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I’ve been wanting to read this particular book for a really long time. I picked it up and it sat on my shelf for well over six months before I made my way though my list of other books I had committed to myself to read.

I’m a big fan of Starbucks and the way they make you feel when you buy product there. In fact I like the way they make you feel even when you don’t buy product there.

I began reading The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles for Turning Ordinary into Extraordinary in the bookstore and couldn’t put it down. In fact I made it through the rather lengthy introduction and half of chapter one before I put it under my arm and headed for the cash register.

Author Joseph A. Michelli details Starbuck’s five principles of being they use to separate themselves from the pack. They are:

1. Make it your own
2. Everything Matters
3. Surprise and Delight
4. Embrace Resistance
5. Leave Your Mark

Starbucks is one of those places you go and just have a good time. It’s rare you go to Starbucks and leave feeling worse than when you came. I find the lineups longer than other places I go to to order food and beverage but I don’t mind waiting nearly as much as I do at other places.

It’s not one single thing that makes the wait bearable. I go to Costco every year around Thanksgiving to buy a pumpkin pie. I love pumpkin pie and I especially love the 17-inch bad boy from Costco. Costco lines are the worst but I stand in one because I love the pie that much. Nothing else about that experience is worth waiting in the line.

With Starbucks it’s not just that the product is good, it’s the way the order taker will ensure your order is to your liking and the way the barista will remake your drink if it doesn’t turn out just the way you expected. It’s the big comfy chairs you can sit in all day with one cup of drip coffee and never be asked to leave.

Michelli filled the book with wonderful stories and anecdotes that illustrate the five principles. I found they actually served a dual purpose; not only did they help tell the story of Starbucks but they were all really interesting. Some were quite moving, my favourite is from the Principle Two chapter, Everything Matters:

Barista Bernadette Harris confesses, “I didn’t like making Frappuccinos. I wasn’t always happy to leave my line of hot drinks to make a drunk that took twice as long! One customer helped me gain a different view of the blended beverages. This woman would come in every evening and order a mocha Frappuccino blended beverage. She was always in a hurry, and we would barely converse. One evening she came in and mentioned that her husband was in the car. Then she thanked us for always delivering the drink in such a nice way and said that though she personally never drank Starbucks, it was the only thing her husband could stomach after his chemotherapy.

The first time I read this I got a lump in my throat and had to take a pause. Later that day I shared the story with several people in the office. And that’s what you’ll want to do with this book, share what you read about with people at your workplace.

Starbucks is a company that seems to get it. It’s not a sin to want to emulate what they do.

What makes this book a great learning tool are the “Create your own ideas” and “Ideas to sip on” at the end of each chapter. Michelli does a great job of illustrating what that chapter’s principle means in real life and then starts you on the path to implement them in your own workplace. It’s a very helpful way to take the theory and put it into action.

Michelli confesses at the end of the book that for all the great stories he heard while research the Starbucks Experience, he also heard some horrible stories. From employees not showing up to being rude to customers but he says those types of stories were few and far between. The same can be said for his book. What I found odd is every time he would name a Starbucks drink, the registered trademark symbol would follow. It’s the kind of thing you’d expect to see in a marketing piece opposed to a business book. I’m not sure why they’re there, perhaps it was part of an agreement to get more access to company execs or perhaps Starbucks paid a fee to have the book written. Joseph Michelli, if you read this, let us know in the comments!

The other facet I struggled with when reading the book was how Michelli seems to gush over every aspect of Starbucks. He did mention there were bad stories to he told at the end of the book but he never put the premium price you pay to enjoy the Starbucks Experience. That being said – I gush over Starbucks too and it’s part of the reason I picked up this book in the first place, because I wanted to learn how I can make my work environment more like the coffee giant.

At the end of the day, I’m really happy I read the Starbucks Experience and I’ve already bought a copy for my boss (which she apparently took with her to read on holiday). I’m hoping she did because it would be great to have someone to discuss some of the ideas from this book with.

If you’re a fan of Starbucks or have admired the way they’ve conducted business or wonder why they do business the way they do, I definitely recommend buying a copy.

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Tags: best practice, book review, customer service, good business, Joseph A. Michelli, Learning, Starucks, user experience
Posted in Books, Learning