Starbucks Renovations Include Quieter Stores, More Drive-Thrus

Starbucks is rolling out new store design features as it adds locations and renovates existing ones.

During the current fiscal year that ends in October, the company plans to add 650 stores and renovate 1,000 others, Bloomberg reported Wednesday (April 10). Starbucks has more than 16,300 stores today and aims to have 20,000 in the longer term. 

One of the new design features Starbucks is adding is a ceiling treatment that helps absorb sound, according to the report. These baffles are meant to make stores quieter and make it easier for baristas and customers to hear each other.

This will improve order accuracy and the entire customer experience, Sara Trilling, president of Starbucks North America, told Bloomberg.

Starbucks also plans to build more “purpose-defined stores” that cater to customer trends, such as the growing demand for iced beverages and to-go orders, per the report.

For example, the company is adopting smaller ice cubes that require less energy to make, adding dispensers that eliminate the need for baristas to go to a refrigerator for milk or ice, and putting all the equipment needed to make cold drinks closer together, according to the report.

To meet the demand for to-go orders, Starbucks is including drive-thrus in a higher percentage of stores, the release said.

It’s also developing more locations that offer only pickup or drive-thru service, while at the same time continuing to add new locations that have dining rooms, per the report. 

PYMNTS Intelligence has found that pickup and drive-thru are also in demand at both quick-service restaurants (QSRs) and full-service restaurants. About half of U.S. restaurants offer drive-thru pickup, according to the “Restaurant Friction Index,” a PYMNTS Intelligence and Paytronix collaboration.

Starbucks is making its design changes at a time when its mobile order and pay accounts for a record-high share of all transactions — 30% — and its delivery offering is growing, Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan said Jan. 30 during the company’s quarterly earnings call.

“We saw record results in our U.S. delivery business, with growth of nearly 80% year over year aided by our expanded partnership with DoorDash,” Narasimhan said.