Starbucks To Roll Out New Staffing Model To All North American Stores By Summer's End – CoffeeTalk

Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol has announced that he will accelerate the rollout of the coffeehouse chain’s new staffing and service model to all 18,000 North American stores by summer’s end, rather than the initial plan for just a third of U.S. stores by year-end. The Green Apron model includes in-store technology to more efficiently sequence orders and a dedicated barista for drive-through orders. Starbucks initially rolled out the service changes to 700 stores initially. During the company’s April 29 quarterly earnings call, Niccol said it would be introduced in a third of U.S. stores by year-end.

Niccol took over as Starbucks CEO in September with a plan to return the chain to its coffeehouse roots, focusing on the in-store experience and away from a reliance on mobile and to-go orders, in what the company calls “Back to Starbucks.” The goal is to get baristas to get customers their orders in four minutes or less. He did not share any financial figures about the cost of the Green Apron model’s deployment but said the company would host an investor day in 2026. The Las Vegas summit, the company’s first since 2019, is hosting more than 14,000 managers and other company leaders.

Analysts and investors have wondered how long Niccol will need to turn the company around. Shares have gained 11% over the last five years, compared with an 88% rise in the broad-market S&P 500. TD Cowen recently downgraded its rating of Starbucks to “hold” from “buy”, saying in part that it believed Niccol’s turnaround would take longer than expected to deliver results.

Niccol said the transition will take time. Starbucks has not issued annual guidance, and Niccol told investors in an earnings call earlier this year that earnings-per-share should not be used as a measure of success at this stage, instead pointing to in-store metrics like average wait times for orders. He said the transition’s effect on earnings would be temporary.

On Tuesday, he emphasized his goal isn’t to achieve short-term performance solely through cost reduction. As Starbucks increases investments in its labor and elsewhere, Niccol said he would be “ruthless” in cutting expenses not related to the company’s turnaround.

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