|
Alumbrado -> RE: Starbucks closing 600 stores (7/2/2008 6:08:29 PM)
|
quote:
ORIGINAL: raaaaawr
The caramel macchiato is actually a vanilla latte, marked with the shots and caramel sauce. Macchiato just means marked. Starbucks has the traditional espresso macchiato also, which is an espresso shot(s) "marked" with foam.
I should probably throw in that I am a Starbucks barista. I don't believe the company is saintly, by any means. I do appreciate the emphasis on taking care of their partners (employees). I have medical and dental insurance, stock options, 401k, and tuition reimbursement available to myself while only needing to work 20 hours a week. As a full time student, that's about all I can manage to work. They will actually buy stock for me after I've been there for a year, and after five years I can sell it and receive 100% of the profit without ever putting a dime of my own in. I'm 21, and I haven't had insurance in a *very* long time, so that's a huge deal for me too. The amazing benefits do add to the cost of the product. It's impressive that once the company started to slip none of our benefits were cut. Yes, people are losing jobs now but most will get transfers. The stores that are closing are the ones that aren't pulling enough profit, and are mostly within a few blocks of other more profitable stores. These stores are probably going to get a jump in business and will be able to take on more partners. The partners that don't get transferred will receive severance.
There are PLENTY of things wrong with the company, I would never say there aren't. It just seems like it's very easy for people to jump on the company because it's such a corporate giant. No, our coffee isn't the best. Yes, many people find the roast too dark. We do offer bold, medium, and mild blends. I'll point out that it's not really possible for us to burn it in store, since we don't put our coffee on a burner at all. The new coffee, Pike Place, isn't expected to store for very long at all. That's one of the things they are stressing about it, the roast date is clearly displayed in store and we only keep a batch of brewed coffee for 30 minutes. Our espresso is not the best, especially since we can not manually pull our shots. I think customers appreciate the consistency (that SHOULD be there) in getting the same vanilla latte and any store, and that we really put effort into trying to make a connection with them.
I agree with all of the above... before espresso was trendy, I spent 2 weeks in Seattle, leaving behind a steady trail of little paper cups from SBC and Starbucks..doubles and machiattos, mostly.
And macchiattos were marked with just a wisp of milk foam not crema (crema is the part of the espresso that turns light brown and foamy, it is all coffee).
All of them were excellent, but I've too often been disappointed in the taste of products available since the craze went nationwide.(That applies to name chains as well as small local places in more than one part of the country).
|
|
|
|
