All Starbucks closing nationwide Feb 26

[Glued]

...for three hours, that is. All baristas are to get training on how to properly make a perfect shot, how to steam milk and how NOT to burn coffee.

http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/02/13...ng-feb-26/

[TheTominator]

They really should have scheduled this downtime for February 30th to minimize the impact on their customers.

[Psurfer]

And only yesterday they seemed to be doing so well.

[kap]

Man, their burnt coffee tastes that bad? I quit drinking coffee after my senior's finals. Even their teas are nasty. I quit Starbuck all together four years ago.

[TheTominator]

Similar to gift certificates, for a promotion I think they should issue their own currency that can only be spent at their stores.

The hard part is figuring out what to call the coffee shop's new phony currency.

[guitarist]

This move has Howard Schultz's signature on it. Since stepping back in as CEO to revive the company's lagging image, expect to see more moves like this. For one, Baristas are undertrained. Starbucks once had a rigorous training program, and high standards for the quality of their roasted beans and brewing methods. They've fallen a long way, gradually, over a long period. Not unexpected to see Starbucks not only initiate a training booster shot, but make a public show of it, going as far to issue a press release, and make a stunt out of it by closing stores down during business hours--hardly necessary, except to draw public attention--in an effort to restore faith in their product and their methods. They'll have to do a lot better than this, to get closer to their origins (many here are too young to remember when people would drive long distances to get access to Starbucks coffee, it was that good) a few hours of training will hardly fix years of overgrowth, lost focus, and neglect of the fundamentals, but it's a start.

[RonT]

IMO, people who drink Starbucks coffee are just begging for a huge
problem with reflux in their middle years and beyond. The acid
in that nasty stuff has gotta be damn near terminal over time.

Yuk!

[microchip13]

I have a dislike for Starbucks as well, but unfortunately having a gift card to there, and a lack of money, means I'm headed there for a meeting in a bit.

There's a local coffee shop that I really like. It's run by one guy and the coffee is superb.
The Cafe closest to my school though, does suck. I had "iced chai" yesterday. I think if they would have given me water, it would have been stronger.

[M A V I C]

Their machines are nearly fully automated now... are they switching back?

[mrbigstuff]

Yeah, the coffee brewing is done automatically, so their beans are to blame, not the baristas. The people who work there are only working with the raw ingredients they are given.