Building the future digital Starbucks experience
Every day, millions of customers connect with Starbucks digitally, whether they’re exploring the menu, customizing a favorite beverage, ordering ahead or engaging with Starbucks Rewards.
Today, Starbucks Rewards has a record 36 million members in the U.S. active in the last 90 days. As digital becomes an increasingly important part of how customers experience Starbucks, we’re building on that scale to make it easier for customers to discover, personalize and enjoy Starbucks wherever they are.
A more intuitive, personal app
Ahead of the holiday season, Starbucks rolled out a refreshed menu experience across the app, designed to make it easier to browse, discover something new and customize an order. The refreshed experience is now available to all app customers.
Throughout 2027, we’ll build on that foundation with more personalized experiences, from what customers see when they open the app to how they discover food and beverages that fit their tastes and preferences. We’re also exploring ways to make customization simpler, including helping customers more easily understand nutrition as they personalize an order and make common modifications.
We’re already making discovery and ordering easier. A new one-tap experience makes it simpler to add food to an order, while smarter recommendations help surface options that may be more relevant to each customer.
Personalization isn’t about showing customers more. It’s about making it easier to find something that feels relevant to them. Starbucks Rewards gives us a strong foundation to build on as we create more intuitive and personal experiences.
More personal, seamless ways to order
We’re creating more ways for customers to enjoy Starbucks when and how they want it.
Today, customers can schedule an order for later the same day. Later in 2027, we’re working toward expanding scheduled ordering to the next day, along with new group ordering experiences.
We’re also planning to bring delivery directly into the Starbucks app in early 2027. Customers who order delivery through the app will be able to earn Stars, bringing delivery more fully into the Starbucks digital experience.
Increasingly, we’re thinking about how digital can make the Starbucks experience more personal beyond traditional mobile ordering. In 2027, that includes exploring conversational discovery and ordering in the Starbucks app, AI assistance for baristas taking orders and new ways for customers to personalize their drive-thru experience.
In the app, we’re exploring an experience that goes beyond searching for a specific product. A customers could describe what they’re looking for, such as something comforting when they’re feeling under the weather, and receive relevant recommendations. From there, the experience could allow them to continue the conversation, customize their choice and ultimately place their order.
Beginning in early 2027, we plan to test AI that can assist baristas as they take orders in the drive-thru. Designed to work in the background, the technology can help make order entry simpler while allowing partners to stay focused on the customer.
We’re also exploring how customers who choose to participate could extend their personalized Starbucks experience beyond the app and into the drive-thru. That could mean being greeted by name, receiving recommendations based on favorites and usual orders, or choosing to pay automatically, making the experience more personal and seamless from ordering through pickup.
Customers would choose to enroll in these experiences through the Starbucks app. For participating customers, the app would enable the personalized experience, including recognition based on the preferences and information they choose to share with Starbucks. As we develop them, transparency, customer choice and data protection will guide how they work and how customer information is used.
We’re also exploring other ways to make Starbucks easier to order on the go, including experiences that could allow customers to order directly from inside their car.
Digital that supports the Starbucks experience
As we make digital experiences better for customers, we’re also modernizing technology for our green apron partners.
New tools and capabilities, including our next-generation point-of-sale experience, are designed to make everyday tasks simpler, improve accuracy and help partners serve customers more efficiently. Designed to be intuitive from the start, the new system can help partners become proficient in as few as 10 orders, reducing friction behind the counter and giving them more opportunity to focus on craft, service and connection.
Technology should make the Starbucks experience easier and more personal while supporting our green apron partners and strengthening, not replacing, the human connection at the center of our coffeehouses.
Whether a customer begins their Starbucks experience in the app, in the drive-thru or in a coffeehouse, our focus is the same: to make each experience easier to enjoy, more personal and unmistakably Starbucks.
