- Welcome to the Tryer Center.
Now, over the last two years we have transformed
the way we work here at Starbucks.
Everything from working in smaller, cross-functional teams,
to embracing modern day methodologies,
like human-centered design, and a mantra.
A mantra of going from idea to action in 100 days.
And so, here in the Tryer Center, it is
the physical manifestation of this new way of working.
Every time I'm down here I learn something new,
and I'm excited about what our partners are doing.
And this is where it all happens.
So follow me.
Let's take a look at the Cold Pop center.
How are you today?
- [Barrett] Doing good, and yourself?
- [Kevin] I'm well, thanks.
What's going on?
What are we working on?
- So this is a new one today actually.
This is the sangria-- - New cold beverage?
- Yeah, it's the sangria spritz.
It's really good, we got passion tea,
strawberries, a little raspberry, cascara,
and an orange slice, shaken with some ice.
And we're just gonna pour that right over top
some blood orange ginger beer.
It's a really nice mix.
- Wow.
- There you go.
Enjoy. - Look at that.
Beautiful.
- How you like it?
- It's a wonderful beverage.
- Isn't it? - Like that one.
- I love it.
I'm excited about that one.
- All right.
- Have a good one.
- Keep finding new ones.
- All right.
- So, you see, here at the cold pop center
partners have the opportunity to test
and try new beverages and we can figure out
which ones are gonna make it to our stores.
Now, in addition to the new beverage innovation,
we have teams innovating on all types
of equipment that go in our stores.
Let's take a look at what's going on here.
- Hey Kevin. - Hey Stephanie.
- How's it going?
- How are you today?
- Good, what about yourself?
- I'm doing well.
What do you got on the workbench here?
- Yeah.
So this is our single cup brewing system that I built
here in Tryer on our 3D printer in our machine shop.
It's a simple system that brews coffee in two minutes
and then automatically drains.
We built this for partners in order to give back time
to them and really just to make it easy for partners,
with any skill level, to be able to brew
a fresh cup of coffee consistently.
- Now, how long did it take you from idea
to build this prototype with this new equipment?
- For this unit it took about three,
four weeks, pretty quick for us
to get a quick turnaround. - And that 3D printer
comes in handy?
- Definitely does.
- All right.
So, you can see we have projects here where we begin
with an idea and they can rapidly prototype that idea
with 3D printers and all of the tools we have in the labs.
Lets take a look at what's going on here?
- Hi. - What do ya go goin' on?
- [Julie] Well, my Sprint team is working on making
the mobile order station run more smoothly.
Both for partners and for customers.
We are working with rapid prototyping
to spin through ideas very quickly.
This is a scale model which enables us to work very fast,
and also engage people in a playful way
which is really important in Tryer.
We take this small version and we play it out bigger.
- I see, so you've iterated on the prototypes,
- Yes.
- And tried to figure out new things.
- Super crude, - And that led to this.
- Better.
This, then we took into the store.
We added a derivation here, we're organized by alphabet,
but now we're also organized by size.
- So, from this, when you get this concept,
I see you've got some photos where you took it in store.
- [Julie] Yes.
- [Kevin] Tell me how that works.
- [Julie] Each day, we went in with a prototype,
we observed, we talked to customers, we talked to partners,
we came back, we huddled up, we said,
"How do we make it one better?"
And then we went in with something new that next day.
And we did that again,
and again, and again. - so every day, you had
a new iteration. - Exactly.
- And I see each day you captured the things
that you observed that were working,
and things that you wanted to improve on, and so every time
you have that iteration we're getting better.
- Yes indeed.
- Great, thank you, that's great.
So, you see, we have innovation happening
whether it's Cold Pop on new beverage,
whether it's equipment in our stores,
or things to improve the customer experience.
One of the other things we're very
focused on in the Tryer Center is
how we can improve the partner experience.
Our Starbucks partners who proudly wear the green apron.
Let's take a look at some
new innovations going on in that area.
Well good afternoon.
- Hi Kevin.
- What's going on over here?
- We are working on precision milk dispense
which doses to the exact line that you would need it.
- So, I see you can pick non-fat, 2%, whole milk.
- Absolutely. - And you've got a tall,
grande and a venti.
- This is a prototype that we've worked
with the baristas here in Tryer.
So, we're able to move really fast.
The machine can read whatever, if it's a cold cap,
or it's -- - so it figures out
it's a cup versus a pitcher. - Yup.
The other thing that we really like about it,
is it uses a lot less plastic.
So, this machine runs on these bags
that are two and a half gallons, and you can imagine,
this is a lot less plastic
than our jugs today. - And no more
partners bending over.
- No more bending,
and it's hands free,
so it could be faster. - What do the baristas say?
- They love it.
- We gotta get this in our stores, soon?
- Soon, yeah, more to come.
- Great, thank you.
- Sure.
So, you can see, another great innovation
that's helping make the partner experience a better one.
We're gonna walk through one of the mock up stores
that we have and we can reconfigure these stores every night
and our partners can try new operational processes
and new things that we then, can package
and put together for our field partners.
So, you can see, the Tryer Center
is about innovation of all types at Starbucks.
And the whole intent behind this is embracing the mantra
of going from idea to action in 100 days,
and then learning and adapting.
I'm so pleased that you had a chance to join me
on this little walkabout in the Tryer Center.
I come down here two to three times a week,
and I love what I learn.
Thanks for joining us.