Starbucks’ new CEO Brian Niccol is facing stressed-out baristas who gripe they are being thrown into “skeleton” crews as they scramble to meet a barrage of coffee orders, according to a report.
Only about a third of Starbucks baristas said their stores are consistently staffed well, and staffing problems are the chain’s worst issue, according to an internal survey of the chain’s 10,000 US locations viewed by Bloomberg.
“We are constantly only given a skeleton staff,” one employee wrote in the survey comments section, as seen by Bloomberg.
In addition to understaffing, less than half of employees polled at the Seattle-based coffee giant said their store has reliable machines for grinding and brewing java – creating further logjams.
During Niccol’s second day on the job, employees asked him about the equipment glitches.
“The team is already working on it. You are being heard,” Niccol responded, according to a transcript seen by Bloomberg.
That same day, Niccol told baristas he would give them the “tools and time” they need to do their jobs in an open letter, according to the report.
Since Niccol took the helm in August, investors have been hoping he’ll be able to fend off activist hedge funds and pull off the kind of results he did at Chipotle, whose sales doubled to about $10 billion in fiscal year 2023.
Niccol focused on modernizing Chipotle’s digital and mobile ordering platforms and introducing digital order pick-up lanes.
At Starbucks, he faces staffing issues combined with an influx of online orders during early morning commute hours have spurred long lines and customer complaints.
Starbucks also is refining the model it uses to staff locations, a Starbucks spokesperson said. Starbucks has already boosted staffing in 3,500 stores this past year.
The company has upgraded appliances – adding portable blenders to make Starbucks’ popular cold foam topping – and created a new barista role at locations to prevent bottlenecks during busy service times.
Nevertheless, store managers are frequently unable to handle administrative tasks because they have to hop on drink duty to cut down long lines, three managers told Bloomberg.
One manager said baristas are regularly skipping breaks and meals to keep up with growing lines, while other employees are handling multiple work stations at once.
Managers, who are salaried employees, have been making requests to the company about staffing levels since at least early 2023, according to messages posted to an internal message board.
The survey viewed by Bloomberg was sent to the company’s more than 200,000 employees working at US company-operated stores. About 80% of these employees responded.
Starbucks said the survey showed “consistent improvement” since the share of workers who said stores were adequately staffed rose since the last poll.
But the share of retail staff who would recommend Starbucks as a great place to work fell 3% to 64%.
Just a quarter of employees at Starbucks Reserve and Roastery locations – upscale versions of the chain located in cities with expanded dining menus and specially-made drinks – said the stores are adequately staffed. Only half of these employees said they would recommend Starbucks as a great place to work.
