Starbucks wait times foam over as baristas battle mobile-order mayhem and bossy algos

Gettin’ roasted… Some Starbucks customers have complained that they’ve waited 40 minutes for fraps served up by stressed-out staff. The java icon has admitted to longer wait times, and recent data showed that last quarter nearly 10% of folks waited 15 to 30 minutes for an order — up from virtually no waiting prepandemic. Those waits could be hurting Starbs’ bottom line: US same-store sales dropped 3% last quarter and overall traffic fell 7%. Behind the counter, employees say understaffing has made it tougher to churn out a flood of mobile-app orders and specialty drinks (imagine: iced extra dirty oat chai with hazelnut drizzle).

• Half caf: Starbucks cut 29K jobs in the last fiscal year, but opened 380 stores in that same period. It’s now in contract talks with union partners who rank “staffing and scheduling” as their No. 1 priority.

Extra shot of tech… Nearly a third of US Starbucks transactions are made on the chain’s mobile app, and the biz said that during the morning rush it’s more like two-thirds. In its last quarter, around 15% of customers started a mobile order but abandoned it after seeing high wait times and out-of-stock items. Some baristas told Bloomberg that Starbs’ staffing algo has left teams short-handed in the face of mobile-order mayhem. And workers say the algorithm doesn’t account for the added time it takes to whip up those custom brews.

• Free role: Starbucks announced a plan to pump out oily Oleatos faster, and it includes a jittery “play caller” who would help where they’re needed, instead of staying at a fixed station.

• New song: Starbs also said it’d roll out a “Siren System” to 1K stores that would outline new protocols (like making espresso shots first) and upgrade store equipment (faster blenders).