liked her job because she was able to serve all of her friends who frequented the establishment. She was then asked why she thought her friends came to Starbucks and responded thusly:
I: Well, Starbucks is just kind of cool. I guess most people come just because we have good coffee, but a lot of people come because its just a good meeting place. We’re told that Starbucks is trying to create a “third place” besides home and work. In here its tight and cozy, so we get a lot of couple or small groups just looking for a place to hang out. I think a lot of them do it because going to Starbucks is seen as being “sophisticated” and stuff like that.
R: Sophisticated?
I: I think we try to create a sort of air of classiness. All of our drinks sound European and fancy, and we play all this new music. Also, we have all this environmental merchandise, so we are pretty ahead of the curve as far as that’s concerned. That’s what really draws the people in- you can get coffee everywhere, but at Starbucks its cool. Also, it seems like we are really the place to go for any kind of meeting here. We host a lot of musicians and whenever we’re busy there always seems to be some kind of group here.
With that statement, the informant provided an interesting insight into the mind of the Starbucks Corporation and their customers. The next step was to analyze the information I had been supplied with by these interviews.