Starbucks’ Mobile Orders Are A Challenge For Its New CEO – CoffeeTalk

Starbucks is attempting to regain its reputation as a convenient place to hang out and enjoy a coffee, but its mobile-ordering system is getting in the way. The company has spent years building its mobile app and a system for filling online orders to make getting a Frappuccino or PSL more convenient for patrons. Starbucks was an early adopter of mobile-ordering technology, first allowing customers to pay for orders through its app in 2011. However, in the past few years, Starbucks has seen wait times for orders at its stores increase as it tries to serve both customers looking for café culture and others who just want a quick takeout coffee.

Some Starbucks store employees say that they are struggling to provide good customer service and keep wait times down because of all the mobile orders they have to fill. That might stand in the way of its new CEO’s push to make Starbucks stores seem like spaces for customers to hang out — or “third places,” somewhere they socialize other than work or home. Brian Niccol, who stepped into the CEO role less than a month ago, has said that he wants to make the chain’s stores “inviting places to linger, with comfortable seating, thoughtful design and a clear distinction between ‘to-go’ and ‘for-here’ service.”

Starbucks has thousands of sites all over the US, and store layouts, customer experiences, and wait times vary from location to location. Some workers, whom the company calls “partners,” have pointed to issues with the mobile-ordering system in interviews with BI. The employees asked not to be named in this article, citing fear of retaliation from Starbucks.

Starbucks’ rewards program is a big driver of all those digital orders, as rewards members who use the chain’s app get push notifications on their phones for buy-one, get-one drink specials and other deals. While members can redeem those coupons by placing an order in person at a store, many customers simply tap the coupon on their phone.

One of the most challenging specials for their store came last month when Starbucks offered four beverages for $20 to rewards members. Suddenly, filling an order meant making four drinks at once, including more complicated beverages like Frappuccinos. “We can’t sustain that much business on the labor that we’re allotted,” the partner said.

This summer, Starbucks rolled out the Siren Craft System, an approach that the company said would reduce beverage preparation times and free partners to serve customers. But one partner at a store in the Southeastern US who’s used the system told BI that he still feels short on time.

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