I think that this is quite an interesting topic.  One particular question I would ask is whether the individual in question comes back to a specific Starbucks location.  If they do, why do they return to that location?  Convenience, atmosphere, baristas could all be assessed as part of that question.  Another question would be if the customers are partial to Starbucks as a brand.  For example, if out on the road and in need, do they go to any coffee place or do they seek out a Starbucks?  I think that some of the answers here might be able to fully grasp how individuals perceive Starbucks as both a brand and as an enterprise.

For optimal quality assurance, you should ask eveyrthing about the product, the atmosphere, and the shopping experience.

1. What beverage do you consume the most often in this bistro?

2. What is the approximate waiting time to get your order?

3. How would you rate the cleanliness of the store?

4. How would you rate customer service in general?

5. How often do you come to the bistro?

6. Do you consider the prices to be fair?

7. What other Starbucks productsdo you enjoy?

Other possible questions could include informal market research into customer habits as well as attitudes, but I agree it should be short to encourage maximum participation and honesty. Questions in addition to those above could include:

1)  How many times per week do you buy coffee?

2)  Most common size of coffee?

3)  Most common type of coffee drink you order (with checkboxes)

4) Do you prefer the drive thru or the walk in?

5)  Do you tend to take your coffee to go or drink it in the cafe?

If I were conducting this research project, I would consider performing customer interviews. Interviews gather personal information for the purpose of gaining personal opinions or impressions. Since you are trying to find out information such as what customers feel about the atmosphere or if they plan on returning I think the interview may be a good option for you. Interviews are also easy to follow-up on if you plan on doing this.

I would consider using scaled questions which means that your responses will be graded on a scale from say 1-5. An example of a question you could use is "How would you rate the cleanliness of the bathrooms inside Starbucks?" They would then rate the question of the scale that you provide. This is an example of a closed-ended question.

An example of an open-ended question is "What is your opinion of the bathrooms in Starbucks?"

First of all, I would think that you would want to keep the questionnaire short so that more customers will be more likely to agree to complete the whole thing.

I would try first to figure out why customers come to Starbucks in general.  Perhaps

What is your most important reason for patronizing Starbucks?  You might leave this open-ended or you could give choices such as atmosphere, attitude of employees, variety of products, quality of products, price.

Then to look at the other things, I would simply ask

• How would you describe the atmosphere at Starbucks?
• Does this make you more likely, less likely, etc to patronize Starbucks?
• Do you know particular baristas, either by name or by sight?
• Do these employees make you more likely, etc.