When I started at Il Giornale, and later Starbucks, the drink menu was very simple. When we were trained on the bar, a cup with logo facing you was a latte, turned to the right was a cappuccino, turned to the left was a mocha, upside down cup was a double shot, etc. As we added more drinks, 2% milk and custom options to the menu only the most skilled baristas could keep track of the cups on the top of the La Marzocco. I often found myself behind the bar asking the customer, "And you are waiting for?" Or calling out what I had in queue and asking if anyone was missing a beverage. Ops Services was asked to solve the problem so new baristas could be more easily trained. So CUP ID was born. Those are the little boxes on the side of your cup that have become a signature of the Starbucks brand and the basis of the drink calling methodology. While we all appreciate it now, when rolling it out in 1994, using the boxes was considered an affront to skilled baristas and we were told we were ruining the hand crafted culture of Starbucks. Now it is hard to imagine a Starbucks Cup without the boxes.
I would like to give a shout out to Kathie Lindemann, Erika Brooks, Dan Moore, Margie Giuntini - the brave souls who helped create the system and lead its roll out as the early Ops Services pioneers.
Christine Day
I still have ingrained in my mind the coffee and syrup skus. 221 - 2 lbs of Kenya, a "5" was half-pound, a "6", 1-pound. Creating guides for coffee skus by the register which then turned into someone creating a plexi, tabbed holder for all kinds of skus. Running X and Z tapes every night and always saying a prayer that there was enough tape in the Datachecker. Developing the ability to take that small bread pan scoop and pull a 1/2 pound of coffee in one shot on the scale. Rolling the bag the right way... applying the stamp (not sticker) exactly a 1/2 inch above the logo. Being a test store for ALS... Filling in for store managers in Canada because of the 13 stores trying to unionize and needing to be ready if they decide to strike. Using the Hummel Cup weekly. Adjusting the bypass. Experiencing first hand a La Marzocca pressure relief valve failure, which would fail in the open position and turn the store into the Amazon Rain Forest. Having Sharon (Christine Day's sister) run all of my initial training classes. Having Behar on day 2, teach me "Just say yes" directly and in his kindly way. Still being able to identify Sulawesi by eye, Sanani by taste, Espresso, Italian and French by color, and the ratio of House and French for Viennese Blend when you ran out. Still remember customers drinks from long past. Feeling the unease of someone at the merch wall needing to be greeted within 30 seconds... which manifests itself as ADD whenever I feel the presence of someone walking past a conference room I'm in. Remembering the growth of Manager Conferences... from hundreds to thousands. Much like a coffee bean and its surroundings, these influences have shaped my current and much matured personality and philosophy about Loving what you do and sharing it with others.