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I already wrote about how impressed I am with the Starbucks service. Well now I am increasingly convinced that the Starbucks in my town has found a way to have Bruegger’s hire every single person that fails the Starbucks interview…

Today, just like yesterday, and like about one in three or four times I go there, they ran out of plain bagels. It’s the same people managing the place for years - so it’s not like they are missing some history to develop a semi-predictable supply and demand process. Yesterday it also took me 10 minutes to pay - with only two people in front of me. All because they decided to argue with a little old lady that she could only use one coupon at a time. She wasn’t even trying to use two coupons on one item - she had two items and wanted to use a coupon for each item. And then there is the constant slowness in everything they do…I have waited 5 minutes to get served with 4 of them in the store and only one of me. They just happened to have been “assigned” to other tasks while the manager was out back.

It blows my mind that chains like that do not realize that their employees are the company/brand to me. If it weren’t for my son liking their bagels (plain), I would never go back to any of their stores…

Hire well - and train your people to use some common sense - it’s well worth it! In the retail business you cannot build a brand based on good quality products only. The product that I am buying is the whole buying experience.

Thankfully, after this frustrating buying experience, I crossed the hall to go buy my Starbucks coffee, and those guys instantaneously put a smile on my face.

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