Food - Drink
How Mr. Potato Head Helped Starbucks Make Drinks Faster
By KAREN HART
The success of Mr. Potato Head has come a long way since it was first invented 73 years ago, becoming so much more than just a kid’s toy. In 2009, Mr. Potato Head helped an Oregon City Starbucks to make their coffee drinks faster and to cut down drive-through times as part of Starbucks’ efforts to improve efficiency.
The Starbucks location already had a drive-through window time of 25 seconds, but a member from corporate used Mr. Potato Head for a hands-on demonstration on improvement. Mr. Potato Head’s body parts were placed on different tables and the manager was timed on her ability to put the toy back together.
Initially, the manager took over 60 seconds to complete the test; however, after two hours of practice, she was able to complete the goal in just 16 seconds by moving things “closer together” and changing the order of the steps. This technique was eventually applied to the Oregon City store — which reduced its time order to 23 seconds.