Starbucks to Open 2,000 US Stores by 2025

Starbucks has announced plans to add 2,000 new stores in the US by 2025, including pick-up stores, drive-thru only and delivery-only locations.

At its 2022 Investor Day event in Seattle this week, the coffee giant said the expansion will enable the company “to meet customers whenever and wherever they want.”

Starbucks also disclosed at the annual event that it plans to spend $450M next year modernizing its existing stores in North America with new equipment and technology the company says will “increase efficiency and reduce complexity” for store employees.

The new equipment will include a dispenser system that reduces the time it takes employees to make “customized” drinks—think Mocha Frappuccino—from 86 seconds to 35 seconds, the company said.

Starbucks also pledged at the event to introduce new methods for brewing coffee that are not as labor-intensive as its current workflow, conceding that “the work we do in our stores today is too physically hard,” according to a report in chainstoreage.

The emphasis on improving efficiency by making it easier for baristas to serve up a growing menu of beverages—two out of every three drinks Starbucks sells are customized, and cold drinks now account for 60% of sales—comes as Starbucks responds to a growing movement by employees who are dissatisfied with working conditions to organize.

In the past year, 236 of the company’s 9,000 company-owned US stores voted to unionize. In May, Starbucks pledged to make a $1B investment to improve wages and training for its workers, and to assist them with financial needs like student loan debt.

This week’s announcements follow a letter to employees posted on the Starbucks website in July by Interim CEO Howard Schultz notifying them that the company’s plan “to reinvent Starbucks for the future” will be guided by four principles:

Safety, welcoming and kindness for its stores; advancement and opportunity for its employees; well-being for its communities; and “shared power, shared accountability, shared success.”

Concerns about the safety of its stores in the post-pandemic environment appears to be a major factor in the company’s plan to increase customer pick-up options, including delivery-only and drive-thru outlets.

Earlier this year, Starbucks closed 16 stores in five US cities in response to workers’ fears about crime and safety, including complaints about drug addicts congregating in bathrooms open to the general public in the company’s stores.

This year, Starbucks began a roll-out of its Starbucks Pickup concept of cashier-less small convenience outlets designed for customers who order using the company’s app and then stop by to pick up their orders.