Starbucks Screws Up - But listens to concerns about food allergies

Below is an ongoing conversation I'm having with Starbucks. In early June, they gave my daughter milk instead of the soy steamer I ordered.

Olivia (picture at right) had a violent reaction within minutes, including hives, coughing and vomiting. We were in Vancouver, BC (away from our home in Seattle) and I didn't have her medication on hand. Fortunately, we found my wife who was shopping nearby and administered Zyrtec and Olivia recovered. VERY SCARY.

I went back to SBUX and since that incident have spoken to 4 reps, 2 of which have young children with food allergies.

My ask of SBUX? to raise awareness in their stores about food allergies (posters, etc.), encourage people ordered to speak up if they have allergies and to sponsor a FAAN walk.

I've reassured them that my goal is to to remove all risk - but to help them minimize it -- which they can do with relatively little cost and effort.

Any other suggestions?





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Hi Tyson,
It was great to meet you the other day – I love the passion you have around raising awareness of food allergies! I can completely relate having a child of my own with food allergies. I will definitely reach out to you about any questions that come up. Thanks again!
Steve

Steve CsStarbucks CoffeePNW
Quality Assurance mgr

Steve-

Thanks again for meeting with me today. I’ve added Terry Furlong of the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN) at www.foodallergy.org. It’s a very useful site that can help you and your wife manage your son’s allergies. Below is a summary of requests we discussed and next steps. Please let me know anything I missed.

Request Summary
· Increase Food Allergy Awareness at SBUX franchises. As discussed, Starbucks could add signage around encouraging people to mention if they had a food allergy when they order a beverage. Also, include a red sticker/sleeve on the cup when somebody mentions that they have an allergy so that the barista knows to pay special attention when making that beverage;
· Consider hiring Food Allergy & Anaphlyaxis Network (FAAN) to train the trainer on managing food allergies in restaurants. FAAN does onsite consulting for ~ $2000/day + expenses; and,
· Become a corporate sponsor of FAAN. For $500 a year (more info here).

Next Steps. I understand that you will talk to your management to understand what’s possible around raising the level of food allergy awareness. Please keep me informed and let me know if there is anything I can do to assist.

Best
tyson

From: Steve Calamaris Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2008 3:10 PMTo: Tyson StorchSubject: RE: Starbucks

Hi Tyson,
I totally understand your concern around allergic reactions – I have a two year old with allergies. I will be in the Bothell area on Thursday and might be able to meet around 1p – let me know if this works for you. I can also meet on Friday around 11:30ish in Bellevue (store of your choice) if that works. Feel free to call me if you’d like to set up time. Thanks
Steve

Steve CStarbucks CoffeePNW
Quality Assurance mgr

From: Tyson Storch [
] Sent: Monday, July 14, 2008 2:38 PMTo: Steve CalamarisSubject: RE: Starbucks

Thanks Amanda .

Steve,

Would you available to meet for an hour (preferably lunchtime) were we could meet face to face? Please propose a date - I’d be happy to drive over to SBUX HQ.

My goal is to minimize the risk of allergic reactions like what happened to my daughter at your store in Vancouver BC. Fortunately, she is fine and everyone (including Kelsey Riley and Amanda Cebull) have been GREAT to deal with, however, to effectively reduce the risk of future allergic reactions I believe more needs to be done.

Thanks

Tyson