Strange Chain Coffee Shop Experienve

Regarding cup stock etc we went to a McDs late one evening. We tried to order a couple of large meals but we're told we couldn't as they didn't have any large cups. We all said we were happy to take a medium with the large meal, we were just hungry. The staff member told us they weren't allowed as the cup sizes inventory had to match to the sales. Now I don't suppose a small difference in numbers would matter but it was just easier to have a blanket ban on doing it. Mind you we did buy more chips so maybe THAT was a scam! 🤣🤣

Not sure abt the others but Nero used to have targets based on inputting the order correctly. If we had to edit the orders on the till too many times it would lower our weekly target and we would get in trouble.

I work profit protection in a coffee shop and I’m trying to figure out the reasoning!
It’ll probably be till errors and error corrects being flagged as high maybe?
Price rise will be some bullshit excuse as to not have to correct it on the till.
35p from tips will be so that it’s not flagged either.

Basically, it sounds like they have form as a store for making incorrect till inputs and they’ve made another one and they’re trying to fix their fuck up by lying clumsily to you.

Margins aren’t usually so tight that staff are having to scrape pennies from legitimate customers in order to cover free drinks, there’d be easier and better ways of covering those.

Usually, non consumable stocktake is usually once a year.
Good practice for food and ingredients stock count can be once a month or once a week depending on the stores missing margin.

It's the lying about the price rise that needs reporting, the size of the coffee is just a minor issue compared to this. That is brazen and a very bad reflection on the staff. How many others will they try to cheat?

I don't think the OP had said which chain is was but you can get different sizes in Starbucks, I guess the other large places are the same

Not naive at all thinking like that at all, very balanced - occam’s razor !

That doesn't mean anything apart from that the cup is big enough. If you think their machines aren't calibrated properly and you're not getting the correct amount of drink you should report to trading standards

It seems quite unlikely that McD are pulling some large scale con on drink volumes that no one has noticed

I didn’t think iced drinks came in sizes?

Tell head office. They can see if it's new staff, an audit due, an over-zealous Large push, etc. The extra info will make it make sense for them to decide if there are next steps.

I'm not sure you are right...perhaps not down to individual cup level but there will be tight levels of stock control, portion size.

There's an American programme called bar rescue it's on Prime and they constantly go on about amount of drink served, use machines that only deliver an exact amount of beer...no spillage allowed.

I expect they have given their mates a load of freebees and are worried about being found out

No shit

I have personally tested the McDonalds cappucinos - I poured a large size coffee into the regular size cup and it fit comfortably with space - since then I no longer bother ordering the large.

Yeah sounds like a scam to me. They have targets about upselling and they are getting in trouble for not meeting those. (I can remember that as a teenager working for a cinema chain, and always having to upsell the popcorn and soft drinks!) But they still give you a medium drink in the hope that you won’t notice.

Pure stupidity though on their part that they didn’t say “oh sorry I made a mistake” when you asked about it, and instead tried to double down and make up excuses about price increases.

Seriously don't, such an overreaction 😑

Hmmm it’s a puzzle

It could be that I’m naive, but my instinct is always to assume cock up rather than conspiracy.

Likely they just cocked-up, flapped and couldn't be bothered to stand and figure out what had actually happened, so refunded you with tips cash to save messing about further with the till.

Remember that many branches are franchises, it could be a franchisee issue - definitely contact the area manager if you suspect a scam

Those are fake. There is already some coffee in the medium and large cups so when they pour the coffee in, it goes to the top. Do they ever show you an empty cup or pour them the opposite way?

A long time ago I was a barista in a coffee shop and when I was new I accidentally charged someone the wrong price.

We could refund to card but only if our manager was in to come and put their authorisation code in, and at certain times of day they would have to do till floats and be undisturbed.

When I did this, it was during one of those times and I also fumbled and had to offer change out of the tip jar.

It definitely wasn't a scam, it was just an awkward moment where I realised I had fucked up, and didn't have the tools to remedy it in the way the customer would have preferred.

I was thinking maybe scam, but if they actually put it through the payment system, you can’t hide the sale. So, more likely to be pressure from the chain to sell upgrades,

This is the 3rd or 4th post In last last couple days where the op is insinuating the staff at the shop/ coffee shop is running a scam.The last one involved picky bits & scratch cards.