[sp1nningaway]

My information may be out of date because I worked at Starbucks a looong time ago (Frappuccinos were just introduced!), but they absolutely DO make each task measurable, independent and transparent, which is why a well-run Starbucks is way more efficient than almost any local coffee shop I've ever been to.

During a rush, each drink has a discrete series of tasks to be completed, and each worker can do their part without knowing anything about the rest. Take the order, print the receipt, hand it off to the barista, the barista makes each drink one at a time and puts it on the counter.

No head cache, no wait states. The bottleneck is definitely dependent on the barista steaming the right milk ahead of time and pulling the correct number/type of shots, but even a "bad" barista has a pretty straightforward set of tasks.

Unfortunate that the meat of the article is behind a paywall, because the way it is looking at Starbucks resonates with how I (fondly) remember it. I'm not a logistics person, so maybe I'm missing the point you are making!

[The_President]

"Long ago" (Chantico-era anyone), Starbucks crews used to write on the cups with a standardized format which enabled calling the line. Actively soliciting the line ("calling the line") was extremely useful for knocking out a line extending out the door. Creating a computer label system may have knocked down shrink from free drinks (friends, cops, other baristas), but neutered the staffs ability to call the line. Now, in a busy Starbucks, it's more likely you won't be asked for what drink until you're at the register to pay.

Aside from the customer waiting longer for their drink, this also impacted a skilled barista's ability to combine batches of milk across multiple drinks, etc.

Recently I walked out of a Starbucks because the staff were waiting on the customer before me to "run and get their payment," while I waited to order a drip coffee that I had cash+tip in my hand for. "We'll be with you in a second."

[calmbonsai]

Wow. Thank you. That's a wonderful story and jives both with my lived experience as well as that key missing piece of "head-cache" transparency in the system.

I also just realized they use this method at one of our local coffee-shops (Boxcar https://boulderdowntown.com/go/boxcar-coffee-roasters ).

It's a shame they've decided it wasn't worth the additional training-hours and shrinkage to continue the practice.

[sp1nningaway]

Oh my god! It has been a long time since I've thought of being sprayed by viscous 200 degree chocolate magma.

Interesting thought about the printed receipts. I found line-calling only being efficient for the hour of morning rush with 60+ customers/hour, and I've never actually seen it effectively used outside my own store which was incredibly well-run. So maybe assumed they stopped doing it because it was too hard to do well.

[calmbonsai]

The specific "transparency" I was commenting on was mid-drink preparation which can not be handed-off in any sort of scalable automated fashion (and that's OK).

Having worked a warehouse job as a teen and done data science consulting for a global restaurant chain, I'm certain Starbucks has done time*motion studies and concluded that the system is "good enough" given the huge variety of floor-plans and other physical plant limitations they need to operate in.

It's also worth pointing out that they recently greatly simplified their menu to improve service speed variance, throughput, and (in theory) quality.

There are absolutely tons of unavoidable wait-states (espresso group-heads, drip coffee filter changes, etc.) in the system that can't be overcome with automation at any sort of economic scale (and that's also OK).

Starbucks once tried replacing some of that with higher-margin single-serving automation (remember the Clover https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_Equipment_Company and it totally failed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfNoNTjcRbE ).