Sophie's Choice

Ok. I don't know if her name is Sophie. But the local Starbucks store put her in a position where she had to make a painful choice between customers. Which customer was she going to serve? Which customer was she going to ignore? Or was she going to sacrifice them all?

Here's the setting. It's a standalone Starbucks store in/around an upscale shopping area. It's morning. We drive up, the drive-through lane's empty and decide to park and go in the store. There's only one customer inside. The location makes it doubtful that people would hang there. As we discovered, their staffing priorities made it...very doubtful that any would return.

My wife and I waited patiently  at the counter. Both employees were busy: one taking orders on her headset; one filling the orders.

Then we realized none were speaking to the customers in the store. Not even at the cash register where you'd order if there'd been a 3rd employee, one to speak to the instore customers.

After looking around for a few minutes, it became clear. They weren't going to talk to us. The one filling the orders was very busy filling the orders. The one serving the drive-through line was very busy making them happy.

Honestly, I don't blame them. They didn't have time. It wasn't their fault. Their management prioritized the customers who weren't coming into the store. Why? Because those were the most loyal, the most likely to tell their friends and neighbors and co-workers how they get their morning Starbucks in a couple of minutes in the drive-through window. They were those who worked at other businesses in the area. These were their most loyal customers. Their WOM was most important. Theirs and the short line at the Drive-through window. The drive-through window is the source for WOM, not the instore customers.

I understood their choices. They could only make the most important customers happy. Their resources didn't include those to make anyone else happy.  Their happiness depended on making this customer group happy: the repeat customers, the most loyal customers, the ones who have the greatest chance of building their local and repeat customers. The store was focused on making this group of customers happy. That was the store's choice.

I only wish we'd made the choice of using the drive-through lane...