Starbucks: the (quietly grand) reopening---btw, are you a manufactured morning person?
When Starbucks closed due to the pandemic in mid-March, it
hit me hard. I reasoned that if Starbucks was closing, then things must be
serious, and indeed they were serious---and still are.
What is it about Starbucks? First of all, Starbucks is everywhere. However,
their power in this market is about more than size. It’s also about scale,
branding, and ethics. As of early 2020, there were roughly 30,000 Starbucks
locations around the world, nestled into pretty much every nook and cranny of
planet Earth. Everyone recognizes the logo and what it stands for---coffee and
other hot drinks, with some snacks and a la carte food offerings, a place to sit,
free wifi, community with other people, and the right to sit peacefully without
being disturbed. Starbucks also has the distinction of being the largest buyer
of certified Fair Trade coffee in the world.
Early on, Starbucks branded itself as a “third space”---a
place between home and work; a place to think, to read, to work, to talk, and to
simply exist, all while drinking coffee and being among other
coffee-drinkers. It became known as the
place you could go work all day, without continuously spending money. You could
buy one cup and “drink” it all day long, all while using free wifi and smelling
the satisfying aroma of freshly brewed
beans.
On May 5, 2020, Starbucks announced that it would be
reopening 80% of the locations that it closed in March. Luckily for me, the
Starbucks in my neighborhood was one of the locations that reopened, as of May
15th. The day it reopened, my oldest daughter and I already had
planned our first return-to-Starbucks order.
It was not, however, business as usual. Starbucks has implemented
three key protocols that must be observed. All orders should be online; all
transactions should be cashless; and pick-up is contactless. There is human
connection, happily. At the threshold of the store, Starbucks has set up a service
counter where a live human being, in a mask, gives you your order. Good enough
for me.
An article published in Scientific American in August 2011,
posits that there are two types of people: the caffeinated and the uncaffeinated.
These two groups are dichotomized between being productive and upbeat, or being
sleepy, dreary-eyed, and grumpy.
In the end, however, it all comes down to
being productive and to managing mood. One term from the article, “manufactured morning
people”, stands out. The central idea is that without coffee we are not the same
people. Without coffee we are not aligned with the productivity-on-demand
culture we live in. Being a manufactured morning person is a necessity to be
successful in such a world.
I largely agree with this idea, except for the fact that drinking
coffee also energizes you for other things besides work---you can learn, or
listen to a concert, or engage in artistic expression. And aren’t we
manufactured in lots of ways by virtue of what we consume, and how we conduct
our lives in general?
I would argue that coffee is more than a device to amp up
one’s productivity. Coffee is a culture in and of itself that is ritualized, healthy,
and positive overall. Maybe I was feeling so good about Starbucks reopening because of the association
between drinking coffee and being happy.
In fact, clinical research has shown definitively that
caffeinated coffee improves mood, reaction time, vigilance, attention, learning,
and general mental function. On the other hand, the ritual of coffee-drinking
and the community that comes with it benefits us in more ways than I can describe
here. I am proud to say that I am a stalwart coffee-drinker and a manufactured
morning person. How about you?
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