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1. T.C.
BAHÇEŞEHİR UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND NATURAL SCIENCES
DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING
AN ERGONOMIC AND OPERATIONAL EVALUATION
OF A STARBUCKS COFFEE SHOP
Capstone Project
Orkun Nazım Kadıoğlu
Advisor: Mehmet Hilmi Yücel (Lecturer)
ISTANBUL, May 2017

2. ii
STUDENT DECLARATION
By submitting this report, as partial fulfillment of the requirements of INE4999, the student
promises on penalty of failure of INE4999 that
• He has given credit to and declared (by citation), any work that is not his own (e.g.
parts of the report that is copied/pasted from the Internet, design or construction
performed by another person, etc.);
• He has not receive unpermitted aid for the project design, construction, report or
presentation;
• He has not falsely assigned credit for work to another student in the group, and not
taken credit for work done by another student in the group. [Not applicable]

3. iii
ABSTRACT
AN ERGONOMIC AND OPERATIONAL EVALUATION
OF A STARBUCKS COFFEE SHOP
Orkun Nazım Kadıoğlu
Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences
Department of Industrial Engineering
Advisor: Lecturer Mehmet Hilmi Yücel
May 2017
Profit based companies continue making profit as long as they satisfy their customers’
needs. In this case, the company is Starbucks. This study investigates what the customers
want from a particular Starbucks coffee shop, or in other words, what the coffee shop is
lacking. The questionnaire and interviews done with the customers allows for more accurate
and costumer-based evaluation of the service provided. The questions include both ergonomic
and operational issues. Next, the results are analyzed and their feasibility is discussed. This
study tries to increase customer satisfaction of the coffee shop by supporting a route provided
with customer-based data.
Key Words: Ergonomics; Customer satisfaction; Coffee shop chains; Starbucks;

4. iv

5. v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT..............................................................................................................................iii!
TABLE OF CONTENTS........................................................................................................... v!
LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................vi!
LIST OF FIGURES...................................................................................................................vi!
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ..................................................................................................vii!
1. INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................. 1!
2. LITERATURE REVIEW....................................................................................................... 3!
2.1. Ergonomics for Customers......................................................................................... 3!
2.2. Operational and Managerial Issues ............................................................................ 3!
3. METHODOLOGY................................................................................................................. 4!
3.1 Questionnaire and Interviews...................................................................................... 4!
3.2 Observations................................................................................................................ 4!
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ............................................................................................ 7!
4.1 The Last Renovation of Starbucks .............................................................................. 7!
4.2 Ergonomic Issues ........................................................................................................ 8!
4.2 Operational and Managerial Issues ............................................................................. 9!
5. CONLUSIONS..................................................................................................................... 12!
6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................. 14!
REFERENCES......................................................................................................................... 15!
APPENDIX A .......................................................................................................................... 16!
APPENDIX B .......................................................................................................................... 17!

6. vi
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1. Coffee Consumption (in thousand 60 kg bags)................................................ 1!
Table 2. The project Gantt chart..................................................................................... 6!
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1. Logo of Starbucks brand................................................................................. 3!

7. vii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
Sbx Starbucks ®

8. 1
1. INTRODUCTION
Only Orkun Nazım Kadıoğlu, who studies Mathematics, Industrial Engineering as
double major and Economics as minor, undertakes this project. It is known both empirically
and intuitively that the coffee sector is growing gradually as the coffee consumption
increases. Nonetheless, as a consequence of this growth, coffee shop-chains known
worldwide are getting more and more popular. This project will focus on brand Starbucks,
more specifically a coffee shop of Starbucks located in Bahçeşehir University South Campus.
As more and more people visit these shops, the problems or the absence of some attributes
occur. Having an overwhelming customer experience is a must for the customers to continue
visiting and making purchases from the coffee shop. Therefore, it is crucial for Starbucks to
ensure customer satisfaction. To achieve this, the coffee shop should satisfy the needs of the
consumers both ergonomically and operationally.
Furthermore, the consumption of coffee is increasing in the whole globe from the year
1990. Coffee consumption does not increase every year, but from 1990 to 2015 total
consumption of coffee increased more than thirty six percent. Indeed it is an increase of
49,890,000 kg per year on average, which sums up to 1,297,140,000 kg increase in twenty-six
years (International Coffee Organization). [1]
Based on International Coffee Organization’s data, Turkey constituted this increase
with 62,760,000 kg in a span of twenty-six years, between 1990 and 2015. Actually, Turkey’s
coffee consumption was 71,160,000 kg in 2015 and 8,400,000 kg in 1990. This gives over a
growth of 740 percent in coffee consumption having the base year as 1990.
While the consumption of coffee is drastically increasing, Starbucks entered the
market in Turkey, with opening its first coffee shop in 2003. As of September 2015, there
were 290 Sbx shops in Turkey. Moreover, there were 314 Sbx shops in Turkey as of October
2016. [Starbucks FY16 Annual Report on Form 10-K]
When Sbx entered the market in Turkey in 2003, the coffee consumption in Turkey
was 22,020,000 kg. [1] Through these years Sbx also increased its market value. There are
lots of parameters in order to find out what percentage of the coffee consumption increase is
supplied by Sbx, itself. But this topic is out of borders within our context. It may be a further
research topic.

9. 2
Table 1. Coffee Consumption (in thousand 60 kg bags).
The methodology for this project will be elaborated in the coming chapters. Yet, this
project will take customers as a baseline. Namely, the improvement advices for the coffee
shop aims to improve costumer satisfaction. Satisfaction in the sense that, both being
comfortable and while customers spend time before and after they have their coffee, they have
quality time there. Nonetheless, it is stated above that the number of Sbx coffee shops also
increased in Turkey. Increase in coffee consumption and the increase in number of Sbx coffee
shops, alone may not claim that more people are going to Sbx shops. But, since Sbx is a
profit-based company, with the increase of its coffee shops it can be interpreted as more
people are visiting Starbucks.
Since this project focuses mainly on customers and gathers directly from the
customers who visit the coffee shop, its results and conclusions are significant. This project
aims to increase customer satisfaction or at least decrease the problems customers generally
have, in view of the fact that people going to these shops drastically increase. The Sbx shop in
Bahçeşehir University is selected because it is located reasonably close to the university and
not only lots of students visit this shop, but also lecturers and people who pass through
Beşiktaş and want a coffee. With this way, the customers are not limited to a certain class, but
it is wider. Thus, the results and improvement advices would affect generally the whole
custeomrs.
As it is stated above and as Table 1 depicts, the coffee consumption increases meaning
more and more people are drinking coffee, or at least people are drinking more coffee, or
both.

10. 3
Figure 1. Logo of Starbucks brand.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Ergonomics for Customers
Ergonomics, an applied science concerned with designing and arranging things people
use so that the people and things interact most efficiently and safely (Merriam-Webster
Dictionary). Simply, the place people spend time in, should be suitable with their needs. More
generally, the system which our case the coffee shops, should behave in a way that it will
conform to the expectations of the user. [2]
Another definition of ergonomics, which is relatively specific, is “it can defined as
fitting the job to the worker”. [3] It can be interpreted as the place should be defined as it will
fit to the customers.
2.2. Operational and Managerial Issues
As it can be deduced, whilst the outputs of manufacturing are tangible, the outputs of
the service industry include intangible objects. [4] Reference [5] argues about that the service
industry focuses on creating an intangible value to customers, along the service process. In
our current era of service, to create great value, meeting customers’ needs and measuring the
quality of service should be done. [6]

11. 4
3. METHODOLOGY
3.1 Questionnaire and Interviews
In order to have both qualitative and quantitative data a survey had been done on
Google Docs to the customers of the Starbucks coffee shop in Bahçeşehir University South
Campus. All questions include pre-determined answers and an “other” choice in order to get
the answers of the customer even if his/her idea is not pre-written as a choice. This
questionnaire comprises but not limited to questions like:
- How often do you visit this shop?
- What time during the day you make a purchase?
- What kind of products you buy?
- Do you sit inside/outside or do you take away?
Questions in this survey reveal the pros and cons of the coffee shop. This data comes
directly from more than 80 distinct customers. The evaluation will not only be based on the
literature or scientific data, yet it sets is foot to this data. Taking into account that this data not
only comes from a specific group of people (e.g. people of age 20), the data is interpreted as a
whole group of customers.
Interviews are done to the customers of this coffee shop again, but without pre-
determined questions. Instead, the questions asked during interviews are open-ended. This
kind of questions supports more diverse answers. Questions include but not limited to:
- How do you feel about your experience at this coffee shop?
- Do you come here because of no/less alternatives?
- What are the pros and cons particularly of this shop?
The surveys are done face-to-face with the customers, but not recorded into audio.
Thus, all the questions asked to the people surveyed are not exactly the same, meaning further
questions asked changed based on the answers received.
3.2 Observations
Observations as the name suggests includes subjectivity, moreover the interpretation
of the observer, in this case Orkun Nazım Kadıoğlu. They may support both qualitative and
quantitative data. For instance, counting how many people waits in the queue during 08:00
and 08:10 a.m. or how long does it takes for a customer to be served is quantitative data done
by observing and it is not open to interpretation. On the other side, does the people come into

12. 5
the store happy, but get out unsatisfied or they are in stress while waiting in the queue because
they are in a hurry is qualitative data, and is limited to the observer’s ability to construe.
The Starbucks coffee shop we are interested is open from 8:00 a.m. (generally earlier
because of customers come early) until 10:00 a.m. 3 employees do the opening, meaning from
the opening time there are always 3 employees working within. Furthermore around 11:00 or
12:00 a.m. two or three more employees –depending on the planning of them- start their
shifts. So during these hours, there are generally 5 employees working. But after noon, the
employees change shifts, and only 3 employees do the closure.
Even if there are 5 employees working in the coffee shop, not all of them are observed
or in other words, the employees’ effect is felt by the customers. For instance, there are some
times that 5 employees are working, but only 1 at the cash desk and only 1 at the bar side
(making beverages). This is because of the distribution of the work. Namely, some employee
clean up the tables, some put the garbage into the garbage bin and empty the garbage bin,
some go to the storage and re-stock what is lacking, some brew the daily filter coffee, some
may need to talk to customers for a relatively longer time than usual. Occasionally, there are
even more and distinct assignments that are needed to be taken care of. Employees even want
to smoke which is their natural need, or right, they also need to have lunch and use the toilet
and so on. Then there is human factor, some employee may have a bad day and thus it can
result in an unwanted beverage that needs to be re-done.

13. 6
Table 2. The project Gantt chart.
WEEKS
TASK LIST 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
1. Research and Design
Define the Goals, and
Perform a Literature Search.
Prepare an Overall Design.
2. Data Collecting and
Analyzing
Collecting Data and
Observing.
Evaluation of the Data.
Getting the survey filled.
3.Finalizing and
Documentation
Prepare the proposal.
Prepare the report.
Presentation.

14. 7
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The data below (and the data in the Appendix A) is brought up from more than 80
customers of the Starbucks coffee shop that is focused on here. As it is stated above, the
coffee shop shall satisfy the customers’ needs. [1] Since customers are not static, their ideas,
feelings and expectations change over time thus they are dynamic, the shop should react to
these in a parallel manner. Nonetheless, human factor cannot be simply identified just like
numbers; the questionnaire shows an acceptable vision of customers.
4.1 The Last Renovation of Starbucks
At the beginning of this project, the Starbucks coffee shop that is focused on here was
totally different from what it is today. Meaning, there was a major renovation of this coffee
shop on the third week of April 2017. So the properties have changed. Since, there is no
return to the old version of this coffee shop, its new state will be in concern. To understand
the renovation better, the changes will be listed:
From now on old version of the coffee shop will be called as “Old” and its new state
as “New”.
- Tables inside: 2 big rectangular tables (Old), 7 small round tables (New)
- Tables outside: There were square shaped ceramic tables most of them with
problematic foot so they were wobbling (Old), there are again square shaped tables,
but these are made from steel with perfect feet. (New)
- Window: There was a wide window next to the door, such that it made the shop
seeable from the outside, and let the people inside see outside (Old), no more window
but now there is a coffee beans covering on the place where used to be a window, so
the people outside can only see the covering. (New)
- Sitting places inside: A long leather (black) sofa along the both tables on one side, on
the other side there were several stools (Old), A long leather (light brown) sofa along
all the round tables on one side, on the other side there are brown leather chairs.
- Chairs outside the shop: Classic black metal made chairs, some with handles. (Old and
New)
- Stand: There were a stand with 3 high stools on the front of the window (Old); there is
no stand any more. (New)
- Cupboard: Both have it only by a slight difference of aesthetics.
- Signboard: Starbucks logo and font changed slightly and the signboard was “Starbucks

15. 8
Coffee”, but with the renovation only “Starbucks” is written.
- Others: With the renovation came several touch-ups as well, but since those does not
change drastically the areas we focus on they will be merely mentioned here. The
color of the wall has changed and there used to be a black bulletin board but there is
none in the renovated version. The number of sockets stayed the same. The general
theme slightly changed into a more modern manner.
4.2 Ergonomic Issues
Both the data gathered from the questionnaire and the face-to-face interviews is
summed up and analyzed here. First part is related with the inside of the coffee shop, and the
second part is for the outside part of it.
I-) [Discussing the data related to the inner part of the coffee shop]
More than 70 percent of customers who filled the questionnaire are complaining about
the table sizes inside. These tables are round-shaped and there are –generally- only 7 tables
inside the shop. There used to be two big tables before the renovation, as it is stated. From this
statistic it can be claimed that the replacement of big tables to smaller ones did not worked as
expected, or particularly did not worked for the satisfaction of the costumers.
About 33 percent of the customers filled the questionnaire said there are not enough
sockets inside the coffee shop. Since the number of sockets did not changed with the
renovation, this problem was not known or did not taken into account. Most of the sockets
support plugging and using another triple/quadruple socket, so that this problem may be
handled like this.
10 percent of the questionnaire fillers claimed that the sitting places are generally not
comfortable.
According to the questionnaire 20 percent of the customers suffer from unclean tables.
This problem is present obviously because of not cleaning the tables regularly enough and the
reason for this is the number of employees. Number of employees does not change frequently
through the day. According to the same data the most crowded period in the day is between 8
a.m. and 10 a.m. The customers even complain from waiting, thus employees try to complete
orders as fast as possible, leaving so little time to clean the tables up.
Remark: The questionnaire showed that on general, approximately 11 percent of
customers sit inside.
ii-) [Discussing the data related to the outer part of the coffee shop]

16. 9
62 percent of customers filled the questionnaire try to sit on the outer side of the shop.
Meaning, customers cannot find place to sit, or at least cannot find suitable place for them to
sit. Tables outside are spread between the shop, Block C of Bahçeşehir University and Block
D of the university. Meaning there cannot be a legal expansion of area, taking into account
that the tables and chairs must not cover the walkway between the blocks of the university, as
it is used as a car passage some times.
About 44 percent of the questionnaire fillers suffer from unclean tables. As it is
discussed above, the situation is the same with the tables inside. Lack of employees or in
other words not having enough number of employees cause this problem.
Interestingly, about 30 percent of the people who have filled in the survey claim that
they cannot make themselves comfortable when sitting with their friends because the tables
are square shaped. Starbucks brand has its own standards for objects, namely there will not be
distinct tables, and chairs or anything else other than what Starbucks approves and uses them
in their shops. At the present time, Starbucks has circular tables in its other coffee shops. So
these square shaped tables can be replaced with these.
Yet another percentage claiming that the sitting places are not comfortable. Around 24
percent of the customers, according to the data are suffering from this.
4.2 Operational and Managerial Issues
Both the data gathered from the questionnaire and the interviews will be analyzed
here. First of all, the renovation did not change the employee shift hours and the number of
employees. Meaning, operationally speaking, the renovation did not alter the old situation.
Remarking that, Starbucks’ employees are continuously changing. So the old experienced
employees leave the job, and new employees come into power. Certainly, the company
Starbucks gives proper education to the employees beforehand. But it takes time for the
employees to get used to the environment they are working in.
About the operational and managerial issues, the questionnaire data shows, the
majority of consumers are suffering from unclean tables (20 percent who sit inside, 35 percent
who sit outside, to be exact). But from the face-to-face interviews, it is revealed that
costumers do not have a problem about unclean tables, after the renovation. This may be
interpreted as with the renovation, the tables are changed and renewed. It takes time for tables
to look unclean. In every situation, to take care of this the only way is to make efficient use of
employees in such way that there will be more time for them to clean the tables. Another
option would be educating the customers so that they will leave the tables unclean, but this is

17. 10
simply out of this paper’s course, and furthermore not so possible to realize in the short term.
Yet another problem customers are having is the lacking of space or in other words
they cannot find a space to sit at all. This can be comprehensible since Starbucks is a popular
brand not only in students but also in nearly every age and as a general outcome of the
interviews was that the alternatives located near this shop, or near Bahçeşehir University do
not satisfy customers needs, mostly in the taste of the coffee. The space inside is limited once
and for all, unless the walls are destroyed. The outer part of the shop is also limited, by walls
of the university and by legal lines. Only incentive may be adding more tables outside, but
that will squeeze the customers more and more, which will be even worse for the customers
since they are suffering from the absence of it.
Customers change, so does their expectations. Even though the customers do not
expect where do they visit to change, those places should also change. As can be deduced
from the data and the interviews customers of Starbucks coffee shop in Bahçeşehir University
are not hundred percent satisfied with it, at least not all of them. Some of the customers who
are interviewed said that they are totally happy with the situation. These are some extremities
that do not give an idea about the whole customer group.

18. 11
People do not expect, but want cheaper goods. This may be valid because the coffee
shop is located almost inside the university; most of customers are university students.
According to the questionnaire, 89.5 percent of customers are university students. Assumedly,
students are in a rush or get bored quickly, so they do not want to waste time waiting.
Actually, not only the students, but also no customer wants to wait for a long time to be
served. With the fact that, about 70 percent of beverages sold are taken as take-away, it is
normal for this kind of customers who take their coffee away with them, do not want to wait,
since they are not even sit in or outside the coffee shop.

19. 12
5. CONLUSIONS
This project is intended to be a trajectory, at least give a solid idea for Starbucks’s
further investments and renovations. Concerning the data came from the questionnaire and the
interviews, it can be said that: customers of Sbx Bahçeşehir University want or need bigger
tables on the inside, and they want more space, more tables and more frequent cleaning on the
outside.
Customers also want cheaper beverages and mostly cheaper foods. Starbucks has a
brand value and standards, so this is not applicable. Yet, customers do not necessarily need to
pay less, to spend less on Starbucks. Meaning, the kind of promotion Starbucks App. which
gives one free tall size coffee, when the customer purchases of 15 coffees from Starbucks. In
an open-market economy where customers generally have ideas also about the competitor
firms, they can expect better, more rewarding promotions, like Caffè Nero Card, which gives
one any-size coffee when the customers buy a total of 9 coffees from Nero.
Taking into account the standards of Starbucks brand, necessary changes to satisfy the
customers better are: frequent cleanings (more employees or a more efficient work shift
program), bigger tables inside the shop (with the renovation the tables are replaced with
smaller ones, which did not worked out well for the customers) and most importantly a
different cashier or bar serving only quick-made products. These are so called quick-made
products because they are served much faster than other products, like tea and filter coffee
without milk. This will drastically decrease the waiting time of the customers in general and
as the queue gets shorter, the inside of the coffee shop will be less crowded and more
breathable.
One thing that is certain is that whatever the problem has the customer with this
particular coffee shop of Starbucks; they keep on going to this shop. Even though, in this
neighborhood there are coffee shops that can more or less give the same service and products.
Albeit the competitors are never as crowded as Starbucks.
Even with these problems customers are facing, this coffee shop always works,
meaning there are always people waiting in the line for their desired beverage or so. Some of
these sources of troubles were present before the renovation, and some of them are still valid.

20. 13
Furthermore, after renovation some new problems occurred. But still the coffee shop makes
profit, assuming Starbucks would not keep a money-wasting coffee shop open. So, why
people do not prefer another coffee shop? How concrete brand value does Starbucks have, so
that its customers are this loyal? These are some areas to be studied further.

21. 14
6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I wish to thank our advisor Lecturer Mehmet Hilmi Yücel for supporting, relieving and
enlightening me all the way to the end. Also acknowledge any other help/support from
friends, people who filled in the questionnaire, people who let me make an interview with
them, all my dear lecturers who helped me during my whole university life and changed me
academically as well as changing my whole life and Assistant Professor Alper Camcı for
giving the Capstone students lectures about how to prepare a proper thesis.

22. 15
REFERENCES
1. Disappearance (consumption) in selected importing countries. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.ico.org/historical/1990%20onwards/PDF/4b-disappearance.pdf
2. International Organization for Standardization. (2009) Ergonomics of human-system
interaction - Part 920: Guidance on tactile and haptic interactions (Reference number
ISO 9241-920:2009(E))
3. Office Ergonomics Handbook (5th
ed.). (2008). PA: Occupational Health Clinics for
Ontario Workers Inc.
4. Berdie, D. R. (1994). Reassessing the value of high response rates to mail surveys.
Marketing Research, 1, 52–64.
5. Vargo, S. L., & Lusch, R. F. (2004). Evolving to a new dominant logic for marketing.
Journal of Marketing, 68, 1–17.
6. Yu, H., & Fang, W. (2009). Relative impacts from product quality, service quality,
and experience quality on customer perceived value and intention to shop for the
coffee shop market. Total Quality Management, 20(11), 1273–1285.

23. 16
APPENDIX A
Left one, is the photo of new chairs and tables outside with the renovation of Starbucks. There
are 26 tables, 10 on the coffee shop side, 16 next to the wall of Block D of the university;
each one has 2 chairs with it on the outside.
The one on the right shows the tables and chairs inside the shop. There are 7 tables and 6
chairs, plus the leather sofa along the inside wall.
!

24. 17
APPENDIX B
-How often customers visit this shop in a day on average? (Below)
-Customers visit the coffee shop …
-Customers make purchase from this shop at …
28,7
13,8
57,5
1
2
3+
39,1
57,5
3,4
Alone
With Friends
(2-3 people)
With Friends(3-
5 people)
27,6
17,2
17,2
17,2
20,7
08:00-10:00
10:00-12:00
12:00-14:00
14:00-16:00
16:00-...

25. 18
- Customers generally buy …
- When customers buy beverages, they prefer … (multiple answers possible)
-What do consumers –generally- do when they buy products from starbucks?
34,5
63,2
2,3 Beverages+Food
(including
desserts etc.)
Only Beverages
Only Foods
Products (Cups,
pocket coffee
etc.)
28,7
27,6
4,6
25,3
46
3 Neat Filter Coffee
Filter Coffee with Milk
Tea
Cold Beverages (Cold Brew,
Frappucino, Cool Lime etc.)
Hot Beverages (White
Chocolate Mocha, Espresso, Hot
Chocolate etc.
Other
10,3
35,6
70,1
Sit inside
Sit Outside
Take-away

26. 19
-The people who sit outside the coffee shop claim … (multiple answers possible)
-The people who sit inside the coffee shop claim … (multiple answers possible)
71,4
32,9
10
20
11,4 Tables are too small
There are not enough
sockets
Sitting places are not
comfortable
Tables are not clean
Other
62
44,3
30,4
24,1
5,1 Cannot sit because
there are not enough
space
Tables are always
unclean
Since tables are square-
shaped cannot sit
comfortable with friends
Chairs are so
uncomfortable
Other