Starbucks Happy Hour?
A friend passed along this article from AdAge, "Forget the Cut TV Critters, Starbucks Needs a Happy Hour." I previously was of the notion that Starbucks was above having to have a happy hour, but with their stock performance as of late, it may be time to reconsider.
Some Seattle natives may remember when Tully’s in their continue quest to find something, anything, that will help lure customers away from Starbucks had the 3:21 special. It was a promotion that would give you between 33% and 50% off of your drink between 3:21 and 3:51. I loved the promotion, and in turn became a big fan of the Tully’s Espresso Oreo Shake (still highly recommended), however I felt it was a gimmick. I also felt that it was to early in the day to add new customers and what it was in fact doing was cutting into their margins during a time in the day where people are needing a quick pick me up from the after lunch lull. Their thinking, I take it, was to get people in the mind set that you do in fact need that afternoon coffee everyday. It did help engrain that thinking, but once they stopped the offer, I returned to Starbucks for my coffee needs.
A happy hour though in its most true sense could really drive additional business into Starbucks. Imagine a happy hour from 5pm until 6:30. You aren’t cannibalizing the post dinner group and you aren’t cutting into the margins on the afternoon coffee break from work crowd. If you implemented a more open atmosphere with the Baristas (some would shine, others would not) where the Baristas could become more like your local bartenders and the patrons could find a new place to interact after work. I go to happy hours fairly frequently and usually more than the food or the drink the place is decided upon based on price, atmosphere, and location. Starbucks has the locations (any location) down, and if they were to offer happy hour prices and a more open barista atmosphere along with different music there would be the other two deciding factors.
Howard Schultz founded Starbucks after a trip to Italy where he saw how much people were interacting in the cafes there. This could rejuvenate the cafe environment in the US as well as increase profits for Starbucks. In my opinion, after the lackluster performance and the many competitors who cannot offer the atmosphere that Starbucks can, it is now time to create the new Starbucks Happy Hour.
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Comments
As I was reading the AdAge article (before I sent it to you), I was thinking about the current “Starbucks experience” that customers get. This is part atmosphere, part interaction, part perception. While I have views of many different Starbucks in Oregon and Georgia, I also have the perspective of working at Starbucks where I rock the opening shift part-time.
While I have not been to Italy, I know what the vibe and feel is of coffee joints in Salamanca, Spain, which is a young and hip college town that bustles with thousands of foreign visitors in the summer. The feel that I get at any Starbucks stateside is a far cry from the experience I had in Spain. However, culture, service (and service expectations), and customer mentality play huge part in the differences, which will never be felt at a mainstream / corporate shop here in the US, which Starbucks is now.
Since I am neither an original coffee hipster nor part of the original Starbucks tour, I do not know what Starbucks used to be like. That being said, I can only imagine that Starbucks shops and the idea from which they started used to be much more down-to-earth / simple / organic (although not granola and grunge) and anything but corporate (in look, taste, touch, feeling) - offering a meaningful vibe, more bar-like baristas (think small, local shop or bar offering more insight, tips, knowledge), more coffee interested people (as opposed to people who visit and want to be part of Starbucks because it is “Starbucks”), and a more local coffee joint scene. From what I have seen stateside and at my local store, that is not the case at Starbuks anymore…it is actually as far from this initial and desired feel as Starbucks’ headquarters is from its origins in that small, Italian café.
The question essentially posed by the AdAge article is “what can Starbucks do to return its sensory feelings to what it wants to be,” which would in turn help turn-around its struggling stock price and grow its business via new customers, former customers, and coffee people.
As the article and Otis stated, the new ad campaign is anything but helpful to improving business and resurrecting the stock price. Neither birds nor dogs pass cheer, and, especially during the holidays, we are not looking for cheer in a cup of coffee (a non-alcoholic cup of java for those Blitzen types), which the current slogan suggests - whether or not it intends to do so. Having something gimmicky (as executed by Tully’s 3:21 effort) would not work either as Otis states.
Would a happy hour be the answer? Well, from what I see, the feel, smell, local-ness, smallness, comfort, and feel is lacking and being taken out by the gross corporate creep – specifically as seen by the retail / music / book / trinket / non-coffee shop sales space (probably profitable or they would not remain) that occupies as much space as the seating in some Starbucks. Therefore, the happy hour event would lack that same “come on in and chill for a little bit while having a couple of or a few drinks with some friends.” After passing by the lack of home / locally made pastries that sit atop the pre-packaged food case that hosts glass bottled Frappuchinnos(?), prepackaged pastas, salads, and lunch sandwiches, I am not sure that I really want to go back through the line. And my barista is not likely to refill my drink as I am finishing off my first or second cup of “cheer” that I cannot smell because of the super charged oven that is reheating already cooked sandwiches from a land far, far away. As stated earlier, all of this takes away from the “let’s sit and chill” feel, the welcoming environs, and the casual space that has become less coffee shop and more retail space. That is the difference in what was intended / what possibly was and what is at Starbucks.
A lousy ad campaign is not going to make Starbucks more desirable. Gimmicks are not going to make business boom for the long-term. A happy hour is not going to change Starbucks’ atmosphere. As it stands right now, great change is needed to propel Starbucks into the future, and that change is going to back to what it used to be. Therefore, more sitting space with a coffee retail option is where it should start while baristas are trained better. Starbucks is currently fast food in the form of coffee and not anything like a quaint Italian café. Maybe Howard Schultz needs to return to Italy for some research and review because his brilliant idea has, with time and corporate growth, become everything that he did not want it to become. To make progress, we must often times take a few steps back.
This comment become a bit lengthier than I thought it would be, and it took some turns along the way, as I did not intent for it to come out as it did. However, it turned out to be what I want to say. If you made it to the end with me, thank you. If you skipped to the end, then take the time to read all the thoughts and share your own as you will be surprised to find what you really think.
I went to the local Starbuck’s last nigght (to get a gift card for a friend) and I was thinking of the “happy hour” discusstion…. I agree with what TD had to say … there was no room for a happy hour … the Christmas hype was crowding the isles …..
I was also thinking because of the nature of coffee; that a “happy hour” would work better at 6am instead of 6pm.
This just in… There is one Starbucks in Houston actually doing a happy hour. I know this to be true, because I work at it. In the Northwest Part of Houston, in the Willowbrook area Starbucks has Happy Hour between 5pm-7pm EVERYDAY (yes Sat and Sun, too). All Frappuccinos are 50% off!
Address 7606 FM 1960W Houston TX 77070
Phone 281-897-9912
[...] Starbucks store very far from Seattle has taken Otis Kimzey’s advice. In December of last year Otis wrote about how Starbucks should have happy hour from 5:00pm to [...]
As per the pingback above, Kari, Amber and Phillip and I checked it out, and it’s very real. Kyle, why’d they freak out when I asked for you, are you the mgr or something?
I hope The Mother Ship tunes in and clues in! I want this in more stores, only maybe they can offer free short drip coffees instead of 1/2 price frapps.
[...] on December 12 of last year I wrote a piece in response to an Ad Age article that was sent to me by faithful commenter TD. As I [...]
I think you are on to something, Otis.