It has been a long time since I’ve had an “open thread”. By request, I’m doing another one. What this means is that you may write about any Starbucks-related topic you like in the comments. Feel free to talk about anything from Starbucks hand-crafted root beer, to their partnership with Danone, to Reserve Coffee Micro Blend No. 11, to how the Verona packaging has changed over the years, to anything you like that relates to Starbucks. The comments are open. However, the same comment rules as always apply. From this blog’s “About” page, here’s this blog’s comment policy: “This is my blog and not a public space. Critical discussion is fine. I will, however, decline to approve (or delete your comment) if you descend into personal attacks, inappropriate language, disrespectful behavior, or excessive self-promotion and link-baiting.” I have often approved comments that were critical of Starbucks, if written in a way where the comment simply represents an opinion, and not an attack.
There is a topic that I want to talk about: Starbucks custom blends. For those of you who do not know, this is when baristas experiment with the Starbucks core coffees, and re-blends them into something new.
I received an email in early August which said the following: “I have seen a few stores make their own custom coffee blend. There is one in tampa that made a Sarasota Summer Blend. It’s 1/3 house 1/3 Guatemala and 1/3 three region. Could you post about it? I’m curious if other store make them and if anyone has any ideas for any. I experimented today at work. I love espresso roast because of its smooth taste but I don’t like the heavy body of it. I like pike because its light on the youngest but I don’t like the acidity of it so today I tried a blend of 3/4 espresso roast and 1/4 pike. Very smooth and took away the bite of acidity of pike and had a nice full flavor but light on the tongue.”
Ever since that email, I’ve been toying with the idea of talking about barista-created custom blends.
Also this month, quite recently, a reader wrote me stating that he’d recently been on a trip to Lake Tahoe and picked up a bag of “Tahoe Blend.”
He said that he discovered that he really liked the “Tahoe Blend.” Unfortunately, he didn’t know what was in it, and was hoping that he’d be able to find someone who knew. By chance, are there any partners in Lake Tahoe reading this who know what this special blend is? I’m hoping that someone in the comments will be able to shed some light on Tahoe Blend!
The floor is yours now.
Edit on August 20, 2013:
This morning Heidi, a reader of this site, sent me an email with an image for Redwood Blend, which is another custom blend as described above. I think it’s a great picture to also talk about local custom blends, so here it is:
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I never thought about blending coffee. *derp* I have a new mission.
Thanks Melody for the open thread. Funny because this morning the DM was in our store and I had a chance to chat with him for a short bit. I think he probably rolls his eyes when he sees me but I always try to say good and bad. To my surprise he knew nothing about the Tazo store closing! Maybe being a different coast. We are having a food drive now in our area at the SB stores and some stores have baskets out and my local store does not. When I asked the SM about that, he said the DM did not want a basket out. Sort of strange to me but I decided not to ask him about it. One of my pet peeves continues to be partners that do not seem to understand why I like my drink the way I like it. This really does not happen at my local store because they know me so so well but other SB locations. Oh well I guess I could go on but will stop. Thanks again Melody.
@Purple1 – I think that’s interesting that your DM didn’t know the Tazo store was closing. I guess it’s hard to keep up with all that Starbucks is doing. I think I remember hearing once that there are a few hundred DMs. Out of them, I think only a small handful regularly read this blog! 😉 A fall food drive sounds like a good idea. It’s been a while since I’ve seen that kind of thing happening here in Seattle Starbucks.
Funny this topic comes up!! I was in Northern California at the start of August and ran into a “Redwood Blend” at several stores in the Healdsburg/Cloverdale region….unfortunately the baristas could not give me much info on the coffee, except to say that is was comparable to Organic Yukon. As a Coffee Master, I bought a couple of bags and took it back to my store for tastings…there is absolutely ZERO comparing this to Yukon!!! I contacted the Coffee Ed folks, and I think I may have stumped them as they could not provide any info as of yet either…they are still investigating!! After several tastings, my partners and myself felt that this specific “Redwood Blend” reminded us more of Christmas Blend than anything else….we are eagerly waiting and hoping that the Coffee Ed folks can get us some further info!!!
These special blends are quite interesting. I wonder how they get their labels and any kind of special packaging. It would be so nice if there was specific blend information on the packaging somewhere. Hope someone knows more about these and chimes in.
My store is doing a school supply drive right now, but I wish we could do a food drive. I think more people would participate. I like to experiment with custom blending, but I’ve never thought to give them fun names and offer them to customers. That could be fun for a coffee seminar.
Heidi – I am the partner that created this blend!!!!!! I can give you more info after work today 🙂 that is so cool that you found it! I hope you enjoy it 🙂
@Jocelyn….We LOVED it…just wish that we knew more about it for pairing purposes, etc….Would LOVE it if you could take the time to get me some more specific info on it!! 🙂
Oh @Jocelyn, I hope you share with all of us! I’m a partner down in Texas going through the coffee master certification and I would love to know more about this “Redwood” blend! Sounds tasty! And I love the packaging: how did you create it?
Tahoe Blend is 50% Kenya and 50% Guatemale Antigua. And it’s delicious.
Claire, if you could email me jocelyn@sugarcube.bet with your address, store number and how many partners will be tasting, i can mail you a sample pack!
I’m still at work, but i will post more about the blend and show you pictures of the original packaging. This blend went through a name change.. I did not create the artwork, but it’s really beautiful!!!!!
That’s @sugarcube.net … Posting from my phone, so sorry for any typos 😉
Ok my phone is eating posts… Ill just post everything when I get home 😉
For those partners that have “created” these various blends….did you have to get any special permissions/etc from HQ, or is this just something you did within your specific districts? I am just curious because all the artwork/labels, etc are awesome! We have a large contigency of Coffee Masters at my store and a few have come up with some fairly awesome blends over time…would love to “pitch” the idea of formally putting it all together for customer (and fellow partner) enjoyment!!!
ok, well i am finally home from work, and i just have to tell you guys that i was having a pretty crappy day until i saw the comments posted here!!!!
heidi, the fact that you think my blend most resembles christmas blend is probably one of the greatest compliments i could receive! i love christmas espresso, so i was going for something along the lines of that.
my story begins in 2006 when my dm asked me to create a blend for our store. i did, but it never went anywhere. here is a copy of the tasteprint i created for that blend. i also created a recipe to go along with it. this blend contained sidamo, so once that was gone, the idea for the blend pretty much died.
http://tinypic.com/r/a14j1g/5
http://i42.tinypic.com/2qcnlm9.jpg
then earlier this year, my manager announced a blend off for the district. there were two ways to enter; one for the blend and another for the artwork for the blend. the blend was to be called the “101 blend”. also at this time i found out that my husband was being transferred, so i decided i wasn’t going to participate in the contest. then i started thinking…. i have worked in this district for 7.5 years and now i’m leaving. i wanted to leave my mark. i called this my legacy, so i entered both the artwork and the blend contest.
i started making blends, and i got really crazy with it. i made well over a dozen different blends, doing tastings every morning. the more blends i created, the more complicated they seemed to get. i was having so much fun and i was so inspired, but i had to kind of step away from it and really think about what i was creating. baristas have to hand scoop each pound, so if my blend has very specific measurements of 5 different kinds of beans, that probably wouldn’t work out too well. so i really started to focus on our business trends, what kind of coffee our customers were drinking and how they prepare coffee at home. my old store was a dark roast store, so i knew it needed to be bold, but i also wanted it to be just a straight forward delicious cup of coffee.
people in my old store love sumatra, christmas blend, thanksgiving blend and anniversary blend. the base of the coffee had to be beans from asia/pacific. my store was also adventurous when it came to espresso based beverages, and we would have rotating espresso shots. i wanted this blend to be delicious as a press, pour over, drip or a shot of espresso (i haven’t had a chance to try it on a clover….yet!!!!)
i didn’t want to use sumatra because i thought that would be too obvious, but since yukon is comprised of asia/pacific beans i started from there and built on that. then i started adding espresso roast to the yukon. it took me a while to figure out the perfect amount of each to use, because i wanted something dark, but i didn’t want something too acidic or rich.
after i submitted my blend and artwork there was a long waiting process. in fact, it wasn’t until i had already moved out of northern california. the name “101 blend” had to be changed because peet’s already has a 101 blend, so it was changed to dark redwood blend. i do not know which partner created the artwork for the stamp, but i can easily find out if you’d like.
not only did i create a blend and artwork, i went an extra step and created a coffee stained media box, that also included two “perfect pairings”.
here are some pictures;
http://iloveyoualatte.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/101blend.jpg
http://iloveyoualatte.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/101blendroots.jpg
http://iloveyoualatte.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/101blendbehind.jpg
ok, so that is pretty much it… if anyone has any other questions, please feel free to ask!!!!!! if any partners in the seattle area want to do a tasting, let’s talk!! i’d love to connect with other partners who are passionate about coffee! for those who are not in seattle or northern california and would like to share this coffee with your team, please email me! i am working on sending out little samples to partners all over the place! jocelyn@sugarcube.net
one more thing, i had so so so much fun creating this blend, and it really reignited my passion for coffee. i think it would be excellent if starbucks had a company wide blend off, and released the winner as a core/promo coffee! how cool would that be!
here are some more pictures of the dark redwood blend
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MctgWA5k-Do/UfwC9EMlDpI/AAAAAAAABNk/49pFaCVb8t8/s1600/Starbucks-Chalkboard-Redwood-Blend-Stir-Fry-Willie.jpg
http://i39.tinypic.com/2a68ju9.jpg
http://i39.tinypic.com/2nkubea.jpg
Can you get Iced Shaken Doubleshot Biancos in SBUX US ? http://www.starbucks.ie/menu/beverage-list/espresso-beverages/iced-shaken-doubleshot-bianco
Just wondering as I really like them and we seem to be getting more exclusive stuff across the pond !
Since this is an open thread (and Melody, please feel free to remove if you feel this is not the spot for this!)….
If there are any fellow partners in the area of the Roy Street Coffee & Tea shop that might be willing to keep their eyes open for an extra bag of the Reserve No. 11 Microblend coffee, I would be ever grateful!! Of course, I am willing to pay all costs involved (shipping, etc…)…I just can’t get there being I am in Southern California!
Thanks in advance!!!
🙂
heidi, if i can get my hands on some, i’ll grab one for you too 🙂
Interesting post about these “custom blends’.
I can remember long long ago at a Starbucks not so far away, when coffee was scooped from bulk bins that the Partners would make a hodge podge “house blend” of the small amounts of coffee beans left in a bin. Nothing formal or planned, but some interesting flavors. They would do it brewed or make an espresso if requested.
When you look at the vast number of different beans Starbucks has available, there are certainly some combinations just waiting to be discovered.
On to an “open topic”…
@Melody, IMHO you have the Starbucks related blog with the highest quality and many awesome participants. An example of what I wish more blogs could be.
I am seeing MSI sinking to the level of their Facebook and Twitter pages. It’s amazing that “social media” can be so unsocial too much of the time. Too bad so many companies let the “inmates” run the “asylum” (their Facebook and Twitter pages).
Keep your passion up.
btw i wrote a very long post (with pictures!) answering all the questions about the redwood blend, but it’s not showing up for me. i’m hoping that it’ll show up here eventually, and my computer didn’t eat it (like my phone did to me earlier when i tried to post!)
@Jocelyn – Part of the spam protection on this site is that any comment with more than a certain number of links (I think it is 3 – i would have to double check my settings) must go through moderation – even if it is a participant whom I have previously “approved.” Brand new commenters, who have never posted here, all go through moderation. Once I’ve approved that person, this site remember that email address, and approves all future comments … except when the spam filter kicks in because of too many links.
@Heidi – I am going to try very hard to get to Roy Street later this week. It might be early in the morning on Friday, or after work one day this week. If I can get my hands on more Micro Blend No. 11, I will email you.
@DadCooks – I’m happy that this site has great participants. I still learn on this site by trial and error. I think that – probably to a small degree – this is a self-selected audience. The Starbucks official sites are much easier to find. It >seems< like you have to have a pretty high level of passion to find this site, and make the choice to come back! I often think that the partners who are online here are the best informed: and I don't say that because of my blog, rather anyone who is going to take that extra effort to participate here, is one to seek out information and have that naturally great curiosity about his or her job. Whatever the case is, I am thankful that the gun debates haven't made their way here. The official Starbucks Facebook page really wears at me. It'll get better, I admit I'm just tired of reading post after post about gun debates.
@Ciarán – That's not a US drink! That's very much an international offering. I remember at one point when I first heard of the "iced shaken double shot" (which is totally different than the US version of that!) I had toyed with the idea of blog post on it. To be honest, I don't get what kind of a milk Fior di Latte is – That link you gave makes it sound like a vanilla milk? On top of that, that international doubleshot is truly 2 shots, whereas the US version actually has more than 2 shots! LOL –
So, do you like that drink? Tell me about it! I would love to hear more! It's an interesting topic.
@Melody I really like it ! It comes as a 7oz drink so either in a tiny plastic to go cup or a glass one as per the website (its really annoying when they run out of the straws for it and you have to use a straw for a tall drink which is like twice the size of the glass !). From looking at the process it seems quite complex ! The Fior di Latte (or whatever the milk they use) looks like a really thick, creamy milk. And it seems to be made layer by layer. The iced shaken doubleshot seems to be practically the same just without the milk. It does contain some sort of syrup though as it is quite sweet ! Its definitely my drink of choice at the moment and I always see others ordering it too !
Once upon a time my store had a Dragon Classic Blend. It’s been ordered ONCE in the last year, so it’s been a while! The high school mascot is a dragon in my city, and the blend consists of 60% Komodo Dragon and 40% espresso roast. It was delicious!
I love that so much conversation is happening over the Dark Redwood Blend. It sounds awesome!
@camspi if you want a sample to share with your team, email me! jocelyn@sugarcube.net
😀
@Jocelyn – I was remiss in not complimenting you in my earlier post on your creation of Redwood Blend. I’m glad that your posts with the links and pictures finally got through. I enjoyed the story on how the blend came about. Very creative of the manager to have the contest and glad that you were able to express your passion. Keep it up.
Regional custom blends sound awesome. I didn’t know they ever existed. Now I do, thanks to this blog. I do like mixing dark coffees, or sometimes a dark, with one that has citrusy notes.
Agree with DadCooks re:
1) Starbucks Melody “highest quality and many awesome participants”
I especially love reading about things baristas are passionate about. Engaging with baristas like that in stores is a real luxury.
2) MSI
– I still check there, especially in Ideas in Action, but as for Recent Ideas, sadly it’s hard to pore through. If there was more moderation, including linking the same repeated ideas (e.g. lactose-free or almond milk), it’d improve things in my humble opinion.
P.S. Rock on, Melody!!! Rock on, Jocelyn and other awesome baristas who contribute here!
The SBUX in sedona has a special blend they still sell. Sedona Red.
http://blog.lexjet.com/2011/01/03/putting-sedona-on-the-map/
Jocelyn we need more partners like you!!! And the partner Matt that was mentioned. They are doing training at my local store and am not sure how that plays out because I do not see a significant change although yesterday the DM mentioned it as well as the store closed for training. What I have noticed are longer lines! Am not totally convinced it is because there are more customers. Plus I do not see any changes in the partners. I suppose training can be a double edge sword!
Dad Cooks I agree that Melody has a first rate blog and the people that participate in this blog (especially us regulars) are first rate too. Too bad we are all over the place as it would be nice to get together and meet in person. I have pretty much stopped reading MSI out of frustration.
Some of our best blends come from creative baristas! I’d love to see more pop up!
I’ve been toying with some sort of challenge for my coffeemaster-in-training to do. Perhaps a Vancouver Island blend, or a Victoria blend? So cool that there’s official artwork to go along with it! @Jocelyn, I love how thoughtful you were about what coffee already sold well/was popular in your store.
Melody, I love reading your blog, though I’ve been a quiet participant of late (summer usually means lots of training for me, and of course tons of vacation to squeeze in!), it hasn’t stopped me from reading every article :). There are lots of ways to find out info about Starbucks, but your blog is one of the most enjoyable – pictures, commentary, good, intelligent discussion in the comments – that’s what keeps me coming back. I also love to see a customer perspective (albeit you and the posters here aren’t the ‘typical’ Starbucks customer :)) on the things we do. Keep it up 🙂
@rebecca if you have any questions, I’d love to help! This was an amazing project! It really sparked a lot of coffee passion within me and partners thought the district! 🙂
Thanks Jocelyn for all the information about your wonderful creation. You should be so proud. How great to have such dedicated partners that take the time to create coffee blends for their stores.
thank you to everyone for their kind words <3 and thank you to the passionate partners that have emailed me wanting to use dark redwood blend for coffee tastings, coffee master certification (!!) and to share with their team. it really means a lot to me!
i told my dm about this blog post, and he has now invited me to do a coffee tasting with this blend at a district meeting next week! i am so very excited to be having so many amazing conversations & connections over coffee!
i'm a little backed up on my coffee blending assembly line i have going on right now, but if any other partners (or customers) would like to try this blend and share feedback, please email me 🙂
YAY!! My coffee photo was posted! I love this site melody and thanks everyone for all the info.
I also love how shiny my moka pot looks.
The comments in this thread are fantastic! Jocelyn – I am happy your Redwood Blend reached so many people! Let me know how your district meeting goes!
@Rebecca – I love the idea of a Victoria Blend. Partners will have a little more to work with after the Fall2 launch also. And thank you for weighing – I assumed you’d been busy with your store.
Thank you DadCooks, TheKwan, Patrick for their kind comments about this blog.
CamSpi – I remember Dragon Classic blend well!! Seems like yesterday!
Although it’s probably too late to add another topic to this thread, I’d love to be able to discuss everyone’s (both avid consumers like Melody and regular ole’ baristas) thoughts on this new wave on secret menu items. I (as a barista) love these new secret menu items, but I worry when baristas nationwide aren’t aware of how to make these drinks. I follow Starbucks and Frappuccino on Twitter and Facebook so I stay pretty connected with what’s going on but what about everyone else? I’d love to see this discussed another time!
Jocelyn, I’m so excited to get your blend and use it for my coffee master certification! I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes!
@claire i also love the “secret” menu! it seems to me that every store has at least one barista that reads blogs/facebook/twitter and stays on top of stuff like that. i enjoy being that partner 🙂
i try to print out the most popular secret menu drinks, and have everyone make them and taste them so we can talk about them. we mostly get orders for the cotton candy, but the key lime pie one was pretty popular for a little while.
it makes me sad when i read online (on reddit or ihatestarbucks) partners that take pleasure in saying “we don’t have a cotton candy frappuccino” – even though they know how to make it. i have a few partners in my store like this, and i have tried coaching them, but they “don’t believe in the secret menu” .. whatever that means.
@jocelyn – Speaking of other websites, sometimes it makes me sad just reading the >official< Starbucks Facebook page "posts by others" section. Some of the incidences that are described, just shouldn't happen by any stretch of the imagination. I recall reading a FB post (this was a while ago, I doubt I could find it again) where a customer was upset to watch a partner (later identified as the SM) using a broom to sweep the tops of the store's tables. The customer confronted the person, saying that looked unsanitary, and was essentially told to mind her business. There are so many things going wrong in that scenario …
right now i hate reading the official starbucks facebook page because i am sick of reading about gun rights. we’ve had this conversation before though 😉 that’s why i’ll occasionally post pictures of cupcakes & cookies, because that to me is a more enjoyable subject 🙂
some of the regular commenters also make me sad, and i hope they do not work for starbucks, because they can be very rude 🙁
btw about sweeping the table tops with a broom….. i have seen partners in california and now here in washington do that! i do not understand the thought process behind that at all.
also, who ever is in charge of the starbucks facebook page does an amazing job. that is one of my dream jobs to have for just one day – manage their facebook page! (i can only imagine what sort of private message they get from people!!) i would also like to answer phones in support 🙂
@Joceyln – I am the kind of person that I always like to know who is the friendly face behind online posts – I appreciate that the official Starbucks page says “tweets from Paige and ….” – Just having a name makes me smile! I wish the FB page had the same! I would agree with you though, they do good work in filtering out the spam, and totally offensive stuff, and the official Starbucks posts are always superb! By the way, I think a lot of people all want that same dream job! LOL There is the gun thing too – I’m just tired of reading the gun debates. I am not passionate about any side of the gun issue, and it just wears me out seeing post after post on gun rights.
And, I LOVE your random cupcake posts on the official Starbucks page – it does break it up in a good way!
you should be on instagram and then you can follow paige and see all of her amazing pictures!! 🙂
i love following all the starbucks people on instagram – so inspiring!
ps: did you see my recent facebook update? 🙂 !!SO EXCITED!!
I know most of the comments on this thread have been about the different brews and I don’t mean to throw a curveball into the mix but I just want to add a little update from my neck of the world on the pending rollout of the La Boulange pastries in Sacramento and specifically at the store I now frequent which is closest to my job. I was finally able to ask the barista when this store might change over from the current offerings. This store is always so busy around 8am but for once I didn’t have someone behind me in line 🙂 She said the store is ready for the new pastries as a second freezer has been installed but she didn’t think they would start until maybe January.
I still get the comment notifications from time to time for your original post on this subject, Melody, and it still seems that most do not like the La Boulange items.
Once I got to work I did notice one of my co-workers had a La Boulange pastry bag during our morning meeting but then the day got busy and I completely forgot to ask where she got it from. She does live up in Penryn, CA and we work in Rancho Cordova so she easily could have picked it up along the way to work rather than one of the two stores closest to the office.
Personally, I’m dreading the change because I love the cranberry orange scone and I’ve seen very few positive comments about the new stuff so I’m worried they won’t be as good. Hopefully they will!
@Steve – There are a couple of threads on this blog which are sort of anchors for Google search results – The Refill Thread, and the La Boulange thread get people who enter a few search terms, find a StarbucksMelody.com, make one comment and leave.
And, I have approved a ton of comments on La Boulange that were highly negative about the new bakery items. I’ve seen lots of negative comments about La Boulange on MSI as well as the official Starbucks Facebook page.
It leaves me scratching my head. Starbucks seems to be saying that the La Boulange is producing better food sales. But there really are a lot of complaints, at the same time. I think the perception of La Boulange can actually cause some negativity – even if it IS a great product, this perception that warming is what you do to make your day-old items at home taste better, or that everything comes in its own plastic gives off the perception of a Twinkie – well, I think these things drag it down.
I like a number of the new items. People vote with their wallets though. I’m still being optimistic that La Boulange will end up being a success, but I certainly see all the same negativity that you do, and it gives me some concern.
Steve, I will be curious what you think of them!
Hi- I would like to perhaps take this open thread in a different discussion. Today, again at my local SB the DM was there to watch how the new training is going and to time the partners in how they are doing. He is a nice person for sure but very corporate in responding to me which sometimes annoys me because he knows I am a regular and loyal customer and am honest with comments both good and bad. I truly balance comments on both sides. Anyway, apparently, this new training is going corporate wide. However, as I have said earlier this new training has caused lines to form especially in the am hours of rush time. He feels it will subside as partners get comfortable. I guess I just do not get the new training. Also, I asked him about why the store would not get a clover besides the size, etc. He gave me a no answer response. I was just wondering from people what their DM’s were like, how do you interact with them? , how do they respond to you? Thanks.
@Purple1 – It sounds like your store is launching ‘Playbook’ ? It essentially a new means of defining what each person is supposed to be doing when they’re on the floor. It definitely looks like an adjustment! But, the stores that have launched Playbook seem to have about the same lines as before. Though one store, (#111) there is an SM I’ve known since 2006, and he seems to make everything look effortless. The lines are no longer, and I can’t tell any difference. The partners seem as happy as always.
I’ve heard it said that if a store already has any kind of problems, those are going to come bubbling up with PlayBook. But you know, I have heard a lot about PB, but still don’t think I can say much about it.
In my area, there is more than one DM. Actually, there are 5 DMs that overlap my regular Starbucks visits because there are SO many stores in Seattle. (Actually it’s more like 7 or 8 DMs for Seattle – there are at least one or two that I don’t really know – I don’t know the DM really for the north Seattle stores.) And out of 5 DMs, there are 2 that I run into fairly regularly. But I’ve run into all of them. They are all very different personalities!
Most of the time it’s just pleasant conversation with them. And I can’t recall bringing any difficult topics lately. I am always excited to talk about all the things that are coming down the pike – it’s just a topic that I love.
If I had a store-specific issue, I probably wouldn’t tell a DM about it. Well, IF I know the SM, and feel good about talking to him or her, then I wouldn’t tell the DM my concerns about a store. I never used to worry about this or think about this, but I think it’s possible that talking to a DM can cause a bigger wake than intended. I’m not sure if it’s because it is me, or just that DMs react acutely to store complaints, but I think it’s possible to correct small problems without creating a thunderstorm in the process. In fact, I would say in Seattle that every single standard is 100% important, and the DMs really take store feedback very seriously.
There was one time recently that I had a series of poor experiences with the evening crew of a Starbucks right in downtown, in the retail core. I was pretty annoyed with an unpleasant exchange at the register. I talked to the store manager about it, and that was enough for me.
I’ll have to think about your comment a little longer. Most of my interactions with DMs has been very positive. There is only one DM in the Seattle group where I’m not so confident in that person’s DM abilities.
Thank you for your long response. To clarify some points- I do share both good and bad with the SM at my local store and we have a nice relationship as I do with the partners. I like the DM. There have been times when the SM has said to me contact the DM and let him know your feelings! This region does break down the stores so this DM does not cover all the stores, but for the ones I visit he is the DM. I also know being in Seattle you would get a different response than here.