Starbucks Just Announced Some Big Changes. It All Starts This Month.

Starbucks has announced a series of chain-wide changes to its baristas’ business practices, known as the Siren Craft System. The system aims to reduce order wait times, meet demand more easily during busy times, and teach baristas to use simplified steps to create orders. One example of change is changing the order in which baristas add ingredients to drinks.

One of the key modifications partners helped develop was a change in “beverage sequencing,” wherein milk is steamed before espresso shots are pulled. Through in-store trials, partners realized they could save time without sacrificing quality or taste by reversing the process and pulling the espresso before steaming milk.

There are also bigger changes, such as creating a position called the “peak play caller,” which Starbucks says is an “updated role” in its process. The person in this job is supposed to use Starbucks’s software to figure out where bottlenecks are likely to happen before they do and find ways to help.

The problems Starbucks needs to fix are obvious, and it probably has waited too long. Just about two months ago, Starbucks had to report to investors that its same-store sales were down 3%, the first decline since 2020. One issue Starbucks reported was Starbucks Rewards members who use the app to order drinks but then decide, at least “mid-teens percent” of the time, to abandon their orders.

Starbucks decided to roll out these changes with a big announcement now, even though it has been working on them since last year and has even piloted the proposals in 1,160 U.S. stores as of the end of May. The change will come to all Starbucks stores in the U.S. and Canada by the end of this month.

This story highlights the importance of companies sharing their ways to improve efficiency and processes, as alternatives to these options are either absorbing smaller profits, raising consumer prices, or cutting back on costs, most often by laying off workers or hiring fewer than they otherwise would. While it is impossible to predict the future of Starbucks’ changes, the good thing about change is that, by definition, you can always change again.

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