4 things former Starbucks employees would never tell you while working there

Food waste isn't a new problem in the food industry, and it's not something that has gone unnoticed by Starbucks. The company said earlier this year that it had fed 10 million people by donating its unsold food to food banks through the FoodShare program, which 22 of its markets participate in. By 2020, the company plans to have donated 50 million meals.

A company representative told Business Insider that "when not part of our FoodShare program, which has helped donate 10-million-plus meals since launching in 2016, many of our stores work with their local food banks to set up food donations."

But Alex Cote, who was a Starbucks barista for five years, told Business Insider that there were still issues at his store in Massachusetts, despite its participation in the FoodShare initiative.

"We would waste over 100 sandwiches a week because you have to make sure you don't sell out," he said. "Many managers would over-order because sales were valued over waste."

"They have this company that comes as a surprise to make sure everything's clean, so I feel like that always made sure we were tidy," Julia Avenriep, who worked at a South Florida Starbucks location, said.

A current Starbucks shift manager from a New England location — who asked not to be named — confirmed to Business Insider that the company really does harp on cleanliness.

Starbucks has EcoSure, a food safety and public health company, conduct surprise audits at locations. "It's like a clean standard fire drill every time they come in," the current employee said.

"I never saw bugs," Avenriep continued. "They are just really on top of keeping the back just as clean as the front." And it better be clean, because managers' jobs and potential bonuses depend on those audit scores, according to the shift manager we spoke to.

"We take great pride in creating, a warm and welcoming environment where customers and partners (employees) can gather and connect," a Starbucks representative told Business Insider. "As part of that, all of our stores have regular processes in place to ensure the store is clean. In the instance where an issue arises, a partner has a protocol they can follow to address it immediately."

"It's not a PR conspiracy," Diener said about the company's infamously misspelled names on the side of cups. In 2016, a YouTube vlogger suggested that the misspellings were done purposefully to gain social media attention. But Diener said that's not the case.

"Starbucks partners are either dealing with a line of people, have trouble hearing customers, don't have time to get the spelling of every name, or English is their second language and they're doing their best," he said.

To really drive the point home, as Diener discussed this with Business Insider, he was sipping on an iced espresso from a Starbucks inside the Chicago airport — and his name was misspelled, "Jonh." And of course, if you want to ensure your name is spelled perfectly, there's a workaround — order through the app.