Thursday, September 4, 2008

So I've been given a little beef...

...apparently when I ran the Short, Tall, Grande poll I didn't give the argument to go to small, medium, strong enough. Now let me tell you "I have no opinion on this" .....so don't give me a hard time because you think this is somethin' I want to do. It's just that I think these kinds of discussions deserve their due course....and worth a dialogue. So read what Twitchy McGee said ....his comment and then give this video a watch (it's funny as all get out) 'course I apologize in advance for the SB logo....but you'll get the idea.

So when yer done with these two things 'the video' and 'Twitchy's comments' .....leave a comment for me....it can be anonymous, I don't care :) ...then take the poll again and let's see what happens! Make sure while your doin' this to have fun and B-happy!

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

For some reason or another, I've always used "single", "double", or "triple in a double cup" when ordering coffee drinks. Occasionally, I'll go "double in a single cup", but it can be a little too strong.

Baristas usually know what I'm talking about.

First time posting here, and just starting following on Twitter, but have been a long time customer of Beaner's, uh... I mean... Biggby. Used to get my quad espressos at Beaner's on Grand River when I lived in EL over a decade ago. Was absolutely geeked when you came to GR.

Bob bowen said...

Very well done presentation of confusing "coffee culture" semantics. Why not (as the say in AA "kiss" and keep it small, medium, or large?

Bob

Anonymous said...

The vid was great, though it makes a better case for the naming strategy currently used (so a small is short, instead of tall, and confusing!). Until you get to cold drinks, anyway.

I've found that a lot of people order how they want and let the cashier/barista translate for them. It's kinda the best of both worlds, the "trendiness" of having short/tall/grande, and the simplicity of having small/medium/large. Until you get to cold drinks, where a small is a different size, but a tall is the same.

Which is why there are cups sitting right next to the register to point to. ;)

A2 Lebowsky said...

So I think I'm one of the strange one's, not that it should be a surprise to those who know me. I usually say... Small, Medium or Grande. I just like how fun Grande sounds =)
I think most of us order the way that we find easy, and I haven't found a barista at Biggby's that has gotten it wrong.
Now what do I vote for?

Anonymous said...

Screw all this...I'm for Bigg, Bigger and Biggest. Imagine ordering a Bigg Biggby Best??

Shannon said...

I have always ordered using small, medium and large (at any coffee shop) and the barista has never questioned what size I was asking for and I have never received a different size than what I meant. Most coffee shops have their 3 versions of small, medium, large...I think any barista can differentiate that a small= their smallest size (small, short, tall), medium= is their medium size, etc. etc. I think it gets confusing with all this short, tall, grande, venti business since there is no standard. Biggby's tall is 16oz while Starbucks tall is 12oz.... Biggby's tall is their 'medium' while Starbucks tall is their 'small' Ok, now this is getting confusing :o) At least with small, medium and large you know what you're getting. I'm not sure if that makes any sense, and I really don't care how the sizing goes since my ordering style hasn't brought on any confusion to me or the barista. By the way, I'm very excited for the Waterford Biggby to open!!! I'll be ordering my usual, Small Capp with skim :o)

Anonymous said...

I would have to say that unlike Starbucks, i think our names for sizes are far less confusing,, the short is our small,, and it is exactly that,, a lil shortie, the Tall is our med. a slightly taller cup, and our Grande is our large, A BIG cup. I think we should keep it the way it is,,otherwise it may look like we are having an identity crisis, with the name change and all and then if we were to change our drinks!!!?? We know who we are at Biggbys, just read the new drink description booklet,, we don't take ourselves too seriously!!! :)- Abbey

Anonymous said...

Call it what it is SMALL MED LARGE!!

Anonymous said...

I don't even drink coffee so imagine my confusion while I'm trying to order an expresso, hold the coffee, and figuring out weird names for their size at the same time. Grande makes me think of burritos anyway. I vote small, medium and large.

Jesse said...

We are Americans in America serving Americanized versions of European espresso drinks. To make the customer feel like they're being high class or cultural by getting one of these drinks we name them trendy names like tall, grande, venti or short, tall, grande, trente.
I think the wisest decision would be to call everything what it is. Small, medium, large. It really eliminates any confusion between Biggby, Caribou, Borders, Bad-Ass Coffee (yes, this is a real coffee chain in other parts of the country), and Starbucks sizes as well as makes the new comer customer feel less alienated.

Heidi said...

I want to point out that when a customer orders a large cold drink, I immediately ring them up for a grande. Being that I speak both Spanish and English, grande is Spanish for large...but in a cold drink that is technically a medium. I tend to get headaches on hot days where we make lots of chills...


Off topic comment: Our store appreciates that we now carry the awesomeness that is Jones Soda, but the question begs to be asked: where are the fufu berry and berry lemonade? By far the best two flavors...knocked out for...blue bubblegum and green apple?

Anonymous said...

I like bigg bigger biggest as well. It's very unique and clever

Lady Di said...

Barista Lady Di here....
from above the 45th parallel...
where the leaves are startin to do their thing.....

anyway, as a Barista, I offer the size to a customer by announcing each size availabe (if they are unsure about a size) along with the number of ounces associated with the size. it works for me, and it eliminates most confusion...with that being my method to the madness...
I need to say I now vote for Bigg, Bigger and Biggest...nice idea and very "BIGGBY like" = original
Nick and Chanin are the greatest, much BIGGBY love...

Barista Lady Di
from above the 45th

Twitchy McGee said...

Okay,

So I definitely appreciate Bob resurrecting the poll, though I'm disappointed to see that it's going about the same as last time...sigh.

Some good points being made here, particularly from anonymous #1 and Shannon, saying that if you just order small, medium, large, no matter what the menu says, the baristas get it right, no questions asked.

But it's not as clear cut as all that...check out Heidi's comments "when a customer orders a large cold dring...I ring up a Grande". But that's not the large size, right? So not EVERY barista is doing it the same way every time. So that system isn't perfect.

And Bigg, Bigger, Biggest? Okay, I get it, it's fun and kind of wink-y, but are we talking about the 10,16,20oz. sizes? The 10oz. size isn't remotely Bigg. Er, Big. So if that was up on the board, and the customer says I'll have a Bigg Mocha, and you serve them a dinky little 10 ounce cup at the other end, I'd make a fuss.

And not to further complicate things, but I hear rumor about a new size cup...Trente is out and a 24 oz. cup is in, that will be used for both cold and hot...so...

If you have four sizes and a customer orders a medium, which cup to you give them then? Not as clear cut, right? So if it's true that we're going to a 24 oz. hot/cold option, what do you call that? Small, Medium, Large, and X-Large? Mini, Small, Medium, and Large? Bigg, Bigger, Biggest, and Biggantic? What about just Ten, Sixteen, Twenty, and Twenty-Four?

So BIGGBY Bob, is it true? Do we need to figure out a 4th name?

Does that mean a 3rd poll on the subject? ;)

Trying not to blow a gasket...

-Twitchy

Shannon said...

Is at 24 oz coffee even at all necessary? I mean, holy crap! Can you even down that much coffee before it starts to get cold? That just seems a bit much. We should leave the 3 sizes and people can make another trip on their lunch break for a recharge... and that will help out on the business end of it too for Biggby! We need to stop this country from all this gluttony!

The Butz Clan said...

Hey how about short, tall, grande and super! That sounds GREAT to me!

Anonymous said...

if somebody already said this, sad. But I don't want to read through every comment.

Why not simplify it to infinity and beyond and JUST call them Short or Mini (10 oz), Small (16 oz), Medium (20 oz), and Large (24 oz)? That removes the need to translate the coffeeze for people who don't understand why a small is called a Tall, and it also prevents confusion about there being S/M/L when there's actually 4 sizes.

And, it's such a simple cut & dried system, every barista in every Biggby store would be doing it the same way because they're not translating Spanish, Italian, whatever into S/M/L based on what just looks like a normal large.