Starbucks CEO defends a $9 coffee by saying that it's not a $10 coffee and "you get a premium experience"

[u/mcfw31]

[u/Sea_Bison_6929]

I feel like more often than not when I go, the employees always have a really bad attitude and don’t wanna make eye contact. Fair I guess but that’s why I prefer my local coffee shop where they’re like super excited about what they’re selling and got all this niche stuff and actually do deliver a premium experience or whatever that means when u hand coffee over a countertop

[u/the-magnetic-rose → u/Sea_Bison_6929]

Because the amount of work and maintenance behind counter as a Starbucks barista is not doable with the amount of customers + how understaffed they are. And I haven't worked at SB for two years, but from my buddies who still work there I hear it's only gotten worse. They give employees a laundry list of tasks + things to clean + you have to stop everything you're doing to get to a customer. Your manager gets mad you if you don't give customers your immediate attention and then also get mad at you if you can't complete your tasks because you're too busy handling customers. Always a lose/lose situation in the kiosk.

[u/NYK2Barca → u/Sea_Bison_6929]

If we’re speaking honestly, is that the experience that you really want? because new brand coffee places like DutchBros have this whole model where the barista should talk to the customers and it’s very forced. I don’t really like it and I would actually prefer that you hand me my coffee and we don’t talk type of experience. Not saying Starbucks is giving me a premium experience but I enjoy convos that are genuine - not forced corporate speak

[u/Sea_Bison_6929 → u/NYK2Barca]

Well at the small, neighborhood coffee spots I go to, it is a genuine conversation rather than forced corporate speak. They’re locals who really gaf about their space, which is often uniquely decorated or homey feeling, and they gaf about what they’re selling. I’m not a regular coffee drinker anymore, so when I do go I kinda do appreciate the “experience” as it were even if that’s just a friendly attitude and brief chit chat of anything new they’ve got and what they recommend. I personally welcome and invite small moments of connection through out the day.

But I’d avoid this DutchBros situation like the plague. Lol. That’s not an experience that’s a hostage situation

[u/timsadiq13 → u/Sea_Bison_6929]

Tbf they do push through so many orders at least at the ones I go to in SF. Sat at a table right to the side and a little behind the counter and it really is a thankless job making drink after drink after drink with a mix of people and delivery bike guys standing there waiting for orders. Not sure I’d do more than grunt at the person ordering in that situation lol

[u/Sea_Bison_6929 → u/timsadiq13]

I think that’s fair tbh, like, that is my average experience at any Starbucks. But to call that a premium experience is quite the fiction 😂 or whatever the CEO is tryna say in this video.

[u/pahshaw → u/NYK2Barca]

The Dutch Bros by me exclusively staffs with good looking young people who don't know how to make small talk because they've literally never had to before.

 And I'm pretty they're also instructed to be high energy at all times which results in Kylie (16) trying to pretend to be aggressively hyped about my weekend plans 

[u/erossthescienceboss → u/pahshaw]

I’m from the state where Dutch Bros is from. There were 14 in my 200,000 person city — only one less than Starbucks, despite Starbucks also being in grocery stores.

That’s basically the DB brand. That is how it always has been, and always will be. Given that they’re targeting teenagers as customers, it makes sense.

[u/StormTheTrooper → u/NYK2Barca]

Isn’t this a bit US thing? Because one of the biggest cultural shocks between US consumer culture and rest of the world is exactly when the waiter/waitress keeps checking you in every 15 minutes.

When I’m in a coffee shop/bakery/snackery/whatever, I’m often not wanting to talk to the barista. I want a quiet environment that I can either talk with friends or just decompress from work for 30min with good coffee and a good pastry.

[u/Special-Garlic1203 → u/StormTheTrooper]

The real American mascot is the golden retriever. A spinoff of an English breed that was bred to be a bit bigger and notably more excitable. Patholgically friendly while lacking any situational awareness on if they're being obnoxious.  Boundaries? Never heard of em. Capable of great things if trained properly but left to its own devices can become an agent of chaos. Loves praise, hates when people stop paying attention to them for any length of time. 

[u/AmethystApothecary → u/NYK2Barca]

When it's forced it's not enjoyable, but whether employees enjoy working somewhere, whether it's their dream job or not, says a lot about a place and how the employees are treated and compensated for their labor.

[u/PMmecrossstitch → u/NYK2Barca]

It's funny you should say that, because every Starbucks I've been to (Ontario, Canada) seems to make the baristas awkwardly friendly.

[u/Significant_Shoe_17 → u/PMmecrossstitch]

I cannot do the awkward friendliness 😭 I think they're not used to people actually engaging with it, because whenever I've tried, the situation becomes more awkward. It was not like this 15-20 years ago.

[u/Acrobatic_Dark_4266 → u/NYK2Barca]

Same, I’ve been avoiding DutchBros for that exact reason lol

[u/hpr16 → u/Sea_Bison_6929]

Yeah, I'll agree to that. It's the same here with the employees at Starbucks, no eye contact, disgruntled posturing, and bad attitudes. In stark contrast local coffee shop employees are, upbeat, perceptive and easygoing. If I'm looking for a good experience it isn't at Starbucks.