I am standing in line at Starbucks. For the first time in years.
The smell of freshly ground Arabica reaches me. A smile asks for my name so it can be dedicated to a paper cup. The tray in front of me fills with a promising jolt of energy for my team.
It reminds me of earlier days.
This is what our first steps in Brand Experience looked like: Starbucks, the morning refuelling stop, the afternoon business meeting room, the office on the fly. A work-life feeling — almost a template for what customer experience could be. At the same time, we were setting out to design exactly those kinds of experiences ourselves.
Then we got faster. And so did the coffee.
Starbucks kept pace with us: open the app. Customise. Order. Pay. Pick up. Thanks — bye.
As little friction as possible, everything immediately: “practical” became “obvious”. “Fast” became “now”. Expectation became convenience. Convenience became mechanics. We got used to it until Starbucks barely felt like Starbucks anymore: Starbucks disappeared from Starbucks, so we disappeared too. Off to the small coffee bar around the corner.
Recently I stumbled across the numbers behind “Back to Starbucks” — and, once again, into a store: more than 500 million dollars for additional partner hours and larger teams alone. On top of that, more than 1,000 coffeehouse uplifts and over 25,000 additional seats in the US.
Of all things: more staff. More room to stay. More human interaction.
Of all things: business nonsense … or is it?
Because what if what looks like friction through the lens of efficiency is exactly what the customer comes for? What if the barista, the conversation, the space to sit and the atmosphere are part of why I call Starbucks Starbucks in the first place?
Then all of that does not merely sit on the cost side of the product. It is the product.
The curious thing is that we customers are both disruption and purpose of this system:
We get in the way.
We make special requests.
We take time.
We occupy seats.
Good grief: sometimes we even want to talk.
Economically rather inconvenient. And perhaps exactly the difference a marker is signing onto my cup.
The bet is not cheap. In Q1, operating margin in North America fell from 16.7 to 11.9%. The company cites investments in “Back to Starbucks” as a major reason.
Two quarters later: comparable sales up 8.1%, transactions up 4.5% — and at 13.6%, margin slightly above the previous year again.
Proof? Not yet. But a strong signal not to dismiss a bet like this as nostalgic brand romanticism. The company is spending serious money to become more itself again.
Starbucks is going all in. And me?
I take my to-go cup. And a moment to sit down.