BUAD801: Starbucks Layout and Process Review for Auckland Store

This report provides an in-depth analysis of the Starbucks Coffee store located in Auckland, New Zealand, focusing on its layout, operational processes, and customer service methods. The study begins with a description of the store's location and product offerings, including coffee and espresso variants. It highlights the hybrid layout approach employed by the store and details the consumer service path through flowcharts depicting staff activities and workflows. The report evaluates the store's processes using methods tables, identifying non-value-added activities, time wastage, and potential improvements. Furthermore, the study compares the prices of coffee and espresso in the Auckland store to other markets. The report concludes with recommendations aimed at enhancing business performance, such as reducing customer waiting times and optimizing staff efficiency, providing a comprehensive overview of the store's operations and areas for improvement.

Decision support tools and
techniques

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Executive summary
Starbucks Coffee store that is located in New Zealand is undertaken for this study. A proper
description of the location is provided, which shows that the store is selling both coffee and
expresso to the people of Auckland. Besides this, it is seen that the hybrid layout of the
combination approach has been used by this coffee shop for delivering their services and
products to people. Appropriate flow chart of the consumer service path, activities of staffs and
procedure of workers serving the products has also briefly discussed in this context. Besides this,
methods of the table, including non-value added activities, wasting of time by staffs and
improving the procedure, are evaluated throughout the report. Apart from this, some
recommendations are provided that are effective for the firm in improving their business
performance in Auckland store.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Location and price comparison........................................................................................................3
Flowchart and Method of table........................................................................................................6
Recommendation...........................................................................................................................11
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................12
References......................................................................................................................................13

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Introduction
The fundamental objective of the report is to evaluate the processes and layout followed by
Starbucks Coffee store in their customer service methods. In order to highlight the procedure
effectively, the operations of the firm are noted adequately in the chosen location. A comparison
of price regarding the service and products offered by the Coffee store will be observed in the
selected location which will help in understanding the business operations of this shop.
Moreover, a sketch of the layout along with the path for the purpose of consumer’s travel will be
provided in this context. A recording will be provided regarding the flowchart and the method of
the table that show the time of the procedure followed by the Starbucks Coffee store. The non-
value added activities use by the shop for improving staff members' involvement and consumer
experiences will help in analyzing the business procedures. Furthermore, some recommendation
will be provided regarding the procedure that should overall improve the whole business
operations of this coffee shop in the chosen location.
Location and price comparison
Starbucks Corporation is an American coffeehouse chain and company which was established in
1971 in Washington, US. The Starbucks Coffee store is present worldwide, and currently, they
are operated in 76 markets of the nation. However, for this study, the Queen Street store of
Auckland, New Zealand, is selected. This particular location of this shop help on understanding
the business operations as well as the procedure and layout followed by the firm in their
consumer service operation. It is analyzed that the Auckland store of Starbucks Coffee shop has
sold both Expresso and coffee in several variants. Both the products are served to their
consumers as per their needs and demands (Starbucks®, 2019). There are four types of the
variant in coffee and expresso such as short, tall, venti and grand. For all these variants the price
also differs from one another. In this chosen location, the firm has improved its performance by
enhancing their prestige, adding value to the brand and increases the firm opportunity to expand
its business in another country market. It is evaluated that the Starbucks Coffee shop of New
Zealand provided the highest standards of quality regarding their products by maintaining ethical
sourcing practices.

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The coffee buyers of this location generally travel to the coffee farms in Asia, Latin America and
Africa for collecting the highest quality beans. This productive business operation has been
followed by the Queen Street store of Auckland of New Zealand, and it is observed by analyzing
the procedure and layout uses by this coffee shop. Moreover, by visiting the coffee shop at the
busiest time, it is quite helpful in analyzing the customer service operations followed by this
company (Vandevijvere, Aitken & Swinburn, 2018). By observing the activities of the staff
members towards their consumer, it became easier to understand the layout as well as the path of
the people that has been followed by this company. There are several types of layouts followed
by various companies such as process, fixed position, product and hybrid. Among all these
varied layout types, the Starbuck Coffee store of Auckland followed hybrid layout which means
they provide combination approach of both procedure and products offered by the firm (Zhang,
Kim & Goodsir, 2019). Besides this, the consumer service path that followed by this Starbucks
Coffee store is provided below:

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Figure 1: Flowchart of the consumer service path followed by the Starbucks Coffee store in
Auckland, New Zealand
(Source: By the author)
Apart from this, it is indicated that in order to follow the consumer service path effectively, the
business uses operational management. The theory is helpful in increasing the efficiency of the
production of this firm. Thus by using this theory, the management can control the production
procedure as well as the business operations that followed by the Starbucks Coffee store in their
company functions (Gupta, Nagpal & Malik, 2018). Besides this, a comparison has been
Starbucks Coffee Store
Order Placed by
customer
Update accepted Update
Order updated
Paid
Prepare
Ready
Deliver
Update rerjeced
Order cancelled by customer

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provided regarding the price of coffee and expresso that offered by this firm in Auckland store
and also in another store of the nation. In Auckland, the price of the Caramel Macchiato tail is
$6.00 whereas in another market its average price is $3.75. In other words, comparing the price
of White Chocolate Mocha Grande it is noted that in the Auckland store the price is $6.60
whereas in other country markets its price at $4.45. Apart from this, the price of Flat white,
Cappuccino and Latte tail is $5.10 whereas comparing the amount with other country
background market it is analyzed that the price of products as mentioned above is $3.75 (Atzori,
Shapoval & Murphy, 2018). After comparing the prices of the coffee and expresso offered by the
Starbucks Coffee store, it is evaluated that the amount in the Auckland store is quite higher than
that of the average amount of other country markets. The reason for making a higher price is to
increase the company profitability and to analyze the affordability of the people present in this
region.
Flowchart and Method of table
The Flowchart Method use by this Starbucks coffee store of Auckland are provided below:
Figure 2: The flowchart of the consumer followed by Starbucks Coffee store of Auckland,
New Zealand
(Source: Atzori, Shapoval & Murphy, 2018)

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In the Auckland store, the activities of staff members are widely noted because they are the one
who attracts the consumer towards the shop. The following flowchart has provided the activities
of the staff members of this coffee shop:
Figure 3: The flowchart of the activities of staffs followed by Starbucks Coffee store of
Auckland, New Zealand
(Source: By the author)
Production of raw
materials at the
farms
Reaching
warehouses Delivering to stores
Promoting through
social media
Selling the products
to consumers
Providing
employment
oppurtunities to
workers and farmers
Contributing to
economy,
environment and
society

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Figure 4: Flowchart of the procedure followed by workers in terms of serving and
maintaining the duties of the workforce in Starbucks Company of New Zealand
(Source: Lee, Kang, Choi & Olds, 2019)
The method of the table that has used by this coffee store in Auckland, New Zealand, is provided
below:

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Figure 5: The non-value added activities uses by Starbucks Coffee store for improving the
consumer experience and involvement of staff members in the firm
(Source: Krishna, 2018)
A method table has provided regarding the wasting time of the staff members that can cause a
huge impact on the business procedure of this coffee shop (Gray & Huels, 2018). The method
table is provided below:

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Figure 6: The method table shows the maximum amount of wasting time by the staff
members of this shop
(Source: Kang & Namkung, 2018)
The above part provided a view of people waiting for the service and to manage this the store
manager encourage the staffs to give their full effort in work so that they can serve the products
within time. After reviewing the above structure it is noticed that currently the firm arranges
some entertainment approaches that can reduce the bore feeling of their consumer. Hence with
the help of this strategy they organize their business operations effectively.
The table of potential improvement is as follows:
Figure 7: The method table of potential improvement that should be followed by this coffee
shop
(Source: Self-Created)
Customer
Arrive
Wait in
line
Order
coffee and
expresso
Wait for
drink
Drink
delivered
by the
waiter
within
some time

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Recommendation
After accessing the background of the Starbucks firm in Auckland, some recommendations are
provided that can improve the whole business procedure of this organization. The
recommendations are as follows:
 One of the recommendation is that the management should reduce the waiting time of the
consumer who visited their store to drink coffee and expresso (Gray & Huels, 2018). By
reducing the waiting time the company can serve a large number of consumers within a
motioned timeframe
 It is also recommended that the wasting time of staff members should be reduced by the
company (Guler, 2018). The business should hire efficient staffs suitable for their firm

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Conclusion
The report summarizes that the location selected for this study provide an amount of resource so
that the management team can effectively run their business without facing any difficulty. The
customer service operation of this Auckland store of Starbucks is provided with useful resource
utilization perspectives so that no consumer can be offended by the services, and they will come
again to the shop in future. Selecting a hybrid layout, they are accessible to their consumers up to
a certain distance from the store and maintain a speedy delivery so that people can sustain their
interest over this coffee store. Effective flowchart and method table are provided that can help in
analyzing the procedure of the business. Furthermore, some recommendations are provided that
can improve the business operations of this firm.

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References
Atzori, R., Shapoval, V., & Murphy, K. S. (2018). Measuring Generation Y consumers'
perceptions of green practices at Starbucks: An IPA analysis. Journal of foodservice
business research, 21(1), 1-21.\
Gray, D., & Huels, B. (2018). Are Gift Cards Really Liabilities? A Class Exercise Exploring
Starbucks Corporation. The North American Accounting Studies, 1(1), 1.
Guler, A. U. (2018). Inferring the Economics of Store Density from Closures: The Starbucks
Case. Marketing Science, 37(4), 611-630.
Gupta, P., Nagpal, A., & Malik, D. (2018). Starbucks: global brand in emerging markets.
Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies, 8(4), 1-22.
Kang, J. W., & Namkung, Y. (2018). The effect of corporate social responsibility on brand
equity and the moderating role of ethical consumerism: The case of Starbucks. Journal of
Hospitality & Tourism Research, 42(7), 1130-1151.
Krishna, C. G. (2018). Starbucks Communication Strategies–More Than Just a Cup of Coffee.
IUP Journal of Soft Skills, 12(3), 23-53.
Lee, M. J., Kang, H., Choi, H., & Olds, D. (2019). Managerial Attitudes towards Green Practices
in Educational Restaurant Operations: An Importance-Performance Analysis. Journal of
Hospitality & Tourism Education, 1-14.
Starbucks®. (2019). Starbucks.com. Retrieved 9 October 2019, from
https://www.starbucks.com/menu
Vandevijvere, S., Aitken, C., & Swinburn, B. (2018). Volume, nature and potential impact of
advertisements on Facebook and YouTube by food brands popular in New Zealand. The
New Zealand Medical Journal (Online), 131(1473), 14-24.

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Zhang, M., Kim, P. B., & Goodsir, W. (2019). Effects of service experience attribute on
customer attitudes and behaviours: The case of New Zealand café industry. Journal of
Hospitality Marketing & Management, 28(1), 28-50.