• Starbucks is staffing up thousands of US stores with additional staffing.
• Analysts say the investment in people could boost Starbucks' turnaround — if deployed correctly.
• It's a sharp contrast with other restaurant chains, which are using more AI and automation.

AI is taking drive-thru orders at Wendy's, and Chipotle uses machines to prep avocados for its guacamole.

Starbucks, however, is turning to a different solution: People.

The coffee chain said in its latest earnings report that it plans to staff up its stores over the next several months. The reason: The efficiency-oriented machines that it's spent the last few years using just weren't good enough at speeding up drink production as good ol' humans.

Some of the additional staffing will involve hiring more baristas, a company spokesperson said. In other cases, Starbucks will give additional shifts to existing baristas or pull in workers from one store to fill in at another to fill in.

"They're realizing that there's more to it, and solving some of the throughput and other experience issues they need to fix is going to require more labor," said R.J. Hottovy, the head of analytical research at Placer.ai

As it staffs up stores, Starbucks is also rolling out a new algorithm that will determine the order in which baristas make drinks. That will help baristas make drinks more efficiently with those extra shifts, the company has said.

By the end of September, the new labor model and the algorithm will be in about 3,000 US stores, Niccol said on last month's earnings call.

Starbucks provides a counter-example to a broader restaurant industry trend. While many other chains are automating processes, especially with AI, the Seattle-based company is acknowledging that there might be limits to what machines can do.

At Starbucks, machines haven't been as effective as people

Over the last few years, Starbucks rolled out the Siren System, which made a series of equipment and process improvements meant to speed up the production of cold beverages like frappuccinos.

At the end of April, though, CEO Brian Niccol said that Starbucks would halt the system's use as it invested more in adding shifts for its baristas.

"We're finding through our work that investments in labor rather than equipment are more effective" at making orders quickly, Niccol said during the company's earnings call.

The additional workers also mean that store employees are "able to greet customers, hand off orders personally, be available for customer questions and requests, and more," Starbucks said. "Customers appreciate these memorable, more personal moments in our community coffeehouses."

Earlier this year, Starbucks tried out the additional baristas at 700 stores, Niccol said on the company's earnings call. Those stores saw a growth in transactions, he added.

Still, spending more on people has its risks.

Starbucks will have to make the additional shifts work across in-store, pick-up, and drive-thru orders, said Sujay Saha, founder and president of Cortico-X, a consulting firm focused on customer experience.

Some baristas have told BI that their stores have been overwhelmed by the number of orders that they have to fill, especially those that customers place through the Starbucks mobile app.

Niccol has said that he wants Starbucks to provide both quick coffee and food to go as well as more personal service for customers who want to hang out in-store.

"That is an experience that some customers need," Saha said of Niccol's focus on connections between patrons and baristas. "But some customers just need to get the coffee and head out."

More baristas could improve Starbucks' customer experience

Some baristas told Business Insider that they are skeptical that the extra workers will make a difference. The baristas declined to be identified by name, citing potential retaliation from Starbucks, but BI has verified their identity and work for Starbucks.

One Starbucks worker at a store in New Mexico said that she and her colleagues are overwhelmed and need the extra shifts — something that's apparent to store visitors and could deter job applicants.

"People know they're going to be overwhelmed, overworked, and under-compensated," the employee said.

Another barista, based in a store in Ohio, said that the additional staffing are welcome news since their manager usually steps in to help when they are understaffed during a busy period.

"The only day my store manager was not on the floor working with us were Monday's," the employee said.

Another employee, who works at a store in North Carolina, said that the location is struggling to keep employees between understaffing and recent changes to Starbucks' dress code.

"I'll believe it when I see it," the employee said when asked about Niccol's announcement of additional shifts.

Employing people still costs money. Starbucks' shares dipped roughly 7% as the company announced the additional investment in labor.

Executives said that they plan to offset the costs by applying zero-based budgeting to Starbucks' expenditures. The measure determines spending by asking managers to justify each expense rather than using last year's budget as a baseline.

Paying for more person-power isn't cheap, but it does fit in with Niccol's goal of making Starbucks a place that customers want to keep coming back to, Placer.ai's Hottovy said. Visits to Starbucks stores fell 0.9% in the first quarter, according to foot traffic data from Placer.ai.

Additional staffing — and better customer service — could get patrons to stop by more frequently, Hottovy said.

"At the end of the day, it's really your employees that make the experience," he added.

Do you work at Starbucks and have a story idea to share? Reach out to this reporter at [email protected].

• Some Starbucks workers are not happy about the new dress code.
• The Starbucks Workers United union launched strikes this week, protesting the new mandate.
• Starbucks made it compulsory for baristas to wear black tops and blue, black, or khaki bottoms.

Some Starbucks workers in the chain's largest union are objecting to the company's new dress code for baristas.

Starbucks Workers United said in a post on Tuesday that baristas around the US are protesting the chain's implementation of a standard dress code this week.

The union, which did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, told Bloomberg that walkouts have occurred at more than 50 stores. The union's website says that it represents more than 11,000 workers and more than 570 stores nationwide.

As of March 30, Starbucks had more than 17,000 stores in the US. The company did not respond to a request for comment from BI.

On April 14, Starbucks announced a standard dress code that all baristas must adhere to — a solid-color black shirt, paired with bottoms that are black, blue denim, or khaki.

The dress code, which went into effect on Monday, is meant to "allow our iconic green apron to shine and create a sense of familiarity for our customers," the company wrote in the announcement.

Starbucks would provide each barista two free shirts as part of the change, it said.

But three baristas BI spoke with said two shirts were not enough for those who work multiple shifts in a week, so they would have to buy clothing.

The workers' union also said Starbucks should focus on correcting operational problems like understaffing rather than enforcing a dress code.

Starbucks used to have a strict black and white dress code, which it relaxed in 2016 when it allowed baristas to wear shirts of different colors, paired with dark-wash jeans.

The new dress code comes as Starbucks struggles to pull itself out of the red, reporting five consecutive quarters of revenue declines.

CEO Brian Niccol has set up a game plan, which he dubbed "Back to Starbucks," to boost sales, attract customers to the cafés, and fix problems like long wait times.

This includes implementing a new mobile ordering system, slimming down the menu, and personalizing coffee cups with handwritten memos from baristas.

• Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol says he wants to add an "aperitivo" menu — late afternoon bites.
• I decided to piece together an afternoon snack based on Starbucks' current menu. Not bad!
• Sitting with a fruity drink, a pastry, and a savory snack at 3:30 p.m.? I could get used to this.

Around 3:30 most afternoons, I go full raccoon mode in search of snacks — raiding my cupboards and fridge at home, or furtively rifling through the offerings in the office breakroom, searching for something sweet/crunchy/salty/savory/life-affirming.

Starbucks knows about raccoon mode and wants to expand its afternoon snack menu to serve those customers. CEO Brian Niccol said this week that he's looking at bringing the "aperitivo"-style menu it has in its European locations to the US. Think of the "aperitivo" as a little late afternoon or pre-dinner snacky-snack.

I say, with rabid enthusiasm (the rabies here is purely metaphorical), bring it on!

Checking out Starbucks' current snack menu

I ventured out around 3 p.m. to a local Starbucks to see what was currently on the menu that would fill that late afternoon void in my soul. What did it already have, and what was missing in terms of "aperitivo"-type snacks?

I browsed the online menus for Starbucks in a few European countries to see what we're missing in the US. There's definitely some difference in the food among countries.

The UK has a lot of sandwich options we don't have, as well as a strange breakfast sandwich that appears to be just sausages on a bun (I am told this is a classic British delicacy). France has some way better-looking pastry items, like a "pistachio pyramid," but, interestingly, has no egg-based breakfast items. Italian Starbucks locations have cannoli (nice), a wide array of doughnuts, and a grain bowl.

Most intriguing to me: Spain has a bagel or multigrain toast you can order with oil, tomato, and salt. Frankly, that sounds amazing.

But browsing these menus, I wasn't clear on what the "aperitivos" were. The stuff that Niccols might want to bring to America to serve during the 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. hour. What is it about some of these items that makes them more appropriate for a late-day snack instead of a morning one?

My afternoon at Starbucks — with snacks!

So when I got to my local Starbucks, I tried to find what might be considered a proper late afternoon snack based on the current menu. The shop was packed with kids from the nearby middle school that just let out, getting colorful iced drinks.

I ordered a new drink from Starbucks' "spring selections menu" — a Blackberry Sage Lemonade Refresher. Gotta say, that was fantastic.

To sample some more of the afternoon fare, I asked for a brownie (sold out) and then the vanilla bean custard danish (also sold out). I asked the barista what the most popular afternoon treat was, and she said the chocolate chip cookie. I've had one of those already, so I got the baked apple croissant to try something new. It was great.

I was particularly hungry, so I ordered the turkey pesto sandwich, which I've also had before. After the other items, which were quite good, the sandwich was kind of a dud. I didn't finish it.

The thing I think most fits the bill for an afternoon snack was the new spicy falafel pocket, which is a small wrap with falafel mush inside. It was too small to be a full lunch or meal, but perfectly snack-sized. It scratched the itch for a savory snack that isn't packaged like chips.

Niccol, who led turnarounds at Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and Chipotle, has expressed his desire to get Starbucks back to its roots as a place people want to hang out and relax — not just a place to pick up a to-go order (or to use the bathroom).

Making Starbucks cool again

As a teen in the late 90s, I remember the days when Starbucks used to be a hangout. One of my first summer jobs was working at a Starbucks in Massachusetts. Even then, I was aware that it had a vibe problem: Its image in the popular consciousness at that time was as a pretentious chain that muscled out mom-and-pop coffee shops and forced customers to use ridiculous names for its sizes, like grande and venti.

The fast-food-ification of Starbucks in more recent years has helped it shed the image of a place that served oversized lattes to mean bosses — but it came at a price.

Starbucks is going through a bit of a rough patch. Sales fell 2% in the US last quarter. The new CEO has big plans to turn things around, including having baristas handwrite messages on cups, and possibly this new late-afternoon menu.

As I sat inside my local Starbucks, sipping my drink and eating a late-afternoon snack, it was really entirely pleasant. It was a sunny spring day, I was away from my computer. I typically don't linger in Starbucks often, but this … this was nice.

Did I aperitivo? Was I living a Continental lifestyle? Perhaps!

• Starbucks is planning to use zero-based budgeting starting during its next fiscal year.
• The coffee chain is trying to cut expenses to pay for its turnaround efforts.
• Other companies have used zero-based budgeting, though some appear to have cut perks too deeply.

Starbucks is planning to use a cost-cutting method with a tough reputation as it continues its turnaround.

The method, called zero-based budgeting, asks managers to justify every dollar they spend each year instead of using the previous year's spending as a baseline, as many companies do.

Starbucks executives say ZBB will help them find savings as they spend more on their Back to Starbucks plan, including paying for more hours for the baristas who staff its stores.

"We're going to be looking at ways to grow the business and also take a really hard look through the zero-based budgeting approach to understand where else there might be some offsets," CEO Brian Niccol said during the company's earnings call on Tuesday.

"I love deploying a few tools like zero-based budgeting" to "help us get after some of those maybe-stranded costs," CFO Cathy Smith, who joined Starbucks in the last few weeks, also said on the call.

A Starbucks spokesperson did not respond to questions about how the company planned to use zero-based budgeting.

ZBB gained popularity in the 1970s, thanks in part to former president Jimmy Carter, who advocated — ultimately unsuccessfully — for its use by the federal government.

More recently, some major brands have adopted the strategy.

For instance, the private equity firm 3G Capital has deployed the method at the Stella Artois maker AB InBev and Kraft Heinz, the company that makes Oscar Mayer and Lunchables.

The strategy, which includes moves like making all senior execs fly coach class even over long distances, did lower costs and improve the companies' margins. But in some cases, the spending cuts were so severe that it made it tough for employees to do their jobs, Business Insider reported in 2021.

One employee, who had recently left Kraft Heinz, told BI at the time that she could only spend $5 annually on office supplies. She also had to bring in her own Keurig pods from home since the company, which makes Maxwell House coffee, provided no coffee in the office break room.

Other Kraft Heinz employees told BI that strict spending controls hampered the development of new products and ultimately made it less competitive.

Some companies have adopted the method at key turning points.

Managers at X, formerly known as Twitter, reportedly had to use zero-based budgeting after Elon Musk bought the company in 2022.

And in 2020, General Motors implemented ZBB to manage disruptions caused by the pandemic. The company temporarily cut spending by slashing advertising and furloughing some employees, then-CFO Dhivya Suryadevara said at an investor conference.

Do you work at Starbucks and have a story idea to share? Reach out to this reporter at [email protected]

British and American "Food Wars" hosts Harry Kersh and Joe Avella swapped places to try each other's Starbucks menu items and find all the differences between the two. This is "Food Wars: Foreign Exchange."

• Starbucks announced during its Tuesday earnings call that it's exploring a new aperitivo menu.
• Aperitivo is a pre-dinner ritual in Italy involving a drink or light snack to awaken the appetite.
• Starbucks' new menu may feature "sparkling beverages, sippable coffee drinks, and snackable bites."

Starbucks is taking a lesson from the iconic coffee houses of Italy as it tries to return to its roots as the "third place" where people spend time in addition to work and home.

During the company's Tuesday earnings call, Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol announced that the international coffee chain is exploring plans to launch a new aperitivo menu. He did not specify when any new offerings would be rolled out.

"We're using learnings from the launch of freshly baked and prepared items in the UK and other international markets to inform our test and scale approach in the US," Niccol said. "To help reclaim the Third Place and boost the afternoon day part, we're also exploring an apertivo menu that includes sparkling beverages, sippable coffee drinks, and snackable bites."

Aperitivo is a beloved cultural ritual practiced in Italy. It involves a drink or light snack enjoyed before dinner to awaken the appetite.

"It's early days, but we're moving quickly to improve the appeal of our product pipeline and to support real-time culturally relevant menu innovation," Niccol said.

When asked by an analyst about whether Starbucks plans to split its menu into daytime and evening offerings, Niccol said the company is focused on honing its strategy to deliver beverages and food "for the occasions that move throughout the day."

An aperitivo offering, Niccol said, "would be available in the afternoon from like, say, two to five."

"You know, we definitely want to reinforce the artisanal, the craft aspect that we provide for when people want to have that little snack or that little pick-me-up drink in the afternoon," Niccol said. "And it gives us some flexibility to do some different things in the afternoon that maybe we wouldn't be able to do in the morning."

A spokesperson for Starbucks told Business Insider the company is "still exploring the aperitivo menu" and will share more details as they become available.

Since Niccol stepped into the role of CEO in September, he dubbed his strategy for the massive international chain his "Back to Starbucks" plan.

The brand was facing slumping sales, long wait times, and complaints about its customer experience.

Niccol has tried to reverse those issues and encourage customers to linger in store by bringing back the self-serve condiment bar, comfy chairs, and handwritten notes from baristas on customers' to-go cups, which he said would improve the café experience.

To reduce wait times to four minutes or less, Niccol also announced plans to eliminate 30% of its menu, including some of its most complicated drinks, and introduced a new mobile ordering system.

While Niccol said ahead of Tuesday's call that the "Back to Starbucks" plan has garnered "real momentum," the chain's second-quarter results came in slightly below expectations.

Starbucks stock was down more than 6% in after-hours trading at the time of publication.

• Starbucks is investing in more hours for baristas in its latest turnaround effort.
• The chain is also rolling out an algorithm that sequences orders for store employees.
• The company's second-quarter earnings came in below analysts' expectations on Tuesday.

Starbucks is betting that people, not machines, might be the key to its turnaround.

The coffee chain is planning to hire more baristas and invest in hours for them to work at its stores, CEO Brian Niccol said after Starbucks reported its second-quarter earnings Tuesday. Starbucks is also using a new algorithm to determine the order in which store employees make drinks, avoiding long wait times.

Starbucks is planning to roll out the new approach, called the Green Apron Service model, starting next month. The goal is to have it in about a third of its US locations by the end of its 2025 fiscal year.

"We're finding that investments in labor rather than equipment are more effective" at getting customers their orders and growing sales, Niccol said.

Starbucks' shares were trading nearly 7% lower after hours on Tuesday after the company outlined its plans to invest in employee hours. The company reported second-quarter earnings that were slightly below analysts' estimates.

The investment in employee hours is a departure from Starbucks' approach to staffing stores over the last few years.

Before Niccol joined the company as CEO and chairman in September, the chain had cut hours, leading to understaffing at many Starbucks stores.

Instead, Starbucks added new equipment, such as faster blenders and dispensers that gave baristas just the right amount of an ingredient, such as ice or milk, instead of having them measure it out. It also implemented the Siren Craft System, which was meant to allocate employees to the most important tasks at busy times.

"Over the last couple of years, we've been removing labor from the stores, I think with the hope that equipment could offset the removal of the labor," Niccol said on Tuesday.

"That wasn't an accurate assumption with what played out," he added.

Last quarter, Starbucks ran a pilot at 700 of its stores that involved adding more labor hours at those locations.

At one store in downtown Chicago, for instance, the additional hours allowed store employees to tackle mobile orders and lots of walk-in customers at that location, Niccol said.

At a suburban store, meanwhile, more hours went to staffing the drive-thru.

Starbucks is also betting that a new order sequencing algorithm will leave store employees more time to interact with customers. Niccol has said that he wants Starbucks to be a comfortable place for customers to hang out.

The algorithm, which Starbucks is using in 400 stores, has cut down on customer wait times by improving the order in which baristas prepare drinks.

"It's a lot calmer," Niccol said of stores that use the algorithm. "There's the opportunity to provide great connection" between customers and baristas.

The changes are the latest Starbucks has made under Niccol. Others include asking patrons to make a purchase to hang out in-store and directing baristas to leave hand-written messages and doodles on to-go cups.

Do you work at Starbucks and have a story idea to share? Reach out to this reporter at [email protected].

• Starbucks reported second-quarter earnings after the market closed on Tuesday.
• Under CEO Brian Niccol, the company is trying to return to growth.
• The chain's results missed analysts' expectations, yet Niccol said that progress is coming.

Starbucks wants its baristas to deliver your coffee in under four minutes. Investors are still going to have to wait a bit longer for a good jolt.

The chain's second-quarter results came in slightly below expectations on Tuesday compared to estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Still, CEO Brian Niccol said that he was optimistic about the company's turnaround.

"Our financial results don't yet reflect our progress, but we have real momentum with our 'Back to Starbucks' plan," Niccol said in a video message released with earnings.

Starbucks has made several changes to stores since Niccol became CEO in September. More are on the way, Niccol said, including new furniture in stores and an order sequencing algorithm aimed at getting drinks to customers more efficiently, he added.

Global comparable sales slid 1%. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg were expecting a decline of 0.59%. In the US, they fell 2% versus the consensus for a decline of 0.26%. Global sales on the same basis in the three months beforehand had dropped 4%.

Net revenue was $8.8 billion, slightly lower than the Bloomberg estimate of $8.83 billion. Shares were also slightly lower in postmarket trading on Tuesday.

Many of the shifts that the chain has made so far, such as requiring store-based Starbucks employees to write messages on to-go cups and requiring a purchase in order for patrons to hang out, are meant to make Starbucks cafés more friendly and comfortable for customers, Niccol has said.

Others are aimed at smoothing operations, such as letting customers add milk to drinks themselves.

Do you work at Starbucks and have a story idea to share? Reach out to this reporter at [email protected].

• Some Starbucks baristas told BI they're not impressed by the chain's new dress code.
• Starbucks will provide two free shirts, but they said they expected to pay for their own extra clothes.
• A spokesperson pointed to testimonies from employees who said they welcomed the dress code change.

Some Starbucks baristas aren't happy about the chain's new dress code — or the direction of the company's turnaround plans so far.

Three Starbucks store employees told Business Insider that the dress code, set to take effect May 12, would likely result in out-of-pocket costs if they wanted to have enough work clothes to get through the week without having to do extra laundry.

They also said they felt Starbucks was focusing too much on what they wear and whether they should honor customer requests for free water, and not enough on core operational issues, such as long wait times at some stores.

Starting May 12, Starbucks store employees, whom the company calls "partners," will have to wear solid-black shirts and bottoms that are either black, blue denim, or khaki.

The goal, Starbucks says, is to highlight the green aprons that store partners wear.

"How is the color of our shirts going to get drinks out faster?" one employee at a store in North Carolina told BI. The employee was granted anonymity; BI has verified their employment with Starbucks.

The reactions to the dress code and Starbucks' broader turnaround effort come seven months after Brian Niccol became the chain's CEO. Under Niccol, Starbucks has made several changes to its stores, from cutting the number of menu items to requiring that patrons make a purchase or accompany someone who has to hang out in the café.

Neha Cremin, a barista at a Starbucks near Oklahoma City's famous "gayborhood," said that she worried the new dress code would prevent employees from wearing many Pride or LGBTQ+ shirts, including some that Starbucks has produced, because they're not solid black.

Meanwhile, long wait times for customers and understaffing are unresolved issues at her store, she told BI.

"I don't see anything about the fact that workers are running around with two or three people running a busy, full café," she said.

Starbucks, which is giving employees two free shirts as part of the change, said it would offer a variety of black shirts to choose from, including ones promoting employee groups for minorities.

"We understand the importance of our partners being their authentic selves, and we want them to feel comfortable expressing that," a spokesperson said.

The chain also continues to consider operational changes to its stores, the spokesperson added.

"We're continuing to test and learn to ensure we make the right investments in staffing and deployment, processes and algorithm technology to improve the partner and customer experience," the spokesperson told BI.

Jasmine Leli, a barista at a Starbucks store in Buffalo, New York, told BI that many Starbucks employees worked more than two shifts a week and didn't have the time or money to do laundry multiple times a week.

Leli, who is also a bargaining delegate for Starbucks Workers United, the union representing Starbucks employees, said she expected many employees to choose to spend out of pocket on additional clothing that matches the dress code.

"You could spill milk on your shirt," Leli said. "And we're expected to wash our clothes after every shift? That's not sustainable."

On a Reddit page for Starbucks store partners, some posters said that they planned to overhaul their work outfits. They added that they were deciding whether to throw away Starbucks shirts that aren't solid black.

"It's not like I would ever want to wear them outside of work, so I guess I just wasted my money on them since they're essentially useless to me now?" a comment on one thread said.

The Starbucks spokesperson pointed to some testimonies from store employees who said that they welcomed the dress code change.

"We will spend less time focused on what we are wearing and more time on our craft," Starbucks quoted one store manager in Minnesota as saying.

The new dress code is the latest change under Niccol as he looks to make Starbucks cafés "inviting places to linger" with more connection between customers and baristas.

In February, the CEO said Starbucks might change elements of its digital ordering process, such as asking customers to select a specific pickup time.

So far, many of the changes to Starbucks have focused on other aspects of its stores.

Cremin, the barista in Oklahoma City, said that many of the patrons at her store strike up conversations with store workers about clothing and style because of what they're wearing.

"It's taking away from the human connections that make Starbucks a pleasant place to go," she said of the new dress code.

Do you have a story to share about Starbucks? Contact this reporter at [email protected].

• Starbucks is updating its dress code for store employees.
• Starting May 12, baristas will have to wear a black shirt to highlight their green apron.
• It's the latest change that Starbucks has made to its store operations.

Starbucks' latest update is changing its dress code for store baristas to highlight their trademark green aprons.

Store employees will have to wear a solid-color black shirt as well as choosing a bottom half color that's either black, blue denim, or khaki, the chain said on Monday. It will provide store employees with two free company-branded shirts to help them meet the requirements, according to the company.

The goal of the new dress code is "to focus on simplified color options that allow our iconic green apron to shine and create a sense of familiarity for our customers, no matter which store they visit across North America," Starbucks said.

The new dress code takes effect on May 12, Starbucks said. Bloomberg earlier reported the change.

Starbucks store employees will be able to wear a variety of clothing styles to meet the new requirement, the company said. While the shirt they wear must be black, it can have short or long sleeves and be crew-necked or button-up, for instance. Even a black T-shirt and jeans could qualify, Starbucks said.

"By updating our dress code, we can deliver a more consistent coffeehouse experience that will also bring simpler and clearer guidance to our partners, which means they can focus on what matters most, crafting great beverages and fostering connections with customers," Starbucks said.

The new dress code is the latest change Starbucks has made at its stores as it tries to boost sales.

The coffee chain is trying to make its stores comfortable places to hang out again. That has included requiring patrons to make a purchase — or be there with someone who has — to use the bathroom, asking baristas to write hand-written notes to customers on paper cups, and offering more free refills on some drinks, among other steps.

Starbucks has been making changes since Brian Niccol joined the company as CEO from Chipotle in September.

Do you work at Starbucks and have a story idea to share? Reach out to this reporter at [email protected].

• Starbucks has converted a traditional shophouse into a coffee shop in Singapore.
• When I heard the location was launching a limited-time-only menu of local dishes, I had to put it to the test.
• As a local, I can say the food is pricey, but it passes the test — and customers I spoke to agreed.

Earlier this week, I got to live out my dream of turning to the Starbucks barista and saying, "Everything on the menu, please."

Well, not exactly everything. I bought nine Singapore-exclusive food and drink items at Starbucks' new store in Chinatown, which opened on Monday.

The coffee giant has been in the city-state since 1996 and has about 150 outlets across the island. I've been to several of them, and this one stands out.

This location was converted from a traditional three-story shophouse. It has kept elements of the old architecture and brightened them up with colorful murals by Singaporean artists like Tiffany Lovage.

A traditional-looking sign hanging above the entrance to the store spelled out "Starbucks" in Mandarin.

When I visited the store on Tuesday near lunchtime, it was packed with people. A wooden staircase led me to a second-floor seating area. The area was bathed in bright sunlight from the arched windows, and the walls were covered with murals.

The space was filled with rounded booths, long tables, and individual work desks.

A customer named Hana told me her favorite part of the store was the seating arrangement on the second floor: "I could see myself coming here to crochet on my off days."

That's probably music to Starbucks' CEO Brian Niccol's ears, who has been working to increase foot traffic and bring cozy vibes back to the brand's stores.

Testing Starbucks' take on Singaporean treats

And now, the real reason for my visit: The food.

Singapore has an extremely strong food culture. So when I heard Starbucks was launching a limited-time-only menu of local dishes at its new outlet, I had to put it to the test.

I got the two special drinks on the menu — the Black Sesame Oatmilk Coffee Frappuccino with Soy Pudding and the Yuan Yang (Coffee & Tea) Coffee Frappuccino, both for 9.90 Singaporean dollars, or about $7.30.

The black sesame drink hit the spot. It had an earthy and nutty taste and jelly-like chunks of soy pudding.

The Yuan Yang drink is a coffee-tea hybrid popular in Singapore. The tea tasted local, like a Teh Tarik, but I couldn't really taste the coffee.

I also ordered seven food items — I was there on a taste-testing mission, after all. The items, created in collaboration with the local confectionary maker Old Seng Choong, included sweet and savory items and ranged in price from SG$3.90 to SG$8.20.

As a local, I can tell you that some of the prices — while in range with Starbucks pricing — are much higher than the market: You can get items like bolo buns and char siew puffs for a fraction of the price at local bakeries.

I loved Starbucks' Lycee Swiss Roll, even though that, too, was pricey at SG$7.20. It struck the right balance of cake, icing, and real fruit.

Natasha, a barista at the outlet, said the Coffee Bolo Buns and Chicken Char Siew Puff were the most popular items in the store, selling out by 3 p.m. on opening day.

Country-specific flavors are often a hit

Starbucks has previously launched limited-time-only, country-exclusive items. Some of its international hits include a Sakura flower-inspired drink in Japan in 2022 to celebrate the cherry blossom season and the Lychee Strawberry Cream Shiok-ah-ccino in Singapore in 2024.

Guy Llewellyn, an assistant professor at EHL Hospitality Business School in Singapore, said country-specific drink and food items are often a successful business strategy.

"While localized products start off to capture media headlines and attract guests who want to be one of the first to try the localized menu offerings, they also build a cultural connection, build long-term outlet loyalty, and help to differentiate the outlet in the competitive coffeehouse market," Llewellyn said.

But the strategy can carry risk.

Alexandra Leung, the founder of Monogic, a food and beverage marketing agency in Singapore and Hong Kong, said brands need to do their research carefully if they're going to try to incorporate local elements into their menus.

"In Vietnam, Starbucks struggled by using Arabica beans rather than the locally preferred Robusta and failing to adapt to traditional Vietnamese coffee preparations, ultimately leading to market challenges," she said.

As a local, I was satisfied with the food offerings in the new Starbucks outlet. While they were pricier than other local bakeries, they tasted fresh and pretty authentic.

During my store visit, I struck up a conversation with a woman eating a bolo bun. She told me her name was Rina Teo, and that she liked the bun's crispy and creamy texture.

Teo, a stay-at-home mom of two, said she'd come to the Starbucks outlet to get a brief respite from diaper changes. She also mentioned she had been a Starbucks regular since she was in school.

"I've always associated Starbucks with the West, with modern designs and croissants," she said. "This store, with its traditional Chinese designs, feels like a nice change."

• Brian Niccol is overseeing major changes as Starbucks CEO.
• Niccol earned a reputation as a turnaround expert after stints at Chipotle and Taco Bell.
• Here's how he became one of the biggest names in the restaurant industry.

Brian Niccol is making some big changes at Starbucks. It's hardly his first time attempting a turnaround at a fast-food chain.

Niccol has two decades of experience in the restaurant industry, from Pizza Hut to Chipotle. He's honed a specialty in that time as someone who can take a struggling chain and make it successful.

Here's how Niccol became one of the most notable leaders in the restaurant industry.

Niccol got his start at Procter & Gamble

After graduating from Miami University in Ohio in 1996, Niccol took a job at consumer products manufacturer Procter & Gamble.

One of his early successes was a marketing campaign for Scope mouthwash that allowed customers to send animated kisses to each other through email platform Hotmail, Niccol told the Los Angeles Times in 2015.

While mouthwash itself wasn't new or innovative, Niccol said the campaign used a then-new technology to keep the brand relevant. "What I've always seen is the brands that have a youthful mindset, a youthful vigor, they have a great value proposition," he told the Times.

While working at Procter & Gamble, Niccol earned an MBA from the University of Chicago.

Niccol's first restaurant role was at Taco Bell's parent

Niccol joined Yum! Brands, the company that owns KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell, in 2005. His first roles were at Pizza Hut. In 2011, he became CEO at Taco Bell.

Under Niccol, Taco Bell pushed back on perceptions of its food quality. In 2011, a lawsuit alleged that Taco Bell's beef used too many fillers. The lawsuit was dismissed, but the impact weighed down Taco Bell's results in the quarters afterward, executives said at the time.

Niccol oversaw a various changes, from the chain's new "Live Más" slogan to a new breakfast menu. Taco Bell also launched the Doritos Locos Taco, which uses a shell coated in the chip's flavored coating, and started serving boozy Baja Blasts and other alcohol at Taco Bell Cantina locations.

The changes rejuvenated sales. By the time Niccol moved on to this next job in 2018, one analyst called his tenure as CEO a "brand revitalization" for Taco Bell.

Niccol oversaw a successful turnaround at Chipotle

In late 2017, Niccol learned that Chipotle founder and CEO Steve Ells planned to step down as soon as the Mexican grill chain could find his replacement.

"When I saw the news, I thought, 'That's interesting,'" Niccol told the Harvard Business Review in 2021. In early 2018, he became Chipotle's new CEO and a director.

At the time, the Mexican grill chain was struggling. A few years earlier, Chipotle faced a months-long E. coli outbreak at its restaurants that ultimately sickened over 1,000 people. Like the lawsuit over Taco Bell's meat, the fallout was hurting the brand's sales for longer than executives had expected.

Chipotle made some big changes once Niccol became CEO. He moved the company's headquarters to Orange County, California, from Colorado. Chipotle also beefed up food safety procedures and training for employees, steps Niccol touted in early 2020 as COVID-19 spread around the world and customers became more conscious of their health.

And in a few years, Chipotle went from having almost no digital presence to adding dedicated drive-thru lanes, called "Chipotlanes," for picking up online orders at thousands of stores.

The changes worked. Chipotle's stock was trading around $6 a share when Niccol took over as CEO in March 2018. By the time he left for Starbucks last year, shares of Chipotle stood around $56 each.

Niccol's work at Chipotle helped solidify his status as an executive who could improve restaurants' financial performance.

"They might've been struggling at the time, but boy, at the core, I just believed there was a reason why they should succeed," Niccol said at the time.

Even Niccol's current Starbucks biography mentions his time at Chipotle.

"He more than doubled the business by establishing Chipotle as a culinary leader, pioneering digital innovation, introducing exciting new menu offerings, and expanding internationally," the biography reads.

Niccol faces his biggest test yet at Starbucks

Niccol joined the coffee chain as CEO in September.

Even before he started, industry analysts said that Niccol's accomplishments at Chipotle and Yum! were strong credentials to tackle Starbucks' challenges, including slumping quarterly sales and operational challenges such as long wait times.

Still, Starbucks is larger and more complex than Chipotle, some analysts pointed out. Chipotle had about 3,700 locations in its mostly US-based store network at the end of 2024. Starbucks, meanwhile, had about 40,000 stores as of September, according to its latest annual filing with the SEC. Just over half of those were outside North America.

While he's just six months into the job, Niccol has already overseen a lot of changes at Starbucks.

The coffee chain laid off about 1,100 corporate employees last month, a move that Niccol said would allow Starbucks to "operate more efficiently, increase accountability, reduce complexity and drive better integration."

Many Starbucks customers have also noticed changes at their local stores, from the return of self-service bars for milk and sugar to the requirement that patrons make a purchase to hang out there.

Changes to Starbucks' mobile ordering system, including timed pick-up slots, could also be coming, Niccol has said.

The goal is to win customers back and restore Starbucks' traditional role as a "third place" to spend time besides work and home, Niccol has said.

"Our stores will be inviting places to linger, with comfortable seating, thoughtful design, and a clear distinction between 'to-go' and 'for-here' service," he wrote in his first public message as CEO in September.

Do you work at Starbucks and have a story idea to share? Reach out to this reporter at [email protected].

• A jury awarded Michael Garcia, a delivery driver, $50 million after a Starbucks drink burned him.
• Garcia filed a complaint against Starbucks in 2020 after a hot tea fell on his lap.
• Garcia suffered serious burns, his lawyers argued.

A court ordered Starbucks to pay $50 million to a California delivery driver who suffered serious burns after a hot tea fell in his lap.

A Los Angeles County jury found Starbucks negligent on March 14, marking four years since the litigation between Starbucks and Michael Garcia began. Garcia, who worked at the time as a Postmates driver, first filed the complaint against Starbucks in March 2020.

A Starbucks spokesperson told Business Insider it planned to appeal the decision.

"We sympathize with Mr. Garcia, but we disagree with the jury's decision that we were at fault for this incident and believe the damages awarded to be excessive," the statement said. "We plan to appeal. We have always been committed to the highest safety standards in our stores, including the handling of hot drinks."

Trial Lawyers for Justice, the firm representing Garcia, said he entered a Starbucks drive-thru that February and ordered three venti-sized hot teas. The firm said the barista at the pick-up window "negligently failed" to secure one of the drinks into the drink carrier.

"Within 1.4 seconds of Michael taking possession of the tray, the unsecured cup fell directly into his lap, the lid popped off, and the scalding hot tea caused third-degree burns to his penis, groin, and inner thighs," a press release said. "He was taken by paramedics to the emergency room."

Nick Rowley, Garcia's attorney, said the driver's life "has been forever changed."

"No amount of money can undo the permanent catastrophic harm he has suffered, but this jury verdict is a critical step in holding Starbucks accountable for flagrant disregard for customer safety and failure to accept responsibility," he said in a statement.

• Starbucks cafés may soon have more power outlets.
• Brian Niccol, Starbucks' CEO, said the company was testing a store redesign with more seats and power outlets.
• This is the latest move in his "Back to Starbucks" plan to make the chain more warm and inviting.

You won't have to worry about your laptop running out of juice at Starbucks anymore if Brian Niccol, the company's CEO, has anything to say about it.

Niccol's latest move to get coffee drinkers to linger at the chain's cafes involves introducing more power outlets in stores.

The chain is testing a café redesign in the US, with the aim of making it a more comfortable and inviting place to hang out, the CEO said in a shareholder meeting on Wednesday.

"Imagine coffee houses that are comfortable and warm with expanded seating options, power outlets, and abundant food displays," Niccol told shareholders.

Niccol said the new design would also have clearly separated sections for those dining in-store and those picking up their to-go orders.

A Starbucks representative told BI earlier in March that it would add more seating to its cafés and start introducing shelves and risers to separate the café and mobile ordering sections.

This is the latest move in Niccol's "Back to Starbucks" plan, a game plan he developed when he joined Starbucks in September to turn the company around. Wednesday's shareholder meeting marked six months since he took the top job.

The executive has been working to solve challenges including long wait times, flaws in the customer experience, and issues with its mobile ordering system. Niccol said that mobile ordering "chipped away" at the brand's soul.

Starbucks' global comparable sales slid by 7% in the fourth quarter of 2024 compared to the same period a year before. Its performance improved in the first quarter of 2025, when global comparable sales decreased by 4% year-on-year.

A key pillar of Niccol's "Back to Starbucks" is rebranding the company as a cozy local coffeehouse where people can hang out.

His changes include introducing ceramic mugs for hot drinks in store, handwritten messages for customers, and self-serve condiment bars.

• Starbucks booked $1.3 billion in profit in a Swiss subsidiary over a decade, a new report says.
• The move appeared to reduce Starbucks' tax bill in other countries.
• It's the latest example of companies using tax havens to avoid tax rates in the US and elsewhere.

A little-known Starbucks subsidiary in Switzerland appears to have played a big role in how much the coffee chain paid over the last decade in taxes, according to a new report.

On paper, Starbucks Coffee Trading Company, or SCTC, based in the Swiss Canton of Vaud, is responsible for sourcing unroasted coffee from countries like Colombia and Rwanda before it's used in beverages at Starbucks' cafés. It also oversees Starbucks' Coffee and Farmer Equity Practices program for ethical coffee sourcing.

According to a report released Saturday by the Centre for International Corporate Tax Accountability and Research, or CICTAR, there's also evidence that since 2015, the subsidiary has helped shift about $1.3 billion in Starbucks profits away from other countries where they would have been subject to higher tax rates.

The chain is hardly the only major company that books profits outside the United States, and the report's authors found no evidence that the company was doing anything illegal. But Starbucks' reputation for being conscious of its role in society contrasts with its use of tax loopholes, said Jason Ward, principal analyst at Australia-based CICTAR. The group is funded by trade unions as well as trusts and foundations.

"Starbucks is different in that it really does bank on its image of social responsibility," Ward told Business Insider.

Starbucks uses Switzerland-based SCTC to book the cost of the unroasted coffee beans, even though the beans don't appear to move through Switzerland, according to the report.

SCTC "then sells the exact same green coffee beans at a higher price to other entities in the Starbucks corporate structure," the report says. That markup was about 3% between 2005 and 2010, then rose to 18% between 2011 and 2014, CICTAR's report says.

CICTAR could not find "any significant change in business practices or underlying costs" that would justify the jump in profits, the report says.

"It's not like they're roasting coffee or researching the different types of beans or anything," Ward said. "There's nothing like that going on there."

In Switzerland, profits from those markups are taxed at "a significantly lower tax rate" than if they had been booked in the United States or other countries, according to the report.

While the exact tax rate that Starbucks pays in Switzerland isn't publicly known, US companies paid an average rate of 3.9% in the country, according to an analysis of IRS data by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, or ITEP. The US corporate tax rate is 21%.

More recently, between 2015 and 2021, SCTC has paid between $125 million and $150 million in dividends annually to another Starbucks subsidiary, Netherlands-based Starbucks Coffee EMEA B.V., according to the report. These payments do not appear to be taxed either upon leaving Switzerland or upon entering the Netherlands.

The report looked at financial filings for Starbucks subsidiaries around Europe to trace profits booked at SCTC.

In a response that CICTAR included on page 4 of the report, a Starbucks spokesperson said that the report's claims "fail to accurately reflect our business model and how different parts of our business contribute to the company's success."

"Starbucks pays appropriate and correct levels of tax in all jurisdictions in which it operates and proactively works with tax authorities to inform them of its business model and related tax implications," the spokesperson said.

A Starbucks spokesperson told BI that the company "is in full compliance with tax laws around the world" and had an effective global tax rate of about 24% last year. SCTC provides "high-quality coffee to meet our global demand" and includes farmer support centers in coffee-growing areas of the world.

"Switzerland has been a global hub for coffee trading for decades and SCTC is based there to help us access the world's best coffee trading talent," the spokesperson said.

Starbucks isn't the only company that looks abroad to minimize its tax obligations. A 2021 report from CICTAR looked at Uber's use of shell companies in the Netherlands to limit its tax bill, for instance.

Large companies and wealthy individuals store money in a variety of tax-haven countries, such as the Cayman Islands, since they charge less in taxes than their home countries — or none at all.

CICTAR's findings on Starbucks aren't surprising, said Matthew Gardner, senior fellow at ITEP.

"This is a thing that every company or every industry, companies in every industry that have lots of intangible assets are doing right now," he told BI.

Companies storing profits in tax havens — and the US government's responses to the strategy — goes back decades, he said.

A 2004 tax holiday, for example, allowed corporations to bring profits to the United States from overseas at a much-reduced tax rate. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, passed during President Donald Trump's first term, also contained provisions to bring more corporate profits back to the United States.

But many companies have continued using offshore tax havens, Gardner said. An ITEP analysis of IRS data from 2020 found that American-owned companies reported $390 billion in profits across 15 likely tax havens, including the Cayman Islands, Ireland, and Switzerland.

Large companies' tax avoidance ultimately increases the tax burden on other taxpayers, including individuals and small businesses, Gardner said. It can also lead governments to slash spending and cut programs, he said.

"Every way in which the revenue loss from these offshore profits can be paid for hurts the rest of us," he said.

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• I was a Starbucks barista for nearly a year, so I've tasted almost every item on the menu.
• For drinks, I recommend the iced caramel macchiato and the strawberry-acai refresher.
• I'm also a fan of the chain's glazed doughnut and the bacon, Gouda, and egg sandwich.

I worked as a Starbucks barista in Chicago for almost a year. Between tasting everything I made during training plus the free drinks and meals I received each shift, I've tried nearly everything on the menu.

I prefer things to be sweet and cold, but you can use these drink recommendations as a baseline and adjust your order to your own preferences. 

Read on for my favorite things to order at Starbucks.

Iced caramel macchiatos are my go-to fancy drink

An iced caramel macchiato with almond milk is my favorite Starbucks order when I'm looking for a fancier drink — as long as the barista doesn't skimp out on the caramel drizzle (the most important part).

I'm usually not a huge fan of caramel, but something about the way it mixes with the espresso and milk gives it an irresistible flavor. 

A classic soy-milk latte is the perfect pick-me-up

If I'm looking for something simple with a touch of sweetness, a soy-milk latte is the way to go.

With the vanilla soy milk, there's no need to add syrup unless you're looking for a jolt of added sugar.

As someone who doesn't like to pay for air, this is a better alternative to a cappuccino since there's less foam and more milk. 

You can't go wrong with a simple black iced tea

When I'm trying to reduce my sugar consumption, unsweetened iced tea is the ideal choice. 

I prefer black tea because I find it a bit stronger, but green tea is also a solid choice. As long as the barista steeps it properly, neither should taste bitter.

I usually like to get as much ice as possible, so I ask for it without added water because the ice dilutes it enough. 

If you're a matcha fan, the matcha-crème Frappuccino is a must

I love a good matcha Frappuccino, especially on a summer day. It reminds me of a milkshake with a bit of caffeine.

The drink has the perfect blend of sweet and earthy notes.

If you're ordering it with nondairy milk, soy will give it that creamy texture Frappuccinos are known for. I've found it won't come out as creamy with almond milk.

The vanilla-sweet-cream nitro cold brew is sweet and strong

When I need a hefty pick-me-up, a nitro cold brew is unbeatable.

Compared to a regular cold brew, a nitro one is smoother, so it doesn't need ice to water it down. 

Even though it's smooth, I still need some sweetness. The vanilla sweet cream is a beautiful blend of heavy creamer and vanilla syrup that sits on top of the coffee until you're ready to mix.

If I don't want coffee, the strawberry-acai refresher is a great option

When I need a break from heavy caffeine and want something fruity and light, I'll go for a strawberry-acai refresher.

It's by far my favorite refresher flavor, but you can't really go wrong with any of them. It may just taste like fruit punch, but it's the perfect way to quench your thirst. 

The glazed doughnuts are the perfect companion to a cup of coffee

Pastries are one of my favorite things to pair with coffee.

Starbucks has a broad selection, but one of my favorites is the glazed doughnut — it's the perfect pastry for when I get the occasional hot drink.

I prefer to get the blueberry scones warmed up

If I'm not in the mood for a cold pastry, I'll order a warmed-up blueberry scone. The heat moistens it, making it taste fresher.

Starbucks' blueberry scones are also a bit fluffier than traditional ones, which I like. The scone goes exceptionally well with a black coffee, like the Pike Place or dark roast. 

The sausage, cheddar, and egg sandwich is a filling breakfast

When I worked early morning shifts and was really hungry, the sausage, cheddar, and egg Starbucks breakfast sandwich saved me.

It's greasy and filling in the best way. I found it was often a customer favorite — I was lucky if there were any left to grab during my break. 

I love the flavors of the bacon, Gouda, and egg sandwich

If I wasn't starving but still wanted something tasty in the morning, the bacon, Gouda, and egg sandwich always satisfied.

It's smaller, so you might not feel like you're getting your bang for your buck, but the quality is worth it. 

The Gouda pairs nicely with the bacon, and the ciabatta roll toasts to perfection. No soggy bread here.

This story was originally published in March 2022 and most recently updated on March 5, 2025.

• Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol is trying to turn the brand around.
• Challenges include fixing long wait times and issues with the mobile ordering system.
• Retail and marketing experts say his moves are a step in the right direction.

When Brian Niccol stepped into the top job at Starbucks in September, he had a game plan to turn things around.

"We're refocusing on what has always set Starbucks apart — a welcoming coffeehouse where people gather, and where we serve the finest coffee, handcrafted by our skilled baristas," Niccol wrote in an open letter at the time. He dubbed it the "Back to Starbucks" plan.

The brand was facing various challenges, including long wait times, flaws in the customer experience, and issues with its mobile ordering system. As Niccol saw it, mobile ordering had chipped away at the brand's soul.

Starbucks' global comparable sales slid by 7% in the fourth quarter of 2024 compared to the same period a year before. Its performance was slightly better in the first quarter of 2025, when global comparable sales decreased by 4% year-on-year.

"It was trying to command a premium price for an experience that had rapidly deteriorated to being sub-premium, and hence, customers fled," Dipanjan Chatterjee, a vice president at the New York-based market research company Forrester, told Business Insider.

Six months into the job, retail and marketing experts say Niccol is getting a lot right.

Jeffrey Towson, the founder of the US and China-based retail consultancy TechMoat Consulting, said Niccol is "revamping the entire customer journey," which is the "right strategy."

He said Starbucks already has one big advantage — its retail footprint — but now, it needs to "revitalize the customer experience and its reputation."

"Real estate trumps brand in retail coffee. Nobody walks an extra two blocks to go to a Tim Horton's versus a Starbucks. They go to the closest one," he said.

Niccol's turnaround plan

Niccol is trying to rebrand Starbucks as a cozy local coffeehouse where people can hang out.

He has brought back ceramic mugs in store for hot drinks, which he said would improve the café experience, and re-introduced self-serve condiment bars.

He's asking baristas to personalize the experience by writing notes to their customers on the cups. Customers are being given refills of brewed coffee.

To reduce customer wait times, Niccol has eliminated 30% of its menu offerings and introduced a new mobile ordering system. His goal is to cut wait times to four minutes or less.

Chatterjee told BI that due to its size, Starbucks will likely not be able to get to a point where every store feels unique and local. But it's making the right move by trying to adopt elements from small coffee shops, Chatterjee said.

"Lifting elements of the coffee house experience and weaving them into the Starbucks journey, like the ceramic mugs and the doodling, does enough to reduce the sterility of a chain store," he said.

Niccol has also made staffing changes. On Monday, the company announced it would be laying off 1,100 employees. In an open letter, Niccol wrote that Starbucks is "simplifying our structure, removing layers and duplication and creating smaller, more nimble teams."

A Starbucks representative told BI that the brand is testing changes to its staffing, processes, and new mobile ordering algorithm to improve its wait times.

The representative added that the chain would add more seating to its cafés to improve the in-store experience and start introducing shelves and risers to separate the café and mobile ordering sections.

Execution, consistency, and training

Hal Hershfield, a professor of marketing, behavioral decision-making, and psychology at UCLA, said the success of Niccol's plan will hinge on how well it's executed.

"It has to be more than just a marketing gimmick, and something that gets executed at a deeper level," he said.

Starbucks' attempts to emulate the feel of a neighborhood coffeehouse will work "only if it can actually foster more of a sense of belonging," Hershfield added.

Mário Braz de Matos, the cofounder of the Singapore-based branding consultancy agency Flying Fish Lab, said Niccol's changes would require "consistent execution across Starbucks' vast network of stores in the US," so employee training will be critical.

Starbucks faces broader challenges, like competition from local coffee chains and evolving consumer preferences, which may limit its ability to attract new customers, he said.

In global markets like China, Starbucks faces "stiff competition" from competitors like Luckin Coffee, he said.

"Additionally, the brand's ubiquity in markets like the US means it has fewer untapped customer segments to target," he added.

The remaking of the Starbucks brand will take time, Chatterjee said — and as the brand works to build up more of a café vibe, it can't afford to lose the speed and efficiency that some customers desire.

"Sometimes, you want to linger and soak in the atmosphere, and other times, you need to grab and go," he said. "Starbucks needs to win both those occasions."

• Starbucks is retiring 13 of its less popular and more complicated drinks.
• This includes several of its famous Frappuccinos.
• Good riddance, I say!

First, let me say: If the Chocolate Cookie Crumble Crème Frappuccino was your favorite drink, I'm sorry. Accept my condolences that it's among the 13 beverages to be deaccessioned from Starbucks' menu —  never to crumble or frapp again.

I know the retirement of your favorite obscure-flavored, mass-market food or beverages can be painful. I still mourn Diet Vanilla Coke in a 20-ounce bottle. (2002-2005, RIP.)

But with a clear head, anyone can see that the list of drinks that Starbucks' new CEO is axing makes sense. Quite simply, things had gotten out of hand.

Here are the drinks headed off to sweet treat Valhalla:

1. Iced Matcha Lemonade
2. Espresso Frappuccino
3. Caffè Vanilla Frappuccino
4. White Chocolate Mocha Frappuccino
5. Java Chip Frappuccino
6. Chai Crème Frappuccino
7. Caramel Ribbon Crunch Crème Frappuccino
8. Double Chocolaty Chip Crème Frappuccino
9. Chocolate Cookie Crumble Crème Frappuccino
10. White Chocolate Crème Frappuccino
11. White Hot Chocolate
12. Royal English Breakfast Latte
13. Honey Almondmilk Flat White

Look, I'm sure the Caramel Ribbon Crunch Crème Frappuccino hits a certain sweet tooth. By no means am I yucking anyone's yum — but goodness gravy, these drinks are ridiculous.

Most of these drinks are probably higher in sugar and calories than people expect. (A 16-ounce Caramel Ribbon Crunch Crème Frappuccino has 420 calories and 22 grams of fat — or nearly 30% of your daily fat guideline.) I'm not proposing Starbucks shouldn't offer dessert-ish drinks, but I can understand why Starbucks doesn't want its drinks to be synonymous with unhealthy indulgences.

To be clear: No one, certainly not my primary-care physician, would ever accuse me of being a healthy eater — and I love a novelty sweet treat. I am not joking or saying this for effect, but I literally was ambiently snacking on a few of the new Post Malone novelty Oreos while writing this.

Starbucks menu cuts are supposed to improve service

A representative for Starbucks told Business Insider that the move to cut these whimsical sugar bombs will help make the rest of the service at Starbucks better. In an email to my colleague, Starbucks said it will "make way for innovation, help reduce wait times, improve quality and consistency, and align with our core identity as a coffee company."

I worked at Starbucks in the late 1990s, at the dawn of the Frappuccino era, and I can tell you from experience that making these drinks was slow, labor-intensive, and unpleasant. I'm sure that the methods have gotten more efficient in the last 20 years, but I'd wager that these are still some of the most annoying drinks to make — they take extra time and require the baristas to learn obscure ingredients and ratios, which can lead to more errors in drinks.

Starbucks' new CEO, Brian Niccol, has said that he wants the chain to get back to its origins as a place people want to hang out — and shift away from the mobile app ordering that exploded during the pandemic. Part of the rise of mobile ordering is that it allowed — even encouraged — people to add extra syrup pumps and toppings for increasingly elaborate customized drinks that would go viral on TikTok.

The drinks got wackier and wackier, and it's time to rein it back in.

A Frappuccino is a wonderful invention, and the addition of the Mocha Frappuccino was inspired and brilliant. But when we're getting down to the difference between the Double Chocolaty Chip Crème Frappuccino and a Chocolate Cookie Crumble Crème Frappuccino? Get real.

These nonsense drinks have been mercifully taken out behind the dumpster and murdered. And it's the right call. Bravo, Starbucks.

When I heard that coffee futures were reaching record highs, I got a bad case of the jitters. What would happen to my morning cup of Joe? How expensive could it get? Could I afford enough coffee to get me through the day?

I set out on a mission to find out.

Caffeine is the world's most popular drug, and coffee is the second-most-traded commodity after oil. On the futures market, traders buy coffee shipments months or years in advance — so price spikes can indicate what the rest of us might be paying down the road. After the pandemic began, prices for coffee futures rose, along with everything else. Accordingly, the consumer price index showed a steep increase in prices for store-bought coffee throughout 2022.

The problems didn't stop there. Thanks to severe droughts in 2023, major harvests in Brazil and Vietnam did badly, and water in the Panama Canal ran low, slowing ship traffic. Coffee futures started to tick up. Then, this past November, the commodity skyrocketed. Brazil, which exports the lion's share of the industry's preferred arabica beans, was beginning its growing season as the country's worst drought on record stretched into a second year. The clouds that usually shade coffee trees went missing. It would be the second bad harvest in a row. When the news hit, traders rushed to lock in arabica contracts, sending prices to all-time highs in December. Now prices are more than double their 2023 peak. Robusta beans, often used in instant coffee, hit their own record high this month.

Is this the end of coffee as we know it?

Climate experts say the underlying supply problems aren't going anywhere. Over the next two decades, bad harvests could become the norm, wild arabica coffee could move from thriving to endangered, and the land available for coffee cultivation is expected to shrink by half or more. While the coffee market has some flexibility to keep prices down, the long-term outlook for America's favorite beverage is bleak.

Coffee prices have already been going up for a few years. This past summer, brands like Folgers and Maxwell House raised their prices to pass on previous commodity increases to customers. Prices at my local café went up $0.35, so I started grinding my coffee at home. But, the addict that I am, I kept caffeinating. We all did.

This "inelastic demand" gives companies plenty of wiggle room to raise prices without worrying that people will stop buying coffee entirely. Both Folgers' parent company, J.M. Smucker, and Maxwell's parent company, Nestlé, reported higher coffee sales in the US last year despite raising consumer prices. But how much higher could prices get?

People who brew their coffee at home "are going to feel it," Jay Zagorsky, a professor at Boston University's Questrom School of Business, said. Since coffee beans are the only ingredient in a tub of Folgers, commodity price increases have a direct impact on grocery prices. Two decades ago, US Department of Agriculture economists looked at how commodity coffee price swings affected grocery shelves. They found that every $0.10 increase in futures led to an immediate $0.02 increase in prices for canisters of ground coffee. When commodity prices stayed high, the rest of the increase was passed on over the course of a year. According to consumer price index data from January, grocery coffee prices are already more than 3% higher than they were this time last year — instant coffee alone rose 7%. And Illy recently told Bloomberg that a 25% hike in prices in the next few months was not out of the question.

To counteract low supply, coffee retailers can fudge the quality: Robusta beans, which have a harsher flavor than arabica, can be mixed into blends, for example. Smucker recently told investors that for Folgers and its other coffee brands, the company had "the ability to flex formulas and still deliver the exact same consumer experience." In Indonesia, coffee shops are even mixing corn and rice with their coffee beans to stretch supplies. Some people have called this phenomenon of companies swapping in cheaper and lower-quality ingredients "flavorflation."

In cafés, Zagorsky said, commodity price swings have a less noticeable impact because most of the cost of a latte is not beans but labor. "If I was Starbucks, I'd worry much more about the unionization drive," he said. Massive companies such as Starbucks can manage the uncertainty around commodity prices by locking in multiyear contracts, playing the market, and hedging their bets. Last year, Starbucks actually came out ahead on coffee futures. The company expects that it has enough beans in storage or contracted to last through at least September. In December, its CEO said it would not raise its North American store menu prices before then — though it is removing some discounts.

Small roasters buy quality beans for more than the commodity price, but unlike Starbucks, they are more sensitive to price swings. Over an Americano (her) and an afternoon decaf (me), Daria Whalen, a coffee buyer for Ritual Coffee in San Francisco, admitted she's worried.

She opened a 12-ounce bag of coffee and poured a handful of beans onto the table. She pointed out slight variations in their size, explaining that these beans came from five different farms in a family co-op that pays coffee pickers Colombia's minimum wage. In an industry rife with shady labor practices, from child labor to human trafficking, buying from farms that pay decent wages is "one of the only things we have left," Whalen said.

This bag retails for $25, more than five times the price of Folgers at Costco. It's not clear how much more consumers would be willing to pay. Thankfully, the more flexible part of that price is the flavor: Coffee beans are rated on a point scale, like wine. To adapt to a temporary price spike, Whalen said, she will choose beans that taste good but fall lower on that scale.

The big question for Whalen is what happens when the climate crisis makes these supply shocks more frequent. "I have anxiety, like probably 85% of the population," Whalen said. "So on some days, you catch me at cup four of coffee and I'm like, 'There's not going to be any coffee anymore.'"

The climate crisis is already changing coffee growing. The past two years have been the hottest on record, bringing more evaporation and making droughts more severe. Coffee harvests have suffered. "In the last year, I saw scorched coffee beans. Coffee beans that were shriveled because of extreme heat," Whalen said. She has also seen warmer temperatures nurture a disease called coffee leaf rust, push back growing seasons, and affect shipping logistics.

A 2022 data synthesis projected double-digit losses over the next few decades in the land that's good for cultivating coffee beans. Some areas will become newly available for coffee, but that won't be nearly enough to balance the losses. Unfortunately for connoisseurs, that new land will likely work best for robusta beans, not arabica beans.

In response to the changes, more growers are drying beans rather than washing them to save on water. That changes flavor profiles, favoring fruity flavors like blueberries, Whalen said: "Sometimes you can get a ferment-y flavor that we would call a defect, but a lot of people really love that."

There's some adapting that farms and supply chains can do, but these efforts may still fall short if countries don't aggressively limit their fossil fuel emissions. One study found that under a business-as-usual scenario, even with best practices in place for coffee growing and logistics, Starbucks could see persistent bean shortages as early as 2029. In its most recent annual report, Starbucks acknowledged that the climate crisis could materially influence its financial performance, particularly if it meant the company couldn't meet demand.

"If you care about your coffee," Regina Rodrigues Rodrigues, a Brazilian climate scientist, said, "you can't support any policies that allow the continued burning of fossil fuels. That's the thing."

Environmental concerns also popped up the last time coffee futures spiked, back in 1977. One environmentalist called the price increase "merely another way of telling us that the 4 billion souls on this planet must compete for a steadily shrinking supply of farm produce." That prediction turned out to be wrong. Since the 1960s, agricultural production has grown every decade. In fact, so much new land has been used for coffee that prices haven't even kept pace with overall inflation — Zagorsky pointed out that, adjusted for inflation, 1 pound of coffee today is still cheaper than 1 pound in 1980.

Looking back, it's tempting to hope that the world is crying wolf, but adaptive measures came with downsides. Agriculture boomed thanks to the clearing of forests and an unprecedented application of fossil fuels, both in fertilizers and as fuel for transporting food along vast global supply chains. One study estimated that most of the growth in agricultural production since the 1970s has not been in line with safe environmental practices. Now, as the world warms, agricultural growth is starting to slow, even as demand for coffee continues to rise. We have not solved our coffee problems; we have merely postponed them.

Is sad, watery 1950s diner coffee our fate? Or will we find new ways to make coffee growing productive and resilient? Zagorsky said that the futures market predicts a price decrease. But beyond that, he doesn't want to make any predictions. "Economists are terrible at guessing the future," he said.

So I took my fears and uncertainty to someone willing to predict the future: Dr. Honeybrew, a coffee fortune teller in Manhattan's East Village. Honeybrew took a look at the coffee dregs in my tiny espresso cup to read the future of coffee itself.

"Everyone is plunging a straw down in the ground and just sucking up all of the richness, all of the life, all of the power from the soil," he said. "This is Mother Nature's way of saying, 'You know what? In return, I'm going to give you guys the shittiest beans.'"

Honeybrew foresaw the sting of change. The chaos of revolution. And a shared love of coffee that, against all odds, could bring Americans back together. Really, he said, coffee's future hinges on the leadership of Melania Trump: "If the Trump family brings to the White House a cocker spaniel," Honeybrew said, "it will be a very good omen."

What Honeybrew didn't speculate on is the future-shaping potential of the Trump administration's recent activity: how new tariffs might increase coffee prices, whether cuts at the National Weather Service could make it harder to predict harvests, and how leaving the Paris agreement could make the underlying problems worse. Without a major course correction, even a cocker spaniel in the Oval Office probably won't save coffee.

Meg Duff is a reporter covering climate change and the environment.