The Starbucks Message

Starbucks is the biggest and most famous coffee shop in the U.S.A. I went to the Starbucks located in the Student Center, at the University of Kentucky, and I entered an atmosphere that is unique to such a store. I have been to Starbucks not only in the U.S but also in Brazil and in each store there are standard visual aspects to create a comfortable, familiar environment. The process of getting a coffee is like a factory or machine, following a carefully planed line and using specific techniques to get what I want. They have their own language to name their products which I must adopt to order mine. Also the place is designed in a really unique way, with the same materials in each store, lights and the music played. So even though I feel welcomed by the familiarity I am still controlled by the system that the Starbucks could be considered.

Mathieu describes this conflict between the familiar atmosphere and the control of costumers in his text. She writes about the uniforms of the baristas, the common materials used in decor and the menu system and how they persuade the consumer by creating a whole universe about coffee in which the costumer feels that they belong in this environment.

However, the way Mathieu describes the specific language for Starbucks and  the treatment provided by the baristas have been different in my experiences at this specific Starbucks located in the Student Center. Unlike the factory or machine way to work, the baristas actually talk to me not only about orders, one of them just talked to me about the music that was playing. The way the baristas ask for the costumer’s name is meant to be another trick to make the costumer feel welcome. For me though, it always leads to a conversation about how my name is spelled. Even if I spell it, they never get it right.

The thing that makes this Starbucks different could be the fact that it is on a college campus serving a specific type of costumer. Also, I am not a typical American costumer. The messages the costumers are supposed to receive from the store are carefully planned by the franchise. The success of the business really depends on the messages being delivered and received correctly to encourage maximum loyalty and business from the costumers. Even though the Starbucks creates this whole system and atmosphere in their stores in order to get the loyalty and costumers, it can’t be denied that the service is still one of the best.