Sunday, August 24, 2008
The Starbucks Scone Situation: Amazing customer service waiting to happen
I have two Starbucks that I hit regularly. Sometimes I hit the one on the way to the freeway in the morning, so I can be sufficiently awake for my commute. Sometimes I hit the one that is almost at my workplace, so I can have that little pleasure from my desk tackling the first fire drills of the day instead.
The big motivator to go to Starbucks #1, by my house, is that they also carry a vegan scone. (PS-I'm a vegan, in case you didn't know.) When I neglect to eat breakfast at home, which is fairly regularly, grabbing that soy latte and scone is a quick fix.
Even so, I don't hit Starbucks #1 every day, but probably 2 times a week easy.
Last Monday when I hit Starbucks #1, the vegan scone was not there. I asked about it and was told they weren't going to carry it anymore. It didn't sell well enough. I moaned that that scone was the only reason I hit this particular Starbucks. I asked the woman who seemed to be shift manager how many scones they needed to sell in order to bring it back. She said a mere three a day. (And I was, apparently, the second vegan to ask about where they'd gone and to request their return.) I told her that if they brought them back, I would make sure this was the only Starbucks I went to in the morning. And I might even buy two :)
She said she'd look into it, but when I went back later in the week, no vegan scones. I asked if they were really going to bring them back, and that same shift manager said she was working on it with the store manager. Then she even asked me how many days a week I came in. I told her that since I worked from home on Wednesdays I wouldn't be there on that day, but that I would on every other day of the work week. She actually wrote my schedule down.
So, I'm still waiting. Will my local Starbucks really start carrying 3 scones a day on the days I could potentially go there, because I asked?
That would be pretty cool. And shows that having a blog isn't the only way to listen to your customers.
The big motivator to go to Starbucks #1, by my house, is that they also carry a vegan scone. (PS-I'm a vegan, in case you didn't know.) When I neglect to eat breakfast at home, which is fairly regularly, grabbing that soy latte and scone is a quick fix.
Even so, I don't hit Starbucks #1 every day, but probably 2 times a week easy.
Last Monday when I hit Starbucks #1, the vegan scone was not there. I asked about it and was told they weren't going to carry it anymore. It didn't sell well enough. I moaned that that scone was the only reason I hit this particular Starbucks. I asked the woman who seemed to be shift manager how many scones they needed to sell in order to bring it back. She said a mere three a day. (And I was, apparently, the second vegan to ask about where they'd gone and to request their return.) I told her that if they brought them back, I would make sure this was the only Starbucks I went to in the morning. And I might even buy two :)
She said she'd look into it, but when I went back later in the week, no vegan scones. I asked if they were really going to bring them back, and that same shift manager said she was working on it with the store manager. Then she even asked me how many days a week I came in. I told her that since I worked from home on Wednesdays I wouldn't be there on that day, but that I would on every other day of the work week. She actually wrote my schedule down.
So, I'm still waiting. Will my local Starbucks really start carrying 3 scones a day on the days I could potentially go there, because I asked?
That would be pretty cool. And shows that having a blog isn't the only way to listen to your customers.
// posted by ElisaC @ 9:26 AM 
