Drink quality: Low at my store

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Drink quality: Low at my store

(24 posts) (17 voices)

Started 4 years ago by McBux
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McBux

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Has anyone else noticed that drink quality does not matter at all. It's take their money and get them out.
I have seen my SM and other baristas do this:
Pour BLACK old, cold shots.
Resteam milk that is crusty and cold.
Leave gallons of milk on the counter for an extended period of time.
Use Sugar free syrup or lite base if we are out of the regular stuff without telling customers.
Use the wrong milk if they have extra.
Combine a small amount of 2%, nonfat, and whole milk into one bullet.
Free pour everything! Everything is now a wet Cappuccino.
Serve coffee that has been sitting there for 3+ hours. The damn urn is blinking and the coffee is not even warm.
Pour half a bottle of caramel on top of a CM when the customer did not ask for for extra caramel.

I like to make my own drinks whenever I can.

Posted 4 years ago #

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Perfectionist

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I think we do pretty good; obviously there are some things like not throwing milk out quickly enough. If you are good at eyeballing it you shouldn't have much leftover milk, but some people like to re-steam the smelly burnt milk. And we had a whole topic about baristas not making good foam.

But no I've never seen anybody use the wrong base or milk, your SM should be talking to your store about quality control. Those drinks are the reason for SBux' existence, they should at least be good.

Posted 4 years ago #
becca001

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Here's the thing. When you're constantly being told that customers should have their drinks within 2 minutes at the most, you feel the pressure. I feel like to make the drink to standard and make it perfect, it would take 4 minutes, but that's not good enough for Starbucks. So yea, if all I have steamed for that moment is skim, then I'll use it. If the shot is a little stale, **** it. I use it. If I've got a huge rush, I'm not gonna waste my time opening and reopening the fridge for milk. Not gonna happen.

If people want their drinks RIGHT NOW, they are going to get poor quality. That being said, I never waste milk. My moral code just won't let me do that.

Posted 4 years ago #
Just_Say_No

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People who resteam milk and don't rinse out their pitchers make me shudder, my store is particularly fierce about that subject. And very careful about not letting shots go dead (we pull them if we have something to hold them, just a little milk, or M/WM, etc.) if you do it right you can have the shot ready as you are pouring the milk without losing extra time and still have a shot that isn't dead, you just need good timing.

Posted 4 years ago #

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FarFlung

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@Becca Milk in the rush isn't the problem, the jug comes out and gets used within 10 minutes! It is the people who pull like 6 jugs up after the rush and they sit for the rest of the day that are the issue. But I know what you mean about grabbing the milk you've got steamed when it goes crazy.

JSN - you have it pretty much right. It is just getting the timing that is tough. And the newbies don't get the chance to learn properly - they just get yelled at so they figure they might as well do whatever to get the drinks up fast without really knowing why any of this stuff matters. (Made worse in our store by 3 of our last 4 hires not liking coffee!)

Posted 4 years ago #
Jett

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I know you are all sick of hearing of me, but just hear me out. The store I go to is in a snobby area, and the ASM says they do good each day, sales wise. I bet they go above and beyond to get the drinks right so that the "bratty" rich people don't freak out. Am I right?

Posted 4 years ago #
Just_Say_No

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@farflung: Yeah, training them right from the beginning really is the important thing, if you do that, then you can fix any mistakes they are making in the future pretty easily, as they come along. You train them wrong from the beginning, they may never learn.

cruisyeyes: I dunno how hard they work to make the drinks right at that store, their customer voice probably gives them some idea what people think of their drink making skills.

Posted 4 years ago #
coffee mart wench

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Bratty rich people are not always the most difficult customers, believe it or not. Frequently - but not always. And it's pretty easy to make a drink look/taste really good and stll sneak in some "**** you" modifiers. Decaf, whole milk instead of nonfat, etc.

As for serving bad shots and old milk - never! I will happily combine milks in a single drink if I have extra, but only if it's fresh.

Posted 4 years ago #
Just_Say_No

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I will give people 2% or nonfat instead of the one they wanted if it's all I have ready, sometimes the hawks notice and comment on it and I tell them it is actually the milk they wanted, that I just put it in a different pitcher when I steamed it. This usually works if you act confident and assure them about it, and tbh they will never notice the difference anyway, and it doesn't affect the taste. But ONLY if it's FRESH.

Posted 4 years ago #
SCSHC

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yeah thats bad, but its like complete opposite at my store, which is good for customer i guess, but sometimes just too much, they go out of their way to make the drink perfect each time and im like when were in a crazy rush youre just wasting time when we could cut a few corners.
tahts just me, i dont take the 'barista' title that seriously i guess.

Posted 4 years ago #
coffee247

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Yes I have found that the drink quality has gone down rapidly since the espresso excellence rolled out. It was just a cover for their real agenda, Faster! Faster! Faster!Get the customers in and out under 2min. no matter what you have to do. But if the customers ask please know how to make the drinks to the standards we claim to uphold all of the time. I remember when I first started working for starbucks 9yrs ago my manager told all of us in that store that it was not about quanity(how many drinks you made per min) but about Quality (how many absolutely perfect drinks you made per min). I seriously doubt that any managers are telling their partners that now, and if they are it is just a front. They want it made fast, like little coffee sweat shops.

Posted 4 years ago #
ElHombre

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McBux, I was with you until "Free pour everything! Everything is now a wet Cappuccino."

If you steam correctly, free pouring (SLOWLY, a fast free pour=no) with a cup held in one hand at an angle is how you SHOULD pour your milk.

(Well, at least if it's not a drink with WC...)

Posted 4 years ago #
STAROBOT

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@McBux - those are the same managers whose numbers look so great on paper. Their DM's probably rant and rave about them all the time because they are so cost-saving, which makes things that much tougher for the ones who actually give a f@ck about drink quality.

Posted 4 years ago #
McBux

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Internets:41

ElHombre, that is if the milk is steamed correctly or has had a couple of minutes to seperate. But during a rush when I am working drive thru and have grande lattes handed to me that feel like a tall cappuccino it bothers me. Last week I was waiting for a CM and I saw my SM who was barring pour dead shots on top of it (i mean blacker than black) and I said "what the hell are you doing?" and he said "here get them out of here, come on, come on" He doesn't care at all about drink quality. When I am on bar I look down the row of cups, steam up enough milk (thinking ahead) time the shots so they dont go bad. etc.. I go as fast as I can without making a crappy drink and I always get yelled at by my SM for "being too slow". When I am a customer I would rather wait the extra 30-60 seconds and get a drink that doesn't taste like ****.

Oh and another thing: I hate no foam drinks (especially soy and breve) but the customer is paying 5$ for their modified drink, so make it right! half of the baristas I work with ignore the no foam part, and give me drinks with 1-2 inches of foam that I CAN SEE poking out of the top of the lid. It is embarassing to repeat a customers drink back to them and say "......no foam latte..." when I can see the damn foam.

Posted 4 years ago #
Just_Say_No

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I do the same thing as you (not your manager lol). Basically if I see a line of drinks I take a quick look at what kinds of milk I will need, and just start steaming a whole bunch. I set two at an angle so they will steam and make foam, then prepare two more pitchers, and when the others are done start steaming the next two in the same way. If done right that is usually enough for the whole line, and you will not need anymore for a bit. If you have caps you deal with them as they come up in the line. The shots you just time, and after you do that with the steaming, it really IS just timing. American's are easy, caps you just see what size and start making the foam for caps and set them aside for when they come up in line about a minute maybe two later. If their are two of you then the one taking the orders from the line makes the cold drinks, otherwise you just do it yourself. It really doesn't break rhythm if you know what you are doing. If anyone wants tips on that lemme know lol. I get compliments about how I make great fraps/caps etc. all the time, and I shove it out their really fast too. I get annoyed whenever people claim that their drinks suck because they are rushed to do it too fast. If you do it right and have the right technique you can make good drinks and still be plenty fast, it's just about taking a look at your line, gauging what you will need and getting started way ahead of time, and then it's just timing and multi-tasking after that.

Posted 4 years ago #
Just_Say_No

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I would also like to add that everyone at my store is very fierce about drink quality. If someone doesn't rinse out their pitchers, they get bitched at. If they use dead shots, someone bitches at them, if they don't wipe off their steam wands and air them off after each use they get bitched at. If they make a drink badly they get bitched at. Always. If not by someone else in the store than by me, I don't usually have to though, because the other people at the store actually do follow most of the rules.

Posted 4 years ago #
royboos

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Elaborating on what JSN has said, dealing with a heavy rush of drinks really is just a matter of timing. Constantly having milk steaming, making sure the shots pour in time, it all becomes a constant rhythm. Not only does it allow drinks to be of good quality, baristas can knock out drink after drink within a very reasonable timeframe.

BUT making quality drinks quickly is just one half of the job. Keeping your bar area clean while dealing with the rush is a surefire way to spot an excellent barista. Yeah, the 5+ year shifts at my store can easily bar during the rush, but steam wands have been wiped maybe once, the counter has six different kinds of drink spills, the frapp bar has been torn apart, etc etc. I don't care if you can bar with one hand tied behind your back, **** WIPE SOMETHING DOWN FOR ONCE.

Me? Bitter and **** off? Of **** course not.

Posted 4 years ago #
VentiSanitizerLatte

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Internets:23

why do you care if its dirty during a rush? as long as they clean up right after im happy

Posted 4 years ago #
Just_Say_No

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Internets:779

I don't mind so much if it is a little dirty during blackout... but if it slows down and they don't clean up their mess, even if they aren't passing the bar onto someone else, I want to slap them. If they are passing on the bar to someone else, I don't just want to say something, I do say something, I **** about it to their face. Like I said though, as long as they clean up during slow periods, and at the very least clean up their steam wands after each use so **** doesn't get caked on, air out the steam wands after each use, and rinse out their pitchers after each use, I don't have any serious issues with them.

Posted 4 years ago #
ElHombre

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"ElHombre, that is if the milk is steamed correctly or has had a couple of minutes to seperate."

Letting it seperate=bad IMO. Yes, you can still scoop the nice foam, but if it separates when you pour, only milk gets poured and no foam. Freepouring is about mixing your lovely microfoam with the espresso and giving the drink a nice even coffee taste. If you steam slowly the pitcher will not have much foam to it, so when you freepour the espresso and foam will mix evenly, giving the foam a light coffee taste... you should never have more than a 1/2 inch or 1/4 inch of foam if you do it right.

Stick the pitcher in, lean it against the steam wand so that the wand is barely submerged and barely makes a "clicking" noise... that's it! Easy great foam every time.

This likely wouldn't work in a rush at a drivethrough though, as you usually wind up steaming full pitchers instead of 1 pitcher for 1 or at most 2 drinks.

Posted 4 years ago #
ilovemystarbucks61

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are any of you starbucks employes in the 310 area code????????????

Posted 4 years ago #
soycupcake

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my initial store was a kiosk in the **** mall and we did not do ANY of those things. when we closed and i transferred to a cafe in a ritsy neighborhood, i saw all of the above. there was always a sweaty gallon of 2% and one of non-fat out for HOURS. the pitchers were rinsed so rarely (because of all the re-steaming) that they were completely slimy and disgusting. it was all about getting them out as quickly as possible. ****, i'll admit that i've done some of those things, but it was part of this store's regular routine.

Posted 4 years ago #
jobbamison

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Internets:292

Yeah, all this stuff happens. Should we be that surprised? We're short staffed, overworked and underpaid. Why should this surprise anyone, really? You can only fight the good fight for so long before you have to cave to the pure pressure of excessive customer traffic and not enough brave souls handling the load. it's reality, man. If you want a good drink, like you've said, you gotta make it yourself. Or go get it at a real coffee shop where they have time to care.

Posted 4 years ago #
yo

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Internets:104

the quality at my store is AWFUL
but i know if i order they will make me a good one

Posted 4 years ago #

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