A Maniacal Focus on Customer Experience
“It’s turned into a transaction business that has very little interpersonal interaction and engagement.”
“If the worker feels less stressed, they are able to greet the customer,” she said. “That allows the…worker and the customer to have that connection.”
“The stores require a maniacal focus on the customer experience,” he said. The company needs to “focus on being experiential, not transactional.”
No, I’m not talking about the brewery that closed near you. I’m talking about current reasons Starbucks is struggling.
Howard Schultz, who spent years leading the company before stepping down in 2023, nailed it when he spoke about what’s needed. “A maniacal focus on the customer experience.” That phrase is just fun to say.
You can’t treat people like a transaction and expect them to grow an attachment to your company. You may be able to put out a ton of liquid (I feel like liquid is the right word in this case) across the bar, but you’re only succeeding with a small portion of the equation. It takes more than a great beverage; it’s about relationships.
Data backs this. There has been a near 200% increase in the spending gap between low and high engagement visits from 2017 to 2024. Guests don’t just want a quality drink, they want a top notch experience.
While our industry is based on beer, creating a memorable customer experience is vital. The title of the Starbucks-focused article is A major shift at Starbucks is changing its personality. This reminds me of a recent post in Craft Beer Professionals with the underlying thought, “has anyone considered down playing the ‘Brewery’ part and paying up how multi faceted you are in the hope that you’ll get more than just ‘beer’ people”?
Beer people are only a piece of the puzzle. It’s the multiple facets that create the full image. You don’t have to be just one thing. You don’t have to be just one thing.
Why are guests visiting your brewery? Get your team together and write down all the reasons. This exercise is about quantity over quality.
It may include everything from your beverage mix and food to your vibe and the friendliness of your team. Get granular. Don’t just include 'food,' but zero in on the one menu item that people crave the most. For your team, what is it about their interactions that stands out? Is it that some bartenders do a fantastic job of remembering guest names and interests? Or do they excel at guiding customers to the right drink?
We’ve seen data from the Brewers Association and Craft Beer Advisory Services on the success of hospitality-focused businesses. Bart Watson, vice president of strategy and chief economist at the Brewers Association, states, “With so much choice in beer and beverage, brewers need to consistently think about how their brands can meet what beer lovers and drinkers are looking for, both in terms of product offerings and business model.”
We have seen a significant change in the ordering experience across taprooms, especially since the pandemic. For an industry that once had an 'order at the bar' kind of vibe, we have seen everything emerge from strictly QR code ordering to a restaurant-style model. How does your service model impact engagement and the customer experience? And no matter what your model is, how can you maximize it for the guest?
Nearly 30 years ago, Schultz said in profile of Starbucks for an industry publication, “If you look at the landscape of retail and restaurants in America, there is such a fracturing of places where people meet. There’s nowhere for people to go. So we created a place where people can feel comfortable.”
Little touches like writing guests’ names on coffee cups helped build Starbucks’ status as a third place. However, as referenced in the base article, Starbucks has transitioned from that legendary space to 'a transaction business that has very little interpersonal interaction and engagement.' This quote by Tom Cook, a principal at restaurant consultancy King-Casey who has worked with Starbucks, sums up the uphill battle they face, and overall, the decision many food and beverage businesses are facing: Who are we? What does it take to survive?
You’re no longer in the beer business. For most of us, if your mentality is still just 'sell more beer,' then you’re falling behind. If you shift to a growth mindset focused on discovering your next differentiator, which may be experiential, you could have a chance to buck the trends and stand out. Be maniacal.