Starbucks Unveils Plans to Renew Stores and Boost Crew Morale

Starbucks is planning on spending $450 million next year to transform its North American stores to make them less complex and more efficient.

The company has also unveiled its plans to open 2,000 new US stores by 2023. They emphasized focusing on increasing demands for new types of services such as mobile ordering and delivery, and drive-thru. For drive-thru, this makes up 50% of the sales in the US while demand for delivery has increased by 24% this year.

“It’s clear that our physical stores have to change. Our physical stores were built for a different era,”  said Starbucks’ Chief Operating Officer, John Culver.

Culver has stated that the customizable cold drinks are taxing employees in kitchens made for simpler hot drinks. The customizable cold drinks of Starbucks make up 75% of the beverage orders for the US.

Starbucks has also debuted a new workstation design that would entail less movement and can reduce the time for making a blended ice mocha by 50 seconds. Aside from this, Starbucks announced a new patented technology that will reduce the process to make cold brew coffee from 20 hours to only a few seconds.

According to Starbucks, the introduction of several hot food items has slowed down their kitchens. Culver has shared that Starbucks is expected to serve an estimated 300 million breakfast sandwiches in the US this 2022. They are planning to start making sandwiches in batches and storing these products in warmers.

The company has likewise approved more benefits for its workers which include flexible scheduling, more sick time accrual, and expanded opportunities for mobile customers to give tips.

Source: Business Mirror