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Cosi Not Cozy
Earlier this week, I ducked into the Bethesda, Maryland Cosi to grab a light lunch and a latte.
Last month, when I was facilitating a day-long meeting of the Textile Museum's advisory board, they brought in baked goods from Cosi for the participants. Those scones just knocked me out; they were so delicious.
I made a note to myself to start going into Cosi more and Starbucks less, mostly because of those scones, but also because I have observed a steady decline in Starbucks service standards.
Starbucks service is now so poor across the giant coffee purveyor's chain that to call it service at all is to pay Starbucks an undeserved compliment and turn "service" into a malaprop.
The service-standard strategies that Scott Bedbury refers to in his fabulous book, A New Brand World have not been in force for years, presumably since Bedbury left. So, I'm a Starbucks customer only when my caffeine addiction decides that there is no other choice.
Sadly, Cosi - at least the Bethesda operation - doesn't look too promising in the service department. The problem can be summed up in the following equation:
Long Line + 4 Cashiers + 1 Barrista = Bad Service
Cosi's message was pretty clear: "We care a whole lot about getting your money and a whole lot less about delivering value for it. We know that once you've given us your money, that we can force you to wait for your order."
Whoever manages this place is not thinking about how the staffing strategy makes their service philosphy visual. Talk about managing evidence of poor service. I only had to look at the long line of annoyed people waiting for the drinks they'd ordered, while behind the coffee machine was one frazzled, hassled, bedraggled, and SLOW barrista making coffee drinks.
All that good will that those great scones created? All that resolve to bypass Starbucks and find someplace where the devotion to service is at least in the same universe as devotion to customers?
Cosi had a chance to capture me. They blew it. I can't help but wonder if anybody but me can see just how bad the execution of the service-profit chain is in the coffee category as a whole. And in case anybody wonders, it is a very high-margin, very profitable business - especially when you don't pay people to actually deliver service.
For me, there's one notable exception among chains: Caribou Coffee. These people know what they're doing. Their product is amazing and their service is every bit as good. I only wish I could find them at more locations. (I have no interest in or affiliation with any of these firms, by the way)
Of course my overall preference is to find the small sole proprietor who has a single coffee joint and who expresses his passion for the beany brew by putting out coffee beverages and the occasional yummy baked good that will even make the Coffee Gods smile.
Posted on November 23, 2006 10:19 AM | Permalink
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Comments
You've had different experiences than I have had, I guess. I think of Starbucks as one of the best companies today at franchising their brand and training their staff. My recent travels have taken me into Starbucks all across the nation and I've found the experience to be consistently good. If anything, what we're witnessing there is the ongoing challenge of a huge, corporate chain trying to brand as a neighborhood friendly/intimate service experience. At some point, the scale is bound to work against them and their training systems may have to be retooled.
I certainly agree, in general, that the service sector often lacks those qualities. I enjoy the mom and pop coffee shops myself, but have actually found the service issue to be lacking in most of those, particularly in a local small four store chain we have here called Arsaga's, where you're normally met with a sneer by the nose-ring sporting tattoo set baristas. Ironically, this Sid Vicious sort of customer service has become, in their case, their brand attribute by default and some find it endearing. I don't think their product, by any means, makes the coffee gods smile either.
I always appreciate these observations of yours because they inevitably make me examine my own company's management of the customer experience and realize how very far we have to go. Thanks for that.
I found your blog while searching Google for blog references to Caribou Coffee. I'm a 3-year customer whose experience was so positive with our local store, I wanted to work for the company. It's so great to read your comments about Caribou tonight. I agree with you - their service and product set them apart. Of course, my opinion is biased, but I was a happy customer for 3 years before taking the leap. :)
Hey Neill, great post as always. I've been to Starbucks a few times, and the wait is only part of my disappointment. Yes the waits are long, but I also don't really enjoy the product. (We only go on occasion to satisfy my wife's craving for a caramel apple cider.)
If coffee shops are to look for good service, they need to look at the great Canadian Institution of Tim Horton's. The reason is this: they know how to handle heavy traffic in their shops. When I go during peak times, they have two cashes open, and both cashes have a person to take your order and money and another that whips up your drinks as soon as you say the order. You're in and out quick.
Now, Timmy's is a much simpler order than Starbucks (some of the orders that I've heard from Starbuck's customers are closer to prose than coffee orders), but the system works.
What Starbucks would need to do is run a similar system and have more barristas working, one per cash register. At least in that scenario one person is not bogged down by everybody's order and drinks can be made more quickly and efficiently.
I find that the Starbucks "thing" is the experience rather than the service (something that I had to buy into at my pre-CAPACOA job at Chapters, though the thing was "treating yourself" - $20 for a bag of potato chips!) It's the experience of having the specialty stuff. However, in the morning rush, the experience is not on everybody's mind.
And like Kimberly, I am very biased, but its for a good reason. Timmy's rules!