Starbucks employees aren’t just regular clerks behind the average counter, they are partners in the team in charge of delivering “legendary service” to millions of regular customers around the world. In fact, there are secret shoppers at Starbucks; Did you know that? They do the ever dreaded “Snap Shot” where they judge teammates to see if they really “poured their hearts into it”. Every Starbucks team member knows that the next customer could be someone making a surprise visit to check the temperature of the coffee, the greeting to make sure it’s in 30 seconds, and even cleaning the restrooms. These Team Partners are judged on their ability to uphold founder Howard Schultz’s ultra-high company standards. In fact, Howard’s original standards still apply today, with a few improvements. These high standards rival Ray Kroc’s original standards for McDonald’s in its early years.

The problem with this is that it’s very hard to find such amazing employees who can handle such stringent requirements. Therefore, I propose some Starbucks to get robots. The customer would walk in and while in line select a type of greeting reason such as; The English butler accent, rude, extremely rude, polite, helpful, young (for children),

Cheerful, Depressed, Shy or the Standard Legendary Service. Depending on the mood of the customers, they can choose? If you want to be mistreated, you can have that. In general, what I think you will find is that most customers will refer to the simulation of the now legendary Standard Service. Think about it, as soon most of your favorite brand outlets will need to turn to robotics to maintain consistency across all their locations when labor supply is tight.