Starbucks will open its first 3D printed outlet this week—but in other ways, the chain is stepping back from new technology. CEO Brian Niccol said Wednesday that cutting staff numbers has backfired, and the company plans to reduce automation and hire thousands more baristas, the Guardian reports. "Over the last couple of years, we've actually been removing labor from the stores, I think with the hope that equipment could offset the removal of the labor," he said. "What we're finding is that wasn't an accurate assumption with what played out."
"Equipment doesn't solve the customer experience that we need to provide," Niccol said. Starbucks tested increasing staff numbers at five locations after Niccol took charge in September, and it plans to expand the number to 3,000 by year's end. Niccol acknowledged that the move would increase costs, reports Reuters. "We're banking on some growth to come with the investment in the labor and the store experience," he said.
The New York Post describes the shift as a "notable reversal in strategy at a time when many in the food and beverage industry are accelerating the use of automation to reduce costs. Niccol said Starbucks also plans to pull back on the rollout of its high-tech Siren drink-making system and will deploy it only in "very targeted" locations. Niccol has also made changes including simplifying the menu and having baristas write names on customers' cups again. But sales haven't turned around yet: The company's results for the first quarter of this year were worse than expected, with global sales falling 1% in the fifth quarterly decline in a row, the Guardian reports. Its stock was trading down 6% just before the bell. (More Starbucks stories.)
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