Starbucks is kicking some serious ass with customer delight. I use their Oberoi Mall outlet for a lot of meetings regularly and over the time have started loving them for being really sweet and awesome in spite of being noisy and overfull always. My last favorite coffee joint was Bru World Cafe- I love the place for good food & coffee, ambiance, silence/peace- recommended for those who plan a lot of their meetings outside of office.

I am a stickler for service as a consumer. Here are some instances that made me fall in love the Starbucks experience

A) Humility even towards the non – consumer:

A couple walked in and said “Table for 2” and then “Please get the menu”
I smirked, the steward smiled, handed over the menu, mentioned its a self service model and apologized.

Starbucks Oberoi was full as usual – I was occupying a 4 seater over a couple of hours (Laptop charging point!!) I offered them the seats around me. They ordered the ‘cheapest cold coffee’ and loved it so much that the guy called his mom and asked her if he should get a takeaway for her, and he did. He thanked me for the seat while leaving. I think he would get his mom along as well next time- what say?

B) Ensure the regular consumer always leaves with a smile.
A lady next to me was not happy with her sandwich (she missed her regular bite) . The steward/barista who handed her and saw her frown kept on insisting that he alters her sandwich if she did not like it. He could make her another one. I felt he was hitting on her and had half a mind of offering to replace my mushroom pouch. The lady finally smiled and started conversing with a smile. She left a happy customer ( I dont know if she gave him her number :p )

C) Thrill the loyal consumer.
The waiter serving at the counter welcomed my colleague by addressing her name. Remember I mentioned we use this place for a lot of meetings.

D) Connect with the Lowest common denominator of the average consumer:
When I asked for some water over the counter today- the person asked me if I’d like regular water or with ice. WOW- they Indianised it from ‘plain or sparkling’ (do they serve soda as well?) ?

Some very good points to note if you are in a consumer facing business. What do you think?