Former Starbucks Employee 4 Secrets Since Quitting

*This article is a repost of an article published on November 25, 2018.

• Starbucks’s operations have varied considerably, from “fire drill” cleanups by outside companies to rumors about misspelling the name of the cup.
• We heard behind the scenes from several former Starbucks employees.
• After working as a barista for two and a half years, Jonathan Diener removed his green apron and left the Grand Blanc, Michigan store.

On September 6th, the drummer and touring musician finished his last shift of work that gave him a moment of stability.

By then, Diener was one of about 277,000 employees working for the giant coffee chain, valued at $79 billion. So, like many former employees, he knew a secret about the company.

We recently heard from Diener and other former Starbucks employees four secrets they never shared while working at Starbucks.

1. You can say “medium”

The size names derived from Italian words, Tall (12 ounces), Grande (16 ounces), Venti (24 ounces), and Trenta (31 ounces) are synonymous with Starbucks. But Starbucks employees don’t mind if you order your Frappuccino “small,” “medium,” or “large.”

“It’s no exaggeration to say that 90% of customers are intimidated or confused by size names and don’t tell them their size, so employees have to ask for their size,” Diener said.

“Baristas don’t care if you say old-fashioned size names.”

2. Food waste remains a problem

Food waste is nothing new to the industry. And it’s not that Starbucks doesn’t care.

The company announced in early 2018 that it had donated unsold food to food banks, serving 10 million people through its FoodShare program. Plans to donate 50 million meals a year by 2020.

A company spokesperson said, “Since its launch in 2016, our FoodShare program has donated more than 10 million meals. In addition, many stores have partnered with local food banks to donate food. We are,” he told Business Insider.

But Alex Court, who worked as a barista for five years, said his Massachusetts location still had problems, even though it was part of a foodshare.

“We scrapped over 100 sandwiches a week to make sure we never sold out,” he said.

“Sales were more important than waste issues, which is probably why many managers over-ordered.”

3. External company maintains cleanliness of store like “fire drill”

“Surprisingly, Starbucks was cleaned by an outside company, so we always had a clean environment to work in,” said Julia Arvenleep, who worked at a store in South Florida.

A shift manager who currently works at a store in New England, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Starbucks is extremely strict about cleanliness.

Starbucks owns a food safety and public health company, EcoSure, which conducts surprise inspections in various locations.

“Every inspection is like a fire drill,” the shift manager said.

“I’ve never seen an insect,” says Avenleap.

“We keep our backyard as clean as our store front.”

Being clean is good. Because, according to the shift manager, the manager’s job and bonuses depend on the spot check score.

“We take great pride in creating a warm and inviting environment where our customers and partners can come together and connect,” a company spokesperson told Business Insider (the company refers to its employees as partners. ).

“As part of that, we have processes in place to keep our stores clean, and our partners have procedures in place to quickly address any issues that arise.”

4. The misspelling of the name is unintentional

“It’s not a PR tactic,” Diener said of the misspelling of the cup’s name.

In 2016, one YouTube channel questioned whether the misspelling was for social media attention. But Diner denied it.

“Starbucks partners are serving customers in line or dealing with complaints. They don’t have time to check the spelling of names. Or English isn’t their native language. But they’re doing their best.”

Diener was having an iced espresso at a Starbucks inside the Chicago airport when he was being interviewed by us. His name written on the cup was “Jonh”.

If you want your name spelled correctly, order it on the app.

[Original: 4 things former Starbucks employees would never tell you while working there]

(Translated by Makiko Sato, edited by Takayuki Masuda)