I love Starbucks. Yes, I’ve fallen into the wide swath of followers that pop in on a regular basis. The product is always consistent and I know that anywhere in the world, I can count on it. But, I’ve been surprised lately by how early in the day they run out of food. I regularly frequent five different locations and have found at each location the salads (as well as all fresh items) ran out starting at 2:00 and over a period of weeks worked down to stock outs by 9:00 am. I’ve inquired at each store about this and all tell me they regularly run out of food early in the day, leaving many like me to search for lunch (or other food options) elsewhere. Wow! What a missed opportunity.
That got me to thinking about why this is happening. Is it lack of understanding of the true demand of the product? Does anyone look at what time of day food runs out? Surely, the cost of goods potentially not sold is so minor in comparison to the number of sales they are missing. Is there a supply chain problem somewhere (the situation became a supplier issue with no fresh food for a week)? I don’t really know, but as a customer, I’m frequently disappointed. So, how are you making sure you aren’t missing opportunities to satisfy the demand for your product? Do you have mechanisms in place to understand what your customers want and when? Do you have a supply chain that works and can seamlessly address any supplier failures? How do you not miss that sale?
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