Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol is wasting no time in his first months at the helm, as he makes sweeping changes to return the Seattle-based coffee chain to its glory days. In his first earnings conference call as CEO, Niccol briefly discussed the company’s disappointing fourth quarter, but mostly spent time crafting a “return to Starbucks” plan full of many changes, small and adults.

As previously reported, Starbucks reported a 7% decline in global same-store sales for the fourth quarter ended September 29, driven by an 8% drop in traffic. The U.S. performance was particularly thorny for Starbucks, with the company reporting a 10% drop in traffic in North America, which was only partially offset by rising menu prices.

Related: Starbucks will no longer charge extra for plant-based milks

Despite the ongoing challenges for Starbucks, Niccol focused during the Oct. 30 fourth-quarter earnings conference call on the long road ahead. The two core tenets of its Back to Starbucks plan are simplifying the company’s operations and refocusing the company on the customer service and third place it was known for.

“It doesn’t matter if you just come in to get your coffee and leave, I want you to feel like you’ve walked into a special place,” Niccol said Wednesday. “I know we’re right when people are wondering whether or not they want to order a mobile phone, because maybe if they have a few minutes they’d rather stay and have that coffee experience. I firmly believe that we can make the café experience a special, welcoming and warm experience.

Related: Starbucks abandons Oleato drink

Here are 10 changes coming to Starbucks soon, as outlined in the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call:

Ditch the Non-Dairy Milk Supplement

Although you can learn more about this change hereThe bottom line is that Starbucks is removing the extra 90 cents (on average) the company traditionally charged for almond milk, soy milk, coconut milk and oat milk drinks in November so to adopt a daily value. Vegan activist groups and non-dairy drinkers have also been calling on Starbucks to get rid of the supplement for years.

It’s a way for Starbucks to rethink the customization process. On Wednesday’s call, Niccol said the company would begin putting “guardrails” in place on customization so that complicated drinks (ones that might be trending on TikTok, for example) could cost more expensive than before, while customizations such as replacing oat milk. will not do:

“I think when we simplify that aspect and then charge for the things that we should charge for and maybe don’t charge for the things that don’t really need to be charged for, everyone will walk away feeling a lot better. their personal drink that they created,” Niccol said.

Return to third place

Starbucks was once known for taking its stance as a third place: where people met for first dates, job interviews, and study sessions. But in recent years, as more emphasis has been placed on removing mobile ordering, seating has disappeared from many cafes and few customers linger.

That’s something Niccol and his team want to change, starting with encouraging customers to breathe and enjoy their coffee on site.

“We’re reclaiming third place to make our cafes look like the welcoming cafe our customers remember,” Niccol said. “In the coming months, we intend to reintroduce more personal touches to elevate the café experience. For example, we will begin prioritizing serving coffee and ceramic mugs to customers who choose to enjoy their coffee in our cafes. We are also beginning to review and revise the design of our cafes to bring back more comfortable seating and amenities and ensure our stores are a place where customers want to sit, work and meet.

Bring back handwritten names

One of the more personal touches Starbucks wants to bring back are the handwritten names on Starbucks cups (where baristas were infamous for misspelling names). In recent years, this process has gradually been replaced by simply printing guests’ names on stickers to place on the cups.

“One of the other things we’re going to do is bring Sharpies back to our baristas,” Niccol said. “It will also give them the opportunity to bring an extra human touch to every coffee experience.”

Reduce wait times to four minutes

Niccol kept pointing out the two very different ideal Starbucks experiences: one where a customer sits quietly with friends enjoying coffee from a ceramic mug, and the other where a customer in a hurry can pick up their order mobile quickly and without friction. In the interest of efficiency, Starbucks wants to reduce the wait time for cafe customers to four minutes or less:

“Today, more than 30% of transactions are driven by mobile orders. At peak, this can generate an influx of orders that can be difficult to sequence and deliver quickly to our customers,” Niccol said. “When it works well, it’s great, but it can sometimes be a challenge for both customers and partners. So we are working to improve sequencing with a new algorithm that allows mobile orders to be transferred on time and supports our four-minute throughput, with quality being our goal for cafe customers.

Bring back the condiment bar

Self-serve condiment bars went the way of handwritten names on cups during the pandemic, and now Starbucks wants to bring them back with both efficiency and customer service in mind:

“We’re going to bring back the coffee condiment bar, because our customers are asking for it and our baristas are saying it would help them provide the speed of service they want to provide,” Niccol said.

Simplify the menu

As previously reported, Niccol wants to shrink the Starbucks menu to focus on a core coffee-centric menu, and has hinted at the downsides of a revolving door of new menu items.

“To improve quality and consistency of flow, we will reduce our overly complex menu to align with our core identity as a coffee company,” Niccol said. “We will continue to offer our customers a great choice, but we will focus on fewer and better offers, developed in a consistent way. »

Slowing down the LTO schedule

As part of this, Starbucks will not offer a new range of LTOs every month, which will contribute to store efficiency and also help reduce costs for the company as a whole.

“We’re definitely not going to move at the speed that you’ve probably seen over the last couple of years,” Niccol said. “Part of that is that we’re just going to take a much more disciplined approach using the stage gate process so that what we’re rolling out, we have a better understanding of how it’s going to work. The supply chain can support it, the baristas can execute it, and we’ll make sure we’re smart about how we then market it, so people are aware of it.

Focusing on Starbucks Marketing for Everyone

Speaking of marketing, Starbucks will begin changing its marketing strategy to include all potential customers, not just loyalty program guests.

“Our marketing needs to tell the story of our coffee and highlight our premium coffee drinks,” Niccol said. “Our newly launched campaign aims to reach out to all customers and elevate the Starbucks brand in a much more visible way through high-reach media like Linear TV. This reminds customers of all ages that Starbucks serves the best coffee.

Choose not to increase prices

One of Starbucks’ other marketing strategies will be to remind customers of the company’s everyday value. Starbucks now knows that discounts don’t work, so making customers understand the value of what they’re getting in each cup (plus an efficient, reasonably priced, stress-free experience) will be the next best strategy.

Niccol said that as part of its pricing architecture plan, Starbucks will not raise prices at company-owned stores until fiscal 2025.

Reduce store growth and renovations

To fully invest in the scope and scale of this massive project, Starbucks plans to slow its investments in new store growth and remodeling.

“We plan to reduce our number of new stores and renovations in fiscal 2025 to allow for a redesign, while freeing up capital to support our broader turnaround,” Starbucks’ chief financial officer said Wednesday. “We hope this change, coupled with efficiencies, will help us balance our investments accordingly.”

The overall goal is not to halt growth but to temporarily pause it so that the company can find a way to reduce the costs of its renovation program while tailoring it to the distinct needs of Starbucks customers : those who are in a hurry. , and those who want to sit, sip and savor.

Contact Joanna at (email protected)