Starbucks Retraining Strategy: Is It A Rash Or Brash Move?

Reaction to the unusual move taken by Starbucks, to close for three hours next Tuesday for barista retraining is making for interesting dialog in the marketing world.

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In particular, the entries on starbucksgossip.com make for lively reading, from current and former baristas, including one who asks: "Any baristas out there who resent this 'training session' or feel insulted somehow? As in, 'tell us something we don't know!' Unless entirely new methods of preparation are introduced, aren't you feeling like this is just a PR move? Somehow I imagine the three-hour training will be mainly a three-hour break."

But a former Starbucks barista recalls: "When I first became a barista, it was about perfecting technique to make the perfect shot on the La Marzocco--for me, that was a 19-second pull ristretto. I prided myself in making a quality drink--which didn't include scalded milk or over-brewed espresso like most of today's drinks do. My hope is this three-hour training will bring back the manual espresso machines, and a good-quality brew."

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Starbucks' strategy could go either way, fixing what has bedeviled the brand over the past few years or further alienating consumers.

Susan Casserly Griffin, VP/marketing and business development at market research agency BrainJuicer, says if Starbucks understands consumers' emotional connection to coffee and is working to fix an emotional disconnect, then the three-hour closing is worth it. "But if it turns a lot of folks away next Tuesday, it may be throwing customers into the arms of other alternatives, who just may score in those areas which drive consumers' emotional choices," she tells Marketing Daily.

In fact, independent coffeehouses across the country are banding together to offer something extra during the three-hour-long Starbucks blackout on Tuesday.

BrainJuicer recently conducted a study on the "Coffee Out" experience, probing for the emotional drivers in consumers' choice to consciously go somewhere and get a coffee. Among the topline findings: Most respondents chose Starbucks as their top choice with "local shop, restaurant or stand" next in line, followed by Dunkin' Donuts and then McDonald's. Griffin finds the McDonald's mention "impactful, given their intended strategy to introduce baristas this year."

Emotional measurements that made the decision to go one place over another for coffee included friendly service, which 52% of respondents mentioned; variety of selection, 51%; speed, 42%; location, 37%, and the availability of food, 31%.

Brand guru Robert Passikoff calls Starbucks' closing "a wonderful idea for the competition, given the way the category is changing. What you want is, in most cases, to be able to gain a certain amount of trial."

The shift in the category, away from location and value to service, surrounding, quality and taste puts the onus on Starbucks or any coffeehouse to deliver superior quality and service. Passikoff says that is where Starbucks derailed, by installing machines to make the coffee rather than having the baristas pull shots.

Still, he says, they would be "better off training in the dark of night and opening up next morning with baristas there. This calls attention to the fact that they've not been pulling shots and consumers have been paying more for less."

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