Starbucks Store Mystery

Xu Lijuan, 30, and her team are greeting guests who come in and out. Xu is the store manager of Starbucks bridge in Shanghai.

The guests of the Bi Yun international community are from all over the world. They may have had Starbucks coffee experience anywhere else in Europe, Australia or anywhere else in the world.

For Xu Lijuan and her partners, the challenge is to make coffee that matches the tastes of other regional stores.

In a sense, customer entry into Starbucks consumption is based on its "feasibility" - Starbucks.

In fact, this request was made 20 years ago by Starbucks.

Starbucks was founded in 1971 and was set up to monopolize coffee beans after its establishment. In 1987, Howard, Schultz, a former executive of Starbucks, bought $3 million 800 thousand for Starbucks, combined with his "Daily" coffee. In 1990, Starbucks stores exceeded 100; 1991 was listed in the United States, and now Starbucks has opened 1.7 000 stores in more than 50 countries.

According to Starbucks's requirements, every shop has to provide the same flavor of coffee, warm smile and shared values, like any other 1.7 stores.

To make the Shanghai Bi Yun store, even any one of the Starbucks stores in the prefecture level and Seattle Parker's coffee quality and service, rely on a strong organizational capability - based on the Starbucks value and management system, the product quality, service standards into the heart of every Starbucks people.

The biggest challenge of chain retail and service industry is to effectively control and support expanding stores and maintain consistency between quality and service. The crux of most of China's chain business failure cases lies in this.

How did Starbucks do it?

360 degree Store Manager

We interviewed three shopkeeper of Starbucks in Shanghai, China: Xu Lijuan of Jinqiao Bi Yun store, Xu Weiyu of Binjiang Avenue store in Pudong, and Wang Chengxue of Changle Road red house.

They are all employees of Starbucks's Starbucks joint venture in East China.

Although employers are different, they maintain the consistency of Starbucks culture. The only difference is that the employees of Starbucks do not enjoy the "bean stocks" of Starbucks employees, but the overall salary is not lower than that of Direct stores.

Starbucks has always emphasized that its business is based on relationships. Therefore, we take the store manager as the core and expand its 360 degree network to understand how Starbucks's values, culture, system, product quality and service standards extend from Seattle to stores, and eventually pass them to customers.

This path can also be used in a store in Russia, South America or Western Asia.

Manager's "relationship network"

- partners.

All employees of Starbucks are partners, and the partners of the store include barista, shift supervisor and assistant manager. The store manager, duty manager and shop assistant manager form the management group of the store.

The management group meets 2 times a week to communicate on operational issues.

Store Manager 80% is responsible for communicating with partners to organize store operations.

District Manager.

The district manager manages 6~8 stores. The daily work is to keep checking and checking the stores, understand the operation status of the stores, and check the material usage and finance.

20% of the manager's time is to communicate with the district manager.

For the problems encountered by the stores, the district managers will analyze the reasons with the store manager, formulate action plans, and track the results of improvement.

For example, if too much milk is used, it means that stores may generate waste; if the usage is below average, then the salesperson may Jerry the work.

District managers must make corrections to such problems as stores.

If there is an emergency in the store, the manager is the first district manager to ask for help.

The district manager is promoted from the Senior Shop Manager and is the mentor of the store manager.

Regional manager.

A regional manager of Starbucks manages 10 or so district managers, who manage as many as 80~100 stores. The superior manager of the regional manager is the director of operations in China. The regional manager can visit all the stores in about a year.

The company's operation Department.

Finance, auditing, human resources and other departments will visit the shop, mainly to communicate and understand the specific business, and the operation Department will also convene the meeting of the store manager.

- Open Forum.

One of the jobs of Starbucks headquarters executives to China, or from Starbucks China executives to mainland cities, outside the inspection shop is to organize open forum, similar to the "forum" of Chinese enterprises.

An open forum can be an invitation system or an application by a staff member, who is often the focus of being invited.

Help helpline.

The hotline is an important way of communication between store manager and company support system.

The manager reflects the management problems and does not necessarily report upward to the district managers.

For example, recently, a customer complained to Wang Chengxue that the fruit block sold by Starbucks was excellent and the taste was very poor. Starbucks Shanghai made the shelves on the same day.

Outside the management chain, store managers must also communicate with the outside world:

Customer.

Xu Lijuan has to complete at least 3 day shifts and 3 nights' bar work every month, so there is enough time to listen to the customers' voices.

The store manager will often chat with familiar customers and listen to their opinions.

Outsourced suppliers.

Including logistics, equipment maintenance and other businesses, Starbucks chose service outsourcing, the supply of cake desserts also used local suppliers, and the interaction between stores and suppliers was close, but the settlement was supported by the support department.

The culture of servant communication and interactive communication is the lubricant of Starbucks stores.

On the management chain of Starbucks, the store manager is in the middle of the management chain of the whole retail system.

Moreover, because district managers and regional managers have no independent management team and no assistant managers, the intermediate links have been greatly reduced to avoid bureaucracy.

At the same time, apart from the newly opened store manager, most of the shop managers were promoted from the assistant manager, the district manager promoted from the senior manager, and the regional manager improved from the excellent district manager.

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On the other hand, Starbucks advocates servant leadership, requiring managers to be friendly to their partners, to support and experience their work, and to maintain smooth communication with their partners.

If managers do not practice "servant leadership" but "command leadership", other partners can feedback to district managers or regional managers.

Starbucks Shanghai once had a very strong store manager because of its excellent location, outstanding performance, neglect of communication with employees, and more emphasis on the management of stores through orders. The result was a complaint to a superior manager by a partner.

Luckily, the manager still got the chance to make corrections, and he was working hard to learn communication and management skills.

In addition to managers, Starbucks also continuously improves the communication skills of employees.

Starbucks's training of new employees, in addition to corporate culture, advocates interpersonal training. This is known as Starbucks's "Star Skill". It mainly emphasizes three ways of thinking: 1., maintain and enhance the self-esteem of partners; 2., listen, appreciate and understand; 3., seek help from others.

Starbucks provides a thank you card for employees. When receiving help and support, employees can send small paper to express them.

In the office of Starbucks China, we see many employees sticking these cards on their desks, which is both an encouragement and a pride.

The seemingly small communication tool provides a communication medium for shy Chinese employees.

Let values go to stores

In 1988, Schultz's father passed away.

In his first book, "inject the heart," Schultz said that his father was diligent and accomplished nothing and was respected by his employer.

Therefore, Schultz always hoped that when he could decide the situation, he could create an enterprise that respected and trusted his employees.

Of course, more importantly, Schultz believes that only when the enterprise has good values and holds the belief of "employee first, customer second, shareholder third" can we create a first-class consumption experience for customers through the service of employees, and ultimately make money for shareholders.

Fortunately, his idea was supported by the board of directors.

Under this motive, Starbucks has established its own values and has been summed up as "mission Manifesto".

The taste of Starbucks coffee is in the hands of employees. The "green Mermaid" LOGO's smile should be written on the faces of employees. Even every penny earned by the company must go through the hands of the staff to enter the boss's pocket from the store. For the chain service industry, when the store expands rapidly, the service standard and passion must be driven by new driving forces. This is not a simple reward and punishment measure.

Although the quality of Starbucks products can be standardized, the most tender things in the world can not be quantified.

For example, what kind of smiley face should be given to new customers? Is it mechanical shouting "welcome to come", or is it like practicing Olympic Games rituals like biting your chopsticks to practice a smile, or smiling from your heart?

It is probably one of the most difficult challenges in human business history to put values into corporate action, especially to pmit values to 1.7 stores across the globe.

Nothing is more difficult than changing people.

The first value of employees can easily be written on the wall by the enterprise, but it is difficult to embody the actions of leaders, and it is more difficult to enter the hearts of every employee.

"Employee first" is Starbucks's first value.

Yu Hua, vice president of human resources in Starbucks Greater China, gave an example: at the end of 2010, the following staff of Starbucks China's support department did not issue performance bonuses.

At that time, the company had budgeted for the payment, but at the same time, it was found that prices surged this year, the service industry's wage level soared, and Starbucks's stores' salaries were already lacking in competitiveness, so the company decided to give priority to this budget for front-line staff to raise salaries.

Starbucks's most famous employee benefits include: in 1992, Starbucks bought health insurance for all employees, including part-time employees, the first time in the United States.

Former US President Clinton also invited Schultz to discuss the matter at the White House. In 1991, Starbucks provided "bean stocks" for all employees. Each employee could receive Starbucks shares equivalent to 14% of their annual salary, and share the fruits of the company's success. In 2006, Starbucks China obtained the permission of the state Administration of foreign exchange and began issuing "bean stocks" for local direct employees.

A Taiwan scholar found that if a partner overturned the milk inside Starbucks, not only did other partners help to clean up, but he also comforted him that it was okay, and that he had also had such a situation, in order to reflect the company's respect for its employees.

And many domestic catering industry employees encounter such a situation, I am afraid that they will be deducted from wages.

"Our partners, many family conditions are good. Many of them work because they like coffee or enjoy the working environment here.

For them, Starbucks's work is due to respect and trust, a dignified job, not just making money. "

Xu Lijuan explained that because of the soaring rental and living costs, Starbucks's stores in Shanghai are mostly more economically good locals.

Enthusiastic service is one of Starbucks's values. Some stores are open until 12 at night, while Starbucks's young salesmen are full of energy.

In fact, Starbucks stipulates that after 2 hours of peak hours, the front desk must rest in the office or do some tidying up work.

This ensures that the customers are always enthusiastic and energetic Starbucks employees.

"Our partners are not very old. You can't make him smile at the guests every moment."

Xu Lijuan said.

Her way is, if the staff is really unhappy, such as encountering lovelorn and something like that, the duty manager should temporarily adjust his position, let him change jobs to do desktop cleaning and so on, and avoid direct contact with customers.

Inheritance and training of Starbucks's requirements for store employees are: a very upward mental outlook, full of passion, positive, sunny, smiling, and good at communication.

In 2011, shop floor training included Starbucks culture, efficient team building, business analysis and development, and guidance for success.

Among them, Starbucks culture includes sharing and discussing how to strengthen Starbucks culture in stores.

As a manager, how to pass on the values to the new employees? Xu Lijuan's answer is simply astonishing. "When I was a barista, how did the manager treat me?"

"Guidance for success" focuses on guidance performance and communication skills. The store manager spends a lot of time coaching and training staff how to communicate with guests, how to have eye contact in the 20 seconds of entering the store, and how to express thanks to colleagues through small cards.

In addition, every new employee will have senior staff as a teacher and train him to become a qualified barista in 3 months.

For most of the questions we put forward, store manager Xu Weiyu can always analyze and answer with Starbucks's values and competence tools.

Service standards can only be used for known matters, but values can enable employees to make accurate judgments of unknown problems.

Starbucks's employees' income is generally only set at the median level of regional industry income, that is, the middle level.

However, corporate culture has become a part of the staff appraisal work. The respect and trust, the harmonious working environment and the pparent promotion space have become an important bargaining chip for Starbucks to attract and retain employees.

When we ask the store manager if he will double his salary and consider whether he will consider job hopping, Xu Weiyu will admit that he will certainly consider it. But he is worried that he can not adapt himself to the corporate culture of his competitors. In Starbucks, the open promotion channel may be more valuable.

For Starbucks's competitors, even if the manager is removed, if the enterprise fails to ensure the corresponding value system and management tools, the excellent store manager will also get into chaos and trivial mire.