Starbucks baristas, help please?

Question

Lol, okay I don't actually have a question about the drinks, but I thought I might be able to catch a couple baristas perusing this section.

I currently work at a drive-thru store, so we use labels for everything that print out after we take the money. I'm transferring soon to a store near the university I'm going to next year that isn't a labelling store. Now for the question, if you work at a non-labelling store do you call out drinks to the barista on bar, or do you just grab a cup and mark it? Also, when you call drinks when is it an appropriate time to call, before you take money, or after? I always find it really awkward...

thanks!

Answer 1

Ok, I don't work for Starbuck's, but there is one on almost every corner these days, so I know how they work. Not to mention, my cousin is a SL at one.

So, you just mark on the cups and hand it to the barista to make. You grab the cup when they tell you OR after the entire order is placed, write the drink. You can set them down, and hand them after they are complete or hand them as you make them. Whichever is comfortable for you, and whatever pace the store has. But think about this, customers don't notice those things. If you act like you know what you're doing, they won't question it at all. Good luck! =)

Answer 2

I trained in a different store than I work in now b/c it wasn't open yet.  At that store, it was the order taker's job to mark the cup, but the Barista at the bar would be too busy making other drinks to stop and mark cups.  In the mornings, they had two people on bar and the second person would often mark cups and just let the order taker stay at the computer.  But it was still the order taker's responsibility to make sure all of their drinks were getting marked by SOMEBODY if not themselves.  

When my store opened, we had a cup labler.  It was weird getting used to, but made things a lot smoother during busy times.  We got rid of ours b/c it kept breaking and we were always out of labels.  Now we just mark our own cups.  Our store is not very busy compared to the one we trained at, so the bar person can usually mark it themselves, since we all wear headsets and can all hear every order.  I still try to mark my own cups when i take an order.  And i always make sure it's marked after I take it and BEFORE the customer gets to the window.  If they need to change something I can just call the change to the bar person.  We're all really good about backing each other up.

Make sure you talk to your new manager about how you are used to having a cup labler and they can explain what their procedure is and let you get some practice in.  It's better to be open and honest about it than just try to wing it and look like an idiot! haha :o)

Answer 3

It might vary on different locations but the latest procedure is that the cashier does not touch the cup, you settle the bill after the customer has confirmed his drink and then you call it out to the barista who's gonna make the drink, he marks the cup and calls it out to the customer after. But, it will still vary depending on how many baristas are on the floor. Many times there's a lot of multi tasking.

Answer 4

Different stores will have different procedures, but it makes sense to call out the drink before you take the money.   That way if you misunderstood, the customer can correct the order before money is exchanged for the wrong price.  Plus it gets things going faster.