Free Articles To Help You...

  • Create Extraordinary Experiences

  • Command Premium Prices

  • Scale Your Business

  • Avoid Service Mistakes

  • Attract More Customers

customer employee experience

Starbucks’ $500M Question: Can You Fix the Experience Without Fixing the People?

September 18, 20251 min read

Brian Niccol, Starbucks’ new CEO, has been sprinting to pull off a turnaround. (Credit: The New York Times, Sept. 9, 2025). He’s already dumped $500 million into more baristas, new tech to speed drink orders, and revamped stores. On paper, it looks like progress.

But let’s be blunt: without customers, there is no business. And customers don’t care about how many millions you spend, they care about their experience.

The NYT highlighted the infamous Strawberry Matcha Strato Frappuccino as the poster child of the new Starbucks. Six ingredients, two blenders, a handwritten message on every cup, and a forced smile in under four minutes. Great in theory. In practice? Exhausted employees, long lines, and frustrated customers.

Here’s the hard truth: management must be ruthless about profits and standards. If the uniform says green apron, you wear the apron. If the drink requires six steps, you follow the recipe. Consistency builds trust. As Dan Kennedy said: “You must be ruthless in your management of people and profits.”

But ruthless doesn’t mean blind. Burned-out employees don’t deliver great customer experiences. If Starbucks really wants engaged baristas, they need to do more than hand down rules. They need to ask:

  • What slows you down?

  • What frustrates customers?

  • Which policies actually work in the real world?

Engaged employees create engaged customers. That’s the equation. If Starbucks forgets that, all the tech and remodels in the world won’t save them.

Business lesson: Be ruthless about accountability and profit—but smart enough to include your people in the process. Customers can’t be happy if employees are miserable.

blog author image

Vance Morris

Vance Morris / Deliver Service Now institute is the only Disney Experience and Direct Response Marketing business on the planet. Deliver Service Now consults and coaches other companies on how to create and implement Disney style experiences and then apply Direct Response Marketing to profit from it.

Back to Blog

Hi, I'm Vance Morris

Deliver Service Now institute

Dear Entrepreneur,

Are you sick-n-tired of crappy online groups?

You know the one's... People reporting bloated results, people always ASKING and never GIVING.

You need to be around other business owners and entrepreneurs who will support you, guide you and, yes, call you out in order for you to grow your business.

If you have ever felt "out of place" hanging around people who have 'jobs' and have no idea what it feels like to be you... a business owner.... you are in the right place.

We are just like you.

And you need to have an easy to implement marketing and service system that you can roll up your sleeves and do yourself or hire others to do the tedious work.

That's where the XPerience Service System comes in.

And most of all... YOU MUST GET RESULTS. PERIOD.

I'm Vance Morris and I am inviting business owners and entrepreneurs who desire a better life, to bring their drive for success and combine it with my XPerience Service System to achieve their dream.

Click below to accept my invitation to join the Inner Circle.

How DSNi Helps Small Business

Experience & Marketing Strategies

FREE downloads, video, books and training to get you started implementing DSNi experience & marketing strategies.

DSNi

Programs

Masterminds, small group training, 1-1 coaching & programs matched for your business situation & size.

Live Events &

The Disney Experience

Full immersive 3-4 day experience at Walt Disney World designed to give you the competitive edge.

Get Daily Marketing and Experience Tips

Designed For & By Small Businesses

Get daily marketing & experience strategies, tactics and systems on what's working "right now" to grow a small business.