By Truth Headlam and Daniela Sirtori | Bloomberg
Under a new Starbucks policy, coffee drinkers are starting to see Sharpie-scrawled messages on their to-go cups wishing them a great weekend or simply saying, “Enjoy.”
The personalized notes, which the chain began rolling out in late January, are a bid to better connect with customers. The messages are lightening up some people’s days, but they’re not always landing quite right.
“Starbucks is really going to start some trouble with their new policy,” one TikTok user posted, sharing a video of her boyfriend’s cup with a winking face drawn on it. The post has raked up more than 38,000 likes.
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One TikTok user credited a note she received on her order — “ur doing amazing” — with making her day. But another poster lamented that the encouraging messages stopped feeling special upon realizing “it’s just a new Starbucks policy.”
Starbucks coffee cups have long been something of a status symbol, with their premium pricing and a distinctive look, stamped with the company’s recognizable mermaid logo. But for some customers, the chain’s allure has been fading.
Price hikes, boycotts and long waits led to sales declines during Starbucks’ 2024 fiscal year, marking the chain’s first annual decline since the pandemic.
The scribbles on cups are part of a slew of changes orchestrated by Chief Executive Officer Brian Niccol to turn things around. Niccol, who started at Starbucks in September, is seeking to make the company’s thousands of coffee shops more of a destination again, including new ceramic mugs for dine-in customers and macchiato art.
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The new personalized messages are a “simple, yet meaningful action that fosters moments of connection with our customers” and will be an expectation starting in late February, according to a company memo seen by Bloomberg News. The memo gave as examples the option of drawing a smiley face or writing out a customer’s name; workers could also consider sharing well wishes like “seize the day” or a “hello again” for regulars.
Starbucks will give stores additional hours where needed to account for the new task, starting Feb. 24, according to the memo.
The company is also planning to test a new approach to staffing levels in 700 stores to ensure workers can handle orders, Niccol said in late January. The pilot will inform whether the company needs to add more coverage to stores.
But some workers have concerns that the notes directive will slow down service. For example, in one store a barista is being reassigned to exclusively focus on writing on cups during the busiest times. Otherwise, the location wouldn’t be able to keep up with adding notes to all orders, according to a worker who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly.
The open-ended nature of the policy is also stretching the limit of some imaginations. “I’m running out of ideas,” one employee wrote in a Monday post on TikTok.
Workers with writer’s block may find some inspiration from peers who are sharing examples of their work. “Every sip begins with S,” read one green-and-white Starbucks cup shared online, “S for Starbucks.”