Five Ways to Make the Starbucks Coffee Experience Better

If you spend a lot of time at Starbucks, you probably have an opinion on how it could be made into an even better coffee shop and social center. A few simple changes could make Starbucks an even better experience for its loyal customers.

Here are ideas on how to make Starbucks a better place to meet and drink coffee:

1. Eliminate The Tip Jar

   Starbucks is a big corporation who can afford to pay their employees well. Why not give their hard working employees a raise and hide the tip jar. Their coffee drinks are expensive enough without making people feel guilty when they don't leave a tip. If a coffee drinker visits Starbucks on a daily basis and leaves a dollar in the tip jar each time, it adds up to a significant amount of money out of your bank account at the end of the month.. People could afford to visit more frequently if they didn't have to face the tip jar on a daily basis.

2. Add Some Magazines and Newspapers for Customers

   Customers would linger longer and drink more coffee if they had some stimulating reading material to keep them occupied. Why not add the New York Times, Washington Post and some interesting magazines to the stores for the reading pleasure of coffee drinkers?

3. Add Even More Healthy Alternatives

   Starbucks is making some positive changes in this arena by adding organic 2% milk to its stores. They're also testing salads and healthier sandwich alternatives in some of their locations. The company also announced earlier in the year that they would eliminate trans fats from their offerings. How about some healthier bakery items such as sugar free and low fat cookies and pastries? You may not want a high calorie pastry after ordering that high fat, high calorie blended coffee drink.

4. Stop Over Roasting Their Coffee

   You either love Starbucks coffee or you think it tastes too strong and bitter. They would do better to appeal to a wider audience by resisting the urge to over roast their coffee beans. A slightly less bitter taste would likely win the hearts of more coffee fans.

5. Have a Customer Incentive Program

   Starbucks could reward customers who visit them on a frequent basis by having a frequent customer card. After a customer purchases a certain number of drinks, he receives a free one. This would likely prove quite popular with the public.

A few changes in the way Starbucks does business might really increase the enthusiasm of its coffee drinking customers. But then again, they seem to do pretty well any way.