The news recently reported Starbucks has been experiencing stagnant sales and that there would be corporate layoffs. Why is that? Is the brand too ubiquitous? Are people just bored with the drink menu? What is happening?
In a closed Facebook group about Starbucks, a member posted the above link. There were tons of responses, so many of which talked about the price point of beverages and the inconsistency in the drink and experience.
These were the kinds of comments I saw:
“I think sales are lagging because of quality & consistency problems. 1 out of 4 handcrafted espresso drinks I buy are made wrong. I used to spend $500-800/mo as a daily drinker. Now I find I only go 1-2 times per week. I’m getting my coffee fix in different ways now (home, micro-roasters, other coffee shops, etc). I’m no longer brand loyal to Sbx.” – CoreyAnn
“They eliminated good drinks and their prices are pretty steep” – Michelle
“A lot of the new products lately seem kind of haphazard…like that cold brew almond protein shake drink thing, (insert drink here) with whipped foam on top, etc. Prices have crept way up too, a featured venti drink with almond or soy milk is over $6 now.” – David
“I commented many moons ago that the introduction of the Roastery was going to irreparably damage the Starbucks brand. The bifurcation of attention on two entirely different concepts has taken focus off of the regular stores that earn all the money to pay for new multi million dollar shrines to the origin of the company in Italy.” – Christian
I too don’t go to Starbucks nearly as often as I once did. I know my thinking about my diet started to drastically change after reading the book, “The Dorito Effect.” I started to ask myself, “Am I just consuming empty calories?” The more I asked myself that question, the less I wanted to order anything from the Starbucks menu. Even with the syrup extract revamp of beverages (this is still in the testing phase in limited locations), I don’t see myself ever becoming a daily Starbucks customer again. Most of the offerings are empty calories. And as to just black coffee, I can buy whole beans and make an excellent cup of coffee in my own kitchen to take with me on my way to work in the morning.
By the way, the book The Dorito Effect doesn’t advocate one particular diet. Personally, I now think a vegan diet focused on whole foods is the healthiest option, but I fully recognize lots of people will disagree with me on that idea.
I still get very excited to see some of the coffee innovation happening at Starbucks. The Whiskey Barrel Aged Guatemala is a good example of that. The consistency of beverages and experience is still really pretty good at the stores I visit, though I don’t know if that is because all my regular stores are within a stone’s throw of the Starbucks headquarters (not literally speaking, but very close by.)
Starbucks once said that the Starbucks Experience was the “secret sauce” of the brand. I think the Starbucks Experience has gotten weaker over the years I’ve been writing this blog. Even my own experience with the headquarters has drastically changed, I’ve stopped asking them for much of anything because it seems like nobody has any time for coffee connections, questions, and experiences. Just as the store level partners don’t have time to connect with customers, it’s my impression that neither do the partners in the Starbucks Support Center. In 2014, I had the privilege of seeing the “pilot plant” at the corporate headquarters. That kind of experience – let’s pull back the curtain and have some fun – seems to be gone. It doesn’t seem to be personal: Starbucks employees are time crunched at every single level of the business.
I’ve used a lot of words to say that for the overwhelming majority of Americans, the prices are high at Starbucks, the drinks aren’t healthy, and it might be that the experience isn’t what it once was.
Am I off the mark? What do you think? Starbucks, please prove me wrong.
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I used to go to my fav starbucks 2-3x per day. When I moved, I noticed the service now sucks depending on the store. I’ve had to argue for a free refill when I stayed in the store (they have it posted on the condiment bar but the baristas don’t know?), they didn’t rinse my mug which had coffee grounds in it, they tried to charge me for two different syrups, over a dollar, when I asked for 1pump of mocha and 1 pump of peppermint….I stopped staying there when they changed their wireless policy. I refuse to give them my email. But even with a fake address, they can still track your data by IP. The prices are ridiculous now. And as I’ve gotten healthier, there’s less on the their menu, drinks AND food, that I can/want to eat.
I/We (hubby and me) used to visit our local Starbucks almost every morning. When my son was born it became a Saturday event either to let mom sleep or as a family. Since then we have lost so many of the good eats making the trip less a citing.I wish Starbucks would bring back things like the final in roll from 17 years ago (not the orange flavoured one). Both disappeared years ago. Gone is the quiches, a decent hambreakfast sandwich, the paninis, the classic coffee cake, the cinnamon cake and my favorite..the blueberry bar.What is there now is not very good. What frustrated me is I go to Canada (2hrs away), Bellingham l1.5 hrs away), Tustin CA and Disney World and there I find some of these favorites. Our Seattle/North end/east side area sucks for food offerings. Its also been a challenge lately getting a consistent tea/lemonade. From watered down tea to 70% lemonade to no sweetener. Its been in the menu for 15 years, summer has a sales push….yet 1 in 6 is right. This is why we are going less… Inconsistent drinks and no normal good food offerings that me or the kiddos want. My family is tired of the only food choices being the health focussed weird food options. We’ll go elsewhere.
I also go to Starbucks much less often than I did four or five years ago. I think the main reason is the prices, which really seem to have skyrocketed in the past couple of years, both for drinks and food items (a salad that was $6.95 as recently as 2015 is now over $10). A related frustration is that they don’t print the prices on the pre-packaged items anymore, meaning you have to take it to the cashier and ask and then decide whether to put it back, wasting the cashier’s time as well as yours and inconveniencing those in line behind you. Another issue I have is with the rewards program, which changed from simple and straightforward to complex and confusing. And they’ve stopped putting star codes on bagged coffee, requiring instead that you send in your grocery receipt. (Sure, I’ll get right on it after I finish pasting in these S&H Green Stamps because it’s obviously still 1950.) And if your store happens to just print “Grocery” or “Coffee” on the receipt (or just the price) instead of specifying Starbucks, you are apparently out of luck where stars are concerned. I hope Starbucks rethinks this awful idea after enough complaints, but I’m not holding my breath.
One thing that really bothers me… the Barista’s hair or bangs dangling over my drink while they’re making it. I have come across this in many stores in various areas and states so this is not a 1-store occurrence. Plus the baristas are constantly wiping everything with white wash towels that are soaked with brown coffee. It just looks unsanitary even if it isn’t; assume that using throw-away paper towels would not be cost effective.
I have quit going to a Kroger Sbux as a former mgr there told us that she couldn’t get the baristas to completely rinse the soap out of the pitchers and that she was afraid people would get sick.
Sbux keeps expanding their offerings these days… coffee, tea, whipped drinks, bakery, lunch boxes, drink ware galore. Is a take-out bucket of fried chicken next???
But I get it… go inside a typical gas station – there’s 20+ different kinds of coffee lattes. Donuts, hotdogs, sandwiches, hot food, chips, cookies, candy, bread, milk, cokes, cigarettes… and beer, etc. Sometimes there’s a fast food joint there too. And many grocery stores offer lots of non-food items that were never found there only a handful of years ago, some also have mini restaurants, satellite banks, a pharmacy and clinic. There’s the Wally Worlds and Targets that are now also part grocery stores with pharmacies, some have outlet shops like beauty salons, eyeglasses, and food courts. McD’s offers lattes and so does Dunkin’ Donuts. DD has flavored creamers and bagged coffee in groceries like Sbux.
It’s like a place does really well selling their specialty and the other guys try to copy them.
So… I get that Sbux is hardly the only trying to capitalize by offering a variety of more items than they originally did. Their drive-up’s are extremely profitable due to demand. And they still are the most well-known coffee brand EVER. It’s just not the same place, but then few things are.
Melody, it sure seems like over time you’ve lost interest in Starbucks as well, as they become less unique and more ubiquitous.
As for me, the straw that killed the camels back was the recent devaluation. Even though my normal paid drink is a misto and is significantly cheaper in stars than previously, I enjoyed going to Starbucks for lunch to take a break and redeem points for something light and healthy. At 125 stars ($6.25 at a nickel a star) the cost was comparable to fast food or supermarkets, and I would usually buy a misto or latte with the meal. Now, salads and sandwiches are 200 stars; the base price of a pre-made warmed up sandwich or salad is significantly more than the supermarket, for about the same quality; and even with the deals they have thrown at me since I stopped going, I don’t see anything unique to what they’re offering and any other chain coffee shop. T-Mobile (another Seattle business) has been giving away free Dunkin lattes every week for the past few months to their customers, and although it’s not the same, they are good quality drinks and the price is right, even if I usually buy an apple fritter or muffin to go with it.
Short-sighted cost-cutting measures have hurt the brand. For instance, Starbucks no longer offers new collections of mugs, etc. These were carrying the brand and catered to devoted customers. Once you no longer cater to your core customers, you start losing them.
Your experience is the exact same as mine. I would say about 1/3 of my espresso drinks are made wrong as well. I actually changed my drink order to try and stop this. I used to get an iced venti vanilla latte and it’s supposed to come with 3 shots but half the baristas just make it with 2 without realizing. So now I just get a grande drink whenever I go. Less money, less sugar, less milk., so it’s good for me I guess. But still they make it wrong. Today I got an iced grande caramel macchiato. I watched him put 4 pumps of syrup in and so I said “does that come with 3 pumps of syrup?” expecting him to say it came with 4 and then I could correct him, but he just said yes it does, so I didn’t know what to do. He gave me the drink and of course it was too sweet. Like you, I don’t like being seen as “difficult” or complaining so at this point whenever they make a drink wrong I just take it and drink it but I’m annoyed because I’ve paid 5 bucks for a drink that doesn’t taste good or is made incorrectly, so then that just makes me want to not go there even more. I’m now considering just quitting altogether because I don’t know what else to do. I don’t have a good experience when I go anymore. They need to put more emphasis on training baristas to properly make the drinks and less on these artificial relationships between customers and baristas, on giving to much for baristas to be able to do.
Yeah I meant to say 6, sorry. Or they’ll do 4 in a grande. Or I get the double shot on ice a lot and they’ll do 4 with that as well.
I agree, they definitely give too much for them to do while paying them just above minimum wage. That’s why I love when there’s someone working there who’s been there for years and knows how all the drinks are made.