Starbucks completes the 6 -year experience of the Z generation after finding proof that the human connection is better

Announcing the closures, Niccol was directly on the justification of the Tuesday call from Starbucks with the analysts. “We found that this format was too transactional and lacking in heat and human connection that defines our brand,” he said.

Built mainly in urban centers, airports and hospitals, these stores have been designed to maximize convenience – no cash registers, limited or zero seats, and effective input experience orchestrated via the Starbucks application. Starbucks wants to bring back hot coffee.

This decision comes in the middle of a period of challenge and transition for Starbucks. Sales in open stores for at least a year have decreased for six consecutive quarters, North American sales have dropped by 2% more recently. Analysts highlight the fatigue of customers with impersonal and technology -oriented transactions and “soulless” atmospheres, especially since competitors offer new forms of hospitality and commitment. It is also a delicate thread needle, as Starbucks revealed in its profits that 31% of all transactions are mobile, which makes it an essential element of the company.

The company remains committed, according to Niccol, to improve digital and mobile experiences thanks to technical upgrades from the Starbucks application and its reward program, planned for deployment in 2026. But the other Starbucks actions suggest that this experiences should not feel mobile.

Niccol, who took office as CEO in September 2024, put his turnaround strategy to restore the brand’s emotional resonance, echoing the recognition of the former CEO Howard Schultz that consumers needed a “third space” that was not at home or at work. Niccol argued on the call according to which the perceptions of the customer value are close to two years, and they are motivated by gains among the generals and the millennials, which represent more than half of the Starbucks customers. This shows that the youngest consumers wanted more heat than we thought before.

Raise through green aprons

Starbucks has a current program to “raise” its cafes, which involves investing $ 150,000 per store to improve seats, lighting and atmosphere in more standard locations. The new channel prototype stores – already piloted in New York – reintroduce comfortable chairs, sockets and large tables, promoting a more common and persistent environment. Niccol said that some mobile stores only will be converted into this new configuration, where it makes sense.

“We are planning to finish an assessment of our North American portfolio by the end of this exercise to ensure that we have the right cafes in the right places to stimulate profitability and offer the experience of Starbucks,” Nicol said during the profits.

Starbucks also pilot stores of smaller formats with limited seats to mix convenience with a sense of place – another sign that the brand does not abandon a quick service, but rather recalibbs its approach. While the company is preparing to Sunzer its transactional collection model, Starbucks doubles its inheritance: cafes like community anchors, not only efficiency engines. The era of the starbucks “only” only “ends, because the company bets that its future is in relation, not only convenience.

These investments are part of the initiative of $ 500 million from Niccol “Green Apron Service”, intended to restore “hospitality” at the center of its activities. It is a barista dress reworked with the green apron, but also emphasizes personalized service. Starbucks thinks that this is what Gen Z really wants, not a mobile order without friction which barely involves interacting with a human. There are other evidence that generation Z wants more human connections, 91% saying to the Harris survey that they want more balance between remote work and at office.

The COO of Starbucks Mike Grams spoke with CNBC Earlier this week and also proposed reflections on how the company considers Gen Z. He pleaded in favor of an approach that the company describes as “hospitality” and, when it was asked for the evolution of “social indices”, he described how Starbucks works to rely on a more subjective experience. “The connection is different things with different people,” he said, arguing that the Starbucks baristas are well positioned “to understand what each individual customer wants at that time”. In other words, Starbucks risks a collision with the “Gen Z Stare” because it works to ensure that the human connection is at the front and at the center of its business.

When he was contacted to comment, Starbucks referred Fortune to the report of the gains and the comments of Niccol on the call of the analyst.

For this story, Fortune Used a generative AI to help an initial project. An editor checked the accuracy of the information before the publication.