Comments on: A place to pour out coffee: Drains at condiments stations at Starbucks

By: Bill

Bill — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 01:59:00 +0000

I almost always pour out some coffee into the trash hole at the condiment bar, even when I ask for room. You can encourage customers to be “responsible”, and ask for a specific amount of room for cream, but I strongly doubt most customers will have the presence of mind to do this. It’s just unrealistic. Baristas all have different ideas of how much room to give for cream and this WILL NOT CHANGE.

Drains at the condiment bar are a great, and necessary, idea. They would NOT be expensive to install; just find a supplier for a small, 4″ diameter bowl-shaped drain with a simple hole at the bottom and no grid on top (there’s nothing to filter out!!) .It should have a rim with a similar appearance to the rim on the trash hole. Cut a 4″ hole with a hole saw drill attachment, drop in the drain, connect the drain hole to a tube or straight PVC pipe, and attach the piple to a thin, rectangular tank that slips in alongside the trash can. The tank could be a plastic tank that consists of a lid, which is attached to the pipe, and the larger bottom part, which contains the coffee. An employee detaches this tank twice a day and empties it into the kitchen sink. Installation would be less than $100 and virtually anyone could do it.

By: Ben

Ben — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 23:52:50 +0000

Here in Seattle, SBC already provides small drains. I didn’t realize until later that these drains were not connected to anything but instead were a steel tub with a grate on top and are actually just for the purpose outlined above I suppose.

Every so often I’d have a large amount of drink left over and poor it into one of these.

Funny that people want something that is already available in a “Starbucks” product.

By: Kieley

Kieley — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 18:53:12 +0000

Rather than having drains at the condiment bar, this whole problem could be solved with simple communication: The barista should ask every time how much room a person wants before they even get the coffee. Double bag the trashes for backup…

@kaleoki

By: Scooter McGoo

Scooter McGoo — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 07:12:37 +0000

Melody I have to say some of Ur posters are funny. As pertaining to the question of the drains at the condi bar, a lot of them are not permanent therefore would not be logical to add fixtures if the floor plan changes.
It made me giggle when one comment said:
Some people can’t even put their emptied sugar packets in the receptical that is built into the condiment bar. This to is do to lazyness and rudeness, no different than when A customer walks to the counter and U ask them how are they today and U get for an answer, “Venti Mocha! like Ur too rude/stupid to even respond when someone is asking U a question but it’s just better to be asshats. Having worked for the BUCK for the past three years(OMG i make too much $$$ I guess I’ll be fired soon, LOL) I have noticed the small changes in the CORE customer base, the majority of our traffic has become a bigger mix of “I’ve never been to SBUX B4 what do think I would like here?” They seem more geared to the “Fluff” of the place rather than about the coffee. It seems that all the “Extra’s” the company sells has really killed the old mission statement of being a provider of premium beans. It’s sad but I can C in the next five years all whole bean being removed from the stores except prolly Seattle locations. It’s not about the coffee anymore, it’s about EVERYTHING but the coffee.
Ps. The issue with room is that most ppl don’t really have a clue on what an inch is in reality, #justsaying I love that U write about topics others don’t stop and even think about, Keep the faith!

By: @coffeepedaler

@coffeepedaler — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 18:40:28 +0000

I say “no” to drains for many of the afforementioned reasons. I would encourage baristas to ask how much room coffee drinkers want, to further customize the order. Customers can also start asking for 1 or 2 inches if they need it too. Easier than plumbing.

By: Wes

Wes — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 18:26:33 +0000

Agree with many of the comments here about coffee going into trash cans. When I was a partner I used to hate ppl who poured coffee into the trash. I would give them dirty looks over the bar b/c even when I double bagged there were still frequent leaks. Drains would be hard to install and having a bucket for used coffee is just gross. But perhaps installing self serve water fountains could solve two problems by allowing customers to get their own H2o rather than bothering baristas and the fountain can serve for a drain for unwanted coffee!

By: LatteLaura

LatteLaura — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 16:26:26 +0000

Like Venti-Bold I also specify the exact amount of room I want in my cup. Those drains look gross to me!

By: Venti_Bold

Venti_Bold — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 16:14:43 +0000

Saw someone pouring some coffee in the trash this morning.

I used to just order “with room” now I order “1/4 (1/2) inch room”. I have never had to pour any in the trash though. Also, the baristas seem to appreciate me using measurements.

By: Mike Crimmins

Mike Crimmins — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 03:06:50 +0000

I’m a black coffee drinker too, but when I used to drink coffee with sugar and cream, I’d always ask them to leave room for the cream. I didn’t think it was that difficult.

By: BOSTON STARBUCKS REBEL

BOSTON STARBUCKS REBEL — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 02:13:19 +0000

I think that if we had a drain it would just be one more thing for Ecosure to get us on when they do their audit.