Starbucks will be shutting its many doors for three hours Tuesday night. It is a move that is sure to catch some Starbucks coffee drinkers by surprise. MSNBC reports that Starbucks Chairman and CEO Howard Schultz instigated the shutdown as a way to teach barista's the "art of expresso."
Schultz has said the shutdown, which begins at 5:30 p.m. local time, is a way to energize its 135,000 employees and provide some barista re-education in the "art of espresso" at its 7,100 U.S. locations.
In a memo to employees and the public, Schultz said the goal of the closure was to improve the so-called "Starbucks Experience" - the company's shorthand for its mixture of service, ambience and coffee that spurred its explosive growth and success in recent years.
"We are passionate about our coffee. And we will revisit our standards of quality that are the foundation for the trust that our customers have in our coffee and in all of us," Schultz wrote in a memo titled "Howard Schultz Transformation Agenda Communication #8."
The shutdown begins at 5:30 PM local time. Starbucks competitors like the Coffee Beanery are ready to steal customers but they only have three hours to do.
