Required Church Staff Field Trip to Starbucks

Orginally published on Tuesday, February 20, 2007 at 8:30 AM
by Anthony Coppedge

The title may seem tongue-in-cheek, but I assure you that what I'm about to share is truly important for churches in the American culture. It doesn't matter if you're a fan of the Terraza Blend, their Caffè Verona or if you're a card-carrying-died-in-the wool Seattle's Best junkie. There's a heck of a lot that your church should learn from Starbucks...

Where Starbucks has made the biggest impact, I think, is in three areas:
1) They have consistently superior service.
2) They create excellent environments.
3) They have the stated goal of being the third place between work and home.


Lesson One: Consistently Superior Service
“Hey, welcome to Starbucks. What can I get started for you?” That’s the first thing I hear every time I enter a Starbucks. They want to serve me and make me comfortable, something we all like to experience. Their Barista’s are taught to engage the customer, not wait for the customer to make the first move. There are usually two to four Baristas (or “partners,” as Starbucks employees are called) in each store at any one time, depending on the shift.


The three primary roles that Baristas take on (and swap off/on during a shift) are thus POS (register), beverages (making and serving drinks), and floater (miscellaneous duties including making Frappuccino beverages and “café”, the duty of cleaning tables and otherwise taking care of the customer area). Busy stores might even have two baristas at one station, especially at the espresso bar on busy days or at the Frappuccino station during the summer. If the Starbucks has a drive-through, it may have one to three baristas assigned solely to serve customers in cars.


Lesson Learned: Engage people with a smile and more than a “good morning” or the rhetorical “how ya doin’ today?” Instead, ask “can I help you find the preschool area” to families with small children or “Hey, we’re glad to have you! Can I show you around?”. By engaging those hesitant to stop and ask for help, you’ve made that first step easy. Plus, they can always say “no, but thanks!” and walk on in after being welcomed by a smiling greeter.


Lesson Learned: Greeters should outnumber your other volunteer positions. Every parking lot entrance, every door, every hallway, every hang-out space - they all need Greeters.


Lesson Learned: By using “floaters”, walking people to an area is far better than pointing and giving directions. Use the opportunity to create dialogue and put the visitor at ease.


Lesson Two: Excellent Environments
No matter which Starbucks I go to, I’m always treated to a clean, comfortable environment where a warm mix of colors and the famous aroma permeate the air. They promise me great coffee delivered in a clean environment that always invites me to stop and stay awhile. They create an environment that is so comfortable, in fact, that people will often stay for hours.


Music is piped in where you can listen but still easily hold conversation. They even offer those songs for sale so that I can take a bit of the Starbucks experience with me in my car or at home.


The layout of each store is an art form unto itself with great traffic flow, excellent signage and plenty of eye-candy to keep me interested while I stand in line.


Lesson Learned: It’s sad, but most churches I’ve visited seem to funnel people into the auditorium and often offer no place for people to come and just “hang out”. Foyers are devoid of any comfortable seating or table and chairs for a casual meeting place. Sure, we want to have people attend church services and so a lot of the effort is placed on the auditorium/sanctuary. But we’re missing out if we create a sterile, bland environment both outside the church and in the meeting areas.


Lesson Learned: Signage matters. Let me know where to go. Clean, easy to read signage helps people feel welcomed and gives them the opportunity to safely navigate your church.


Lesson Learned: The environment should be a natural extension of who you are as a church. Said another way, the place should have a comfortable, welcoming vibe while subtly communicating who you are and what you’re about.


Lesson Three: Third place between work and home.
Starbucks’ marketing strategy involves positioning the local Starbucks outlet as people’s “third place” (besides home and work) to spend time, and the stores are designed to make this easy and comfortable. The café section of the store is often outfitted with comfortable stuffed chairs and tables with hard-backed chairs. There are ample electrical outlets providing free electricity for patrons using or charging their portable music devices or laptop computers. Most stores in the U.S. and also in some other markets also have wireless Internet access (although this access is not free, as it is in some independent coffee shops). It is not uncommon to see people working in a Starbucks for hours at a time. (source: purposedrivenlife.com)


I can’t find a scientific study on it, but I meet people and hear all the time about the hours and hours per week people will spend at Starbucks. It’s safe to say that a large number of people will spend more time at Starbucks - where more often than not they’re paying for this privilege - than at their local church.


Why have churches not strategically stated that they want to be people’s “third place” between work and home? Now please don’t misinterpret what I just said. I did not infer that spending time at the church building, per se, was the goal. Rather, having people involved with (and many times “at") the church is the key.


Still, there’s something to be said for churches that own their facilities to keep their doors unlocked Monday-Friday and offer a “third place” for people to come and hang out. In fact, I’ve seen a growing number of churches create Cafes and Coffee Houses right inside their properties. Hey, if the bean fits…


Lesson Learned: The church should create opportunities that are so relaxed and inviting, people want to spend time at “church”, but as a pseudo-neutral ground for meeting with friends. This will also create an excellent opportunity for members to bring their unchurched friends during the week as a casual and non-confrontational way to introduce them to “church”.


Lesson Learned: Community involvement has a lot more to do with what you do Monday-Friday than it does what you do on Sunday. For churches with their own facilities, opening up your campus to secular events and meetings is a great way to maximize your resource and connect with the community. Churches like Irving Bible Church in Irving, TX have “The Tubes”, a McDonald’s-like play place for kids, that’s open to everyone in the community for free every single day. For church plants without their own locations, how can you use community hang-outs - even Starbucks - as a place to meet friends and visitors during the week? How can you partner with these businesses to create synergy in inviting people to meet there (which brings them business) while utilizing a relaxed, non-threatening place to have conversation?


Obviously, there’s a lot more to this conversation than what I’ve covered here. But the point is simple: we’re not getting it done well enough on our own. And while I’m sure some critics will pan my thoughts as being consumeristic, the reality is that in this culture, meeting people where they’re at can often include lessons learned from a place that promotes a bean better than churches often promote their Savior.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:  Anthony Coppedge has been on staff at three different churches as Media Minister, Technical Director and Technical Coordinator. He has been speaking at technology conferences, writing articles and reviewing products since 1995 and contributes to magazines such as Sound & Communications, Pro A/V, and is a featured columnist with Church Production Magazine, Outreach Magazine and Lifeway.com’s Technology Channel. You can contact Anthony at his website:  AnthonyCoppedge.com

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