Operations
4 operations moves behind Starbucks' 2027 growth plan
Promoted-from-within store coaches, AI that helps baristas take drive-thru orders, adding delivery to the app and a smaller-format store are how Starbucks plans to keep growing.
October 30, 2026 by Cherryh Cansler — Publisher, FastCasual.com
ChatGPT
Grok
Perplexity
ClaudeStarbucks is done calling Back to Starbucks a turnaround. Executives cast it as a growth plan during the company's Q4 earnings call Thursday, and the operating moves behind that plan say as much about where the chain is headed as the comps do.
Starbucks posted its fifth consecutive quarter of comp growth, and expects North America company-operated comps to grow about 4% in fiscal 2027. It ended fiscal 2026 with 41,607 coffeehouses globally, including 18,176 in North America.
"Back to Starbucks started as a turnaround plan, and now Back to Starbucks is our growth plan," Brian Niccol, chairman and CEO of Starbucks, said during the call.
Below are four strategies he explained.
1. Focusing on leaders from within
Much of that plan starts with store leadership. Starbucks now has more than 3,000 coffeehouse coaches enrolled across its U.S. company-operated stores, all hired from within the company. The role will expand to more North American coffeehouses in fiscal 2027.
"These positions improve leadership stability and execution, give our partners new pathways to grow and help build the next generation of leaders to support our future growth," Niccol said.
Starbucks paired the coaches with a new quarterly coffeehouse incentive program, which Niccol said is driving more discipline around staffing and product waste.
More than 80% of North America company-operated coffeehouses posted positive comps in the quarter, up from less than 50% a year earlier. New staffing, scheduling and point-of-sale systems roll out through fiscal 2027.
2. Adding AI behind the barista
In the drive-thru, Starbucks' first AI test is built to work alongside baristas. Roughly half of Starbucks customers use the drive-thru, Niccol said, and in fiscal 2027 the company will begin testing background AI models that help baristas enter orders more accurately and efficiently while they talk with guests.
The company is also exploring ways to recognize participating customers when they arrive, show them personalized digital menus and make payment easier. It will begin testing its Mastrena 3 espresso machine as well.
"The intent is to help our partners focus on connecting with customers while improving both throughput and speed of service," Niccol said.
He didn't put a timeline on the tests, calling it "premature to get specific" when an analyst asked.
3. Moving delivery to the app
Delivery is getting a bigger role inside the Starbucks app. In the second quarter of fiscal 2027, Starbucks will begin integrating delivery directly into its app and let customers earn and redeem Stars on delivery orders. The company is also working on AI-powered search in the app, with the potential for conversational and agentic ordering over time.
"We've been very pleased with our delivery performance in the U.S., with revenues more than tripling over the past 5 years, and these transactions have been largely incremental," Cathy Smith, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Starbucks, said during the call.
Smith said delivery was one of the contributors to ticket growth in the quarter, along with pricing, attach and mix. Starbucks Rewards reached a record 36 million 90-day active members.
4. Opening fewer stores now, more later
On development, Starbucks is rebuilding its North America pipeline after a round of closures. The company closed a net 247 company-operated North America coffeehouses in the fourth quarter, mostly from recent portfolio actions. Smith said Starbucks expects 90 to 100 net new North America coffeehouses in fiscal 2027, about half of them licensed.
The smaller-format prototype Starbucks showed at its Investor Day is now open in multiple markets.
"We're seeing great response both in the cost to build and then the way that our teams are able to operate," Niccol said.
Niccol said Starbucks wants to get back to building new U.S. units "north of 300 or so" in fiscal 2028, and he sees room for about 5,000 additional coffeehouses in North America over time.
The company also expects to complete more than 2,000 coffeehouse uplifts in fiscal 2027, after more than 1,700 in fiscal 2026 that brought back comfortable seating.
About Cherryh Cansler
Related Media
Subscribe
Get the latest news and resources from Fast Casual.
Recent Posts
Recent Podcasts
