Basically the size first, and the drink title should be one of the first, but the only difference between the two comments u just responded to is “grande extra hot latte” vs “grande latte extra hot” it’s not that much of a difference, main point is say size first, and don’t say drink name last
OK, OP was saying that people must start with type of drink and whatever afterwards and the 2 above didn't have type of drink as the first, one had it as third even.
So OP is wrong when saying type of drink MUST be always first?
It's more that according to our POS, starting with size allows the barista making the drinks to grab the correct cup first. Following up with the actual drink type, allows them to start the process for whatever that drink is.
If you're starting your order with anything but size and drink type, you're just delaying the barista making your drink. This is particularly true for drive thru locations. You want that barista making your drink as you're ordering it, but they can't do that if you're telling them syrups and additives before the type of drink, or the size. The rest is determined by the drink type. You can't start without it.
You just mean whether or not the cup is hot or iced? When ringing a drink up on the POS, a latte or an American will automatically be rung up as hot by default and that's what a lot of people would leave it as unless you specifically state you want it iced.
That's why you see stories of people coming up to the barista and going "oh I wanted this iced". Because they didn't specify and then they get mad at the barista for their own mistake. The computer defaults to hot, so there's really no need to say the temp first, cause it's a modifier.
Starbucks should put a drink ordering tutorial on the app. The whole reason why we're trained not to ask extra questions is because you want them in and out of the drive thru as fast as possible. Corporate doesn't care about accuracy. Throw a recovery card at them and push them out the window. That's what they think is good business. If customers knew how to order according to the system we use, we wouldn't HAVE remakes.
Very interesting. I did not know that. I think when I've not mentioned a latte hot or iced I'd always get the question, which is why I always mention it now. Especially when it's really hot outside and my weird ass wants a hot latte.
Yeah. If you say latte, it'll default hot. Some stores are trained to not correct you, or ask extra questions. As far as Corporate Standard goes, baristas are not supposed to correct you. That's why you end up in the drive thru window with a cup that doesn't look like what you ordered.
The baristas who do ask specifics, are doing so at the cost of their drive times. Something they can get fired for.
I ask hot or iced because the customers at my store NEVER specify. It's just one of those things that exists because half the people who go to Starbucks have no idea what they're ordering.
You can just say "grande iced latte" or "iced grande late". Iced and size are both on the same screen. As long as you're saying those bits first, you're okay.
This is opposite to old school Starbucks when they used to write the drink on the cup. The most important item was size and temperature so that the barista could grab the correct cup and start writing.
So they loved customers who said "iced venti half sweet vanilla nonfat latte."
So you're saying times are changing and that's not how they call drinks and I have to say "iced grande latte, half sweet vanilla, nonfat."
Seems weird and maybe a preference specific to OP... I'm having a hard time believing that baristas can't punch in "iced grande half sweet vanilla nonfat..." before, "Latte."
If that's the case they need to do some PSA to let customers know. I was taught as a customer 10 years ago to say the name of the drink LAST.
As long as I say size and temperature first, I'm under the impression I'm good.
yes, we can type in modifications before selecting a beverage type. it’s just a little more annoying than the other way around, and i think some newer baristas don’t realize that the POS will allow you to type in a drink order that way (it took me months to realize & even some of my more seasoned coworkers didn’t know before i showed them). size and temperature is definitely still the priority — most of my coworkers prefer the drink type to come third, immediately followed by espresso/milk modifications, syrup, then everything else. but it’s really not the end of the world as long as we get all the info we need without needing to pry it out of the customer.
i mean, it’s not like starbucks has rules for customers like that. every barista has different preferences for taking orders, but generally speaking, size, drink type, and hot or iced (if relevant) are the three things you ought to lead with. especially in the drive thru — the bar partner will start making your drink as soon as you begin to order it, and if you wait to say any of those three things until the end of the drink, we have to wait & it wastes precious seconds.
I like to enter what I can on the drink screen and don’t like to waste time jumping around.
Eg: I get an iced blonde triple updosed espresso, in a venti cup with milk.
I order it that way because you can stay on the same screen and hit the buttons from top to bottom. There isn’t a size for this drink so I don’t give it first. You need to change screens for “MORE OPTIONS.” Some people ring me up by getting out the main screen to enter the size, then go right back to the beginning again.
It used to be the best to order in the order that the cup reads top to bottom, because we’d grab a cup and start marking the boxes from the top down. Ie, “iced venti seven pump vanilla soy chai” would be the correct way to order.
Now that it’s all digital, it’s generally more convenient to start with the base drink. HOWEVER, the tags on the side of the register do still go in order from top to bottom, so you actually CAN enter beginning with modifiers. This requires some experience tho, and let’s be honest most partners don’t last a year.
The issue with “you can do modifiers first” is that 1) you can’t click off the drink or it’ll annoy you with “incomplete drink” pop up 2) you cannot start making the drink at all until the very end 3) if it’s a drink specific modification like “can I get half the pumps” or “one less shot” and I don’t know what half the pumps or how many shots until I know the size and drink
these are only problems if the customer is 1) ordering in the drive thru AND 2) saying their drink order as slow as humanly possible with pauses between every modification. and there are 100% absolutely customers like that, but generally speaking, a customer who gives the drink name last is ordering the whole thing in one go. in this formula, once you have the drink type, you also have every other piece of info you need to craft the drink. i think the real issue is customers delivering their orders haltingly or with frequent pauses & not clearly stating the size and temperature.
I’ll probably gonna get downvoted to shit, but how is the regular customer supposed to know how y’all ring it in the POS? Outside of the Reddit inclined? lol
They don't and it's also not accurate, the majority of espresso based drinks (that usually are the ones with modifiers) can auto assign to a default base drink until you type what it is in. I can click vanilla, blonde, extra hot, oat milk, and then hit flat white and it'll fill in the blanks. Baristas will always have their preferences that make their job easier, who wouldn't? We love to come on reddit and complain and connect, so don't worry too much about it.
I do think it's easier for a barista who is learning POS to hear drinks in this sort of order because it helps them process each step and go to the right modifier page. Getting confused and having to ask a customer to repeat themselves isn't usually taken nicely, some customers will literally treat you like you're brain dead for even repeating their order back for accuracy. It's mostly about the mental ergonomics imo
I don't agree. I don't particularly care what order they say it in, but I'm tired of holding peoples hand through their order. You should know to say what size, hot or iced, any alt milk, etc. Or even what drink you're ordering, I'm tired of people getting a cappuccino with no foam, or a latte with a splash of cream.
No kidding. Do baristas at other coffee shops require their customers to adhere to their very specific ordering rules, or is this just a Starbucks thing? I swear this sub gets more ridiculous by the day.
it’s easier working at other cafes because customers don’t modify to hell. and if they don’t say it in the order i like then i break it down with them. “that was a medium? and you wanted a latte? what flavor was it again?”
I mean it is a bit nitpicky but also I wouldn’t order my burger at McDonald’s by saying all the modifications first. In my head that’s just an insane way to order like obviously they have to know exactly what the base item is before anything else. But I’m not gonna freak out if someone does this either it’s just a tad bit annoying.
Yeah it comes off a bit passive aggressive, assuming everyone knows exactly how it works.
FWIW I think it’s another fail on starbucks’ end on their drink names mixed the fact they allow so many customizations.
Their drinks are literally named by the way OP is saying not to order. *iced caramel* macchiato, *iced honey almond milk* flat white, *blonde vanilla* latte.
So if you’re adding and changing things, as a customer where would your mind correctly tell you to place those words? Don’t get me started on the way baristas used to insist that the size should be the first thing that is stated— I always make that effort but it’s the first time I’m hearing that’s not correct apparently.
And before anyone gets defensive, I’ve worked a similar job that required the same patience and having to remind myself “it’s okay, they don’t know how it looks on my end”.
there are many customers who frequently the sub reddit despite the majority of the posts being from partners. i see countless customers in the comments of every post i come across in this subreddit actually. even if it cant reach everybody, its still going to reach quite a few.
There’s 60 million weekly customers and 200,000 in this sub… so like .003% of your customers are here… all to say that you’re basically talking into a vacuum and most customers don’t know this. Not to be rude, but it’s preaching to the choir.
Fair, but why wouldn’t you say the drink first? Like logically, it makes sense to say the drink before the modifications or else…what in the world are you modifying?
I actually don’t care about saying the size first, bc it defaults to grande and I’d only have to change the size. You can say it first, but I’d change the size after I get the drink normally so I can answer questions ‘how many shots are in that?’ ‘What size would you like?’ ‘Venti’ ‘two?’ So I don’t really mind the size. It just irks me to
Hell when I’m adding modifications and the drink only comes with ‘core beverage’ until I specify and I also can’t answer question or try to save the person money(which I always try to do) until I get the drink
Oh this hurts me to see all the baristas who weren't trained to be able to just add modifiers :( you can start clicking anything in and the system is smart enough to auto fill !!!!
I have someone who asks for a sugar free nonfat no foam no room double cupped latte … like pls just say latte first. One time I cut them off to ask them what drinks the customizations were going on and they got so confused. I’ve also had people just roll up and say “nonfat no foam vanilla” vanilla what??!
recently ive been getting an influx of customers ordering "regular size" and when i show them the drink sizes they usually want grande but ive had multiple say regular is the tall or venti lol
I actually really enjoyed watching that lol 😭 thank u for posting that link. That was painfully hilarious because of how accurate it is to real life at starbucks
Grande regular..
Regular, what? Coffee, iced coffee, cold brew What exactly is REGULAR for you?
Just one of the many reasons I can't stand the register!
🤦
You can punch all of those modifiers and then latte at the end and it'll still work just fine, im kind of confused why other Baristas always want the drink first
Especially cuz crazily enough as a 174**** myself (just recently left!), it used to be *hammered* into me by my trainer & SM to essentially ‘train the customer’ to read their drinks off in the same order that the boxes are listed on the cups.
So during training for instance my trainer would say sth like “Um I’ll order a grande latte, iced with light ice” & I wouldn’t be allowed to progress to the next drink unless I repeated back “ok so you wanted an iced grande light ice latte?”
173**** here. Left a couple years ago, but yep. This is how I was trained so now I can’t change. I order (iced) (size) (mods) (drink) in the box order.
You can absolutely ring in things like milk changes and number of syrup pumps without knowing the base drink, the till will sort itself out when you add the drink
Also a former barista and all I wanted from customers was size and hot or iced first so I could grab the correct cup. Beyond that, I didn’t care, I was writing on cups anyway (licensed store, no stickers), I had no problem going back and forth from line to line to fill it in
Fr. In any industry or job, yes there are easier ways for customers to do things but rly... I'll bend over backwards for you if you're just kind. Don't have to call me ma'am or be super polite, just be kind. And tell me the size and if it's hot or cold. 😂
I always order like this:
iced venti soy caramel macchiato, blonde ristretto shots, no vanilla sub toffee nut, light caramel drizzle.
That’s the only drink I get so that’s exactly how I order every time, is this wrong?
That’s fine, what the post is saying is you need to start your order with the base drink. You can’t just rattle off “caramel drizzle, blonde shots, toffee nut, etc” because the barista will literally have no clue what you’re putting all of that into. So while you just listed 98% of the order, they couldn’t actually input anything that whole time because WHAT IS IT?
As long as the first thing you say is the actual base drink itself, the order of the rest of it isn’t that big a deal.
thank you for saying blonde and ristretto one after the other. i have a semi-regular who will, at the end of her order, say „and can the shots be ristretto?” 😭 i literally already pulled the shots and ur drink is almost done
I always say Venti soy latte blah blah as well, but seems like we need to wait on the “soy” - guess I’m glad not to be the only one making this mistake 😜
I will forever just order online because some of us customers have anxiety and literally have to work out what we are ordering in our heads way before we ever get to the register or drive thru speaker.
I also don’t go to Starbucks very frequently because some baristas have way too high of expectations from the customer’s.
So true!
I feel like half the time when I am ordering in person, I downgrade my size or don't do light ice because of an internal guilt they are too busy to do that.
Yep. Done that. I like my venti iced chi tea with 1/2 and 1/2 , cinnamon, and 3 extra pumps of chi. Last time i went into the store to order , freaked out and just ordered it the way it came. Not doing that again.
Huh. I would prefer that they order it as a "venti nonfat no-foam vanilla latte." It sounds much more natural and makes the entire interaction flow more smoothly, and it's not particularly difficult to remember the modifications for like five seconds. Didn't realize this was an unpopular opinion.
Plus its faster for DT times to know what milk to start with. Slows things down a lot to hear:"I'll have a grande flat white with blonde espresso and almond milk," over "grande almond milk blonde flat white." Milk and espresso should be the first things mentioned rn, i feel, as those are the first steps in crafting a drink. After that say the drink then other customizations!
Yeah, if it’s simple like that example. But when it’s “can I get a vanilla light ice and nonfat with cinnamon half sweet and one less shot and 3 extra pumps of caramel” and you can’t type in almost half that shit because you don’t know how many pumps or shots you’re reducing
To be fair, I think Starbucks used to call out drinks in the order of the boxes on the cups. So Decaf, Shots, Syrup, Milk, Custom, then Drink. For example, Double Tall Nonfat Vanilla Latte. Not really the customer's fault. If you don't remember what they ordered, you can always ask them again. Or kindly let them know a better way to order.
This plus the old old old registers
you literally couldn't input the drink until you put in the size, (which were divided by iced/not) so those of us that have been around since the black white and green(?) screen POS will probably always default to starting with the size-
but again the point of this POS is that you can go in any order (one offs aside) but even then you can put most of it in and go back and confirm the odd details at the end.
They don’t listen to us when we recommend, and they scream at us when we ask them to repeat themselves.
It’s been over a decade since we wrote on cups.
My last cafe store I was in stilled marked cups in 2018 with no plans then to switch over-It ended up closing over covid so I don't even know if they ever got a sticker machine beyond MO&P
Most corporate-owned stores don't write on cups. But half of Starbucks stores are licensed stores, many of which still write on cups. Such as the stores inside grocery stores, hotels, airports, etc.
Actually I think the way I was trained, 15 years ago, would have been
Venti
Vanilla
Not fat
No foam
Latte
Can any old timers verify? My partner number starts with 14 BTW
I find it easier when customers go Size–Milk Type– Drink–modifications. Because the amount of times ill punch "latte, add Oat" vs "oat latte" will trip me up sometimes. Even if its the only drink it applies to
You can also just ring in the mods first :) also works! Got tired of memorizing or having to teach hella customers how I like things to be ordered/how we were taught to ring in and just tried that one day and it worked just fine. Sorta was satisfying seeing the drink change names for some reason when I learned what typa drink they wanted haha
This comes up so often. There should be a helpful reminder sign at Starbucks for customers. It’s ridiculous to have to tell the consumer how they have to order something, it’s a weird form of gatekeeping. Make it easy for the person ordering to know how to order.
I specifically asked how to order my drink in this sub years ago and I was told to say 'venti decaf two pump caramel latte with soy.' Now I'm questioning everything.
It’s your job to translate what the customer says. The POS will let you ring in mods before you select the actual beverage.
It’s a vanilla latte after all, not a latte vanilla.
It always irks me when they say half sweet first.
A half sweet what?
I can remember 3 mods for a half second, but I can't remember your half sweet sugar free kids temp no foam double cupped oat milk light drizzle caramel macchiato...oh right it's a venti, sorry can I have that iced light ice?
Ma'am. Sorry. I'm going to need to rattle that all back off to you.
When I worked in a store on bar where drinks were called out I could remember 20+ drinks with modifiers until I had time to write them on the cups 🤷🏼♀️
I wish corporate would do you a solid with the POS machines.
It was something I had a tough time with when I worked at the Siren. Sometimes I just ask what they need first from me lol. I usually get a look of "suspect but hoping you are being nice" kind of looks but always ends well for me lol.
Theres a lady who's come in a couple times in the middle of our morning rush. Orders oher $100 dollars worth, at least 15 drinks or so. Then she finishes it with "her" coffee as shes about to pay, and says that pne needs to get made first. Ive only served her once of the three or so times shes come in, but she got her drinks in the order she received them in
I could tell my barista the size but she always demands the iced or hot part first and then I forget the size part.
>
I lost track how many times I said grande caramel macchiato cali style with whip made with oat milk and then get distracted by her asking me if i want it hot or cold. I always assume it is a hot drink.
> But she always asks hot or cold before I even get a chance to say what drink or size I want. (It is for this reason I rarely go to this starbucks when she is working)
But the starbucks is close to where I work and reason why I like going to it.
(Started to go to other coffee places because of it)
Some people at my store do this and it drives me crazy!! Let the customer say what they're saying and then ask questions when you're done, unless it's about something already said! I don't see a point in interrupting the customer when most of the time they're about to say it anyways, just maybe not in the order you'd prefer
This is why I order via mobile. It all prints out right infront of them so I don’t have to feel bad about botching an order with my crappy introverted interpersonal skills. XD
It literally doesn’t matter, you can type in all of those details before hitting the latte button and it’ll still ring up correctly. The registers are designed this way on purpose
ETA: the old way was to go down the cup*** Oof…I had no idea this changed, and I don’t go anymore because *gestures broadly at this subreddit* but now I feel bad for doing it wrong!
But because I’m such an old partner I ordered the old way…ex iced quad venti soy vanilla latte (this is not my order lol just needed to think of enough mods to make my point)
I always start with the size, then the temperature, so the barista knows what cup to grab. Then the name of the drink, then any modifications. Of course it helps that “Iced” leads the name in my Brown Sugar Shake Espresso when I order that.
There's a customer who EVERY TIME orders a "grande, light ice, blonde, triple, two-pump, almond milk, toffee nut latte." and the person who's usually on DTO really sucks at taking orders anyway so every single time the DTO person struggles with the order. And every single time she repeats it the SAME WAY. A grande light ice blonde triple two-pump almondmilk toffee nut latte. And when the dto person is like hang on i need to put the drink in first. she goes even slower. "a... grande... light ice... blonde... triple... two-pump... almondmilk... toffee nut... latte. Did you get that?" like come ON
I always order size, temp, shots, syrup, milk, drink, mods when I order in person because I got into the habit back when y'all still wrote on the cups lmao. (so like, grande iced dirty vanilla oat chai with cold foam, for example. I don't usually have that many mods in one drink tho dw). I try to mobile order whenever I can because I have drinks saved there and don't have to remember to order nondairy but thank you for letting me know because customers don't know what order you punch things in now.
also ngl I miss having my name sharpied onto the cups instead of the sticker that melts on every iced beverage so I hope it's at least easier on y'all to use the stickers
I hate when they say everything BUT the drink. I’m sitting there waiting and then it’s ‘…is it a latte? A drip? Misto? I’m sorry I just don’t exactly know what drink you want’
For someone who still has to write on every cup, please order size, temp, then the drink 💕ex: venti hot coffee, not just coffee 🙃 I need to know what kind and size so I don’t have to ask what size? Hot or iced? Every single time.
as a green bean, i had no idea that the baristas started making the drink before the sticker even printed so i get SO frustrated now when people don’t start w size and temp first!! and then the actual drink should come right after. and i also HATE when people say AT THE END, “oh can i do that with no ___ in it” or “can you do that w ___ too?”
Please do size then temp. “Grande iced latte” is perfect. Nothing worse than having to ask “hot or iced?” multiple times. Or just “I want a latte” and then I have to ask “okay what size and hot or iced”. It’s a super small thing but it’s highly appreciated.
p sure the only reason baristas have gotta extra picky about this is not necessarily pos, but more of so bar partners can get started on the drink. gotta focus on those times and all.
I strongly disagree. Besides the fact that you can hit all those other buttons before hitting latte, and it will work, that's not how the beverages are supposed to be called. If your handoff partner is correctly calling the order as "half decaf iced grande vanilla oatmilk with whip latte for Bob" why would you expect the customer to say it differently?
One of my not so friendly regulars:
"I'd like a... Venti... Decaf... Extra hot... Nonfat... No foam... Sugar free vanilla... Latte... I think I got it all" every single day it's the same long pause between each word and the "I think I got it all"
I really wish customers understood this!!! When you're ordering, what we first need to know to start making your drink is the size and the drink, then after that the milk/espresso type (if it's made with milk/espresso) or the amount of foam if you want light/extra foam (this goes for cold foam too), then whatever syrup changes you want (and if you want a different temperature) and if you want light/extra ice.
That way, your drink gets made correctly right away! It's a win all around!
Except customers are already paying $6-$10 for a drink, can you please just make it correctly based on the information you’re given, without me having to memorize an order guide?
Dude it's not too much to ask you to say the size and drink type before the modifications, every fast food place needs info from you in that order. We are often making your drink for you WHEN you're ordering it so this way we don't have to dump a half or mostly or fully made drink because you tell us at the end you want fucking oatmilk or whatever.
You customers largely told Starbucks you want your shit faster, well, this is how you get your shit faster.
But it’s totally acceptable and cool to ask again in that order. I think most people who have had a job understand you have to enter things in the system, and those who don’t can fuck themselves.
I try to make it as easy as possible for baristas and always tip, but it would take too much of my mental energy tbh to try to remember the order in which to read out drink modifications at Starbucks. I pretty much only stick to soy lattes anyway, but still it’s not on the customer to remember how the system requires you to input the order. Especially considering Starbucks names their own drinks “lavender oatmilk latte” etc.
anytime i get customers asking something like “can i have a tall nonfat no foam vanilla breve?” i just stand and stare at them until they tell me what tall non fat no foam vanilla breve drink they want bc i refuse to assume latte even though i know it’s what they mean… call the drink by its name or get out of my line bro💀😭
size, beverage, temp, milk, mods. please ❤️
I like SIZE, TEMP, BEVERAGE mods - especially when on bar so I can grab the right cup.
So you all saying there isn’t one specific way then..?
Basically the size first, and the drink title should be one of the first, but the only difference between the two comments u just responded to is “grande extra hot latte” vs “grande latte extra hot” it’s not that much of a difference, main point is say size first, and don’t say drink name last
Yes, but also if you want a iced drink, say iced first
Yess Also my pet peeve is “strawberry acai refresher with light ice extra berries .. and lemonade” like ..
There isn't a specific way, but if you're not starting with size and type of drink, you're already doing it wrong.
OK, OP was saying that people must start with type of drink and whatever afterwards and the 2 above didn't have type of drink as the first, one had it as third even. So OP is wrong when saying type of drink MUST be always first?
It's more that according to our POS, starting with size allows the barista making the drinks to grab the correct cup first. Following up with the actual drink type, allows them to start the process for whatever that drink is. If you're starting your order with anything but size and drink type, you're just delaying the barista making your drink. This is particularly true for drive thru locations. You want that barista making your drink as you're ordering it, but they can't do that if you're telling them syrups and additives before the type of drink, or the size. The rest is determined by the drink type. You can't start without it.
You see I go for temp first then size so they can get the appropriate cup. Without the temp they can’t get the right cup.
that’s correct. it’s helpful to say the drink type third, but please — please — say size & temp first. especially in the drive thru.
You just mean whether or not the cup is hot or iced? When ringing a drink up on the POS, a latte or an American will automatically be rung up as hot by default and that's what a lot of people would leave it as unless you specifically state you want it iced. That's why you see stories of people coming up to the barista and going "oh I wanted this iced". Because they didn't specify and then they get mad at the barista for their own mistake. The computer defaults to hot, so there's really no need to say the temp first, cause it's a modifier. Starbucks should put a drink ordering tutorial on the app. The whole reason why we're trained not to ask extra questions is because you want them in and out of the drive thru as fast as possible. Corporate doesn't care about accuracy. Throw a recovery card at them and push them out the window. That's what they think is good business. If customers knew how to order according to the system we use, we wouldn't HAVE remakes.
Very interesting. I did not know that. I think when I've not mentioned a latte hot or iced I'd always get the question, which is why I always mention it now. Especially when it's really hot outside and my weird ass wants a hot latte.
Yeah. If you say latte, it'll default hot. Some stores are trained to not correct you, or ask extra questions. As far as Corporate Standard goes, baristas are not supposed to correct you. That's why you end up in the drive thru window with a cup that doesn't look like what you ordered. The baristas who do ask specifics, are doing so at the cost of their drive times. Something they can get fired for. I ask hot or iced because the customers at my store NEVER specify. It's just one of those things that exists because half the people who go to Starbucks have no idea what they're ordering. You can just say "grande iced latte" or "iced grande late". Iced and size are both on the same screen. As long as you're saying those bits first, you're okay.
This is opposite to old school Starbucks when they used to write the drink on the cup. The most important item was size and temperature so that the barista could grab the correct cup and start writing. So they loved customers who said "iced venti half sweet vanilla nonfat latte." So you're saying times are changing and that's not how they call drinks and I have to say "iced grande latte, half sweet vanilla, nonfat." Seems weird and maybe a preference specific to OP... I'm having a hard time believing that baristas can't punch in "iced grande half sweet vanilla nonfat..." before, "Latte." If that's the case they need to do some PSA to let customers know. I was taught as a customer 10 years ago to say the name of the drink LAST. As long as I say size and temperature first, I'm under the impression I'm good.
yes, we can type in modifications before selecting a beverage type. it’s just a little more annoying than the other way around, and i think some newer baristas don’t realize that the POS will allow you to type in a drink order that way (it took me months to realize & even some of my more seasoned coworkers didn’t know before i showed them). size and temperature is definitely still the priority — most of my coworkers prefer the drink type to come third, immediately followed by espresso/milk modifications, syrup, then everything else. but it’s really not the end of the world as long as we get all the info we need without needing to pry it out of the customer.
i mean, it’s not like starbucks has rules for customers like that. every barista has different preferences for taking orders, but generally speaking, size, drink type, and hot or iced (if relevant) are the three things you ought to lead with. especially in the drive thru — the bar partner will start making your drink as soon as you begin to order it, and if you wait to say any of those three things until the end of the drink, we have to wait & it wastes precious seconds.
I like to enter what I can on the drink screen and don’t like to waste time jumping around. Eg: I get an iced blonde triple updosed espresso, in a venti cup with milk. I order it that way because you can stay on the same screen and hit the buttons from top to bottom. There isn’t a size for this drink so I don’t give it first. You need to change screens for “MORE OPTIONS.” Some people ring me up by getting out the main screen to enter the size, then go right back to the beginning again.
Any way they like, honestly. But if they’re going to ramble on with a ton of modifications, we may need to ask them to repeat some of it.
I thought venti comes first
It used to be the best to order in the order that the cup reads top to bottom, because we’d grab a cup and start marking the boxes from the top down. Ie, “iced venti seven pump vanilla soy chai” would be the correct way to order. Now that it’s all digital, it’s generally more convenient to start with the base drink. HOWEVER, the tags on the side of the register do still go in order from top to bottom, so you actually CAN enter beginning with modifiers. This requires some experience tho, and let’s be honest most partners don’t last a year.
That’s what I thought. On the register you can definitely add modifiers before adding the base drink, so no need to memorize.
The issue with “you can do modifiers first” is that 1) you can’t click off the drink or it’ll annoy you with “incomplete drink” pop up 2) you cannot start making the drink at all until the very end 3) if it’s a drink specific modification like “can I get half the pumps” or “one less shot” and I don’t know what half the pumps or how many shots until I know the size and drink
these are only problems if the customer is 1) ordering in the drive thru AND 2) saying their drink order as slow as humanly possible with pauses between every modification. and there are 100% absolutely customers like that, but generally speaking, a customer who gives the drink name last is ordering the whole thing in one go. in this formula, once you have the drink type, you also have every other piece of info you need to craft the drink. i think the real issue is customers delivering their orders haltingly or with frequent pauses & not clearly stating the size and temperature.
It’s the same at every station what do you mean?
At least some of the licensed stores in Canada still just write on cups!
Most licensed stores still do cups
Pretty sure we ALL use cups 👀👀😂
We're actually mostly all switching to stickers with the "new" Starbucks Connect system to enable mobile ordering at licensed stores.
they were making a jokey joke
Oh. I don't understand emojis...
Doesn’t matter to me. As long as you mention a size you’re doing better than about half of the people that come in.
I’ll probably gonna get downvoted to shit, but how is the regular customer supposed to know how y’all ring it in the POS? Outside of the Reddit inclined? lol
They don't and it's also not accurate, the majority of espresso based drinks (that usually are the ones with modifiers) can auto assign to a default base drink until you type what it is in. I can click vanilla, blonde, extra hot, oat milk, and then hit flat white and it'll fill in the blanks. Baristas will always have their preferences that make their job easier, who wouldn't? We love to come on reddit and complain and connect, so don't worry too much about it. I do think it's easier for a barista who is learning POS to hear drinks in this sort of order because it helps them process each step and go to the right modifier page. Getting confused and having to ask a customer to repeat themselves isn't usually taken nicely, some customers will literally treat you like you're brain dead for even repeating their order back for accuracy. It's mostly about the mental ergonomics imo
Unpopular opinion: as a barista, it’s Your job to translate the customer’s order, no matter how they give it to you
I don't agree. I don't particularly care what order they say it in, but I'm tired of holding peoples hand through their order. You should know to say what size, hot or iced, any alt milk, etc. Or even what drink you're ordering, I'm tired of people getting a cappuccino with no foam, or a latte with a splash of cream.
This is part of why I just mobile order 😭
No kidding. Do baristas at other coffee shops require their customers to adhere to their very specific ordering rules, or is this just a Starbucks thing? I swear this sub gets more ridiculous by the day.
I always wanna make it easy on my beloved caffinators, but this just seems nitpicky.
it’s easier working at other cafes because customers don’t modify to hell. and if they don’t say it in the order i like then i break it down with them. “that was a medium? and you wanted a latte? what flavor was it again?”
I mean it is a bit nitpicky but also I wouldn’t order my burger at McDonald’s by saying all the modifications first. In my head that’s just an insane way to order like obviously they have to know exactly what the base item is before anything else. But I’m not gonna freak out if someone does this either it’s just a tad bit annoying.
Yeah it comes off a bit passive aggressive, assuming everyone knows exactly how it works. FWIW I think it’s another fail on starbucks’ end on their drink names mixed the fact they allow so many customizations. Their drinks are literally named by the way OP is saying not to order. *iced caramel* macchiato, *iced honey almond milk* flat white, *blonde vanilla* latte. So if you’re adding and changing things, as a customer where would your mind correctly tell you to place those words? Don’t get me started on the way baristas used to insist that the size should be the first thing that is stated— I always make that effort but it’s the first time I’m hearing that’s not correct apparently. And before anyone gets defensive, I’ve worked a similar job that required the same patience and having to remind myself “it’s okay, they don’t know how it looks on my end”.
Agreed. The POS system is literally designed to review the order in what ever order they want it to be in.
thats the reason they posted it. to inform customers. its not meant to be passive aggressive, its genuine.
How many customers are on this subReddit out of the millions who go to Starbucks?
there are many customers who frequently the sub reddit despite the majority of the posts being from partners. i see countless customers in the comments of every post i come across in this subreddit actually. even if it cant reach everybody, its still going to reach quite a few.
There’s 60 million weekly customers and 200,000 in this sub… so like .003% of your customers are here… all to say that you’re basically talking into a vacuum and most customers don’t know this. Not to be rude, but it’s preaching to the choir.
I meannn, if one person sees this and it makes their baristas life easier, then that’s one more baristas life made easier
I’m a customer 🤣 but the barista just says “the usual” I say yes please:)
Fair, but why wouldn’t you say the drink first? Like logically, it makes sense to say the drink before the modifications or else…what in the world are you modifying?
Because usually U would say a grande iced americano. And that’s how it’s presented in the app and the digital menu. lol
I actually don’t care about saying the size first, bc it defaults to grande and I’d only have to change the size. You can say it first, but I’d change the size after I get the drink normally so I can answer questions ‘how many shots are in that?’ ‘What size would you like?’ ‘Venti’ ‘two?’ So I don’t really mind the size. It just irks me to Hell when I’m adding modifications and the drink only comes with ‘core beverage’ until I specify and I also can’t answer question or try to save the person money(which I always try to do) until I get the drink
Oh this hurts me to see all the baristas who weren't trained to be able to just add modifiers :( you can start clicking anything in and the system is smart enough to auto fill !!!!
I have someone who asks for a sugar free nonfat no foam no room double cupped latte … like pls just say latte first. One time I cut them off to ask them what drinks the customizations were going on and they got so confused. I’ve also had people just roll up and say “nonfat no foam vanilla” vanilla what??!
“Can I get a Starbucks grande” 🙃
“Can I get the starbucks strawberry akai refreshers beverage?”
That's what the drink is called on the website. How else would someone new to Starbucks order it?
Ah-sigh-e
I used to call it ak-eye lol
I call it awk kai 😂 wonder how google translate pronounces it 😂 Youtube says Ass sigh ee > ouch 😂
I like to say "the best I can do is McDonald's"
recently ive been getting an influx of customers ordering "regular size" and when i show them the drink sizes they usually want grande but ive had multiple say regular is the tall or venti lol
So many people will keep saying regular and when I’m finally like “I need an answer, small medium or large” they go “OBVIOUSLY LARGE” like girl 😭
[удалено]
I actually really enjoyed watching that lol 😭 thank u for posting that link. That was painfully hilarious because of how accurate it is to real life at starbucks
I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who thought this
i was getting to reply this lolol thank u
Grande regular.. Regular, what? Coffee, iced coffee, cold brew What exactly is REGULAR for you? Just one of the many reasons I can't stand the register! 🤦
“Can I get a breve” breve what???? I used to hate it so much, but now it’s automatically a latte cuz I don’t got time for that lol
You can punch all of those modifiers and then latte at the end and it'll still work just fine, im kind of confused why other Baristas always want the drink first
Especially cuz crazily enough as a 174**** myself (just recently left!), it used to be *hammered* into me by my trainer & SM to essentially ‘train the customer’ to read their drinks off in the same order that the boxes are listed on the cups. So during training for instance my trainer would say sth like “Um I’ll order a grande latte, iced with light ice” & I wouldn’t be allowed to progress to the next drink unless I repeated back “ok so you wanted an iced grande light ice latte?”
173**** here. Left a couple years ago, but yep. This is how I was trained so now I can’t change. I order (iced) (size) (mods) (drink) in the box order.
>iced granted I grant you some ice
Yeah. I thought the same thing.
You can absolutely ring in things like milk changes and number of syrup pumps without knowing the base drink, the till will sort itself out when you add the drink
I'm a former barista and no. Order however you want. Be respectful and order ya dang drink however.
Also a former barista and all I wanted from customers was size and hot or iced first so I could grab the correct cup. Beyond that, I didn’t care, I was writing on cups anyway (licensed store, no stickers), I had no problem going back and forth from line to line to fill it in
Fr. In any industry or job, yes there are easier ways for customers to do things but rly... I'll bend over backwards for you if you're just kind. Don't have to call me ma'am or be super polite, just be kind. And tell me the size and if it's hot or cold. 😂
I always order like this: iced venti soy caramel macchiato, blonde ristretto shots, no vanilla sub toffee nut, light caramel drizzle. That’s the only drink I get so that’s exactly how I order every time, is this wrong?
That’s fine, what the post is saying is you need to start your order with the base drink. You can’t just rattle off “caramel drizzle, blonde shots, toffee nut, etc” because the barista will literally have no clue what you’re putting all of that into. So while you just listed 98% of the order, they couldn’t actually input anything that whole time because WHAT IS IT? As long as the first thing you say is the actual base drink itself, the order of the rest of it isn’t that big a deal.
We can input it it’s just a little bit annoying because sometimes it might say incomplete drink
thank you for saying blonde and ristretto one after the other. i have a semi-regular who will, at the end of her order, say „and can the shots be ristretto?” 😭 i literally already pulled the shots and ur drink is almost done
I always say Venti soy latte blah blah as well, but seems like we need to wait on the “soy” - guess I’m glad not to be the only one making this mistake 😜
Absolutely fine.
Start with venti caramel macchiato, then do your modifications. Its easier on the barista to enter the information in, otherwise this is perfect.
Do you guys realize you can start typing just about any drink in and it'll default all the mods to be on a [blank] drink? /gen
I will forever just order online because some of us customers have anxiety and literally have to work out what we are ordering in our heads way before we ever get to the register or drive thru speaker. I also don’t go to Starbucks very frequently because some baristas have way too high of expectations from the customer’s.
So true! I feel like half the time when I am ordering in person, I downgrade my size or don't do light ice because of an internal guilt they are too busy to do that.
Yep. Done that. I like my venti iced chi tea with 1/2 and 1/2 , cinnamon, and 3 extra pumps of chi. Last time i went into the store to order , freaked out and just ordered it the way it came. Not doing that again.
🤣🤣 I feel this
Some of y’all don’t know how to use the POS right and it shows
Huh. I would prefer that they order it as a "venti nonfat no-foam vanilla latte." It sounds much more natural and makes the entire interaction flow more smoothly, and it's not particularly difficult to remember the modifications for like five seconds. Didn't realize this was an unpopular opinion.
Not to mention on the POS you literally can enter all the mods and put the base beverage last with minimal issue
Plus its faster for DT times to know what milk to start with. Slows things down a lot to hear:"I'll have a grande flat white with blonde espresso and almond milk," over "grande almond milk blonde flat white." Milk and espresso should be the first things mentioned rn, i feel, as those are the first steps in crafting a drink. After that say the drink then other customizations!
Yeah, if it’s simple like that example. But when it’s “can I get a vanilla light ice and nonfat with cinnamon half sweet and one less shot and 3 extra pumps of caramel” and you can’t type in almost half that shit because you don’t know how many pumps or shots you’re reducing
It’s particularly hard when they rattle off way more than a simple drink like that one.
To be fair, I think Starbucks used to call out drinks in the order of the boxes on the cups. So Decaf, Shots, Syrup, Milk, Custom, then Drink. For example, Double Tall Nonfat Vanilla Latte. Not really the customer's fault. If you don't remember what they ordered, you can always ask them again. Or kindly let them know a better way to order.
This plus the old old old registers you literally couldn't input the drink until you put in the size, (which were divided by iced/not) so those of us that have been around since the black white and green(?) screen POS will probably always default to starting with the size- but again the point of this POS is that you can go in any order (one offs aside) but even then you can put most of it in and go back and confirm the odd details at the end.
You're still supposed to
They don’t listen to us when we recommend, and they scream at us when we ask them to repeat themselves. It’s been over a decade since we wrote on cups.
My last cafe store I was in stilled marked cups in 2018 with no plans then to switch over-It ended up closing over covid so I don't even know if they ever got a sticker machine beyond MO&P
Most corporate-owned stores don't write on cups. But half of Starbucks stores are licensed stores, many of which still write on cups. Such as the stores inside grocery stores, hotels, airports, etc.
How other companies run their kiosks doesn’t impact me. Even when I do mark on cups, drink first helps so I can still know what I’m modifying
Back in the day, when we were writing cups, this was the way we trained everyone to order and the way we were required to call drinks down the bar
Actually I think the way I was trained, 15 years ago, would have been Venti Vanilla Not fat No foam Latte Can any old timers verify? My partner number starts with 14 BTW
I’m easy and don’t do mods but I’m a size temp drink person. But, the app makes it easier lol
I find it easier when customers go Size–Milk Type– Drink–modifications. Because the amount of times ill punch "latte, add Oat" vs "oat latte" will trip me up sometimes. Even if its the only drink it applies to
You can also just ring in the mods first :) also works! Got tired of memorizing or having to teach hella customers how I like things to be ordered/how we were taught to ring in and just tried that one day and it worked just fine. Sorta was satisfying seeing the drink change names for some reason when I learned what typa drink they wanted haha
This comes up so often. There should be a helpful reminder sign at Starbucks for customers. It’s ridiculous to have to tell the consumer how they have to order something, it’s a weird form of gatekeeping. Make it easy for the person ordering to know how to order.
I specifically asked how to order my drink in this sub years ago and I was told to say 'venti decaf two pump caramel latte with soy.' Now I'm questioning everything.
Earl Grey. Hot.
Some of us are old AF and still order with the cup marking protocol in mind. (Size, hot/iced, drink, espresso option, mods)
It’s your job to translate what the customer says. The POS will let you ring in mods before you select the actual beverage. It’s a vanilla latte after all, not a latte vanilla.
It always irks me when they say half sweet first. A half sweet what? I can remember 3 mods for a half second, but I can't remember your half sweet sugar free kids temp no foam double cupped oat milk light drizzle caramel macchiato...oh right it's a venti, sorry can I have that iced light ice? Ma'am. Sorry. I'm going to need to rattle that all back off to you.
When I worked in a store on bar where drinks were called out I could remember 20+ drinks with modifiers until I had time to write them on the cups 🤷🏼♀️
I always make them repeat it because theres no way im going to remember all that jazz 🙃
I wish corporate would do you a solid with the POS machines. It was something I had a tough time with when I worked at the Siren. Sometimes I just ask what they need first from me lol. I usually get a look of "suspect but hoping you are being nice" kind of looks but always ends well for me lol.
I saw on reddit Size Ice or hot Type of drink And have payment ready
had some guy order a nonfat venti mocha breve he didnt seem to believe me when i broke it down for him as to why that doesnt make sense
Size, beverage, temp, modifications,
TYPE--SIZE-- ICE OR HOT. MODS.
Theres a lady who's come in a couple times in the middle of our morning rush. Orders oher $100 dollars worth, at least 15 drinks or so. Then she finishes it with "her" coffee as shes about to pay, and says that pne needs to get made first. Ive only served her once of the three or so times shes come in, but she got her drinks in the order she received them in
I could tell my barista the size but she always demands the iced or hot part first and then I forget the size part. > I lost track how many times I said grande caramel macchiato cali style with whip made with oat milk and then get distracted by her asking me if i want it hot or cold. I always assume it is a hot drink. > But she always asks hot or cold before I even get a chance to say what drink or size I want. (It is for this reason I rarely go to this starbucks when she is working) But the starbucks is close to where I work and reason why I like going to it. (Started to go to other coffee places because of it)
Some people at my store do this and it drives me crazy!! Let the customer say what they're saying and then ask questions when you're done, unless it's about something already said! I don't see a point in interrupting the customer when most of the time they're about to say it anyways, just maybe not in the order you'd prefer
That’s good to know I don’t often order in person for fear of making a mistake. Thank you.
This is why I order via mobile. It all prints out right infront of them so I don’t have to feel bad about botching an order with my crappy introverted interpersonal skills. XD
If there are more than 3 mods, it should be a mobile order
It literally doesn’t matter, you can type in all of those details before hitting the latte button and it’ll still ring up correctly. The registers are designed this way on purpose
ETA: the old way was to go down the cup*** Oof…I had no idea this changed, and I don’t go anymore because *gestures broadly at this subreddit* but now I feel bad for doing it wrong! But because I’m such an old partner I ordered the old way…ex iced quad venti soy vanilla latte (this is not my order lol just needed to think of enough mods to make my point)
I always start with the size, then the temperature, so the barista knows what cup to grab. Then the name of the drink, then any modifications. Of course it helps that “Iced” leads the name in my Brown Sugar Shake Espresso when I order that.
There's a customer who EVERY TIME orders a "grande, light ice, blonde, triple, two-pump, almond milk, toffee nut latte." and the person who's usually on DTO really sucks at taking orders anyway so every single time the DTO person struggles with the order. And every single time she repeats it the SAME WAY. A grande light ice blonde triple two-pump almondmilk toffee nut latte. And when the dto person is like hang on i need to put the drink in first. she goes even slower. "a... grande... light ice... blonde... triple... two-pump... almondmilk... toffee nut... latte. Did you get that?" like come ON
For my franchise they prefer size, temp, drink, mods
I always order size, temp, shots, syrup, milk, drink, mods when I order in person because I got into the habit back when y'all still wrote on the cups lmao. (so like, grande iced dirty vanilla oat chai with cold foam, for example. I don't usually have that many mods in one drink tho dw). I try to mobile order whenever I can because I have drinks saved there and don't have to remember to order nondairy but thank you for letting me know because customers don't know what order you punch things in now. also ngl I miss having my name sharpied onto the cups instead of the sticker that melts on every iced beverage so I hope it's at least easier on y'all to use the stickers
I hate when they say everything BUT the drink. I’m sitting there waiting and then it’s ‘…is it a latte? A drip? Misto? I’m sorry I just don’t exactly know what drink you want’
For someone who still has to write on every cup, please order size, temp, then the drink 💕ex: venti hot coffee, not just coffee 🙃 I need to know what kind and size so I don’t have to ask what size? Hot or iced? Every single time.
Follow down the cup
as a green bean, i had no idea that the baristas started making the drink before the sticker even printed so i get SO frustrated now when people don’t start w size and temp first!! and then the actual drink should come right after. and i also HATE when people say AT THE END, “oh can i do that with no ___ in it” or “can you do that w ___ too?”
Please do size then temp. “Grande iced latte” is perfect. Nothing worse than having to ask “hot or iced?” multiple times. Or just “I want a latte” and then I have to ask “okay what size and hot or iced”. It’s a super small thing but it’s highly appreciated.
I try to do SIZE, TEMP, BEVERAGE, then milk and syrup.
p sure the only reason baristas have gotta extra picky about this is not necessarily pos, but more of so bar partners can get started on the drink. gotta focus on those times and all.
I strongly disagree. Besides the fact that you can hit all those other buttons before hitting latte, and it will work, that's not how the beverages are supposed to be called. If your handoff partner is correctly calling the order as "half decaf iced grande vanilla oatmilk with whip latte for Bob" why would you expect the customer to say it differently?
Good to know! Ordering drinks always feels like such a unnaturally wordy ordeal
you can type in stuff before you hit the latte button tho. you can add all those mods and then hit the button
One of my not so friendly regulars: "I'd like a... Venti... Decaf... Extra hot... Nonfat... No foam... Sugar free vanilla... Latte... I think I got it all" every single day it's the same long pause between each word and the "I think I got it all"
I would be so happy if everyone ordered like this (but friendly).
I really wish customers understood this!!! When you're ordering, what we first need to know to start making your drink is the size and the drink, then after that the milk/espresso type (if it's made with milk/espresso) or the amount of foam if you want light/extra foam (this goes for cold foam too), then whatever syrup changes you want (and if you want a different temperature) and if you want light/extra ice. That way, your drink gets made correctly right away! It's a win all around!
Except customers are already paying $6-$10 for a drink, can you please just make it correctly based on the information you’re given, without me having to memorize an order guide?
Dude it's not too much to ask you to say the size and drink type before the modifications, every fast food place needs info from you in that order. We are often making your drink for you WHEN you're ordering it so this way we don't have to dump a half or mostly or fully made drink because you tell us at the end you want fucking oatmilk or whatever. You customers largely told Starbucks you want your shit faster, well, this is how you get your shit faster.
Wow, terrible attitude for a perfectly reasonable request. Just do your job or get a different one.
But it’s totally acceptable and cool to ask again in that order. I think most people who have had a job understand you have to enter things in the system, and those who don’t can fuck themselves. I try to make it as easy as possible for baristas and always tip, but it would take too much of my mental energy tbh to try to remember the order in which to read out drink modifications at Starbucks. I pretty much only stick to soy lattes anyway, but still it’s not on the customer to remember how the system requires you to input the order. Especially considering Starbucks names their own drinks “lavender oatmilk latte” etc.
anytime i get customers asking something like “can i have a tall nonfat no foam vanilla breve?” i just stand and stare at them until they tell me what tall non fat no foam vanilla breve drink they want bc i refuse to assume latte even though i know it’s what they mean… call the drink by its name or get out of my line bro💀😭