Starbucks Is Limiting Mobile Orders to Reclaim the Coffeehouse’s ‘Connection’ With Customers

Mobile-ordering your favorite Starbucks drink has made the daily task quite convenient—unless you’re picking up an order for the entire office, which becomes a nuisance for baristas and customers.

Now, if you’re the designated coffee picker-upper, you’ll need a smaller order moving forward.

As part of CEO Brian Niccol’s effort to turn around the coffee giant’s lagging sales, Starbucks is lowering the number of drinks in a mobile order, from 15 to 12. Other recent changes include adding ceramic mugs for people who want to stay to drink their beverages, a revamped code of conduct, and a plan to reduce the menu by 30% in the fall, a.k.a. Pumpkin Spice Latte season.

Related: Starbucks Is Bringing Back a Huge Conference for Its Store Managers as New CEO Brian Niccol Stamps His Mark

Starbucks will also be conducting corporate layoffs this spring, according to a memo posted on the company’s website in January.

In an interview this week, Niccol told “Rapid Response” host Bob Safian that mobile ordering threw the company “a little bit off” course.

“I think one of the things that veered Starbucks a little bit off was the whole mobile ordering, the COVID situation,” he said.

Niccol noted that a “connection” was lost with the company’s core customers when Starbucks began using printed-out labels and replaced “writing on the cups.”

That’s why the CEO ordered 200,000 Sharpies as part of the turnaround plan.

Bloomberg reports that Starbucks is also testing an algorithm to sequence mobile orders with pickup time slots.

Related: Starbucks Tells Corporate Staff to Work in the Office 3 Days a Week or It’s ‘Separation’ Time