Starbucks Coffee — Restaurant in England

Disappointing.

We today visited the Starbucks store on Clough Road in Hull and placed our regular order. Large Strawberry Acai with Lemonade and no Ice and a Flat white. An order I have placed at a number of stores across the north of the UK and never had any issues with.

Today, however, there was a pause, and the young man serving us stated, in relation to the Acai; "That will mean you only get half a cup." He went on to explain that they use set measurements, and without the ice we would only get half a cup. I politely challenged this, telling him that in other stores I have made this same request of 'no ice' and there has never been an issue. To which he replied, "Oh, well we don't do that here".

To say this is disappointing is not really a representation of the store itself but more of the greed we now accept on a daily basis in our society.

Remaining on topic though, we have all for many a long year now, accepted the huge profit margins made by such companies. Regularly, they now charge upwards of £5 for their cold drink selections, which 90% of the time are nothing more than poured from a carton, for which I could pay the same price, or more likely less, to purchase the whole carton at a supermarket. Alas, we accept this cost; for the convenience, the attractive environments the companies design and build for us to meet up in, and, least of all the skill of the barista when making more speciality drinks... Not however, I might highlight, of the cold drinks... poured from a carton.

To now be told that in this particular franchise, I would only be served half a cup for the full price, really highlighted to me how little value is placed on the customer over the profit margins. A quick Google search, which I will put little stock in to, suggests that Starbucks make on average £3.50-£4 per drink. Regardless, of it's accuracy, it's easy to believe that the margins will be in this ball park.

I understand, as much as anyone, that all businesses are opened to make money. That is not the point I am challenging here. I'm simply stating that in years gone by, while profits were undoubtedly still at the forefront of a business owners mind, service and customer satisfaction was held with equally high regard. Putting the information and facts from my visit to this franchise together and, you have to accept the sad conclusion; that this particular outlet now places more value on not "eating into" their already large profit margin and very little value in to customer satisfaction and retention over what I can make an educated guess would be equal to the value of around approximately 50-75p.

I don't expect this to change; as already eluded to, society already accepts this, but maybe it's about time that we all start to push back and aim for a rebalance of the value held in each, profit and service. Companies can still make profit AND provide great customer service. Starbucks Clough Road could still have made £5 profit (MEV) on my order today and retained a customer drawing back repeat business at a profit each time. The fact that they wouldn't sacrifice a small margin of their profit to do so, is......

Staff were friendly and the coffee was good. Was very surprised by the two people behind me, though: a middle aged couple who were arguing about whether or not something was too risky. The lady (a redhead) said to her partner (who was wearing a particularly garish shirt) that he sounded like a duck, which was a bit insulting. Then they talked about how someone they know found an unusual use for a telephone, and then they mused over the possibility of getting a day job. After that they waffled on about something else then gave each other a big kiss. After that, the man jumped up and shouted "EVERYBODY BE COOL. THIS IS A ROBBERY." His companion bounced upright too and shouted "ANY OF YOU ING * MOVE AND I'LL *** EVERY * ** LAST ONE OF YOU." It wasn't quite what I expected for a Tuesday morning.

Wait. No I'm doing it again. That was Pulp Fiction. My bad. Sorry, I'm getting I mixed up with Starbucks on Clough Road in Hull. No. Right. Right. Forget all that robbery stuff. You can ignore everything in this review except the first sentence. This place was just a quiet, regular coffee shop with nice drinks a...

Staff were pleasant enough, just about, but could benefit from a bit more training in customer service skills, for engaging customers in conversation as oppose to each other.

Despite the place being nearly empty at time of visiting it was hard to find a clear table, there were staff stood around doing nothing, so I don't understand why they weren't clearing tables.

Cake was disappointing, very dry. Hot chocolate was average, I expected more for the price. Also received a parking fine which made it a VERY expensive drink (£106), as a genuine customer with a legitimate reason to be parking there I'm obviously annoyed about this; new parking signs have gone up since my visit which are much clearer on timeframes so hopefully no-one else gets stung, but this doesn't help me. Also 90 mins max stay isn't very long if you're meeting friends for coffee and lunch.

I won't be going...