All eyes are on the turnaround over at Starbucks. The new CEO leading that charge joins Yahoo Finance now. Starbucks Chairman and CEO Brian Niccol. Brian, good to see you. Of course, our very own Brooke DePalma, senior reporter, is here as well. Good to see you, Brian. Thanks for taking some time out of your busy schedule. So, we were of course avid listeners to your most recent earnings call. You laid out a lot of key initiatives: bringing back the condiment station, that is good; we're getting rid of the upcharge for non-milk options, good stuff. My question to you is: what is the turnaround timeline for the Starbucks US business?
Yeah, well, great to be with you guys. And obviously, we are changing the strategy to get back to Starbucks and obviously turn the business around. I think if we focus on a couple of the key fundamentals that I talked about, you'll see us make progress, you know, kind of every month, every quarter, against getting this business turned around. And you know, kind of what I shared in the earnings call is what I'll share with you guys: is I plan on sharing how we're progressing, what we're working on, and how we're improving the business. And you know, kind of those key highlights are obviously we got to get people moving through our stores at the speed at which they want to experience Starbucks. Right? So if you come into the store in-cafe, we're going to focus on getting you your drink, your order, within less than four minutes. We want to bring some order to the mobile order experience, that's really important to us. And obviously the drive-through experience, we want to continue to deliver that with great speed. So, you know, we have to fix the parameters around how we get the operating experience to match the customer experience, which is what they want from us. And then there's a few other things coming down the pike as well, which I touched on. Right? You know, we want to make sure we've got the right staffing in the stores, supporting our partners correctly with the right tools, the right equipment, so they can deliver on that throughput with great craft, great quality, and a great human touch. I'm actually surprised how much this has gotten picked up, the fact that we're bringing the Sharpies back. That's just an example of how, you know, we're going to empower our partners, our baristas, to put that human touch back into that experience with the craft products that they're building for every single customer, every single time. Obviously, we want to reclaim the store experience, get back to a great coffeehouse vibe, and you know, that feeling where, you know, you want to stay, it's welcoming, it's inviting. You know, so that's a key piece of the puzzle. And then obviously we're going to do some work on the pricing architecture as well. So we'll be knocking down those things over the coming weeks, coming months, and I do believe it will get us back to Starbucks. And you probably seen some of the most recent things, right? We're already on television reintroducing people to the commitment we have to coffee, the craftsmanship that's behind coffee. You probably just recently saw our announcement about no charge for alt dairy milk. You know, that's ended up becoming our number one social posting, which is great to see. And then obviously the news that we're bringing back the coffee condiment bar here in the coming months too. So I think we're making progress on the things that we can do quickly, but with an eye towards how we get back to Starbucks and turn this business around permanently.
Brian, lots of my friends shared that video that you guys posted online. I'm curious, what key indicators are you watching to assess this US turnaround? Is it foot traffic or is it same-store sales?
Yeah, look, obviously I would love to see the foot traffic start to turn around to drive that same-store sales growth. And you know, that's going to be a key piece of the puzzle for us going forward. You know, I know there is plenty of capacity in the business to deliver traffic growth to drive that same-store sales growth, and that's what we're focused on as an organization. We want to give people the customer experience, the brand experience, that results in them coming to Starbucks every single time for their drink occasion, and hopefully that breakfast morning occasion. You know, we want to win the morning, and then obviously we'll grow the business from there.
Brian, I know you teased to remodeling, you know, a lot of Starbucks stores, but for those stores in the US that are not up to snuff, I mean, are you just going to close them? I mean, how many opportunities are there to close underperforming Starbucks stores in the US?
You know, fortunately the economics of Starbucks looks really great. And so, you know, the economic model is still very powerful despite this tough sales environment that we're in right now. So that's what gives me the confidence that we can invest in the business accordingly and get these stores turned around. And where we need to invest in a renovation or a remodel, we have the capital, we have the balance sheet, and frankly we have the P&L that supports making that investment to getting the third place, getting that coffeehouse experience back. Obviously, we're always evaluating the portfolio. If the trade area has moved on us or for whatever reason the store is not performing, you know, the good news is we have the wherewithal to close it and then open in the right area or with the right experience so that customers will really enjoy being at Starbucks for every single occasion.
Brian, you mentioned tools and equipment that you plan to implement in stores to help employees. I'm curious, how fractured is the relationship between Starbucks corporate and employees at the store level, and how do you plan to invest to build back that relationship?
Yeah, look, I will tell you, my first, call it, 60 days here, what I've actually experienced going to our stores and spending time with our partners in store, you know, the folks that wear the green apron really do provide that experience for our customers every day. They are hugely passionate about Starbucks, they're hugely passionate about the craft of making terrific coffee drinks. And I think the feedback I got from our partners was, look, we just need to get back to making great coffee, make it easy for our customers to get to coffee, make it easy for us to, you know, move the products between mobile order and in-cafe. You know, these are some of the big things that came back to me right away. And then obviously there was a desire to simplify some of the menu, which, look, all of those points I agree with. And you know, the thing I love about all of it is it's centered on giving the customer a great experience so that they fall in love with Starbucks every single time. The other thing that I committed to doing is I want to promote from within. You know, I want 90% or better of the jobs that are created at Starbucks to go to existing partners. And the reason why that's so important is I think our folks should be the ones that benefit from our growth, both professionally and personally. And I think Starbucks has always done a great job of surrounding our partners with terrific benefits, terrific, you know, personal growth opportunities. I want to match that with professional development opportunities. So I got a really positive response from that one as well. So I think the combination of let's make sure we deliver a great customer experience every single time, let's give them the tools, the training, the menu so that they can execute it with excellence, and then let's commit to developing each other so that as the company grows, people can grow with the company.
And of course, Brian, a lot of that great work you did over at Chipotle, I wrote about it, I've talked to you about it, promoting from within, it's been a key secret to success for Chipotle. But at the end of the day, does the Starbucks worker just need a bigger paycheck and more clarity on scheduling and how their life may work out from a work perspective week to week?
