Dr. Joseph Michelli is a famous author, known for the books the Starbucks Experience and his most recent book, Leading the Starbucks Way. He writes about organizational excellence, and has authored a total of five books.
His most recent publication is Leading the Starbucks Way, which talks about five principles for connecting with customers, products, and people. The five principles are as follows:
- Savor and Elevate
- Love to be Loved
- Reach for Common Ground,
- Mobilize the Connection
- Cherish and Challenge Your Legacy
Throughout the book, there are short stories to illustrate how Starbucks has developed consistency in the experience, and grown it attachment with customers beyond the brick and mortar stores. The short stories illustrate the five principles.
One of my favorite stories in the book was about the development of the shaken iced tea. It seems like such a simple thing – shake tea with lemonade in tea shakers – but a great deal of thought went into making sure that the iced tea experience would be consistent time after time. Joseph Michelli interviewed Kevin Petrisko, a 16-year Starbucks partner, who worked in product development developing the iced tea beverages. (I also liked this story because I’ve met Kevin Petrisko several times – he is a still a Starbucks partner, though now working with the development and growth of Evolution Fresh).
First, Kevin tells about the importance of the consistency of the beverage no matter where the customer is. “From the consumer side of trust, they [customers] want to know they’ll get the same beverage if they go to Starbucks in San Antonio, Honolulu, or Paris.” The book continues:
According to Kevin, “We had iced tea at Starbucks, but it really wasn’t a finished, handcrafted product like a beautiful latte. In previous versions, we poured tea from a pitcher directly into a cup, and its presentation was rather ordinary. So the original goal was to combine tea with juice or lemonade to see if we could create something very different and explore if we could also provide a more enriched experience in the process.” In order to deliver the shaken tea product, implementation teams had to design a shaker, establish the optimal build process, and establish training tools for the ease of product introduction in the stores.
Kevin notes, “As we tested the product, we were hearing from customers about noticeable variation. We’d given the partner tea shakers and said, ‘Mix the tea with the lemonade, add syrups as appropriate to the recipe, and shake the blend for 10 seconds. You will then pop the lid off the shaker and the pour the hand-shaken drink in the cup; It’s going to be a beautiful beverage.”
According to Kevin, an unsuspected issue emerged through the evaluative process, “What we learned was that the inconsistencies came from our partners not knowing how to shake the beverage,” he explains. “It sounds kind of silly, but 10 seconds allows for considerable variability, as some partners were shaking it for closer to 20 seconds and others for 5 seconds. As it turns out, that time difference in shaking made a big difference how the beverage tasted. So we changed the protocol so that partners are to shake the tea 10 times. As you result, now you walk into our stores and you can still see partners shaking tea (and counting to themselves 1 through 10). That adjustment has made a big difference in product consistency.”
I almost never do any kind of book recommendations or book reviews on this blog, but I do want to recommend Leading the Starbucks Way and/or the Starbucks Experience by Dr. Joseph Michelli. You’ve gotten just a tiny taste of the interesting stories in the book which tie in to the way that Starbucks leads. If by chance you’re going to order these books, please consider using the Amazon.com widget in the right-side column of this blog. Scroll down to the bottom of the right-side column.
I think I have to tell you that the publisher of this book sent me a free copy. It didn’t influence this review. I had bought the first book, The Starbucks Experience, and would have definitely bought this book if it hadn’t been sent directly to me.
The official Joseph Michelli webpage is here. And if you want to follow him on Twitter, here is his profile. Hope I’ve given you food for thought for some good reading material.
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Reading it now. Great info. Thank you.
Melody the story you shared about the iced tea is very interesting to me as I am an iced tea lover all seasons! However, I am not an iced tea shaken lover rather quite the opposite. I do have to say though as I have said before, partners often want to insist on making my iced tea with this recipe because they feel that is the only way to enjoy the tea. I disagree and I think there is a breakdown of some of the principles described by this author. I think there is room for both ways of making the iced tea.
@Purple1 – I think one cornerstone of Starbucks is that people can customize their drinks. They can order 135 degree lattes. They can ask for less or more syrups. And, truthfully we’re all paying a premium for that important customization ability because the profit margins of beverages build in the idea that people may ask for all kinds of things in their drink.
But the drink standards are built around the idea that ‘this is the way the lion’s share of Starbucks customer will really like this drink.’ And, you should always be able to get your iced tea, the way you want it. All I can say is if a partner things that their judgment of you should enjoy your drink interferes with that, you should either reach out to a DM or to customer service, I always genuinely want customers to get the drink that they want – even as just a customer, I understand the importance of that idea.
Melody I understand what you are saying and agree that there are many variations of the SB drinks that a customer can ask for and usually gets- I see it all the time. I also know that is one of the nice things about SB. I have spoken to SM on the store level about making the iced tea the way I like it and for the two local stores I frequent the most I really cannot complain. Almost all the partners know me so well that I do not have to explain how I like it. The difference usually occurs when I am meeting a new partner or at an unknown location. I guess what bothers me is the partner’s attitude that I am wrong and how can I enjoy my tea that way? The bottom line is that I will only take it the way I ask even if it means they have to make it again!
Melody, great review.
One unrelated question. Is the 3 for 2 bean store special coming back this month or next?
Thanks!
The book looks interesting to read… As a partner thanks for the 10 sec shaken tea reminder, I never knew the taste quality changed from more or less time. In the hustle and bustle of things it can be hard to strive for consistent drink standards but that is something to continually work on. 😉
Thanks for the recommendation! As you may have noticed, I picked up a copy for myself about a week ago. Absolutely fantastic read. It’s a great resources for current partners, like myself.
@James- I’m only a 4 month old partner, and I count every 10 for a shaken iced tea (not trying to boast), but when other partners don’t count high or low enough, I remind them of the flavor quality due to more or less time. It’s so cool, that such a technique exists.