The king of coffee revealed that it’s looking at a host of operational tweaks to boost throughput, from repositioning baristas to upgrading critical pieces of equipment. The operational adjustments dovetail with a concerted effort to entice another 60 million customers into joining the chain’s loyalty program—already the industry leader with about 15 million members.
And that’s not the only move to turn heads in the business this week. While Starbucks is going high-tech, another operation is adopting an old-school tactic that defines anachronism. Meanwhile, Darden Restaurants is trying its hand at deejaying.
Here’s a rundown.
1. Starbucks looks at baristas’ footwork
Like most restaurant operations, Starbucks has based its labor needs on how many customers are likely to visit during any given shift. Not anymore. Instead of considering how many crew members are needed to handle the volume of a store, the brand is now looking at “where they should be,” CFO Scott Maw told investors last Friday.
He explained that a deep dive into Starbucks’ sales mix revealed some opportunities to boost labor efficiencies. For instance, the proportion of cold-beverage sales has roughly doubled in the last five years, to over 50% of sales, Maw told attendees of a JP Morgan investment conference.
In response, Starbucks is repositioning a staffer to work back-to-back with baristas, the former handling cold drinks, the latter espresso-based hot ones. That arrangement, adopted three weeks ago, spares the barista from having to constantly spin around to complete orders.
The change might be small, Maw noted, but it could have significant impact, not only on afternoon throughput but on morale as well.“Even if the partners are just happy and nothing else happens, it's going to be a good thing,” he said.
2. A new way to handle app orders
Another part of what Starbucks is calling Deployment 2.0: Devoting staff members to the completion of orders placed through the chain’s Mobile Order and Pay function. Starbucks calls them consolidators, and it currently has them working in about 1,500 stores, Maw revealed.
In most of those outlets, the consolidator pulls together the elements of a MOP order behind the line, a function previously handled by as many as four of the seven or eight staffers on duty during a peak period. The individual may even call out the customer’s name. In particularly busy stores, the consolidator zips just between the cold base, ovens and espresso machine, and does not interact with the patrons.
Order accuracy has improved because one person is pulling the components together, and the increase in throughput is boosting the stores’ comp sales at a faster clip than what conventionally staffed units are experiencing, Maw said.
3. A mixed approach to automation
Although Starbucks has been an avid adapter of digital technologies, it’s going to be measured in the use of innovation to shave labor costs, Maw revealed.
The chain is already experimenting with changes that guests won’t notice, he explained. For instance, several stores are testing a new espresso machine that’s Bluetooth and Wi-Fi enabled, so the performance can be monitored remotely. Employees not on the line could adjust the grind if need be, a function now done manually by baristas three or four times a day, Maw noted.
But “We won't be automating how we make espresso beverages,” he continued. “We won't be automating how we make breakfast sandwiches. We looked at automating things like, could we automate some of the brewing?” If it in any way impacts the “Starbucks experience,” Maw said, “it will always be handcrafted.”
4. Reservations by mail
Automation isn’t much of a concern for The Lost Kitchen, the aptly named 40-seat restaurant in the tiny, remote town of Freedom, Maine. Last year, the restaurant took the big step of accepting reservations via phone for its seasonal run, which starts April 1.
Never again, proprietor Erin French told the restaurant’s cultlike customers via a letter on the restaurant’s website. “We never wanted a reservation system that entailed staying up for all hours through the night on the phone, miserably hitting redial over and over again, but that is what it had become,” she wrote.
This year, the restaurant is only accepting reservations via mail, or what’s now known as snail mail, and only for a 10-day stretch. French provides very exact instructions on how to book a table via the U.S. Postal Service, and stresses that the request must be postmarked between April 1 and April 10.
Only one card will be considered per sender, she noted, and the communication should not state a preference for when the party would like to visit. “If your card is selected, we will call you and personally spend time with you and our availability calendar,” French explained.
5. Darden Restaurants’ new Spotify channel
It's routine to crow about a new restaurant’s design and menu; its music playlist, not so much. Yet the musical programming is one of the features Darden Restaurants stresses in describing its burger concept, The Capital Burger, which makes its debut Monday in Washington, D.C. Indeed, the ambient sound gets as much play in promotional emails as the burgers, wine list and celebrity beef supplier, Pat LaFrieda. Darden describes it as “an innovative soundscape for the musically curious.”
The parent of Olive Garden and The Capital Grille has even set up a Spotify channel so would-be customers can get a sneak preview. It’s called The Capital Burger Beginnings.
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