Starbucks vs. Second Cup. Intimidation and Just Wrong.

I had always been intimidated by the upscale coffee shops. I never know what to order! The few people in line ahead of me would order a fourteen-syllable latte, and I would get to the front of the line, confused as to what was what (Tall, Grane, Venti? what happened to Small Medium and Large?), and always conceded to a Hot Chcolate (can’t go wrong with that), or a bottled drink from the display case. But not more, I have a drink of choice!

Mr. William Durocher, with all his coffee wisdom, introduced me to the Triple-Grande-Non-Fat-No-Whip-Peppermint-Mocha, a super-excellent drink from Starbucks. The downside to this wonderful cup, is the $5 price tag. Disecting this drink yields

• Triple - 3 shots of Expresso.
• Grande - the size (effectively a medium). Grande comes with 2 shots of Expresso, so the Triple only adds 1.
• Non-fat - they will use skim milk instead of 2%. This affects the taste and makes it feel less creamy.
• No-whip - No whipped cream. If you’re on the go, it’s difficult to put the cap in with the whipped cream. This is a personal choice. (Although, if you have the whipped cream, that’s a place where you can sprinkle on chcolate powder for added goodness).
• Peppermint - Mmm, peppermint. That’s the secret to this drink. The core component.
• Mocha - The base drink for this concotion.

Now, onto my comparison of Starbucks and Second Cup:

I had gotten this drink a couple times at Starbucks, and it was made right all but one time, where they added the whipped cream. But that’s no big deal. Last Monday I met Simon and Laura at a local Second Cup. Two things bothered me: the customer service, and the drink. The company was great.

I should say that in my dealings with William Durocher, of Customers Come 1st, a Waterloo-based customer service training company, I have learned a lot about how customers should be treated, both retail and otherwise.

Customers should be greeted when they enter the store. We were certainly greeted at Second Cup. The yound lady behind the counter looked at us, said “Just shut the fuck up then… Hi there”. She was on the telephone with what I assume was her boyfriend or some other argument-inducing agent. Myself, having not been in a Second Cup for a long time, and not seeing “Peppermint Mocha” on the menu, needed a second to figure out what I wanted. I told the female attendent that I needed a moment. A second later, the male attendent looked up from the counter and asked what I wanted. They lacked communication - don’t hassle a customer. Then feeling uncomfortable, I asked if they could put together a peppermint mocha. The male attendent just looked at me and said “Nope, we don’t have that.” A second later, the female (in a display of good problem-solving skills), put down the phone for a second and said, “Well, we can just put a shot of peppermint into a mocha for you.” The male attendent then agreed “yes, we can do that for you”. I replied with a “That sounds excellent, make it a Grande please”.

Five dollars later, I pick up my drink. When Simon got his drink, the female attendant on the phone said “now then, why don’t you go to hell”. A little weird to hear that when you pick up your drink, isn’t it? She was still on the phone, arguing with whomever.

On top of that, the drink wasnt’t even that good. Nowhere as good as Starbucks’ triple-grande-non-fat-no-whip-peppermint-mocha. It was only good when I got down to the bottom, where the peppermint had collected (did they not mix it well?), and it tasted like candy.

If I wanted peppermint candy… well, then I wouldn’t pay $5 at Second Cup for it.

Starbucks wins. Both in service, quality, and flexibility. I’ve since referred 3 people to Starbucks who usually don’t head for the $5 coffees. That’s 3 more customers for Starbucks because I’ve had a good experience, and who knows how many lost customers for Second Cup after that debacle. Keep it up Starbucks.

Even as I write this, the Second Cup website gives me this:
Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server error ‘80004005′
[DBNETLIB][ConnectionOpen (Connect()).]SQL Server does not exist or access denied.
/includes/database.asp, line 16
… duh. oops.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 13th, 2005 at 7:08 pm and is filed under Friends, Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.