I love going to Starbucks. If I had a choice, I would make that place my classroom and office. There are just a lot of things about it that I think have added to the success. Why else would people pay 4 bucks for coffee? Besides the “status” of Starbucks, there are other things that make them successful. By the way, I only get the coffee of the day (the cheapest one) when I go, usually. Here are some things that we could learn from Starbucks. I believe they are lessons that we could use in youth ministry and in the church.
- Comfortability: Make the area comfortable for visitors. Starbucks reminds me a lot of a living room. It’s a comfortable place. The tables and chairs, paint, lighting, and everything invite you to stay a while. In fact, they have as their goal to be your “third place” besides work and home. They want to be the next place you go to besides those first two obvious places, so they make it comfortable for you while you are there.
- Choices: I read somewhere that there are over 19,000 combinations of Starbucks drinks. That’s a lot of coffee variations. Isn’t it funny how usually we only offer things one way? Why can’t we allow people to choose what they want? I think that has a lot to do with the success of web 2.0, too.
- Friendliness: In Mexico, when you enter a Starbucks, they always address you as a friend (using the word tu). There’s no formal talk in Starbucks. You have entered a friendly place. In church, however, we talk to everyone in formal tone (usted), most of the time in a stuffy manner. Let’s talk more informally in church. Let’s make friends with our clients in the business world.
- Quality: Starbucks takes pride in their expertise in coffee. They say they try all sorts of coffees and select the best for their customers. Everything is done with quality in Starbucks. We ought to offer quality, too.
- Give Back: They say that they are giving back to the communities where the coffee is grown. They do toy drives at Christmas. They offer coffee grounds for your garden. There is definitely a culture of giving back to the community at the Starbucks.
What other things could we learn from Starbucks? Leave a comment.
I’m a Starbucks lover myself. The closest one to me is about 70 miles and I stop there every chance I get. I consider it a treat and a pleasure. Why can’t our churches be like this to where people ‘consider it a treat and a pleasure’ to come. If you want to read in more depth about Starbucks and why they are successful, read ‘The Starbucks Experience’ by Dr. Joseph A. Michelli. Excellent Book!
YES! I totally agree. The only problem I see is that Jesus didn’t make everyone comfortable. He was more concerned in a changed heart, than comfort. In fact, He seemed to go out of His was to make people uncomfortable so they would examine what they believe and why - when He healed the blind guy on the Sabboth. Surely he could have done that on another day, but I believe He did that on pupose, to challene everyone.
Just my simple thoughts, but I do agree, there is a lot we can learn from the above article.
thanks
I’m in the middle of reading Pour Your Heart into It, a book by the CEO of Starbucks.