Starbucks is trying to get itself out of the predicament it created by ceding control of its cafés. These first two adjustments may be regarded as baby steps, but they show that the company recognizes the problem it faces, if not necessarily the magnitude of the problem. That is a change from the company’s initial reaction to the incident in Philadelphia when a store manager had two customers arrested for no reason. Starbucks’ focus a month ago was on damage control for that one incident. The deep corporate denial about the systemic operational issues was intact at that point, but has softened as executives have taken a closer look.
First company headquarters in Seattle issued a policy change. After a year of official and unofficial experiments with a more aggressive approach to customers, the company seemed to recognize that it might be scaring many its loyal customers away from its cafés. In a change of heart Starbucks said that it would not forcibly remove customers or guests except in unusual circumstances. The policy makes a sincere, if tentative, attempt at writing down what those circumstances might be. As an example, if a customer falls asleep in the café, employees will attempt to wake and speak to the customer. Calling the police will no longer be an option as an initial response.
The things that were not said were just as important in the announcement from Starbucks two weeks ago. After two decades of telling store managers that the company does not know how to run a café, so that the store managers will have to figure it out for themselves, the company is taking the first steps toward reining in the excesses of the store managers it turned loose on its stores. This move is long overdue. It is an incongruous position for the world’s largest café operator to take the position that it has little advice to offer on how to run a café. Starbucks as a company should be the expert in this, certainly more so than the store managers it hires. This policy change reflects that intention. Starbucks has high turnover in its store manager positions, on the order of 50 percent per year, and most new store managers have no previous café, restaurant, retail, or hospitality experience, so the lack of operational guidance creates unnecessary stress for managers and customers alike at nearly every Starbucks location. No one expects a rush of manager firings to follow, but the explicitly stated policy tells all levels of management that store managers can no longer do whatever they please as long as their stores are eventually profitable.
Then Starbucks held its much-publicized racial sensitivity training. It was not the full day of training that some of the company statements had implied, but a half day at most locations. In other respects, though, it was a bigger initiative than one might expect from any corporate training program. This was not canned training put together at headquarters but was guided by outside experts. The training curriculum and materials were not stuck in the formulaic thinking that rules any corporate headquarters. Workers told me of meaningful discussion questions and exercises that led them to see everyday situations from a broad range of points of view.
This was also a highly visible exercise, as stores had to close halfway through the day, something customers have never seen before except in emergency situations such as severe weather or utility failures. Customer reaction was more positive than negative, with a few customers making a point of visiting the stores the next morning to show their support.
It is not enough. In most matters, Starbucks is still telling its store managers to make it up as they go along. For example, stores still run out of essential supplies as early as two hours after opening. As an occasional Starbucks customer, I am reassured enough that I would enter a Starbucks location again if I had a reason to, but I still hope I don’t have to — at least not yet, not until Starbucks has time to take the next steps to get its stores under control.
