CNN — Years ago, some people would spend hours at Starbucks. Today, it’s a takeout counter. At many Starbucks locations, you’re lucky to find anyone sitting down.
Under Howard Schultz, Starbucks’ longtime leader, cafes were positioned as a “third place” between work and home, where people could linger for hours on plush purple armchairs, socialize and connect.
“If you look at the landscape of retail and restaurants in America, there is such a fracturing of places where people meet,” Schultz said in a 1995 profile of Starbucks for an industry publication. “There’s nowhere for people to go. So we created a place where people can feel comfortable.”
The idea of Starbucks as a third place became part of its corporate mythology. Starbucks aimed to create a welcoming environment for coffee drinkers and employees with comfortable seating, jazz music and the aroma of freshly-brewed coffee. Employees who brewed and served Starbucks coffee, whom Starbucks called baristas, handwrote customers’ names on their drink orders.
By the time Michelle Eisen joined Starbucks in 2010 as an employee in Buffalo, New York, her store was always packed during the holidays with people meeting friends and family. She witnessed first dates and helped a customer’s propose to his spouse, writing “will you marry me?” on a cup.
“It was a cheerful, amazing thing to be part of it,” she said of working at Starbucks and forming close relationships with customers. “It’s why so many employees stayed for so long.”
Eisen has helped lead Starbucks Workers United, a group unionizing company stores.
But Starbucks’ business has transformed, and it has struggled to maintain its identity as that third place along the way.
Mobile ordering and drive-thru
Mobile app and drive-thru orders make up more than 70% of Starbucks’ sales at its approximately 9,500 company-operated stores in the United States … READ MORE.
Starbucks customers share their food poisoning nightmares
IWASPOISONED.COM, the crowd-sourced food poisoning site
Starbucks, West Poplar Avenue, Collierville, TN, USA, 1 day ago
A few times this week i’ve gotten a pink drink with matcha powder and cold foam. every time after drinking it i have had cramps and diarrhea. last night i was even vommiting from it. i think it is the strawberries as other people are complaining about the dragon fruit refresher that has them. | Symptoms: Nausea, Diarrhea, Vomiting, Stomach Pain, Cramps
Starbucks, Ramona Boulevard, Baldwin Park, CA, USA, 5 days ago
Drinked like 1/5 of the coffee and started feeling nauseous and vomited right after 15 minutes | Symptoms: Vomiting, Nausea
Starbucks, Buffalo Grove, IL, USA, 6 days ago
Suspected food poisoning. Symptoms: Diarrhea, Nausea, other: Slight bloated
Suspected source: Starbucks drink
Onset: 12 to 24 hours
Duration: 12 to 24 hours
Sick: Me | Symptoms: Diarrhea, Nausea
Starbucks, Fort Collins, CO, USA, 1 week ago
Suspected food poisoning. Symptoms: Diarrhea, Stomach Pain, other: Gas
Suspected source: Starbucks drink, acai strawberry
Onset: Less than 4 hours
Duration: 4 to 12 hours
Sick: Me | Symptoms: Diarrhea, Stomach Pain, Gas
Starbucks, Fifth Avenue, San Diego, CA, USA, 1 week ago
Suspected food poisoning. Symptoms: Stomach Pain, Cramps
Suspected source: Starbucks sandwich
Onset: Right away
Duration: Less than 4 hours
Sick: Me | Symptoms: Stomach Pain, Cramps
