Starbucks's 170,000-Plus Drink Orders Are A Huge Problem For The Company And A Brilliant Lesson In The Power Of Simplicity – CoffeeTalk

Starbucks’s overcomplicated menu, which offers customers up to 170,000 possible drink orders, is causing problems for the company, including slowing down orders, annoying staff, and negatively impacting finances. The company claims there are over 300 billion possible drink combinations available, but estimates put the number at over 300 billion. Starbucks fans are closely watching to see if former Chipotle CEO Brian Niccol can streamline the company’s menu and operations.

Stanford management professor Bob Sutton explains that humans naturally prefer addition over subtraction, leading to “addition sickness.” He suggests that organizations reward those who add more complexity and punish those who resist it. A 2021 study published in Nature showed that humans tend to favor solutions that involve adding more stuff, even when removing something is an objectively better solution.

Business leaders should apply the “rule of halves” to reduce complexity in their lives, such as cutting 50% of the options to get the number of drink combinations to under 100,000 possibilities. This rule can be applied to trim meetings, software apps, email length, and direct reports.

The problem of preferring addition over subtraction goes beyond the business sphere, as it can also be applied in everyday life. Harvard happiness researcher Arthur Brooks has suggested a “reverse bucket list” to help remember the power of subtraction in personal life. The idea is to make a list of all the things you want or crave and remove those that don’t move you closer to your own vision of a good life.

Starbucks’s overstuffed menu is a significant drag on the business and a significant drag on customers seeking quick coffee.

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