Starbucks Has Started Opening Some Of Its Stores For Seating Again
Starbucks announced that it has opened some seating in almost 30 percent of its company-owned stores after they had previously been closed for months amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
In their earnings call this week, the chain confirmed that it had opened limited seating in these stores in areas where it was permitted, but it was not immediately clear what this seating looks like.
"With new proprietary data-driven decision tools that monitor public health conditions, government guidelines, customer preferences and partner sentiment in real-time, we were able to gradually and safely reopen a select number of our U.S. stores for limited seating experiences, expanding to nearly 30 percent of our U.S. company-operated stores by the end of the quarter," Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson said.
Still, Starbucks said it has continued to see a shift in how customers order and what they order, as many continue to stay home during COVID-19. Though their morning commute orders seem to be increasing again, they've also seen more people ordering later in the mornings and again in the afternoon, have seen orders shift from "urban cafes to suburban drive-thrus," and they have seen people order more things in one transaction, including food, leading them to assume these are group orders.
Starbucks also announced that it continues to expand the ways in which customers can get their daily coffee fix by improving its in app-experience (22 percent of orders were mobile orders) and expanding its curbside services. Their curbside service is also going to be expanded to more locations, going from a test of 250 stores to 750-1,000.
"We look forward to curbside to give our customers just one more contactless opportunity and our partners a chance to deliver the best customer service to our customers," COO and Group President Rosalind Brewer said.
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