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Starbucks closed on Tuesday?

spyz88

spyz88

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 29, 2008
169
14
Hey all, I was wondering if anyone else's local Starbucks is closed for "espresso training" on Tuesday. Mine closes early about 5:30 I believe. Does anyone think this has to do with the announcement of something new at Starbucks having to do with the iPhone this week such as the ordering system on the iPhone or something to that effect?
 
All of the Starbucks are going to be closed then. Starbucks has been disappointed with sales and evidently is going to have a big employee training session nationwide then. Has absolutely nothing to do with the iPhone.
 
Maybe it's training for a new iPhone ordering system. If such a system were implemented they would need to train everyone to use it. The only reason you would train everyone at the exact same time is if you want to launch a new product or service and have it available at the exact same time simultaneosly. I'm not getting my hopes up but it does sound awfully suspicious.
 
wolfpackfan said:
All of the Starbucks are going to be closed then. Starbucks has been disappointed with sales and evidently is going to have a big employee training session nationwide then. Has absolutely nothing to do with the iPhone.
Click to expand...

I am sorry but that sounds like quite the pesimistic view without being realistic. If they where dissapointed with sales then they would crack down on mannagers to train people and it would not be this well organized. They would leave it up to the manager's discresion when and why. I side with the above post stating that it is verry likely that they are training for the addition of iPhone based orders. That and they may be augmenting the wifi systems in the store to be compatible with some sort of iPhone automatic free wifi through at&t.

Also lets not forget how the locate-me feature works with google maps on the iPhone. They may verry well be adding tagged wide range wifi hot spots to starbucks as another extension of at&t's internet deal with them.

Either way i doubt its for a company wide scolding.
 
Starbucks and iPhone

As interest…
my fav local Starbulck's supervisor informed me last week that Starbuck's is switching to AT&T for it's WiFi hotspot provider. She did suggest that it may not happen until the new fiscal year for them, which is around October… the same time they do away with those awful breakfast sandwiches.
 
robram said:
As interest…
my fav local Starbulck's supervisor informed me last week that Starbuck's is switching to AT&T for it's WiFi hotspot provider. She did suggest that it may not happen until the new fiscal year for them, which is around October… the same time they do away with those awful breakfast sandwiches.
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Yea those breakfast sandwiches smell like crap...
 
Also why would they need espresso training. Its pre-ground in the machine and they hit a button. Doesn't seem to be that difficult that they have to lose the money from the retail stores for it.
 
s8film40 said:
Maybe it's training for a new iPhone ordering system. If such a system were implemented they would need to train everyone to use it. The only reason you would train everyone at the exact same time is if you want to launch a new product or service and have it available at the exact same time simultaneosly. I'm not getting my hopes up but it does sound awfully suspicious.
Click to expand...

Agreed. There's no benefit to suspending sales across the company in the middle of the day; either stagger it, send employees at various times, or cough up for the hour of overtime and make it a mandatory post-close or pre-open training.

wolfpackfan said:
All of the Starbucks are going to be closed then. Starbucks has been disappointed with sales and evidently is going to have a big employee training session nationwide then. Has absolutely nothing to do with the iPhone.
Click to expand...

It's idiotic to do a nationwide employee training that requires closing all stores at the same time. It could have absolutely NOTHING to do with Apple, but it still means Starbucks is planning something bigger than "Here's how to better steam the milk, remember to make the foam look pretty, don't serve foam with giant bubbles, dont let the espresso sit for 10 minutes before you serve it" or any normal espresso training crap.

From years in retail I will tell you that no matter how big the initiative, I have never encountered anything that required CLOSING THE STORE for a length of time mid-day across an entire company. I've worked for Best Buy, Panera Bread, and Borders Group, and was a manager for Borders for several years. Even during a store-wide remodel, and during the rollout of the "Borders Rewards" cards we DID NOT close the store mid-day. All meetings, construction, etc were done BEFORE or AFTER store hours. The only times we closed a store mid-day was for power outtages and the one time a pipe exploded. Even then we re-opened as soon as the situations were under control.
 
mashinhead said:
if anyone needs espresso training it's starbucks. they could be closed until may and still know nothing about espresso.
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but theres nothing to be trained on .. they take all the art out of it by using a fully automated machine ... all they do is push a button ...
 
What great marketing

Starbucks is genius for this "stunt". How many people out there are going to go into Starbucks again after switching to McD's or DD for cheaper coffee to see if it got better? They should expect a jump in revenue this quarter!

As for the breakfast sandwich ... I love the turkey bacon / egg white sandwich. It will be sad to see them go. It's really the only thing I get at Starbucks, I don't drink coffee. Guess they will lose one customer over this new business plan. :(
 
evilyankeefan said:
:apple: stores closed in middle of day for iPhone. I forget what they did for Leopard.
Click to expand...

But it also wasn't a secret. Apple had press releases and notifications all over stating they were closing, and they had a reason to bring everyone back in later that day. This is a case of Starbucks closing for an internal training, which is incredibly dumb.

wolfpackfan said:
Sigh, not everything rotates around the iPhone folks -

http://starbucksgossip.typepad.com/_/2008/02/all-us-starbuck.html
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I realize that I am not the CEO of Starbucks and I don't have access to their balance sheets, but can it really save them that much money to train all stores simultaneously in the middle of the day, rather than at 8 or 9 at night?

tpouliot said:
Starbucks is genius for this "stunt". How many people out there are going to go into Starbucks again after switching to McD's or DD for cheaper coffee to see if it got better? They should expect a jump in revenue this quarter!

As for the breakfast sandwich ... I love the turkey bacon / egg white sandwich. It will be sad to see them go. It's really the only thing I get at Starbucks, I don't drink coffee. Guess they will lose one customer over this new business plan. :(
Click to expand...

You may well be right, but I maintain it's a dumb idea. If you're going to close all your stores simultaneously, do it for something awesomely dramatic or hype the **** out of it. Quietly closing your doors for 2 hours mid-day frustrates the hell out of people. It does not bring them back in, unless they already know the reason they want to return (ie if starbucks makes a huge deal out of it, offers free samples when they reopen, has a big ol' event at each location, etc.) Otherwise someone who goes to Starbucks after work/school gets pissed as hell and goes somewhere else. You DO NOT want to send your customers into the competitor's arms, even for one day. They might not come back.
 
It may be a stupid idea, but no one's going to lose money except for Starbucks.

I think Howard knows what he's doing... well I hope. And I'm really excited for training tomorrow.


BTW: It may be an automated espresso machine, but why do some people still complain about some drinks tasting bad? There are many factors to making a well made drink.
 
Maybe they'll be training employees on how to calibrate and clean the full auto machines. Next time you're in a Starbucks ask the Batista when the machine was calibrated. He/she will look at you like you have two heads.

Or the POS computer system is being revamped.
 
question fear said:
But it also wasn't a secret. Apple had press releases and notifications all over stating they were closing, and they had a reason to bring everyone back in later that day. This is a case of Starbucks closing for an internal training, which is incredibly dumb.
Click to expand...

And a better trained barista isn't a reason to come back later in the day? ;) I'm going to camp out and hopefully I'll have happy Starbuck's employees cheering as I make my way in.

Oh I digress. Trader Joe's tea for me.
 
stabucks is closing tomorrow??? ohno-- how will i get my venti cafe americano with room for milk????:eek:

i think it is quite dumb to close in the middle of the day for training..especially if they are upset with sales- why would you close in the middle of the day and lose some?

how funny..as i was writing this, there was a blurb on the news-- they will be closed for three hours for espresso training (according the nbc)
 
Middle of the day? 530-830 people are wanting to get home, make dinner and settle down. These are the slow times. After 830 it picks back up for people who are studying or chilling on their laptops.

I agree that another hour of staff time would be best, but they must be doing a major overhall.

As to why it is Tuesday, I am sure they have marketing information that that is the least utilized time of the week.

How much money do you think it would cost starbucks to close down for an apple announcement. Thats crazy.

Also, as a large company I would imagine that their systems would have an iPhone plugin and would just receive the orders then yell out the name. There shouldnt be much of a change, it will mess up business operations if it does.
 
that's quite a long reach. . . I'll be happy with the SDK out on Tuesday. The Starbucks ordering system would be awesome but I thought that wasn't expected until late 2008.
 
Will that include the Starbucks...

spyz88 said:
Hey all, I was wondering if anyone else's local Starbucks is closed for "espresso training" on Tuesday. Mine closes early about 5:30 I believe. Does anyone think this has to do with the announcement of something new at Starbucks having to do with the iPhone this week such as the ordering system on the iPhone or something to that effect?
Click to expand...

in the Barnes & Nobles, Target, Lucky's which are smaller set-ups within these stores?:confused:
 
SFStateStudent said:
in the Barnes & Nobles, Target, Lucky's which are smaller set-ups within these stores?:confused:
Click to expand...

These stores will not close on the same date at the same time. Barnes and Nobles falls under the "We serve their coffee, but aren't them" umbrella so they don't have to follow with any of this. Some licensed concept stores will have training at other times at later dates.

I just happen to be a Barista and a Bookseller.
 
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