Starbucks is exploring the possibility of allowing some cafes to carry to-go orders, according to a letter to employees from Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson. He stated the company, that has been supplying only drive-thru or shipping service since March 21, is switching into a”track and adapt” phase. Many others situated in hot areas can continue to serve clients simply while orders may be reopened for by cafes in places.
“Since we’ve experienced in China, we’re now transitioning to a new stage that may best be explained as’track and accommodate,'” Johnson wrote Thursday in the correspondence. That is a similar strategy used in China, where Starbucks shut its doors in January and began reopening stores last month in areas with low disease rates. About 95% of China’s Starbucks cafes are now open, Johnson wrote in another letter issued April 8.”We’re leveraging our experience in China to inform our COVID-19 response approach in the U.S.,” he said in that letter. “Although the virus did not start to materially impact our U.S. business outcomes until mid-March, we took innovative actions to contain the spread of the virus starting from late February.”These steps included elevating cleanup and sanitizing protocols, briefly closing mall stores and other places with high levels of consumer congregation, shifting into some”to-go” model and eventually restricting business surgeries to drive-thru and delivery stations.
Johnson said leaders would utilize the status of the health emergency, advice from operational readiness of each location, community sentiment and officials to alert the reopening choices of the brand. Starbucks,which will be extending catastrophe pay for baristas prior to the end of May, can be giving working workers an extra $3 per hour. Like most restaurant brands, however, the pandemic has hit at Starbucks where it counts: the most important thing.”Comparable same-store sales from the U.S. began to decrease March 12 and steadily worsened as we briefly shut more stores and visitors slowed in response to this rise in shelter-in-place mandates and social distancing requirements across the nation,” Johnson wrote. At quarter-end, 58 percent of U.S. company-operated shops were drive-thru locations, where 76% were open; in addition, about 55% of U.S. licensed stores remained open.
“Regardless of the very powerful performance for the initial ten weeks of this year, comparable-store earnings from the U.S. were down approximately 3% in Q2 versus the previous year, reflecting the very rapid start of COVID-19 business impacts in the final three weeks of the quarter”Johnson said, however, he anticipates COVID-19’s effects to be momentary.Starbucks stocks, that have a market value of $85.2 billion, have fallen 17 percent annually.
