<< Previous   of   Next >> Associated Press  (click to enlarge) Starbucks employees Tracy Bryant (right) and Roland Smith watch as a manager Justin Chapple makes an espresso at a Starbucks in New York on Tuesday. (click to enlarge) Espresso shots are made at a Starbucks in New York on Tuesday.

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Starbucks tries its shot at quality espresso

An industry analyst says Starbucks' barista retraining effort to improve its products shows it's committed to turning itself around.

Associated Press

SEATTLE -- A day after shutting down most of its U.S. shops for three hours to retrain baristas on espresso basics, Starbucks welcomed customers back Wednesday with a new promise posted in stores: "Your drink should be perfect, every time. If not, let us know and we'll make it right."

Starbucks Chairman and Chief Executive Howard Schultz said the 135,000 baristas who got the refresher course pledged to uphold "the uncompromising standards and quality that have made Starbucks the world's coffee leader."

Nearly 7,100 company-operated Starbucks stores across the U.S. -- all except the licensed shops in supermarkets, airports, malls, hotels and the like -- closed Tuesday evening for a teach-in that was part espresso tutorial, part pep rally.

Instead of dumping shots straight into the paper cups they'll serve to customers, Starbucks baristas are getting back to pouring espresso into shot glasses first. "You get to see if it's a quality shot of espresso," store manager Justin Chapple, 25, said during a training session at a New York City store.

Starbucks switched to automatic espresso machines years ago, but it still takes skill to work them. Baristas have to adjust the coffee grind to make sure a shot doesn't pour too quickly, making it watery, or too slowly, making it bitter.

"It's not as simple as pushing a button," said Ann-Marie Kurtz, Starbucks' manager of global coffee and tea education.

Starbucks wouldn't disclose how much revenue it lost during the shutdown, but analysts say the financial impact will be negligible compared to charges the company will take as it closes about 100 poorly performing U.S. stores this year and pays severance to more than 200 corporate support staff it laid off last week.

U.S. stores make up the bulk of Starbucks' revenue, which totaled $9.4 billion in fiscal 2007, when the company earned more than $672 million.

It makes sense to tackle the training in one fell swoop, and it shows the company -- which has seen its stock slide about 50 percent since late 2006 -- is committed to turning itself around, said Robert Toomey, an analyst with E.K. Riley Investments in Seattle. "They know they've fallen short," Toomey said. "The quality of the product has deteriorated a bit over the last few years, and they know they've got to improve it."

Starbucks plans to train its international employees over the next month, as well as baristas who work at the company's more than 4,000 licensed shops.