The year isn't over yet, but multinational coffee chain Starbucks (SBUX) -) is already ushering in some big changes.
After Howard Schultz retired as chief executive, returned and then retired again, the cafe brought in Lax Narasimhan, a former PepsiCo exec, as CEO.
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Starbucks promptly put Narasimhan in a six-month crash course with baristas so he'd learn from the grounds up how coffee is made at the stores and where the pain points were.
One of the biggest pain points has been in the waiting lines. Since the stores reopened postpandemic, those lines have grown.
Many folks have grown tired of their coffeemakers at home, and they're more than ready to grab a cup of prepared coffee out and about at their local cafes. Long lines, though, have make the experience chaotic for consumers and crushing for baristas.
Starbucks famously is willing to broadly customize every order, and those complicated demands multiplied by high foot traffic equals a rough shift for anyone in the green apron.
Narasimhan has been tasked with solving this issue (among many others). So he's been focusing on eliminating redundancies, smoothing the process for both partners (as Starbucks calls its employees) and customers and, of course, brewing good drinks.
Starbucks CEO Narasimhan reveals favorite drink
In October, following his education with baristas, Narasimhan said he'd be able to prepare the full menu at Starbucks.
He said he'd been able to immerse himself in the experience as a partner and has finally been allowed the time to “get really good at coffee.”
As for his favorite drink, though, Narasimhan doesn't go overboard with fancy orders.
“My favorite go-to drink at Starbucks is the Doppio Espresso Macchiato with some hot milk on the side,” he said.
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The Doppio is pretty easy to make at Starbucks, and at home for that matter.
"A doppio macchiato is made with two ingredients — a double shot of espresso, with a dollop of steamed milk and a scoop of bubbly milk foam," Starbucks explains on its site. "A doppio macchiato is almost like a regular, traditional espresso macchiato, but it contains some steamed milk and more espresso."
And while his day-to-day reliable drink tends to be simple, Narasimhan says he does indulge in the fancy stuff from time to time.
He added he was “very amazingly surprised” by Starbucks's whiskey-barrel-aged Guatemalan coffee, which is currently available at Starbucks experimental Roastery stores.
“It has no alcohol. It has a cube of ice, and it's a wonderful drink that I've enjoyed deeply," he added.
Still, he isn't going overboard. Narasimhan said recently on the "Leadership Next" podcast that he largely avoids caffeine specifically from coffee after 2 p.m.
All the better, then, that Starbucks offers a “wonderful range of teas," he said.
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