Nicolette Nichols, who manages the Starbucks franchise in University Commons, has been recognized for overall outstanding performance, earning “Store Team of the Quarter” honors in the company’s Eastern Pennsylvania/Western New York State region.
The award applauds Ms. Nichols’ track record for achieving high customer experience scores, increasing sales, creating a culture of warmth and belonging and developing plans to increase Starbucks’ campus presence for the just completed fourth quarter of Starbucks’ 2017 fiscal year.
Under Nichols’ leadership, weekly sales grew by an overall 30 percent over the prior year, while her customer experience grade leads the group headed by Starbucks District Manager Joe Rizzo.
Nichols was praised for doing an excellent job of building and maintaining her team, investing time in training new team members and conducting follow-up orientation sessions. She dedicated herself to ensure that Starbucks stays open longer than any other venue on campus and collaborated with her marketing department to place dasher boards in the Steele Hall Ice Arena.
The successful Blue Devil Frappuccino Contest was created by Nichols. In it, students, faculty, staff and community members filled out ballots with the name of their drink and list of ingredients. Four finalists were selected by Nichols’ team. The winning selection – “Frosty Momma,” a mocha, hazelnut no milk, heavy cream Frappuccino – was featured on the daily offerings board.
“This is a great example of looking outside the box, including your team and the community and having fun while driving sales,” Mr. Rizzo said.
A good balance between creating a fun environment and holding her team accountable has been achieved by Nichols. “She has very authentic conversations with her team in the spirit of continuous improvement,” Rizzo added. “She is very engaged in her business as she works shifts behind the bar, working hand-in-hand with her team and always having a lot of fun.”
Nichols, who recently observed her 15th anniversary with FSA, has managed the campus Starbucks since its opening nearly 11 years ago. She previously worked in Dining Services.
