StarbucksCEO Brian Nicol said Tuesday that the company will invest more in employees and less in equipment, including previously touted automation systems, bucking a broader industry trend toward greater reliance on technology to run stores.
Nicholl said the additional headcount was critical to improving the customer experience, which has been his main goal since taking over in September.
"We've been reducing the workforce in our stores over the last few years, and I think we were hoping that equipment would offset that reduction in labor," Nicol said on the earnings call. "We found, looking at the results, that was not an accurate assumption."
Since Nicole took the helm, Starbucks has increased staffing at five stores as a pilot. By May, 1,500 to 2,000 U.S. stores will have added employees, and the number will reach about 3,000 by the end of the year.
"We're hopeful that investments in our workforce and store experience will lead to some growth," Nicol said.
Starbucks will reduce deployment of its Siren system, a suite of technology and equipment launched in 2022 designed to simplify beverage preparation. As recently as October last year, the company was planning to roll out the system broadly. But Starbucks said in January this year that it would deploy the system only in the top quarter of its stores by sales.
On Tuesday, Nicholl said the Siren system would only be installed in "very targeted" stores, such as those with high drive-through customer numbers and overall sales.