Coffee shops are Hell
What is it with coffee shops (Starbucks, Costa and the like)? They seem not care about customers. They are understaffed so it takes a long time to get served. The same reason means that tables are not able to be cleaned. They allow customers to sit for ages thus taking space from customers with hot drinks and food. On busy days it is chaos. Something must be done.
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Interestingly, my elder daughter worked as an au pair in Italy for a while and said that any coffee outlet that served poor coffee or offered a poor service would close down in no time. Word got round and nobody would go there.
I avoid the likes of Starbucks and Costa unless there are no alternatives.
You are my go-to Ship person when it comes to that and insights into the catering and hospitality industries.
There may be limited good indepent coffee shops in your neck of the woods, Hugal, so seek them out. No use whingeing about the like of Costa and Starbucks, they obviously serve a purpose for them as are happy to drink crap coffee for a chance to park their arses for more than an hour.
I am lucky to live in a city where coffee is fantastic despite being such a tightarse as to brew my own before schlepping out to work.
But, I've never noticed any problems at Costa in regard to available seating, slow service or tables not being kept clean ... the biggest issue I have is their tendency to put coffee in paper cups even though they have proper reusable crockery sitting there to be used. Usually that's motorway service stations, the few times I'd go out for coffee near home I know where the local independent coffee shops are.
Happily there seems to be a trend for opening traditional tea shops around here who, if you want coffee, serve it in a small cafetiere.
As I am trying to eradicate hyper-processed foods from my diet, the last thing I would want is one of those pumpkin spiced or caramel chemical-filled concoctions.
Yeah, I think as far as coffee goes this is true (although that their decor tends towards being less well lit means they tend to be somewhat less clean inside).
Some local or small chain shops are learning from the big guys.
When the mood or occasion strikes I alway look for an independent coffee shop, and I do go without if Starbucks is the only option -- No Thank You. I do have a good quality burr grinder at home, and I make my own coffee nearly every weekday in a French press.
Declare your Coffee Independence, @Hugal!
We're blessed where I live with multiple independent coffee cafes within walking distance, and we buy our beans from the best of them, a place that roasts in small batches on the premises. When the pandemic made everything close, I bought a burr grinder and mastered pour over coffee. When we moved in together, my partner brought his Keurig, but it is now gathering dust in the garage.
The problems, at least in the US, aren’t quite what you’ve identified. The biggest problem is that Covid shifted all their business to drive-through and ordering on the app. Those means of ordering still take precedence over customers in the store who order at the counter; they haven’t figured out how to deal with the post-Covid realities. Customers who order at the counter end up waiting a long time for their orders, while they see drive-through and app orders filled quickly.
A second problem is that Starbucks created a culture or ordering exectly what you want, with all sorts of personal touches. Those take longer to prepare.
As for this—“They allow customers to sit for ages thus taking space from customers with hot drinks and food”—the complaint here is that they don’t have as much seating as they used to and they don’t encourage people to linger. The feedback they’ve gotten is that customers want coffee shops to be places where they can sit and linger and read or visit or work on their laptops. Customers don’t like that Starbucks, which used to encourage that, no longer does.
I never go to Starbucks; I always favor the local coffee shops. And every one that I know of encourages to customers to linger.
Originally from the UK, but then spread to areas with lots of British expats or - presumably - a promising market for coffee.
But also blessed with several very good independents nearby, a few that roast their own batches, a local roast supplier and the cafe that will serve up a toasted sandwich with a samosa inside to go along with your coffee.
There's one about to open a whole block from another one - I'd much rather the site had stayed the corner shop it was before.
Same here. So I don't use it. Luckily there are a couple of places close by that serve you at the table, have table cloths and little vases of flowers, use cups and saucers. They will bring filter coffee if that is what you want, or a pot of tea. Home made cakes too. All of it cheaper than the chains, and always busy with customers.
And don't get me started on what they charge for a cup of hot water and a teabag.
Some places will let you bring your own cup.
Instant is horrible. I'd not pay someone to make me that.
I get whole bean coffee at Trader Joe’s, myself. I don’t really go to Starbucks or other coffee shops except for when someone I’m with wants to go there. Next big power outage, though (we had two big hurricanes in Tampa Bay this year), I plan on taking the $50 laptop I got for just such a situation to one, so I can get work done. Maybe Panera. Or something independent if they’re OK with people with laptops working on stuff while having their coffee and snacks.
Do you mean that they specifically support illegal settlements, or is this based on them investing in Israeli companies in general?
TBH I nearly always drink tea anyway, so they could serve Foul Ole Ron's expectorations as coffee and I wouldn't notice.
Never, ever buy "coffee" from the shrine of the Golden Arches: weak as gnat's p*ss yet still tastes burnt/stewed 🤮
There was a coffee chain in the UK started by ex pat Americans from Seattle called The Seattle Coffee Company. They were good for a chain. Their logo was very imaginative with paper bags shaped like office blocks. They sold out to Starbucks.
Moby Dick is not a well read book over here, so the reference to it in the Starbucks logo and name is quite often missed.
Moby Dick isn’t well-read over here anymore either, and I’d forgotten that it was a reference to it in any way myself… and I’ve read the book!
When I think “Starbuck” without the S, I think of the character from the 1978 Battlestar Galactica…
"So say we all!" [just pretend the last season didn't happen]
Though it did give us the splendid Trivial Pursuit question "What is the biggest dick ever seen on film?".
I play cricket with an extremely distant relation of Herman Melville, and he agrees utterly with you.
Besides, the story of the dude rendering blubber down into oil while wearing a jacket made of the whale's penis skin gave me an unguessable entry in a game on the Ship long ago.
I’ve not seen it. It doesn’t seem like my thing so much. Not that I’m desperate to rewatch the original these days…
Same. I felt it's very much a book where you have to start with the appropriate expectations.
The Bad Jokes thread is in Heaven.