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Thanks! Real quick, what happened? Did they end the project? Seems to me at least 1 employee could be replaced by such a machine, the machine costs ten thousand

Thanks! Real quick, what happened? Did they end the project? Seems to me at least 1 employee could be replaced by such a machine, the machine costs ten thousand once (+ maintenance and replacement), the employee costs tens of thousands every year. (i.e. you make about $9-10 at Starbucks as a Barista, but it costs Starbucks at least $12, that's $25k per year per FTE). I don't see how they brought up cost. Although I'm not surprised people don't want to order at a mini factory haha, at least not yet.

seanmcdirmid 11y ago
I'm guessing they didn't replace them after wearing out, and didn't put them in new stores. I don't think it actually saved much labor, a partner is still needed to man the bar, there was more work to do than just drawing shots. Also, people were part of the Starbucks experience, it wasn't just a coffee factory. Now if someone invented an automatic frapiccino machine, I'm sure many Starbucks partners would be begging for it.