Starbucks is betting on mugs and macchiato art as part of its new CEOs plan.
Speaker AAccording to Bloomberg, when customers walk into Starbucks, when they walked into Starbucks this week, actually on Monday, the vibes are going to be different.
Speaker ADid you feel it?
Speaker AI did not feel it.
Speaker ABut did you feel it, Chris?
Speaker ADid you go into Starbucks?
Speaker BI haven't been yet this week.
Speaker BI haven't been to Starbucks yet.
Speaker BBut we get to Florida, this is the first thing I'm doing.
Speaker AOkay.
Speaker AWorkers will now ask guests if they want drinks for here or to go, offering ceramic mugs for those who want to stay.
Speaker ABaristas will also be more vigilant.
Speaker AThis is my favorite about topping with a caramel cross hatch pattern made up of exactly seven vertical lines and seven horizontal lines which will take seven minutes too long in my opinion.
Speaker AFinished with a spiral.
Speaker ANow, Chris, do you agree with new CEO Brian Nichols move to offer ceramic mugs to in store customers and do a crosshatch caramel pattern?
Speaker AWhat do you think?
Speaker BOh my God, this is so many jokes coming into my head.
Speaker BBut anyway, to answer that question, no, I actually don't.
Speaker BI think, I think he's moving way too fast on this an.
Speaker BWay too fast.
Speaker BYou know, I've said on the show many times I've been 100% bought in on the 4 minutes or less idea and I have noticed a discernible difference in store wait times versus ordering on mobile.
Speaker BSo I give him big points on that and big marketing credit for that too.
Speaker BCause he's done a masterful job on that.
Speaker BBut here's the other thing.
Speaker BAnd dude, Brian has only been enrolled since September, which is like less than four months, you know, like so, so.
Speaker BAnd now you're introducing ceramic comps on a massive scale to roll out across the chain.
Speaker BThat's a huge change.
Speaker BLike I'm like, how, how long did you test that?
Speaker BLike that's the type of thing to me that should be tested for at least six months, if, if not a year.
Speaker BSo and then, and then the example thing too is like, or the other question I have is like, what about the environments themselves?
Speaker BLike, you know, like I would say that the environments at Starbucks in general need to be improved.
Speaker BLike if I look at the variance, the variance between like the different stores that are around me, like the three different stores, they're all different environments.
Speaker BLike I'm not going to want ceramic mugs in all of those.
Speaker BI might want them in some of them, but not all of them.
Speaker BSo why am I rolling this out to all Stores.
Speaker BSo it feels like you're putting the cart before the horse.
Speaker BBefore the horse, before the horse.
Speaker BBut I don't know, maybe it's not that big of a change, but I just think, like, you know, not understanding the impact of spills, more mess, more tilts in the operations, that you have to evaluate it for longer because, you know, if it doesn't work or causes some wrinkle down the line, then what do you do?
Speaker BDo you pull it back?
Speaker BI don't know.
Speaker AIt's.
Speaker BAt the end of the day, this feels like leadership by fiat to me, based on how quickly it's happening.
Speaker BAnd whenever leadership by fiat happens, that concerns me.
Speaker BSo I'm a little worried about this in the long run.
Speaker AWhat's leadership by fiat?
Speaker BYeah, it means like, three.
Speaker BLike, I'm, I'm.
Speaker BLike, I'm.
Speaker BI'm.
Speaker BI'm smarter than everyone else.
Speaker BAnd this is what I'm going to tell our organization to do.
Speaker BRegardless of testing it or understanding if it's the right move.
Speaker BThis just feels like too fast for me.
Speaker BI'm not saying it's wrong.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker BBut, wow, it seems riskier to me than probably the media is going to pick up on.
Speaker BAnd then the impacts of the experience in the long run could be bad because what if.
Speaker BI mean, Starbucks stores have not been very clean of late?
Speaker BLike, what if they're just sitting around, like, just on tables, like, not picked up and stuff?
Speaker BAnd like, I don't know, it could just detract from the overall experience, too.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker AI mean, I think my bigger issue with this is, like, your whole goal is about throughput.
Speaker ALike, you need to make more money at Starbucks.
Speaker AAnd this doesn't seem like a way.
Speaker AI don't understand how this is doing it.
Speaker AOr, you know, like you said, introducing a new.
Speaker AA new version of how you get your coffee and having to clean that and clean, you know, mugs that are left around the.
Speaker ALike, you're taking people away from doing the work of making the coffee faster and getting more product through.
Speaker BYou've always been on the other side of this argument.
Speaker BYou don't actually like that he's going this direction at all.
Speaker BYou, like, just, like getting the throughput, getting it in the hands, going faster, faster, faster.
Speaker AYeah, right, right.
Speaker AFor sure.
Speaker AI.
Speaker AI just, I don't think this makes any sense.
Speaker AThe only thing I could think of is, like, now that you have ceramic mugs and they just put in this new rule, like, you can't loiter at a Starbucks.
Speaker AYou have to buy something, like, maybe now there's no lid on the cup, so they can be like, get out of here.
Speaker AYour coffee's gone.
Speaker AGo buy more or get out of the store.
Speaker ASo that's the only logic I have, which is a super stretch that they'd be able to see with a ceramic mug that there's no more coffee left, and they can kick people out.
Speaker AThat's, that's it.
Speaker AThat's all I got, Chris.
Speaker BReally?
Speaker BThat's what you, you think it's that.
Speaker BWow, that's crazy.
Speaker AI, no, I don't really think that.
Speaker AI'm just.
Speaker BYeah, you don't think that.
Speaker ABut that's like digging deep.
Speaker AI'm like, maybe with my ceramic, you know, if I'm sitting at a table and I can have an empty cup sitting there for four hours, as we know some people like to do, like, maybe then, I don't know.
Speaker AI, I, I, I have no idea.
Speaker BOkay, so let's, let's put our money where our mouth is real quick on this.
Speaker BLet's eat what we cook, and let's go test this out this week when we're in Florida.
Speaker BBut, so, so you're saying having your coffee in a ceramic mug would have no impact on your desire to sit inside of a Starbucks?
Speaker ANo, I prefer not to have a ceramic mug, actually.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker ALike in the, in a Starbucks.
Speaker ALike, I, I, I'm not there for long.
Speaker AI want to get in and get out.
Speaker AThere's no Starbucks is still not an environment that makes me want to stay.
Speaker ASo I want, there's no reason for me to have a ceramic mug in that place.
Speaker BYeah, that's kind of what I was trying to get at, too, is, I think maybe, but it's not the first thing that needs to happen for me to feel like I want to stay there.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker BIt's like the third or fourth decision criteria for me of wanting to stay there, and the environment and the design of the environment and the cleanliness of the environment is first and foremost.
Speaker BSo.