Starbucks in China: First Rate Service
It is amazing how many stores, coffee shops, and restaurants in China have large amounts of workers and yet terrible service. Starbucks stores in China do not fit this description.
In more than a handful of restaurants in China, the waitresses will do their utmost to avoid looking at the customers. Sometimes the only way to get their attention is to loudly call out “Xiaojie” (in southern China this isn’t an insult like it would be elsewhere).
In one coffee shop I go to sometimes, Illy coffee, they play boy band and club music so loudly that you cannot sit down and concentrate enough to read. At times half of the tables are covered with coffee cups that have long since seen their imbibers depart. And there has been more than one server who invited his friends over and spent half of his time talking to them (very excitedly and loudly) instead of working.
This is one of the things that sets Starbucks apart from many coffee shops and other retail stores or restaurants in China: The service. Have you noticed this?
Starbucks in China: First Rate Service
It is undeniable that the quality of service in China’s Starbucks has contributed to their success. Starbucks seems to be able to recruit some of the most friendly Chinese servers you will find anywhere in China. Whatever they are doing to create excellent service, they are doing it right.
Friendly Servers
Servers, or partners as Starbucks calls their employees, will go out of their way to help you in most Starbucks locations in China. The average level of service in a China Starbucks is of a higher quality, although different in its nature, than the level of service in a Starbucks in the States. Starbucks partners in China are usually friendly, and it is often at least seemingly genuine (at least for the newer less jaded servers). This is the impression that I have gotten time and time again in Chinese Starbucks stores.
Sometimes that friendliness can be a bit much, with too many China Starbucks partners wanting to talk to you (and they are absolutely willing to talk to you in Chinese as opposed to English), but if this happens you can always just switch to a new Starbucks location, which likely just opened down the street.
China Starbucks partners even wander around the store offering free samples of various pastries, coffees, and sweets. One time I was with a group of friends in a Starbucks and they offered us five different things to try. Lots of free samples of China Starbucks fare.
Immaculate Stores
Furthermore, China Starbucks partners keep their stores immaculate. Although the last two things written about above mean that employees in a China Starbucks must stay busy, it does make for quite the nice customer experience. And with Starbucks still in its early expansionary stage in China, Starbucks customers in China are not only getting a deep impression of a quality brand, they also are getting the opportunity to try out many types of drinks, one of which they may become addicted to.
What do you think? Is the service in various China Starbucks stores first rate or just so-so? Is the friendliness of China Starbucks partners genuine or just a show?
I agree with you. I’ve been to many Starbucks in Beijing, all over Shanghai, the 4 in Nanjing and even the one at Shenzhen airport and all of them offer some of the best service in China. The staff are well trained and attentive and always willing to talk. There’s also neer that many of them so they really don’t have time to stand and gossip - I’ll say one thing, the staff in Starbucks are expected to work, which they do happily. I’ve heard that Starbucks keep the staff headcount low but pay a lot higher than average wages.
I was in a Starbucks in Sydney, Australia earlier this year and the service sucked like a chest wound - or maybe it’s because I was expecting more, or at least the same as China.
The only bad thing about Starbucks in Nanjing now is that my favourite - and closest - one is smack down town and it’s starting to attract the yuppy crowd with big lound mouths, which in turn brings in the older, ‘got money, used to be a farmer (土包子)’ types who hack their lungs up, let the whole world know they’re on their new mobile phone and still try to smoke - and then look as if they’ve lost face when told to put their cigarettes’ out. That’s why we prefer early morning at the weekends and…. oops, this rant has gone on too long, maybe I should head over to TTC
Sinosceptic -
Nah, I agree. Good points. It seems they pay Starbucks employees something in the order of 2500 RMB/Month. Definitely higher than your next coffee shop job but it still seems like a teeny tiny amount of money to get by on. Especially when many of their customers make bank.