Starbucks Baristas: The daily grind
↑
3
↓
Inventory Shortages (self.starbucksbaristas)
submitted by philosopher_cat_lady
Today our store went from having a reasonable amount of shortages to having slim pickin's, like I've heard about some of y'all's stores having. So my question is, what is the best thing to say to customers when they ask why we're out of so many ingredients? (Of course, it's a stupid fucking question, seeing as 600,000 Americans have died from a virus and Starbucks should not even be operating right now because the pandemic is still raging with virus variants and we're nowhere near herd immunity, but it's unfortunately my job to answer it.) My idea is to say: "Starbucks is experiencing labor shortages in its manufacturing facilities." But I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say that. Maybe it would make Starbucks look bad that it seems like its employees are striking and unionizing. (Don't you love how Starbucks gives no direction whatsoever on how to respond to customers' common questions about our store operations?) I remember when the pandemic started I was advised not to tell the truth about why stores were closing. I just started telling the truth anyway.
Gabe13456 6 points 2y ago
I would disagree with the above comment, mainly because of you get in the habit of saying things “as long as the manager isn’t around”, your manager will find out about that, and even if what you say isn’t bad, trying to circumvent them is not appropriate. You should ask your manager this same question, but what we say at my store is:
“So sorry, we’ve got a lot of nation-wide shortages right now due to supply chain issues. Can I offer you _____ instead?”
We’ve also made a point to let customers know that most of the items in question won’t be back all summer, anywhere, so they know to stop seeking it out/asking. We make light of this one, saying:
“Just so you know, we likely won’t have green tea for the remainder of the summer. But if you find it at another Starbucks nearby, let us know so we can go get some!”
Again, ask your manager how they’d like you to handle it!
“So sorry, we’ve got a lot of nation-wide shortages right now due to supply chain issues. Can I offer you _____ instead?”
We’ve also made a point to let customers know that most of the items in question won’t be back all summer, anywhere, so they know to stop seeking it out/asking. We make light of this one, saying:
“Just so you know, we likely won’t have green tea for the remainder of the summer. But if you find it at another Starbucks nearby, let us know so we can go get some!”
Again, ask your manager how they’d like you to handle it!
philosopher_cat_lady [OP] 1 points 2y ago
Great advice! I think your response to customers is good, in that it answers their question without going into unnecessary detail. If they are terribly curious to get more detail about the situation, they can call my manager or district manager. We have both of their business cards in my store.
Speaking of iced green tea, though, it's coming back! It was mentioned in this week's Weekly Updates.
Speaking of iced green tea, though, it's coming back! It was mentioned in this week's Weekly Updates.
serialsquisher 6 points 2y ago
i always opt for telling the truth as long as a manager isn’t within earshot. customers deserve to know the values of the company they’re buying from
hannah_nj 2 points 2y ago
our managers and shifts always go with something similar when they end up being the one talking to the customer; something along the lines of “starbucks is experiencing company-wide manufacturing shortages so ____ is temporarily discontinued/wasn’t delivered to us,” so unless you’ve been told not to or your sm asks you to stop i don’t think it’d be an issue!
we usually try to offer a replacement if they don’t immediately have a back up drink, so if someone ordered peach we tell them we can sub in guava, mango dragonfruit base, apple juice (whatever we have lmao) or if they order very berry hibiscus we let them know the refreshers that we do currently have which has been helping avoid the “what about x” “yeah we don’t have that either” conversation or a sudden look of panic when they don’t know what else to do.
we usually try to offer a replacement if they don’t immediately have a back up drink, so if someone ordered peach we tell them we can sub in guava, mango dragonfruit base, apple juice (whatever we have lmao) or if they order very berry hibiscus we let them know the refreshers that we do currently have which has been helping avoid the “what about x” “yeah we don’t have that either” conversation or a sudden look of panic when they don’t know what else to do.
philosopher_cat_lady [OP] 1 points 2y ago
Yeah, I definitely offer suggestions because lots of times they don't know a good substitute or have other drinks they like to order. Sometimes it's hard though when there isn't a good substitute because we're so low on ingredients. So I'll be like, "We can make you an upside down vanilla latte since we don't have any caramel at the moment to make a caramel macchiato." They're usually flexible enough. They want coffee, after all. I just feel terrible for green beans right now who are not gonna be super familiar with drink recipes or ingredients in order to offer good substitutions. They shouldn't be on DTO! Even I get frustrated sometimes, and I've been working for Starbucks a long time, know our recipes, and am very experienced at working drive-thru. The most frustrating thing is when customers don't read the A-frame in the drive-thru listing the ingredients we're out of.
Anyway, I think your response to customers is very good as it mentions that some ingredients are not going to be in stores for quite a while.
Anyway, I think your response to customers is very good as it mentions that some ingredients are not going to be in stores for quite a while.
TheFriendlyFeminist 1 points 2y ago
I usually just go “sorry we’re still out of *green tea or whatever* we’re having some unfortunate supply shortages this summer. But I do have *black tea or other options* instead if that interests ya!”
philosopher_cat_lady [OP] 2 points 2y ago
Love your username!
TheFriendlyFeminist 1 points 2y ago
Thank you!! 😃
This nonprofit website is run by volunteers.
Please contribute if you can. Thank you!
Our mission is to provide everyone with access to large-
scale community websites for the good of humanity.
Without ads, without tracking, without greed.
scale community websites for the good of humanity.
Without ads, without tracking, without greed.
©2023 HumbleCat Inc • HumbleCat is a 501(c)3 nonprofit based in Michigan, USA.