STARBUCKS has confirmed major changes as they reveal the “coffeehouse of the future” is coming to 1,000 stores.
The coffee chain plans to make sweeping changes to all of its US stores in the next three years to win back customers.
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Over the last few years, Starbucks has made in-store decisions that have backfired with customers.
This includes pulling out 30,000 comfortable seats, installing hard wooden stools, blocking electrical outlets and turning stores into takeout counters for picking up mobile orders.
As a result, customers fled to local coffee shops, other chains and brewed more coffee at home.
Now the company is making sweeping renovations to 1,000 stores in a bid to win back customers looking to sit down for a cup of coffee.
This will see a return of comfy chairs, tables, and power outlets within the next year.
Each redesign will look slightly different with new lighting, better acoustics and other improvements including a variety of different seats in stores.
This is to encourage people to come in for different purposes whether that’s working on a laptop, having a meeting or reading a book.
They then plan to apply those changes to all stores nationwide within the next three years for an undisclosed sum.
Starbucks’ chief operating officer, Mike Grams, told CNN last week: “It’s creating comfortable seating where people want to come in, it’s not just the quick grab and go concept.
“Maybe over past years, we lost our way a little bit on that.”
The remodel push is beginning in the Hamptons, the wealthy vacation retreat where Bon Jovi, Jennifer Lopez, Alec Baldwin and other celebrities own homes.
Four stores have been redesigned there with plans to model New York City locations next quarter.
The “coffeehouse of the future” isn’t revolutionary however, rather the stores have been made to feel more modern and welcoming.
The Bridgehampton store renovation saw a minimalist design, light and dark-brown wood tones, dark green walls and soft lighting.
The espresso bar was opened up and the menu board went digital.
But the question remains over whether these changes will go far enough to halt Starbucks’ slide.
For five consecutive quarters, sales at stores open for at least a year have declined.
Starbucks is getting squeezed by independent coffee shops and other growing chains such as Blank Street Coffee and Blue Bottle Coffee.
But customers have also been balking at Starbucks’ prices.
And the redesigned stores still don’t solve the balance between mobile and in-person customers.
At the Bridgehampton store, customers still piled up near the counter waiting for their orders despite a riser and a dedicated pickup shelf for mobile orders.
Starbucks says it will soon implement technology that can sequence orders more efficiently in addition to a new staffing model that will help tackle the congestion at counters.
This latest push to get customers back in stores is part of CEO Brian Niccol’s “Back to Starbucks” strategy.
Niccol arrived from Chipotle last year and is known as the “Mr Fix-It” of the fast-food industry after leading turnarounds at Taco Bell and Chipotle.
He has brought back the tradition at Starbucks where baristas doodle on cups in Sharpie pens and has reinstated self-serve milk and sugar stations.
He has also overseen a 30 per cent cut to the menu and ended the open-bathroom policy.
The coffee chain is also now offering free refills for customers who sit down in stores.
Grams, who became Starbucks’ new chief operating officer in February, said: “‘Back to Starbucks’ is bringing Starbucks back to the brand that we all grew up with.
“It’s just making sure that you keep everything balanced and you create that sense of real comfort in our cafes.”
This is all in an effort from the new leadership team to make Starbucks’ coffee shops a “third place” again – a community hub for human connection.
Starbucks’ longtime leader Howard Schultz envisioned their stores as a place where people could relax that wasn’t at work or at home and where they could socialize and connect for hours.
But the company lost sight of this as it built drive-thru stores and catered to the rise in mobile orders, which comprise one third of Starbucks’ sales.
Meredith Sandland, Starbucks’ chief coffeehouse development office said: “I think of a ‘third place’ as a place that should be warm and welcoming (and) feel a little bit more like a hotel lobby than maybe a fast food restaurant,”
