It's really Not the same thing....

[momrek06]

Maybe this is why Starbucks is not doing well. Customers are now getting watered down coffee.

Allot of store closures over the last year.

 

[bunkkinsmom]

OK, so here's the real deal. I am a Starbucks Manager for over 6 years now. There are 2 separate divisions in operations, corporate and license. Target stores are license stores (similar, but not exactly the same as franchise.) The employees are Target employees, but they do have to adhere to Starbucks policy and standard.

Having said that STARBUCKS POLICY is to NOT brew decaf after noon. Trust me when I tell you that Customers and Partners wonder about this decision. There will be a new method of brewing coming March 8 that will allow us to brew one cup at a time quickly, instead of asking the customer to wait 5 minutes while we grind and brew a pot of coffee. If a customer wants decaf or bold after 12pm, we are to offer to brew either a batch of coffee or french press ON REQUEST.

OP, you need to contact Starbucks Corporate (1-800-23-LATTE) as well as the General Manager of that Target. In my opinion, if the manager sat there while the employee even questioned you, rolled eyes, or gave an inkling of attitude, then they did you a MAJOR disservice. The manager should have disciplined that employee immediately. The Starbucks experience is about customer service, whether in a license store or a corporate store.

I really hope you follow up on this, corporate needs to know what stores are doing it right and which are doing it wrong.

PS - IMHO Starbucks isn't doing well because the focus changed a couple of years ago to numbers rather than partners. Just another reason why the company fell to the 90's in the 100 best places to work after being like 5 years in the top 20. It is now numbers numbers numbers. In my experience if you take care of your people the numbers will take care of themselves. Just my opinion though

 

[Mrs. Charming]

PS - IMHO Starbucks isn't doing well because the focus changed a couple of years ago to numbers rather than partners. Just another reason why the company fell to the 90's in the 100 best places to work after being like 5 years in the top 20. It is now numbers numbers numbers. In my experience if you take care of your people the numbers will take care of themselves. Just my opinion though

Why don't companies realize that if you take care of your people, be it customers or employees, the numbers do take care of themselves! It makes sense!!

 

[bunkkinsmom]

Absolutely Mrs. Charming, and Starbucks lived by that policy for a lot of years. When Howard came back and took over everyone thought Starbucks' troubles were over because HOWARD was back. Well not so. It is still an amazing company, but there is a HUGE separation between the stores and the corporation. Unfortunately, your only link as a store partner is your DM, and in a lot of cases they are misinformed. I personally have one call in to HR to check a policy that was told to me, and I know of a partner who was falsely written up on policy that was incorrect. She came to me and I printed the page in the handbook to take back to her store manager. It's a mess, and the people that made Starbucks great have all been laid off. 16 year partners, partners that opened the east coast market, laid off. Ridiculous, again in my humble opinion. It has gotten to the point that veterans are afraid of how long we have worked there. It's the 3 year partners that are succeeding, while those of us that have been there more than 4 or 5 feel targeted.

WOW... that was probably more than ya'll wanted to know!! Sorry!

 

[snowy76]

I'm wondering if you can use Starbucks gift cards at Target.

I ask because I discovered that you can't at Barnes & Noble and the explanation was the B&N buys the right to use the Starbucks name and products but Starbucks themselves have nothing to do with the cafes. I THOUGHT that I once used a Starbucks card at Target but I might be crazy. If I did then I would think that Starbucks is actually still involved with the Target locations.

Personally, I would contact both Starbucks and Target about this.

The cafe in B&N is not an actual Starbucks - you'll notice that the signs, cups etc. say something like "serving Starbucks coffee". That's why you can't use the SB cards. I'm pretty sure you CAN use them at Target - I've seen them for sale there. But you can use Target cards too.

One thing they all have in common are the "secret shoppers" as a PP mentioned. I worked in a B&N cafe and we were always warned to do everything by the letter, as we were sent "report cards" on our performance after a secret visit by the Starbucks folks. Oh yeah, and we brewed decaf all day long!

 

[DMickey28]

That just makes NO SENSE. Wouldn't you want to brew more decaf after 12 in the first place? I would think that there would be more people that like the taste of coffee and would like something warm to drink but don't want caffine later in the day ...