Starbucks is making some serious changes to both its menu and company policies, so if you are an avid coffee lover and Starbucks goer, I suggest you “perk” up your ears and pay attention!
Starbucks, the world’s largest coffeehouse chain, with over 35,000 locations in 80 countries around the world, has recently taken some initiatives in an attempt to revamp their brand. These initiatives included ridding their menu of some of their so-called “less popular” drinks and also altering some of their company policies of how their in-store atmosphere is managed.
Starbucks fans braced themselves as the company announced that they were getting rid of 13 different drink items from their menu, effective March 4. Although the company states that these drinks are “less popular,” it won’t come as a surprise if some Starbucks fans are disappointed with these drinks’ departures. Included in the list of 13 scrapped drinks included their White Hot Chocolate, Honey Almondmilk Flat White, Java Chip Frappuccino, Caramel Ribbon Crunch Frappuccino and Iced Matcha Lemonade. On their website, Starbucks states, “We’re starting to simplify our menu to focus on fewer, more popular items, executed with excellence. This will make way for more innovation, help reduce wait times, improve quality and consistency, and align with our core identity as a coffee company.”
One Starbucks employee shares their thoughts on the matter, saying, “My thought on the removal of “unpopular” drinks, is that it was a completely unnecessary change. We still have the ingredients to make all of the removed drinks, therefore it only causes an inconvenience for customers who bought those drinks for years.” They go on to say that customers are still able to ‘build’ the discontinued drinks when ordering, but this will end up costing customers $2-5 more than the original menu item! The employee finishes with an honest reflection on the true nature behind the decision, stating, “I have a feeling that the discontinuation of these drinks was a way for Starbucks to make more profit from customers. I disagree that the removal will allow for reduced wait times because building these drinks to suit customer requests is more complicated and time-consuming.”
On January 27 of this year, Starbucks reversed the company’s previous open-door policy. What does this mean exactly? It means that in order to have access to their in-house atmosphere, whether for socializing, studying or their public restrooms, you are required to make a purchase from the store. In addition to trying to revamp the way their stores are run, they also brought back their glass mugs and glasses for in-house orders. Their condiment bar and free refills made a return as well, all in an attempt to create a more welcoming coffee shop atmosphere. The company also implemented a new “Coffeehouse Code of Conduct,” which banned “discrimination, harassment, outside alcohol consumption, smoking, vaping, drug use and panhandling,” within the proximity of their locations.
In regard to the reversal of the open-door policy, another Starbucks employee shared that, “The policy change requiring customers to make a purchase in order to use our bathroom doesn’t surprise me; if I was a business owner, I would do the same! Especially for bigger cities who have had issues with homeless people camping out in their bathrooms. There is another new policy requiring customers to make a purchase in order to ask for a cup of water, and I agree with that one as well! We had a large influx of orders for just free waters, causing an inconvenience for baristas.”
Regardless of the varying opinions on the company’s recent changes and the company in general, the numbers do not lie when they point to Starbucks’ reign as one of the world’s most popular and influential main-stream coffee companies.
