I am a confirmed Starbucks addict. Because the burnt flavor of their beans titillates my taste buds in just the right way, at 5am every morning I walk to my neighborhood Starbucks and kick start my day with a whole milk grande latte, no foam, extra shot. Makes my mouth water just to think about it! This morning, as the barista was preparing my latte, I noticed that instead of the shots of expresso from the expresso machine pouring directly into shot glasses, the coffee was going directly into the cardboard drinking cup. When I asked the barista where the shot glasses were he responded that Starbucks had determined the coffee residue – called “crema”- that remained in the shot glass after the shots of expresso were poured from the shot glass into the drinking cup should go into the drinking cup since it gives the coffee a sweeter, fuller taste. In other words, it will increase the quality of the product and it will also save up to five seconds of time for each drink made (I looked that up).
As I left Starbucks I was thinking “What a great example of the Japanese philosophy of kaizen!” Kaizen (continuous improvement), made famous by Toyota (read The Toyota Way), is the daily activity of examining standardized work processes and eliminating waste and leads to continual improvements in productivity and quality. Starbucks was founded in 1971 and 37 years later this very successful company is still engaged in making small changes to its products and operation that improves the product and service.
Can you say the same about your company? Are you and your employees engaged in a daily quest to improve your department or operation? Or are you satisfied with doing things the way they have always been done because that’s the easy way, without thinking about whether there is a better way?
The Bottom Line is you and your Employees need to be continually engaged in C.O.P.I. – Continuous Operational Performance Improvement – to improve the Company’s products, services and business operations at all levels.
Why? Because in the WorkQuake© of the Knowledge Economy success is never final! And isn’t continually making the Company better really your job?
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Recent Comments | 2 Total
October 23, 2008 at 3:11pm by Kristen Zatina
GREAT BLOG! Ironically, I just wrote a similar one myself on Starbucks' recent menu addition of "The Perfect Oatmeal" and how their service of this product aligned with the original Starbucks service that took it from small coffee shop to eatery empire. Then, just like you, the blog asks how our businesses can learn from Starbucks' example and continually aspire to modify service for better results. Please read on if you're interested:
"Sowing Your Wild Oats"
Surpassing reduced-calorie coffee cake to become the number one food item throughout the entire company-wide chain, OATMEAL has become Starbucks’ most successful food launch of all time.
Now the analysts are asking WHY? It’s not that cold yet outside. It costs about 25% more than most other choices in the big, glass case. And well, it’s oatmeal for Pete’s sake! The descendent of grandma’s porridge! A food synonymous with an old man topped with fluffy white hair and a colonial hat!
Maybe it was the genius title that emerged from a Seattle-based brainstorm: “The Perfect Oatmeal” leaves little room to contest quality. Or is it the 1.5 million free coupons that Starbucks sent out to its rewards-program members? Or the frequently flashed fact that oatmeal lowers cholesterol? The packaging is trendy? Are oats 100% recyclable? Perhaps customers are just too intimidated by the word “piadini” to attempt pronouncing that instead during the breakfast rush?
Or is it something as simple as service?
YOU don’t just want oatmeal. YOU want it with brown sugar, nuts, dried fruit toppings or a combination. Three minutes of seeping later, YOUR oatmeal is fully prepared, ready for YOU to enjoy. It’s exactly like ordering the original coffee beverages that propelled Starbucks’ initial growth. It wasn’t a complicated idea. YOU order YOUR latte decaf, skim, not too hot, with an extra shot… The baristas are at YOUR command and while YOU are in control, YOU don’t have to do a thing except literally taste the fruits of YOUR hard earned money.
As businesses are fighting to keep clients and win new customers in these trying economic times, what kind of over-servicing will convince them that your same ol’ offering is more valuable than ever? How will you put your oatmeal at the top of their shelf?
(Inspired by “Starbucks’ Surprise Success: Oatmeal.” By Emily Bryson York. Advertising Age. 13 October 2008.)
- Kristen Zatina
www.entrequest.com
October 28, 2008 at 5:57pm by Chad Turnbull
To those of us in the coffee business there is a bit of irony in praising Starbucks for Kaizen. They continue to work on incremental improvements in their process while forgoing the basic building block of good coffee: the bean. In that aspect they’ve let their product deteriorate. It is the concept of Kaizen that has caused a few of us to strive to continually improve the roasted coffee bean itself. It would be easy to look at the dominance of Starbucks and give up trying, but we are convinced that there is a better way. Though Storyville Coffee is shamelessly my favorite (I work for the company), there are a couple other inspiring coffee companies I’d encourage you to check out: Intelligentsia and Espresso Vivace. It is there that you’ll find true Kaizen in the coffee industry.