Dan's Papers - February 22, 2008

Several years ago, we learned that the founder of Starbucks, Howard D. Schultz of Queens via Seattle, had bought a big mansion here in the Hamptons.

We wrote a profile about him, because the concept that Mr. Schultz developed, after observing what a true coffee house looks and acts like in Italy, was just what this country needed. Starbucks rapidly became a friendly oasis for the people of America, the sort of quiet home away from home living room where you could read a book, write on a laptop, read the daily newspaper from a stack of them on racks, have a discussion with friends, stay as long as you like, drink a cappuccino made by a barista on a machine that hissed at you and even, under certain circumstances, take a nap.

Perhaps most amazing of all, it seemed to me - and this is on a local level - was that the Village of East Hampton welcomed a Starbucks into the community, even though they frown on chain stores and have laws against allowing fast food chain restaurants to open up in that community.

Hooray for Starbucks!

But now, Schultz is cutting short his idyll and vacation days here in the Hamptons to rush back to Starbucks headquarters in Seattle and take the company back from the man he hired to run it so he could come here to enjoy the fruits of his labor. Although the company still does $9 billion in business a year and still makes $1 billion in profits, somehow things are going sour and something is seriously wrong. Growth has almost stopped, the number of people coming into the stores on a per store basis has ceased to increase, and the future doesn't look good. When the stock tanked and continued downhill until it was almost half of what it used to be, Schultz made his move. Enough was enough and he fired his CEO and moved back into the hot seat himself.

The first thing Schultz did when he got back was announce that he intended to return this company to its original concept. He didn't say so, but I think Italy came to mind. And he said the first step to do this was to ask the customer base what they thought he ought to do.

So here, as a regular customer of Starbucks, is my take on the situation.

The first Starbucks in the Hamptons was the one in Bridgehampton. I don't know the order of the other three Starbucks that came to the Hamptons during the last five years, but I do know that this one was the first one. And I believe the one in Hampton Bays was the second one.

Both of these Starbucks are in the classic tradition. They have comfortable easy chairs and sofas, café tables, the barista bar and the counter and the condiments cabinet, even the New York Times (and Dan's Papers until corporate caught us at it and, over objections from the customer base, said it was the Times and that was it.) They also had, until recently, either classical or popular music with lyrics so soft or at least unintelligible that you could either keep focused on what you were reading or talking about in a plain voice to be able to hear your friends. It was highbrow restaurant music. Great.

I really don't know about the Hampton Bays Starbucks, except that I did stop there and it was spacious and had all the above amenities, but I do know that in recent months, the experience at the Bridgehampton Starbucks has seriously changed. There's confusion at the counter. Recently, they apparently decided that they'd use 2% milk instead of whole milk, which if you know cappuccino, does not foam up as well. And they didn't tell anybody.

They also began to produce cappuccinos that, although ordered exactly the same as the week or days before, were made inexpertly. I think the training of the baristas has fallen off. The last two times I was there, my favorite drink came out so off that I had to return and have them made again correctly. Not good.

The second thing about Bridgehampton is that it seems to have become cluttered with things for sale. The place is always hawking something. It's not a friendly feeling. A few things would be nice. But there are so many now it seems more like a store rather than a place for peace and quiet.

The Bridgehampton Starbucks also seems to have lost its control over both the volume of songs played and their quality. People come there to think, and they can't think when this stuff is on.

As for the other two Starbucks in the Hamptons that opened more recently, in East Hampton and Southampton, they appear to be something that ought to be called S-bucks or maybe Starbucks On-the-Go.

Both places have limited seating. You just line up and get your coffee and go. So the whole Starbucks experience is out the window.

You get the coffee. That's it.

Another problem that has come up is the food. Early on, they had bottled juice and damn good pastries. They still have these things. But then they added sandwiches and salads and I tried them but very often they were wilted or just sitting there too long and getting stale or old. I recall several times in the past year getting sandwiches that I had to bring back because the dressing had leaked through the bread, or getting a fruit salad that had gone bad. We don't have a kitchen, I was told. So why ruin the experience? I thought.

I like to think that the two Starbucks On-the-Go were brought in after Schultz and his family moved here, so that practically anyplace the boss would go, he'd stumble upon one.

Well, true classic coffee houses, in the tradition in which Starbucks first came up to the plate are thriving, while Starbucks is beginning to hear the footsteps gaining on them from - oh no, McDonalds.

Maybe the old formula will not continue to work. I sure hope it does. Starbucks should be big and comfortable with old sofas and upholstered chairs and a calming setting with pastries, bottled drinks, a few items for sale, numerous newspapers in racks including a few local ones (a plug there) and a sense that yes, this is a good place to have a cup of excellent coffee, enjoy your friends or your reading or your work, and then stay a while. I'd put up signs at the mini-Starbucks calling them Starbucks On-the-Go, so the expectations would be different. And, if at all possible, I'd get those milk steaming machines that hissed back.

And other than the pastries, ditch the food.

Pretty soon, Mr. Schultz, you'll be back to your home in the Hamptons leaving Seattle humming away with a new CEO and, if you like, go out to a Starbucks with your kids or friends, settle down, play some chess, read a book or talk about the upcoming elections and have a well made espresso, cappuccino, or for the kids, a caramel latte.

Send money to Dan Rattiner, Dan's Papers, 2221 Montauk Highway, Bridgehampton, NY 11932. And thanks.

As we go to press we learn that all Starbucks coffee shops around the country are closing from 5:30-8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, February 26 for re-training.