Say goodbye to long lines at Starbucks — at least, that's what your new boss is promising.
Starbucks CEO Brian Nicol said Friday that the goal is for customers to be able to drink a cup of coffee within 30 seconds within the next five years.
“When you walk in, you'll have the experience of interacting with a barista. You'll get freshly brewed coffee very quickly,” he told ABC. “Good morning America” “We hope to be able to provide you with freshly brewed coffee within 30 seconds.”
The former Chipotle president, who joined Starbucks in September, also revealed that the company would “hit the pause button” on price increases “this fiscal year.” Starbucks' 2025 fiscal year began on September 30th.
Meanwhile, the burrito and bowl chain announced this week that it would raise prices by 2%.
Starbucks stock rose 1.4% on Friday.
Nicol said some changes at Starbucks “start with simple things,” such as “bringing back the Sharpie” to write customers' names on coffee cups.
Another Starbucks relic that will be brought back is the coffee condiment bar. “You get freshly brewed coffee and you can adjust it to your liking,” Nichol said.
“We continue to strive for ways to make it easier for our customers to get their coffee and whatever beverage they want,” he added.
As part of that process, the company will create separate pickup locations for mobile orders and improve the accuracy of wait times given to mobile orders.
“Today, we just gave a quote that said, “It'll be done in three to five minutes,'''' Nicole said. “In the future, it's not just going to be made sitting at the counter, it's going to be, 'Rebecca, drinks are ready at 9 o'clock.' [and] Waiting for people to come. ”
However, to create a more efficient ordering system, some items, such as certain espresso drinks, should be removed from the menu. The goal is to get espresso drinks to customers in under four minutes, and to do that the menu needs to be pared down, Niccol said.
“We have a lot of products, but only one or two are ordered a day,” he said. “What I'm saying about this is we're going to do less, but we're going to do better.”
Starbucks has had its worst year since the pandemic struck in 2020, with the coffee chain reportedly cutting employee bonuses by 40%, according to Bloomberg.
Starbucks' sales grew less than 1% in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 29, a far cry from the double-digit growth seen a year earlier.
The company's operating profit for the same period decreased by 8%.
Starbucks' global same-store sales fell 2% this fiscal year, only the second decline in the past 15 fiscal years, with the first drop occurring in 2020 as lockdown restrictions hit the restaurant industry hard. did.
Starbucks stock has risen 7.3% since the beginning of the year after surging in August on news of Mr. Nicol's appointment.
