Starbucks Closing Stores Today

For three hours on Tuesday, Starbucks will shut down every single one of its 7,100 stores so that baristas can receive a refresher course on how best to improve the coffee customer experience.

Among the various lessons that will be re-taught include how to wipe the steamer wands and remembering to rinse the pitchers and shot glasses every time.

As a spokeswoman tells the Seattle Times:

"We will have all new standards for how we create the drinks...[Employees] will be trained in creating the perfect shot, steaming the milk and all the pieces that come together in a drink."

As requested by CEO Howard Schultz, the unprecedented training session will take place between 5:30 and 8:30 p.m. and affect approximately 135,000 employees.

To compete, rival Dunkin' Donuts will drop its price for a small coffee down to $0.99 from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. as "to ensure that no coffee lover is denied a delicious espresso-based beverage."

Schultz is calling for the re-education to combat a recent series of setbacks. As reported in the Guardian:

The company's shares dived 42% last year on signs that consumers were falling out of love with Starbucks. Investors were alarmed by figures showing a 1% fall in the average number of transactions per store.

In a raft of changes aimed at restoring momentum, Starbucks is cutting 600 jobs, introducing free wireless internet connection and axing hot breakfast sandwiches, which were criticised for interfering with the aroma of coffee.

Comments

[Deborah]

I agree that Starbucks is always burnt and bitter.
$5.00 for a cup of coffe is nuts
Why is there a tip jat at the drive through window? that is a real joke!

[realitycheck7]

it's only 5 bucks if you get one of those ridiculous coffee/syrup concoctions.

normal coffee is 2 bucks. Still more than other places, but lets be real here

people always quote that 5 bucks when it's not really coffee that they are referring to

[tecpatl]

I was forced to go to a Starbuck's for a few months when I moved to a city without locally-owned cafes. The lattes were really terrible so I always asked for an extra shot, for which I was charged. It still tasted terrible. As soon as a locally-owned cafe opened, I started going there. A former Starbuck's employee started working there and I told him about my experience with the lattes. Since they always tasted like burnt milk with very little espresso, I asked him if they really put an extra espresso shot in my latte. "No, we never did. They told us to lie. That's why I quit.", he told me. True story! I only wonder if that is a local problem with that Starbuck's location or if it is a widespread corporate practice. F___ Starbuck's! Buy local!

[Perdurabo]

I hate Starbuck but you story makes NO sense whatsoever.

How is shortchanging you on an espresso shot, gonna help their profits? I doubt that the milk that is used, is much cheaper, if a all, per volume.

[tecpatl]

At this particular location, the double latte tasted EXACTLY the same as a triple latte with the extra charge. I knew this person that told me for two years and he confirmed what I already knew. It is much easier and quicker to make the latte without the special extra shot and they get the extra charge for it as well.

[tecpatl]

Also, your statement does not make sense. I paid $3.60 for a triple latte that was terrible as opposed to a double latte that was excellent from a local cafe that cost $2.25. Do the math. How does the cost difference help their profits?

[jacmull]

SBUX uses an extremely dark roast for its espresso beans. Their burnt...err...dark roast makes terrible espresso shots. I've been told that they do such a dark roast to give their sugary, syrupy phoo-phoo drinks a hint of coffee flavor.

If you would like to have a true espresso, the way it was meant to be consumed, I hope that you get to sample shots in Italy, where coffee/espresso is considered an art. Every vendor in Italy that I sampled served WONDERFUL espresso in ceramic demis, not paper. Heaven on Earth!

[boitexas]

Haven't purchased any Starbucks product in over two years, so I won't miss the store closings for a few hours.

They did recently open a store in the Kroger supermarket. Now I can smell the burnt offerings everytime I walk in the store!

Uh, wipe the steam wands and clean the pitchers -- Ya think !!

[radicalcentrist44]

Slate had an article a few weeks ago about how small coffee shops are able to stay in business even with Starbucks on every block. From what I recall, they can compete because of similar prices and quality. I have recently been going to Java Detour which brews a great coffee and has been consistent every single time. I will stay with them until more Dunkin Donuts open up here, but I have noticed with Dunkin Donuts is that you have to watch the quality a bit more from location to location.

[UtahLiberal435]

Yawn. It's always fashionable to bash a company once they get successful.

But we'd all still be drinking Folgers if it weren't for Starbuck's paving the way to real coffee, and breaking the ice for their legions of now-hipper competitors.

And sorry, as a dedicated coffee addict, they do a fine job. Don't like the 'burned' taste? Then don't get French or Espresso roasts. Duh. A lot of the local 'independent' espresso shops I've tried suck. Their stuff's weak.

And I agree with 'ashleybaines'. Although it's tough for me to give any props to Ronald "Supersize me" McD, McDonald's has always had pretty good coffee.

[realitycheck7]

You are acting like starbucks invented coffee. Ridiculous.

"Paving the way to real coffee"

what are you on drugs?

[tecpatl]

You must live in an isolated suburb because I grew up with excellent, locally-owned cafes which I always supported. It is a good feeling to give your money to the cafe owner directly and knowing that the profit is going to his daughter's college education.

[Blackbird]

I wonder if there will be any customers when they open up again.

[citizenofmars]

I hear Britney's on 'Suicede Watch'...

[citizenofmars]

suicide (more coffee)

[realitycheck7]

here is why the starbucks 1 block away from me sucks, and why I no longer go there: They refuse to open more than 1 or 2 registers even in the moring on a weekday. I live in the middle of nyc! I used to go in there to try, but there as almost always a line at least 10 people long. I refuse to wait for 20 minutes for coffee, when I can just go to the guy in the cart. I almost always saw others leave. If only two people are leaving an hour (and I'm sure it was far more) that pays the wage for another cashier. Stupid management

[Perdurabo]

Yep, I see similar stupid behavior in countless businesses. It's the American way don't you know.

[GregSolo]

The greatest coffee I have ever tasted is Willoughby's. Located in New Haven, CT, you can purchase online. For a nice light roast I recommend Sumatra Mandheling or Ethiopia Yrgacheffe. No. I have no affiliation with them. I just love the taste of strong coffee and think they are incredible.

http://www.willoughbyscoffee.com/

[twomorecents]

They are eliminating the breakfast sandwiches because they interferes with the "aroma" of the coffee?! Please, how pretentious can they get? The breakfast sandwiches are actually quite good and tend to smother out the stench of cheap, burned coffee that permeates the store. Add to that that the pastries are dried up and pedestrian, and there's not much left worth going there for. Oh, yeah, there is always the jazz on the "XM Starbucks channel".

[springsm]

This is in response to complaining yuppies that don't like the smell of McDs. Get a grip.

[Chuckwheat]

Hilarious! "My breakfast experience was sullied by the competing aroma of the breakfast sandwiches." Ohhhhhhh, the fuckin' horror!!
Hey, use one of your sick-days if it was that traumatic.

[macracan]

I used to ingest copious amounts of Starbucks product, but I stopped for two reasons:

1. I have an inkling that their stuff packs too many calories and is addictive (the frappucino was my fav)

2. I understand that in 2004 the company's big-wigs supported the republicans.

No 1 above made me ambivalent about Starbucks, but no 2 put me over the top and I stopped consuming their stuff. Other then that, of course one cannot find a decent cup of coffee in the US. I have my home coffee imported from Europe and originating from Brazil.

I doubt there is anything Starbucks can do to earn my business again...

[clumberfeet]

New Coke

[paixa3]

I wish they would close and NEVER RE-OPEN. The rest of the world, outside of the USA, have better cafe in their homes and shoppes than the USA will ever have.

[Ph0en1x]

It's all about Seattle's Best! Truly better than Starbucks.

[karrezza]

Did you know Starbucks owns Seattle's Best? They have for a couple years now, I recently found out when I went to one...

[isis]

They have the same address on their coffee products. But I agree that Seattle's best is good coffee.

[naschkatze]

This was the greatest of all HuffPo sensationalist headlines.

[muffinmix]

haha. which sayss A LOT!

[studlyguy]

by the way the coffee i buy at home is NOT starbucks