00:00You've put a lot of emphasis on service, obviously, with the Green Apron project.
00:03What does that look like in terms of staffing, though?
00:06I mean, you obviously have to hire more people, but more importantly,
00:08you have to retrain a lot of your existing staff as well.
00:11How, I guess, receptive have they been to that, and have you faced any challenges?
00:16You know, I've got to give our partners a lot of credit.
00:19They really have embraced both the back-to-Starbucks strategy and the Green Apron service standard.
00:25And when I'm in stores, you know, what I hear from folks is like, thank you.
00:31We're getting back to being a great coffeehouse again.
00:34Our baristas and partners, they love doing the craft.
00:38They love having the moments of connection with our customers, and our customers love it as well.
00:42And so the fact that we've staffed the stores up and we've added more people, we've added more hours,
00:48it actually has set them up to be able to do their job, I think, with excellence.
00:52And, you know, it's always terrific to be able to hire more people.
00:56And when you've got great leaders in the stores, they're able to train the new people, I think, really quickly.
01:01And we've tried to keep this very focused on what we're looking for, right?
01:04We want a great greeting when people walk in.
01:07We want a great experience at the handoff.
01:09We're working on doing these uplifts so then our customers have great seats if they decide to stay.
01:13And we've put some technology in behind the scenes to help put order to all those orders coming in,
01:19whether it's through the drive-thru, mobile order, or in the cafe.
01:22So, you know, we're seeing great responses from our partners.
01:26And I couldn't be prouder of the progress they've made in really short order.
01:30You know, we've only been doing this since the middle of August.
01:32Yeah.
01:32And with regards to the actual physical Starbucks locations, I mean, there are a lot of layers to what you're doing here.
01:37One, obviously, trying to make the interiors a little bit more accommodating and comfortable, but at the same time also efficient.
01:44You're also looking to sort of create more, I guess, lower-cost models for building and operating some of these locations.
01:51Are those two in conflict with each other, those strategies?
01:54No.
01:54Actually, they can work really well together.
01:56You can have great design.
01:57You can have a great seat.
01:59You can have a great atmosphere.
02:00And then also be very cost-conscious.
02:02And that's what we're doing here is we want to make sure all our base costs go into giving the partner the back-of-house they need to be successful,
02:11and then the customer the front-of-house experience where they love being in our coffeehouses.
02:16And so that's what we're doing.
02:17You know, these coffeehouse uplifts, we're able to turn these around in a night or two.
02:21We don't have to close the store.
02:22And the transformation is meaningful.
02:24You know, the feedback we're getting from customers is really, really positive, both on the design as well as just the whole atmosphere, the vibe that they're getting.
02:32And I think the combination of the Green Apron service with this coffeehouse uplift just really gets people to a different place.
02:40And they believe now they're getting that Starbucks experience that, frankly, you don't get anywhere else.
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