- Some Starbucks baristas say the company’s dome lids are difficult to attach to cups.
- The company has had trouble with its lids before.
- The dome lids are also getting heat from Starbucks customers.
In a viral TikTok video, a Starbucks barista demonstrates how difficult it is to secure a dome lid on a frappuccino drink. As she pumps whipped cream atop the cold beverage, she jokes about the task: “How many baristas does it take to put on a dome lid on a frappuccino?”
It turns out the answer is two.
As she struggles to seal the plastic lid on the cup, another barista jumps in to help her. It doesn’t work, so they toss the lid and try again with a new cup, giggling in frustration along the way.
This TikToker isn’t alone in her frustration. Both baristas and customers have taken issue with dome lids. And for Starbucks, it’s not the first sign of lid trouble for the chain.
Earlier this year, Insider interviewed a handful of Starbucks employees who complained that ill-fitting lids often lead to spilled drinks, slower drink preparation, and poor customer experiences.
In May, Starbucks’ new CEO, Laxman Narasimhan, said the company needed to slash the number of lid-and-cup combinations, which currently stands at a whopping 1,500.
Back on TikTok, the green-apron-clad barista, who goes by the handle “emmalaflair” on the site, asks the coffee chain for help.
“This is our plea to Starbucks to make the tall dome lids differently because they don’t work,” she says. The TikToker did not respond to Insider’s request for comment.
The video, titled “If you see your local baristas struggling, it’s the dome lids,” has logged more than 550,000 views and received more than 1,400 comments.
Another video, shared this week by user v1fonso and logging over 350,000 views, is simply a barista struggling with the dome lids and splashing the drink all over the store counter.
The video, which includes a healthy dose of expletives, has more than 2,500 comments, many in support of the barista’s struggle. The TikToker did not respond to Insider’s request for comment.
“They’ve always been super difficult,” a barista in Ohio told Insider when asked about the company’s dome lids. “I’ve crushed full cups trying to put them on.”
A Starbucks manager in Virginia told Insider earlier this year: “There have been times I’ve tried to put a lid on a Frappuccino and just had the whole cup collapse and spill the drink all over my hands and the counter, while the customer who had ordered the drink was watching.”
The dome lids are also getting heat from some Starbucks customers. It’s not entirely clear where the hatred for these lids come from, but TikTokers seem to consider receiving a dome lid on a drink as an affront.
“This is so humiliating,” yells a woman who goes by the handle, getittogetherkate.
A Starbucks spokesperson told Insider, “Dome lids are used for any cold beverage that is topped with whipped cream.”
But the lids are not typical for Starbucks Refresher drinks, which is what seems to upset one TikToker. Others call the lids childish and say they are embarrassed to be seen in public with the lids.
Starbucks isn’t the only coffee chain with dome lids or the only one getting heat for them.
On TikTok last year, coffee chain Joe and Juice wrote: “We like the dome lid! Since when was it so uncool?”
And this summer, the chain joked about the backlash to their lids.
“When the TikTok community cancels us because we have dome lids instead of flats.”
What do you think of dome lids? Email [email protected] with your thoughts.
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