Starbucks Revamps Brewing as More Stores Close

Barista-in-Chief Howard Schultz has long complained about how Starbucks gave up the “theater” and romance of the coffee house experience as it expanded globally. Now the company is trying to get some of that back, even as it shuts the door on 600 stores, which is 500 more than it had planned to close this year.

According to internal memos obtained by the Wall Street Journal, Starbucks baristas will go back to grinding coffee beans throughout the day, and will brew fresh pots more often. The goal is partly to simplify the process of deciding when to brew a new pot — right now, baristas use a variety of cues to brew, with the result that individual pots sit empty for an estimated 14 minutes out of every hour, forcing customers to wait or leave empty-handed.

However, by steadily grinding and brewing fresh coffee all day, Schultz also wants to bring back the sites, sounds and smell of the brewing process. Smell is particularly important; Schultz has called the aroma of brewing coffee “the most powerful nonverbal signal we had in our stores.”

By reinforcing the Starbucks image of freshly ground, premium coffee, Schultz seems to be positioning the company as the quality alternative to lower-priced competitors like McDonald’s and 7-Eleven.