Starbucks baristas have begun rolling out a new system aimed at speeding up service and easing a bottleneck that has left customers frustrated and waiting up to 40 minutes for their coffee.
The system means Starbucks will change the order in which hot and cold drinks are served. Previously, Starbucks baristas would prioritize cold drinks from start to finish, even if a hot drink was ordered first.
Employees who provided feedback to company leadership said the system increased wait times at the drive-thru.
Starbucks also plans to assign employees to the role of “play caller,” taking time away from production to help ease congestion and handle other essential tasks like refilling cups and handling unexpected crowds.
“One of the problems we saw was [that] “Our espresso machines are often running at all times, which was one of the reasons our partners were unable to check in,” Katie Young, senior vice president of store operations, told CNBC.
“And the other thing we didn’t necessarily know was what parts of the store were going to be busy.”
Young said Starbucks stores “really needed a committed partner who would step back and help out when things got busy.”
“It’s the ability to be flexible and adapt to the unexpected,” she said.
Starbucks executives expect to see even greater customer engagement through its mobile app, which began allowing non-rewards members to order from the company on Monday.
Last month, the company launched a range of value combo menu items, following in the footsteps of fast-food chains such as McDonald’s.
Starbucks’ new “pairing” menu allows customers to pay up to $6 to order a tall hot or iced tea or coffee with any of its in-store snacks, such as a breakfast sandwich or a buttery croissant.
In an era of unrelenting inflation, Starbucks is trying to win back the hearts, minds, and wallets of disillusioned customers who, according to one survey, are waiting up to 40 minutes for a cup of coffee.
The company’s employees held management accountable, and management has decided to lay off around 29,000 in-store workers over the 12 months starting in October 2022.
Starbucks shares have fallen more than 22% in the last year, and the company’s new CEO, Lakshman Narasimhan, has come under fire following its recent quarterly earnings report.
Starbucks sharply cut its profit and revenue forecasts for fiscal 2024 after reporting a 4% drop in same-store sales and a 6% drop in customer traffic in the three months ending in April.
The situation was so dire that Mr. Narasimhan’s predecessor, Howard Schultz, the man credited with building Starbucks from a small Seattle coffee chain into a global powerhouse, wrote a lengthy LinkedIn post urging the company to rethink its U.S. operations.
The Post has reached out to Starbucks for comment.
