Back to Starbucks: Two years of progress, coffee, connection and community
This includes restoring a warm and welcoming coffeehouse atmosphere, delivering great customer service, creating countless moments of human connection and delivering high-quality beverages and food customers crave.
The Back to Starbucks strategy started with a call to action from Brian Niccol on his second day as chairman and ceo: Let’s get back to what made Starbucks an iconic and beloved brand. Two years later, Niccol said the company has made “tremendous progress.” This includes restoring a warm and welcoming coffeehouse atmosphere, delivering great customer service, creating countless moments of human connection and delivering high-quality beverages and food customers crave. All while investing in the partner experience, enhancing benefits and creating more opportunities for career growth. His vision for what’s next: let’s keep raising the bar.
On September 9, 2024, Brian Niccol stepped into the role of Starbucks chairman and ceo.
On his second day, he sent an email to all Starbucks partners. Speaking both as a leader and a longtime customer, Niccol observed that while Starbucks is a beloved brand central to the lives of the customers and communities it serves, it had drifted from the kind of experience that originally set it apart.
“Today, I’m making a commitment,” Niccol wrote. “We’re getting back to Starbucks.”
Niccol’s day two message now reads like a road map for the two years that followed — a vision for how a visit to Starbucks should feel and what teams across the company needed to focus on to bring that vision to life. On the two-year anniversary of sending that email, Niccol reflected on the journey.
“We’ve made tremendous progress,” he said. “What we set out to do was give people the best of Starbucks — the Starbucks experience they know and love. I think our partners have stepped up. I think they’ve delivered on the fundamentals.”
Those fundamentals? Great coffee, made exactly the way a customer wants it. An innovative menu that’s exciting and on trend. Terrific customer service. Partners that are set up for success, so they can connect with customers and create a warm and welcoming coffeehouse atmosphere, whether someone stays for a few minutes or settles in for an afternoon in a comfortable chair with their ceramic mug.
“I think we’ve figured out how to get back to connecting with customers,” Niccol said. “I’m really excited about where we are. And what really makes me happy is I’m hearing from our customers over, and over again, that we’re getting it right.”
The Back to Starbucks strategy has yielded tangible results.
Over the past two years, Starbucks has put customers back at the center with a commitment to hospitality, consistency and speed — a warm welcome, a well-made beverage, timely service, and the return of iconic Starbucks traditions like cup writing and ceramic mugs with free refills for those who want to linger.
“I’ve met so many customers where this becomes their office. This becomes like their place to get away from stressors of regular life,” said Emily, a coffeehouse leader in Renton, Washington. “That’s what I want my coffeehouse to be … We can create that experience … we ask about your day, we ask about your life and we remember your name. Coffee is such a great thing to share with people. This is a place that they can spend their time. I really am aligned with Starbucks’s third place idea.”
Chris Madden, one of Emily’s customers, said he thinks it’s great that Niccol’s vision for Starbucks is both performance- and culture-driven.
“It’s so nice (at this “uplifted” coffeehouse with new seats, lighting and art), like this is the way it kind of should have been designed. Not only do you have the tables now, you have more of like a hangout space, and kind of the more homey feel,” he said.
Starbucks has always delivered more than coffee, Niccol said, and two years in — in a world increasingly defined by digital interactions — he believes human connection and welcoming community gathering places are more important than they’ve ever been.
Building on Starbucks commitment to serving the world’s finest coffee, the company has leaned into compelling, culture-leading menu innovation over the last two years, with must try drinks and food items that reflect what customers want — always with Starbucks commitment to craft and quality.
For partners, Starbucks has focused on ensuring coffeehouse roles remain great jobs, with competitive pay and industry-leading benefits. This includes expanded benefits, like 18 weeks of paid parental leave, comprehensive health care and the ability to earn a four-year degree with 100% upfront tuition coverage, available for both full and part-time partners who work at least 20 hours a week. In July, an Aon analysis ranked Starbucks No. 1 in overall hourly benefits value, compared to more than 60 U.S. retail companies.
The company has also invested more than $500 million in partner hours, bigger rosters and putting more partners on shift, especially during busy times. It introduced new quarterly incentive bonuses for coffeehouse teams. And with new roles like coffeehouse coach and a commitment to promote from within for 90% of retail leadership roles, Starbucks has created thousands of opportunities for career growth.
The proof is also tangible for investors and shareholders, including thousands of Starbucks partners who receive bean stock grants. Starbucks has now delivered four consecutive quarters of positive global comparable sales growth, including two consecutive quarters of margin expansion and higher earnings guidance.
As for what’s next, Niccol shared, “This next chapter will require the same discipline, drive and focus that got us here. We have made real progress. We have strong momentum. And we are just getting started.”
