How Much Latte Do You Get?

On March 16th 2016, two customers at the coffee chain in California filed a class action suit on all Starbucks latte drinks, alleging that Starbucks has been underfilling its lattes and shortchanging customers. Starbucks did not response on any social media platforms about the lawsuit. Instead, Starbucks keeps promoting its new products of mugs and beverages on Twitter from the end of March till now. In addition to the lawsuit, Starbucks is also in trouble because of its new rewards program. In the past, 12 visits can earn a customer a piece of free drink or food item. However, under the new plan, a regular coffee consumer would have to visit about 30 times to get a free treat. It is wise for Starbucks to avoid talking about the lawsuit on the social media platforms and post new product promotions to shift the focus of the publics. First of all, not all of the Starbucks customers have such problems, so the sale will not drop since the Starbucks lover will continue loving the beverages and food. Second, Starbucks needs to watch competitor’s reactions towards its issue and be well prepared to capture the audience’s attention if competitors take advantage of the situation. Moreover, Starbucks should wait for the result of the court. Since FBI announced that it hacked into terrorist’s iPhone without the help from Apple, Apple does not have to write a hacking program that may violate the privacy of users. Therefore, applying to this suit, there might be chances in the future for Starbucks to get out of the situation. On the social media platforms, many people show their supports for Starbucks. A Former Starbucks worker clarified that it is better not to fill up a paper cup to the brim for safety reasons. Other people suggested to make the cups of Starbucks taller to guarantee the quantities. ​In my opinion, Starbucks does not have to redesign the cups or send out press release to state the issue. Since people in the future will pay more attention to measuring the quantities of the latte at Starbucks, Starbucks can send a notice to its employees and ask them to fill up the paper cups. Last, Starbucks can inform its costumers friendly to ask for another coffee if they found their beverages are underfillying for some reasons.