The New Starbucks Turnaround Plan

Better, faster but not necessarily cheaper?

Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol shared more details about the brand’s ongoing turnaround strategy during the company’s latest quarterly conference call, CNBC reported.

Many of the coffee chain’s planned changes are intended to help its stores deliver a custom drink to customers in under four minutes, according to CNBC. Right now, about half of its orders fall within this threshold.

The plans are being unveiled as Starbucks has now reported three straight quarters of declining sales. The company is also planning fewer new locations and renovations in order to free up capital in 2025.

Among the coffee chain’s specific plans are changes to its mobile app ordering experience. In order to help reduce the crowding of counters with mobile app orders, Niccol seeks to improve the accuracy of the app’s timing so people have a better idea of when their drinks will be ready. He also seeks to physically separate mobile order pickups from in-restaurant orders within store locations. And to curtail how much customers can customize drinks.

Niccol, who was previously CEO and chairman of Chipotle until August 2024, says he plans to slim the Starbucks menu to “fewer, better” offerings to help baristas make every drink more consistently. And hopefully make them quicker, as they’ll have fewer drinks to remember.

As a criteria for what to eliminate from its menu, the company says it will look at items that they wouldn’t have offered if the four-minute standard wasn’t already in place.

The coffee chain’s plans also include steps to make its cafes feel more like a “third place” for customers again. Including through the return of ceramic mugs, and of Sharpies markers for writing customer names and other messages on cups instead of printed labels.

Starbucks is also reviewing its store designs with a focus on returning to more comfortable seating and amenities. Newer pickup-only locations could even see design changes to help make them more inviting.

In addition, the company is looking to bring back condiment bars so customers no longer need to ask baristas directly for something as simple as adding milk or sugar to a drip coffee. And it’s dropping extra charges for milk alternatives, which can currently add as much as 10% to the cost of drinks.

From a marketing perspective, the coffee chain also plans to place less emphasis on discounts under its Starbucks Rewards program. These deals-based initiatives are currently seen as “ineffective” according to Niccol, and as overburdening baristas. The chain additionally plans to give baristas more hours and consistent scheduling to help improve staff retention.

And so what’s the upshot of it all? If you miss the good old “third place” days of Starbucks, it looks like there might be a cup with your name Sharpied on it sometime soon.