Starbucks turnaround plan hits costly snags

2 hours ago 3

When I archetypal moved to Reno, Nev., much than 20 years ago, 1 of the archetypal things I searched for was the closest Starbucks.

Starbucks had been my bureau distant from location for years — what Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol often refers to arsenic the "third place," location and the bureau being the archetypal two. Starbucks was really the second spot for me, since my bureau was astatine home.

Needless to say, I was precise disappointed erstwhile I learned that the lone Starbucks successful municipality astatine that clip was wrong the Barnes & Noble.

Now, don't get maine wrong, I emotion the bookstore, but it doesn't unfastened until 9 a.m., and I mostly privation to beryllium astatine my machine good earlier then.

Since that long-ago day, astir 2 twelve Starbucks person opened astir town, and present there's adjacent 1 wrong walking region of my house. Starbucks is again my bureau distant from home.

At my vicinity location, the baristas person ever been affable and the work quick, but I've noticed lately that everyone has been other warm, greeting customers by sanction erstwhile we locomotion successful and offering refills connected coffee. They've adjacent started penning cheerful messages connected to-go cups again.

But Starbucks’ communicative is astir much than my greeting java — it’s besides astir the firm turnaround that’s playing retired nether Niccol’s leadership, starting with what helium dubbed "Back to Starbucks." This is the program helium shared publically soon aft helium took implicit arsenic CEO successful September 2024.

Niccol's Back to Starbucks program initially focused connected 4 areas:

Empowering baristas to instrumentality attraction of customers.
Getting the greeting right, each morning.
Reestablishing Starbucks arsenic the assemblage coffeehouse.
Telling the company's story.

After helium shared the supra successful an unfastened missive to "partners, customers and stakeholders," Niccol went connected a listening tour, gathering with store partners and customers crossed the state to stitchery feedback connected what was moving and what wasn't going truthful smoothly.

Related: Inside Starbucks’ bold program to triumph backmost customers

Now, a small much than a twelvemonth aft Niccol took over, the institution delivered U.S. comparable transaction maturation for the archetypal clip successful 8 quarters, according to the company's Q1 fiscal twelvemonth 2026 results, released January 28.

On the net call, absorption besides shared:

North America and U.S. comparable stores were up 4%, driven by the 3% increase successful comparable transactions and 1% emergence successful mean ticket.
Global comparable store sales accrued 5%.
Q1 Consolidated Net Revenues were up 6% to $9.9 billion.
China's comparable store income rose 7%, driven by higher transaction measurement and mean summons size.
The institution opened 128 nett caller stores successful Q1, ending the play with a full of 41,118 stores (52% company-operated and 48% licensed).