Starbucks Baristas: The daily grind
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Sales to Coverage Ratio (self.starbucksbaristas)
submitted by zedazeni
This is mostly for SMs and ASMs:
What is the ratio that is supposed to be used to determine how many partners work as coverage? I work a store that consistently does around USD 150-200 per 30 min in sales from 1PM-9PM and we’re only given 3 partners, despite often having multiple 30 min breaks, food pulls, inventory counts, and Clean Plays.
I’m a 3-year SSV and I’ve worked I’ve worked multiple other stores that have lower sales than mine that all had more partners scheduled.
Are your stores similarly scheduled as mine, or is my store understaffed according to Starbuck’s staffing and scheduling metrics?
What is the ratio that is supposed to be used to determine how many partners work as coverage? I work a store that consistently does around USD 150-200 per 30 min in sales from 1PM-9PM and we’re only given 3 partners, despite often having multiple 30 min breaks, food pulls, inventory counts, and Clean Plays.
I’m a 3-year SSV and I’ve worked I’ve worked multiple other stores that have lower sales than mine that all had more partners scheduled.
Are your stores similarly scheduled as mine, or is my store understaffed according to Starbuck’s staffing and scheduling metrics?
whatsthebigdealwith_ 2 points 11m ago
The labor model isn't really based on sales specifically. At its simplest, it's customer traffic pattern and product mix multiplied by time standards plus additional time for fixed tasks.
It sounds like your store manager could build a better schedule though with additional pre closers and then just minimum staffing (seems like for your store it's 3) for the last hour or two. Hopefully you can talk to them about it and maybe ask if they could come do a closing deep dive observation just to see if there's behaviors you can improve for better roles and routines or if it all just goes to staffing for a better partner and customer experience.
It sounds like your store manager could build a better schedule though with additional pre closers and then just minimum staffing (seems like for your store it's 3) for the last hour or two. Hopefully you can talk to them about it and maybe ask if they could come do a closing deep dive observation just to see if there's behaviors you can improve for better roles and routines or if it all just goes to staffing for a better partner and customer experience.
zedazeni [OP] 2 points 11m ago
I know it’s a mix of channel mix/traffic patterns and sales, and in the morning we have a fairly even distribution between all stations (I’m a cafe/MOP store), whereas at night it’s almost exclusively CBS. Even then, that means that for a large chunk of the 1-9 day part, which is more than 50% of our store’s open hours, we have 2 people on the floor, especially on days when we have inventory counts. I just cannot fathom how even taking into account channel mix that still justifies having only 3 people on the floor for half the time the store is open while morning which doesn’t typically do double in sales has double the partners for coverage.
whatsthebigdealwith_ 3 points 11m ago
Cafe only stores minimum staffing is generally 2 partners. So you may already technically have an extra person.
"Protect peak" is the goal so morning will always have extra partners because customer traffic creates a labor demand for it - Starbucks wants 2 people for 4 hour shifts for peak instead of 1 person for 8 hours. Your highest COSDs will be during peak of course so there's more earned labor in those half hours. Then the disruptive tasks should actually be done around or before 11am generally. So it's already built to have more people in the morning regardless.
However, it is very possible your manager is overspending during mornings or even possibly peak. May even be giving the closers those 1-9 shifts whenever really it should be the SSV 1-9, then a barista 2-8, then another barista 5-9 and another morning barista scheduled 10-6 for example. Basically you may have 24 hours to "close" and they're just being used as long shifts for 3 people instead of short shifts for 4-6 people. All this assuming your headcount is where it needs to be, everybody has correct availability meeting business need, and you aren't on block scheduling for COVID.
Sit down with your SM to discuss. They can pull up decision center and see the labor break down by half hour. They can also see the forecast in partner hours with the demand graph. Hopefully they use those resources to build the schedule each week if they don't just let it autogenerate then adjust. Each store is specific and unique so there's not a clear answer when it comes to why labor is the way it is.
"Protect peak" is the goal so morning will always have extra partners because customer traffic creates a labor demand for it - Starbucks wants 2 people for 4 hour shifts for peak instead of 1 person for 8 hours. Your highest COSDs will be during peak of course so there's more earned labor in those half hours. Then the disruptive tasks should actually be done around or before 11am generally. So it's already built to have more people in the morning regardless.
However, it is very possible your manager is overspending during mornings or even possibly peak. May even be giving the closers those 1-9 shifts whenever really it should be the SSV 1-9, then a barista 2-8, then another barista 5-9 and another morning barista scheduled 10-6 for example. Basically you may have 24 hours to "close" and they're just being used as long shifts for 3 people instead of short shifts for 4-6 people. All this assuming your headcount is where it needs to be, everybody has correct availability meeting business need, and you aren't on block scheduling for COVID.
Sit down with your SM to discuss. They can pull up decision center and see the labor break down by half hour. They can also see the forecast in partner hours with the demand graph. Hopefully they use those resources to build the schedule each week if they don't just let it autogenerate then adjust. Each store is specific and unique so there's not a clear answer when it comes to why labor is the way it is.
zedazeni [OP] 3 points 11m ago
Typically the closing SSVs work either a 1-9:30 or a 2-9:30 shift, and most of the baristas arrive at around 4:45-5:00 PM and close. That’s not usually too problematic because I’m the only one that needs a 30 min break, but on days when one of my baristas also needs a 30, and I have counts and pulls to do, doing all of that with essentially 2 people on the floor for around half of the shift becomes antithetical to maintaining the “Starbuck’s experience” (which, now that I think about it, seems to be defined by understaffing and angry baristas so perhaps I am providing the archetypal Starbuck’s Experience 🙃). I digress, I definitely think that there is overspending on morning shifts considering our peaks are rarely much above $400, and typically stay in the mid $300s for only a few 30-min periods, while throughout the day we still typically maintain $120-180 per 30-min in sales until we close.
I’ll have to go back through the “My Daily” and see what it’s labor summaries for the previous week looks like to compare before I bring this up with my SM.
I’ll have to go back through the “My Daily” and see what it’s labor summaries for the previous week looks like to compare before I bring this up with my SM.
persona-2 1 points 11m ago
Minimum staffing needs, number of customers, and complexity of drinks are all heavy factors in how much labor a floor has. Sales weirdly enough almost don’t matter.
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