Like a lot of you, one of the few chain eating establishments I enjoy and frequent is Starbucks. Only the rub is, I don't really drink coffee. Actually, I don't even like coffee. I go to a Starbucks for a different type of drink.
That drink is called different things depending on the Starbucks you walk into. This is the first problem. In some, it's a Vanilla Creme. In others, it's a Vanilla Steamer. At the core, what I order is a two ingredient drink. Those ingredients are soy milk and sugar free vanilla flavoring. That's it. That's the list.
You would think that a two ingredient drink would be something a coffee shop could deliver pretty consistently. You would be wrong. Horribly wrong. In fact, I would wager that the various Starbucks I walk into screw up this drink at least 30% of the time.
The first problem is, very few people ask for this drink, so it isn't even technically on the menu. It is apparently on page 20 of the POS system screen. The next problem, and this boggles my mind, is that the majority of the Starbucks' in my area, particularly the one closest to my house, don't understand the concept of ordering a drink "skinny". This means no sugar. So not infrequently, my skinny drink, with soy milk and sugar free vanilla, is topped off with a gigantic pile of whipped cream. The end result is, when I travel the rest of the country, I feel compelled to specify no whip, prompting a look of 'you ordered it skinny, you idiot, of course I'm not putting whipped cream on it.' from a competent barista.
The other thing to consider about this drink, specifically, is this. You have customers who are lactose intolerant and you have customers that, for health reasons, can't really ingest real sugar. I happen to be neither, I just prefer my drinks that way, but other customers may be either, or both, so screwing that portion of the order up can have some significant short term health effects.
Don't necessarily consider this just a long rant from a jilted customer looking for sympathy. And don't waste my time with a blame the op response. Just hit the back button on your browser.
The point is this. Every exchange we have as people who choose to purchase a product comes with implied conditions. I provide to you, the business offering a product under conditions you allow me to specify, with agreed upon currency and you, the business, provide me with the product I request and/or agree to and a passable purchasing experience. I, as a consumer, never have the option to take something from a retail establishment, open my wallet and say "oops! looks like I left the house with pesos today. The 20,000 note is going to have to do as payment!" You, as the business that supplies what I am requesting or agree upon, are responsible for supplying the service and or product in the manner requested. This isn't rocket science, it's basic retail.
Let's take the basic, two ingredient drink as an example. The Target in Parma, OH (Target #792) has a Starbucks. The first attempt at ordering this drink (after a ten minute wait) resulted in a drink with coffee, 2% half and half and some semblance of vanilla flavoring.
The remake of this drink resulted in whole milk, sugar flavoring and whipped cream.
The third attempt resulted in a refund. Because they just discovered they were out of soy milk.
Driving two blocks to a stand alone Starbucks resulted in the correct drink. Upon explaining what happened to the barista, who found the story entertaining or at least humored me to get me out of there, he reminded me that those locations "aren't corporate owned."
But here's the thing. I don't care. And neither do your customers. You are responsible for your brand. And if you choose to franchise your brand, you are still held to the expectations you set with your brand and your product offerings. And every incident like this tarnishes your brand.
Which would be all well and good, if it were an isolated incident with Starbucks. But it isn't. In my case, and bear in mind I travel at least occasionally for a living, it happens 30% of the time. In fact, this the second #Starbucksfail in 24 hours.
This was how Ohio Turnpike rest area drivers were greeted in the New Year. Bear in mind, these locations are open on Christmas and Thanksgiving. Having driven my usual route along the turnpike that day, no notice was posted anywhere that these locations, which normally do not close (and for which I'm quite thankful, actually) would be closing.
Now I know this is more on the Turnpike and HMS Host than on Starbucks itself. But again, it tarnishes the brand and it's image, and leaves a negative reflection on that image. It reflects poorly on the Turnpike itself and on Starbucks specifically. You expect consistency. Be open when you are normally open, or give people some notice in advance that you will be closed. Have on hand what your menu says you have or change your menu. These are the fundamentals of what consumers ask.
I'm not a whiny holier than thou person that likes to take shots at a giant company. (Believe me, there's another rant coming about my experiences buying a car that reflects just as poorly as a brand upon which I personally love). I'm not looking for sympathy. I'm just trying to illustrate a macro lesson here. Even the largest companies with the most popular brands, if they cannot deliver consistent service and product quality, will fail eventually because of it, regardless of the size of the chain. And if you don't believe me, why don't you think about it over dinner tonight at Damon's. Or Big Boy. Or Mountain Jack's. Or Cooker. Or Chi Chi's. Then sleep on it at Howard Johnson's. Maybe hop in the Oldsmobile in the morning and drive over to Montgomery Ward to do some shopping.
So, at least in part, I'm going to track noteworthy customer experiences from Starbucks (and other businesses) with this blog. It's also searchable on Twitter with the hashtag #starbucksfail. I'll list out some noteworthy experiences periodically here as well. The criteria for a successful visit versus a failure but at this point I believe it will break down to:
Successful Visit -The order was prepared correctly and service was adequate on the first request.
Failure - The drink was prepared incorrectly or an incorrect offer was made. Skinny means skinny.
Meh- - We all have these types of visits to eating establishments where what was made was what we ordered, but for various reasons it just didn't work out as planned. In the case of Starbucks, this would be a drink that was made correctly but ended up being flavorless because it was steamed to 7400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Current 2013 Tally: Failures (2), Successful Visit (1) Meh (0)
Failures
Ohio Turnpike Rest Area Eastbound 140 1/1/13 (Closed without notice)
Target Parma #792 (Three drink remake failures)
