I really struggled with this at first, especially because my Starbucks is in a hospital and if the customer is clearly not an employee, it’s kind of tough to approach someone with enthusiasm when the answer to “how’s your day going” could be “oh my kid is dying so not great”. It took me a year before I got comfortable with it. I start simple, remembering names, remembering drinks, and even suggesting a drink I think they may like. I try and get them talking about anything other than the reason they might be there like “have you seen the sunrise? There’s a beautiful view of it on the 9th floor” or I try and compliment their hair, nails, wallet, or the uniqueness of their name. It usually opens the door for a longer conversation. I have one customer that comes in and always gets a grande extra hot low foam WCM. When we had Pumpkin spice I told him that apparently in Disney world they mix WCM and PSL and call it a Cinderella Latte! That became his regular for a while and then ever time he came in I’d greet him by name no matter what position I was on. I’d say “wow you’re here earlier today than usual, just wanted to get your coffee sooner huh?” And all those little ice breakers and conversation starters opened the door for bugger conversations like how he was planning on going to nursing school, and when he was having a bad day, he came down to see us to get some good energy and I comped his coffee.

I’m an introvert and I’ve always had a tough time with small talk but I think once you get started in making an effort it comes super easily. Just don’t be afraid to laugh at yourself and realize that no matter the customer’s reaction to your friendliness, know you made an effort to brighten their day! ☺️

me: “what are we doing today” customer: “nothing just working” me: “again?! :) i see ur getting that money hahaha but like at me, me too!” just pretend ur talking to ur friend but keep it appropriate! and memorize ur regulars names, whenever i’m on dto/dtr i ask them if they want any food first and i tell them i’m putting it in the oven and ask them how their day as been today etc

* Got anything exciting going on today?
* Doing anything fun this weekend?
* Ooh, I love that (shirt, scarf, car color, nail polish, Da Bears, that song). - you can add a personal thing like, I used to have a similar shirt or I loved doing my nails until I got a job here so I just admire everyone else’s, did you see the game last weekend, blah blah blah)
* if they are getting a seasonal item I ask them if they’d tried it yet and then either tell them how much I think they’ll like it or, if they have say something like, “oh, well, I’m glad you like it - it’s been really popular” or something like that.

Often times it isn’t not so much about what you say, but more about how you say it. For example, even just a “hi how are you?” Is great, but you have to actually sound like you care about how they are and their answer to the question.
A warm and welcoming smile always helps too except that’s not really an option right now with masks on.
Maintaining eye contact is great whenever they’re talking to you or you’re talking to them.
Last bit of advice is to just act natural and casual. Customers will open up more and more if you have a calm and collected energy. If you have some anxiety about talking to them, the best way to get over it is to just keep talking to customers and eventually it will feel much more natural