Starbucks’ Gemba, Toyota’s Tour, Product Innovation & Lean Process Improvements

2022-12-22

Mark Graban & Jamie Flinchbaugh Alternative title: “I’ll have a half-caff no-whip soy-milk chestnut praline latte… to-go” Episode page with video and links In Episode 37, we wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays with some new (to us) holiday cocktails. Mark tries the Bourbon Flip, and Jamie makes a Hot Buttered Bourbon. Neither will likely be in our regular rotation of cocktails, but they suit the “spirit” of the holiday season and might be a nice treat to make for guests. Your hosts explore...

Mark Graban & Jamie Flinchbaugh

Alternative title: “I’ll have a half-caff no-whip soy-milk chestnut praline latte… to-go”

Episode page with video and links

In Episode 37, we wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays with some new (to us) holiday cocktails.

Mark tries the Bourbon Flip, and Jamie makes a Hot Buttered Bourbon. Neither will likely be in our regular rotation of cocktails, but they suit the “spirit” of the holiday season and might be a nice treat to make for guests.

Your hosts explore the possible reinvention of Starbucks, which began with the return of CEO Howard Schultz. The stores have faced numerous pressures…increasing volume, increasing complexity, and growing barista dissatisfaction. Can these challenges be overcome by lean applied at the store level, or are more structural changes and innovations needed to get the job done? We explore a recent Wall Street Journal article about Starbucks' transformation and walk back to the beginnings of their lean journey over 10 years ago. Some of the problem statements examined: SKU proliferation, new blenders, and store layouts. We may start seeing a brand new layout for Starbucks stores, although the promised improves do not appear to be imminent.

The hosts finish by exploring gift giving in the whiskey, and wine, genre, including a book recommendation from Mark on the history of the prohibition era in the US.

Links From the Show:

Ted Stiles from Stiles Associates
David Meier's Glenn's Creek Distilling
Toyota's Georgetown, Kentucky plant
Four Roses' hot buttered bourbon recipe
- Used Mellow Corn Bottled in Bond for hot buttered bourbon
Bourbon Flip recipe
- Made with Benchmark Bonded bourbon
Mark's 2nd pour, a Bruichladdich Port Charlotte 10 Heavily Peated
WSJ article Starbucks is Rethinking Almost Everything
WSJ wrote about lean at Starbucks in 2009, and the same year, John Shook wrote about it for LEI
Starbucks' 3-day strike
LEI's 2020 book about lean at Starbucks, Steady Work
Book on the history of prohibition: Last Call
Podcast feed at LeanWhiskey.com or leanblog.org/leanwhiskey or jflinch.com/leanwhiskey