Green Apron Stories: 1992

Good morning... What can I get for you?

Well, I think it's time we took a trip back to 1992 when things were different at Starbucks. Some fundamental things... There was:

Mocha Mondays (mochas we the price of a latte)
Baristas knew everything about coffee
A short drip was $.72
There was only short, tall and grande
There were no Frappuccinos
People knew who the Java Man was
Starbucks scooped beans
Starbucks had a thing known as a "mis-grind"
Starbucks smelled like coffee
Pat's favorite drink... A short, hazelnut mocha
There were only 3 flavors (almond, vanilla and hazelnut)
Non-fat milk was new
Everyone had the safe combo and shared tills
Schedules we done using a matrix and written by hand
Bean Stock was worth something
There were only 143 stores (roughly)
You could find the name of every location on the walls of the support center
People still knew that partner in downtown Seattle had 4-digit and 5-digit partner numbers for a reason
Partners wore colored, button-down shirts and ties (or scarves for ladies)
Doc Martens were the shoe of choice
Tips were split up by shift and not weekly (morning crew raked in some cash)
La Marzocco ruled the land
Folks knew what "the interceptor" was (don't worry, I'll tell you about it)
Merchandise consisted of mugs, loose tea, machines and grinders
Partners knew how to bag a pound of beans the right way and place the sticker no more than a half-inch from the logo
The logo was old skool
Training to be a barista took 24 hours
The SKU 100276 was used ALOT
We ran X and Z tapes every night
The books were done by hand
Coffee of the Day was not planned
The place smelled like coffee... did I say that already? I did... well sue me.
The mocha was mixed by hand using a powder that came in 40lb drums
The drums were reused for garbage or recycling
There were white towels for steam wands and blue towels for other cleaning
Stores didn't have ice machines yet
Stores weren't wired for blenders
The stores smelled like coffee