“Iced pumpkin tall chai latte with cream, please,” is a request that will soon become a regular at Starbucks across the United States.
When the holiday drinking season arrives, ordering in line at Starbucks takes on a specific vocabulary that comes right out of consumers’ mouths at 7 am. Pumpkin drinks, for example, are a reference to Halloween and the Thanksgiving holiday. The classic “small black coffee” is a request reserved for other coffee shops. But it was not always so.
When the Starbucks coffee shop was founded in 1971, customers would walk in and order unmodified coffee beans or refreshing drinks. At the time, coffee sales were in decline, according to Charles Lindsey, a professor of marketing at the University at Buffalo.
“Coffee was just seen as a breakfast drink,” Lindsey said. “Then Starbucks came in and reversed that model.”
Everything changed when Howard Schultz joined the company in 1982 as director of operations and marketing. The following year, he traveled to Italy, where he was “captivated” by Italian coffee shops and inspired to bring that culture to the United States. through Starbucks, said Megan Adams, a spokeswoman for the company.
A few years after returning to the United States, Schultz left Starbucks to found a new coffee company, Il Giornale, inspired by Italian coffees.
The store featured a menu in the ‘Starbucks language’ that customers know today, including beverages such as espressos and lattes. After a few years running Il Giornale, Schultz acquired Starbucks and operated under the Starbucks name while retaining the Il Giornale Italian-style menu.
“If you like a good macchiato, cut, latte or cappuccino, know that Starbucks really helped to popularize these drinks”, said Professor Lindsey.
Along with the new drinks came the sizes we are all familiar with: “small”, “tall”, “venti”, “large” and “trenta”. In Italian, venti and trenta mean twenty and thirty, respectively, and refer to the number of ounces (a measure equivalent to about 30 ml) in each drink. Small (or short) and tall are other terms associated with the concept of Italian coffee, used to describe the size of the drink.
The high was initially a medium-sized drink until Schultz decided the menu was too crowded. The small has been eliminated and is only available for hot drinks on request. Now the tall is known as the smallest drink size in the American chain.
In addition to language, the other component of the coffee shop feel is social, which took shape in the personalization of each drink order. This includes a customer’s name written in marker pen on each cup and the order in which the customer confirms their beverage preferences such as temperature, size and other modifications.
“Our customers love coming to Starbucks because they can get a perfect drink. They can order a drink made exactly how they want it and customized to their preferences,” said spokeswoman Adams.
However, not everyone has adopted the Starbucks lingo. Even today, many customers are frustrated with the sizing system, leading X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, to receive numerous complaints.
“The short one is small, but the tall one is medium. Has anyone figured out how Starbucks sizes work yet?” one user wrote. “I refuse to wear Starbucks size. Not for me,” said another.
Despite some criticism, there’s no denying the impact language has had on brand perception.
“The language was fresh and different and set them apart from the competition in a new vibrant new way,” opined Lindsey.
While other brands may try to copy Starbucks’ language and model, it’s difficult for them to succeed because consumers now mentally link the size and types of beverages to Starbucks. The language entered the minds of consumers as a Starbucks staple.
“If you polled 1,000 consumers and asked which brand they think of when they think of a cappuccino or latte, I think Starbucks would come to mind for most US consumers,” said Professor Lindsey.
“Top of mind” questions are frequent among consumers.
Lindsey cited sliced bread as an example. Although many Americans associate and credit the Wonder Bread brand with the product, the inventor of sliced bread is actually an Iowa man who pre-dated the famous brand. Wonder Bread just did a better job of advertising.
Using a similar tactic, Starbucks was wildly successful, earning $32.3 billion in net revenue last year alone. Furthermore, the coffee chain currently has more than 35,000 stores worldwide, according to its earnings report.
The brand’s marketing, which includes the unique language and “authentic cafe culture,” is a big driver of the chain’s success, according to Lindsey.
Now that Pumpkin Spice Latte season is approaching, customers should prepare for more Pumpkin Spice Latte orders. At least for now, Starbucks lingo is here to stay.
Source: CNN Brasil
Bruce Belcher is a seasoned author with over 5 years of experience in world news. He writes for online news websites and provides in-depth analysis on the world stock market. Bruce is known for his insightful perspectives and commitment to keeping the public informed.
