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| - I've been going to Durch Bros in Arizona since they opened their first stand in Tempe. The quality of the product has always been top notch (the base americanos themselves are amazing, even without the sugar, which can't be said about Starbucks). The quality, taste, and location is what earns it any stars.
What's been disappointing is how the service has drastically declined over the past few years. Lines are ridiculously long and don't get processed fast enough. Now, while I'd never ding a business for being too busy/popular, Dutch Bros operates as they did years ago when demand wasn't as high. It's hard to be waiting in a line for 20 minutes when you see employees goofing off, spending too much time chatting with customers, and standing around doing nothing.
It's clear that they train employees to be overly friendly, but it's borderline obnoxious. It's better to remain quiet then to try to make awkward conversation with someone just for the sake of being friendly and hip. If you're going to force someone to have conversation with me, at least make it someone who can hold a conversation on their own, otherwise it becomes very uncomfortable. Instead of just hiring people that are friendly and fit the "culture" they should start looking at people that can help make the process more efficient.
Process-wise, there is a lot of room for improvement, but the needle barely moves. There could be a walk-up line of 10 people. Instead of taking orders down the line and collecting payment, the person working at the window will take a single order, then chat with the customer until their drink is ready, doing nothing else. Imagine how long it would take at any other restaurant if you didn't even get to order until the person in front you of you got their food.
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