Key Takeaways
- Starbucks is making a series of changes as part of CEO Brian Niccol’s “Back to Starbucks” turnaround plan.
- Baristas will write customers’ names in Sharpie on their cups again, according to reports, and customers will have access to a self-serve condiment bar.
- Starbucks will require a purchase to use the restroom, but customers ordering “for here” will receive free refills of coffee and tea.
Starbucks (SBUX) is making sweeping changes this week that longtime customers of the coffee chain should find familiar.
Baristas will once again write customers’ names in Sharpie on their cups, a practice that went away during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a CNN report. (A commercial published on YouTube by Starbucks yesterday makes light of the not-always-letter-perfect customer names baristas write on the company’s cups.) The self-serve condiment bar, featuring creamer, milk, and a variety of sweeteners, is also making a return, the company said.
And customers who order a hot or iced coffee or tea “for here” can enjoy free refills—though that’s coupled with a reinstated requirement that customers make a purchase in order to hang out in Starbucks cafes or use the restroom. A company code of conduct also restricts actions like smoking, vaping, panhandling, harassment and “misuse.”
The changes are part of CEO Brian Niccol’s “Back to Starbucks” campaign, geared at luring back customers. Niccol said in October that reinstalling the condiment bar would make it easier “for customers to enjoy brewed coffee their way” while also helping baristas move faster.
The company in October said its fiscal fourth-quarter U.S. comparable-store sales fell 6% year-over-year.
The company is due to report earnings after the market closes Tuesday. Shares of Starbucks rose 1% Monday and are up 10% in 2025 so far.
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