Starbucks Employees Say A Popular Order 'hack' May Actually Be Delaying Your Coffee

Some Starbucks customers use the chain's mobile app to place orders and then show up at the drive-thru a minute later.

Photo by Jason Whitman/NurPhoto via Getty Images

• Some Starbucks customers are using the chain's mobile app to try to get faster drive-thru service.
• But Starbucks store employees say it just makes their job more difficult.
• The habit also points to improvements that CEO Brian Niccol could make as he attempts a turnaround.

Starbucks baristas have a request for customers: Stop pulling into the drive-thru, then ordering coffee through the app and asking for it a minute later.

Starbucks provides customers who order through the app an estimated time when their order will be ready. They can also designate whether they want to pick up their order through the drive-thru or in-store while ordering, though Starbucks employees told Business Insider that many customers don't appear to pay attention to those options.

Still, some Starbucks customers appear to think that hacking the system by placing their order through the app when they're about to pull into the drive-thru — or when they're already waiting in line — will get them their Venti pistachio lattes faster and mean less waiting.

Some employees say it has the opposite effect, snaring their drink production. The employees also said the disruptive "hack" shows areas where the coffee giant could improve its order prioritization and preparation process.

Business Insider spoke to three Starbucks employees about the issue. They asked not to be identified in this article, citing potential retaliation at work, but BI verified their employment at Starbucks.

Starbucks stores often have two separate production lines: One for drive-thru orders and another that handles orders placed in-store, through the app, and through third-party delivery apps like Uber Eats. When someone places an order, it's routed to one of these bars and generates a sticker that employees can attach to the side of a cup or other packaging.

"When people place their mobile order while they're already in line or they place their mobile order and show up a minute later, their mobile order might be behind 15 other people," one barista in the South told BI.

As a result, when the customer drives up to collect their coffee, "sometimes we haven't even seen the item that needs to be made," a barista in Florida told BI.

That means Starbucks workers, whom the company calls "partners," have to manually move that order to the front of the production line, employees say.

Preparing those orders on the spot can be especially hard if they contain multiple drinks. "It is our pet peeve, for sure," the barista said.

Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol, who joined the company in September, has said that he wants baristas to get customers their orders in four minutes or less.

He said he wants to distinguish between the company's quick service, provided for customers using the chain's mobile app in the drive-thru, and its slower, more personalized service that some walk-in customers might prefer.

Niccol has also emphasized the importance of removing obstacles for partners doing their jobs in-store. "Our green-apron partners want to provide exceptional service to our customers," Niccol said in an October message to shareholders, adding that Starbucks' leaders "need to remove those things that might stop them from doing that."

While it's still early, some Starbucks employees have told BI that some changes Niccol has overseen have already made their lives easier. Starbucks said late last year that it would cut back on promotions, such as multi-drink deals, offered to its rewards customers through its mobile app. Some baristas have told BI that the move has made filling mobile orders less hectic.

The Florida partner previously said that Starbucks' decision to blend some drinks instead of shake them by hand has cut production time and allowed workers at his store to fill orders faster.

When it comes to mobile ordering, "We're working to improve sequencing with a new algorithm that enables on-time mobile order handoffs and supports our four-minute throughput with quality being our goal," a Starbucks spokesperson said. "And over the coming months, we plan to take steps to better separate mobile order pickup from the café experience."

Starbucks is expected to tell employees more about its plans in a three-hour meeting that will close store dining rooms next week.

Some partners have suggestions about what might improve the situation.

The barista in the South said that Starbucks could have a separate drive-thru lane just for picking up mobile orders — something Chipotle did under Niccol's leadership with its Chipotlanes.

Such a change could help shorten drive-thru wait times as well as improve the experience for customers who want to enjoy their order in-store, the barista said.

"When you place an order at the register, your order goes in behind all of the mobile orders that I have, so I'm going to be making drinks for people that are still driving to the store while you're already in the store waiting," the barista said.

"That doesn't create a good experience for the customer," the barista added.

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