Americans pulling into a Starbucks drive‑thru may be greeted by a friendly staff member. But at some locations, it is actually an AI robot entering the orders.
Behind the counter inside the store, baristas can lean on a virtual personal assistant to recall recipes or manage schedules.
In the back of the shop, a scanning tool has taken on the painstaking process of counting the inventory, relieving staff of one of retail’s most tedious chores, in a bid to fix the out-of-stock gaps that have frustrated the firm.
The new technology is part of the hundreds of millions of dollars the 55-year-old coffee giant has been investing as it tries to win back customers after several years of struggling sales.
And there are signs that the effort is working.
Last week, the company reported its first sales increase in two years at established stores in the US – its biggest and most important market, accounting for some 70% of revenue.
Still, the firm’s share price slid 5% reflecting investor concerns that all the spending, which includes $500m (£363m) to boost staffing, had hurt profits.
Chief executive Brian Niccol says he is confident that consistent sales growth will ultimately address that problem.
But with the company promising to find $2bn in cost savings over the next three years, investments in technology are crucial to ensuring that improved sales also yield better profits.
“I think that’s all going to come,” he told the BBC. “I really do believe we’ve got the right plan in place.”
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Niccol sees handwritten notes as key to recapturing Starbucks’ buzz
Niccol joined the company in 2024, at a time when the business was under pressure.
Customers were balking after a string of price increases. Competition was heating up and the brand faced boycott calls tied to unionised barista disputes over pay and benefits, as well as the company’s stance on the Israel-Gaza war.
The 52-year-old, who had wowed the industry with his turnaround of fast-casual burrito chain Chipotle Mexican Grill, quickly began making changes.
He declared a halt to price increases, simplified the menu and set a target for baristas to complete orders in four minutes or less.
Starbucks also cut thousands of corporate roles, closed underperforming stores and sold off a huge stake of the firm’s business in China.
But the father-of-three, and former fraternity brother at Ohio’s Miami University, tends to talk about Starbucks’ challenges in fuzzier terms, describing a company that got caught up in spreadsheets and financial averages and strayed too far from its roots as a community coffeehouse.
“We lost our focus because we got a little too distracted on efficiency and technology, and lost, I think, our focus on experience, customer and connection,” he said.
“The business is not an average business. The business is a coffee shop-by-coffee shop business.”
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To improve the vibes, staff were urged to return to writing customer names on cups by hand.
The firm also started sprucing up shops with inviting armchairs, new paint and ceramic mugs – all part of a $150,000-per-store “uplift” that is expected to take four years to complete.
Those changes were accompanied by more hard-edged policies, such as stricter uniforms for staff and rules that bar people from using the bathroom without a purchase.
The firm’s push to deploy AI at a time when top brass are emphasising the importance of a personal touch might seem loaded with irony, but Niccol sees little tension.
“It’s a way for us to make the experience… have less friction,” he said.
The company is trialling an AI-powered chatbot, which can help match drinks with customer moods, and is introducing the ability to schedule orders in a bid to reduce customer waits.
At drive-throughs, Starbucks is testing a system to process orders and free up staff to focus on hospitality or making the coffees.
