Suggestion for Starbucks

Okay, without focusing on Starbucks too much here... I have an idea for them (tis better to have an idea than just complain)

Why only two blends of coffee at any one time (three if you count decaf)? This whole week the traditional blend has been Ethiopan Sidoma, until they finally changed it this morning... to Breakfast Blend. All well and good, but they were out of Breakfast blend. I like the darker, richer coffee and that meant waiting for my coffee or take Lightnote.

As a patron you can order 3,274 (my guesstimation skills) different combinations of custom prepared espresso drinks... but I've only got two choices for caffinated coffee. My favorite two blends are Verona & Sumatra (I'm sure there are a couple of others that I would like equal to those). Anyway, why can't they brew small pots of lot's of flavors? I'm spending nearly $2 a day there ($3 total if you count the tip). Perhaps have several french presses set up and brew pots for people. I'd probably pay an extra $0.50 cents for a freshly brewed (or french pressed) cup of my favorite blend, wouldn't you?

At the very least, they should conduct a poll of all the people that come in during the week and order plain old coffee - "what is your favorite blend?". I can't begin to tell you how many cups of coffee I've purchased and no one has ever asked me what I like.

I don't think this is just starbucks, the lesson in this is vital for anyone: ask customers what they want. Simple, eh? I seem to recall a certain book that was featured on this site not too long ago, Creating Customer Evangelists, that suggested that companies do this.

Something so simple, but so often overlooked.

Comments

[johnmoore (from Brand Autopsy)]

Jon … for years Starbucks only brewed two coffees -- one regular and one decaf. It wasn’t until Starbucks introduced Milder Dimensions (a selection of milder coffees) in 1998-ish that they reconfigured their systems to offer three coffees of the day: traditional, decaf, and mild.

As you know … when it comes to making coffee, Starbucks is operationally efficient. Unfortunately, brewing small batches of coffee would disrupt the efficiency of servicing customers. This opens up an opportunity for smaller coffee competitors, who are not so reliant on maintaining efficient customer flow, to offer a variety of freshly pressed coffees. It would serve a point-of-difference for them against Starbucks. (I’m not sure if it would be a compelling and wide-appealing point-of-difference as only real coffee freaks enjoy coffee brewed in a press pot.)

There is a complex coffee inventory management system at work behind what customers experience as “coffee-of-the-day.” It takes a lot of coffee to supply all Starbucks locations with enough coffee to serve as coffee-of-the-day. To better manage the company’s coffee inventory, there is a coffee-of-the-day calendar schedule that stores are to follow. (Not all stores strictly follow the calendar as situations arise where they deviate from the calendar.)

Next time your are faced with choosing a milder coffee at Starbucks like Breakfast Blend or LightNote Blend … ask for an Americano (espresso shots and hot water). It’ll cost you about the same as a cup of brewed coffee but it will have a much richer, intense flavor. If you like flavorful and fresh coffee, one can never go wrong ordering an Americano (hot or iced) at Starbucks.

All this from a former Starbucks barista and marketing guy...