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Since September 2024, Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol has been pushing a set of initiatives to turn things around as the chain struggles with declining sales and lower foot traffic. The plan, which he called “Back to Starbucks,” aims to return the brand to its “coffeehouse roots” with more comfy chairs and less focus on mobile ordering and drive-thrus.
“We’re refocusing on what has always set Starbucks apart — a welcoming coffeehouse where people gather, and where we serve the finest coffee, handcrafted by our skilled baristas,” Niccol wrote in an open letter at the time of the announcement. “This is our enduring identity. We will innovate from here.”
It turns out that, for Niccol, to innovate means to innovate less.
Last week, Niccol announced Starbucks would hit pause on a series of technological upgrades called the Siren Craft System. Last week, he told a group of Wall Street analysts that they’d pause rollout of the system and focus on hiring more baristas.
Starbucks unveiled the Siren Craft System in July 2024, a collection of digital tools and intuitive workflow changes designed to streamline drink preparation and get beverages out faster. Starbucks posited the system as a way to cut down on wait times and anticipate busy periods—but now, Niccol is giving the system the ax, at least for now.
Niccol announced that the company would focus on hiring and employment practices, like making it easier for baristas to swap shifts, and less on automation and innovative technologies.
“What we’re discovering is the equipment doesn’t solve the customer experience that we need to provide, but rather staffing the stores and deploying with this technology behind it does,” Niccol said during the call with the analysts.
One of the main issues raised by Starbucks Workers United during its multi-year unionization campaign has been understaffed stores and management reducing hours for unionized employees. “Maybe instead of learning the hard way that automation and AI is a waste of time and money,” the union wrote on Bluesky, “you finalize contracts with us that address understaffing and other issues that actually affect our stores?”
