Starbucks continues to tweak policies and procedures for its employees to heighten the quality of its coffee while still efficiently using the time available to employees.  Last year, there was an article about the time-and-motion studies that were being undertaken by the coffee giant to squeeze extra seconds out of the preparation of each cup of joe, but an article today seems to put the brakes on that by outlining a new poliicy that requires more specialized work such as steaming milk for each drink individually and never working on more than one drink at a time. 

The new methods have “doubled the amount of time it takes to make drinks in some cases,” according to Erik Forman, a Starbucks barista in Bloomington, Minn., who says his store began making drinks under the new guidelines last week. Longer lines have resulted, says Mr. Forman, who is a member of the IWW Starbucks Workers Union.

Startbucks insists that eventually these kinds of policies will actually speed up the process of making drinks, but the employees quoted seem to the the opposite will be true. 

Starbucks insists the new procedures will eventually hasten the way drinks are made and lead to fresher, hotter drinks. Steaming milk for individual drinks, for example, “ensures the quality of the beverage in taste, temperature and appearance,” the company documents state, while focusing on just two drinks at a time “reduces possibility for errors.”

Instead of focusing on these changes in terms of time savings, if I were Starbucks I would put all of the focus on increased quality.  If people want fast coffee there are plenty of outlets for that (like McDonalds) but Starbucks should focus on differentiating itself to again be the town gathering place that just happens to serve coffee as well.  Their stores should cater to the “experience” rather than the product.  In other words, the experience should be the product. 

Over the last few years, Starbucks has been applying to the coffee counter the kind of “lean” manufacturing techniques car makers have long used as a way to streamline production, eliminate wasteful activity and speed up service. The company has deployed a “lean team” to study every move its baristas make in order to shave seconds off each order.

That team discovered that many stores kept beans below the counter, leading baristas to waste time bending over to scoop beans, so those stores ended up storing the beans in bins on the top of the counter. To boost the freshness of the coffee and to bring back some of the “theater” that had been lost, the baristas also started grinding beans for each batch of coffee, instead of grinding the day’s beans in the morning.

While they seem to be trying to focus on the quality and atmosphere, I thnk they risk confusing people as to where they fit into the marketplace by also discussing the time it takes to make each drink.  The article from last year (linked above) indicated a desire to go in that quality-focused direction. and today’s article mentions it too, but I’m not sure it offsets the dissatisfaction from the employees quoted in the article.  Of all the parties that need to be convinced that this is the right move, I’d say the #1 group is the employees.  Without their buy-in with the new policy it is likely to be ignored or followed in such a way that employees (and eventually customers) are dissatisfied.

At Starbucks, Baristas Told No More Than Two Drinks. Julie Jargon. Wall Street Journal. (Eastern edition). New York, N.Y.: Oct 13, 2010. pg. B.1