Starbucks transitioning to grab and go locations?

[ninersdd]

A week ago, I visited the Starbucks on Sunrise in Rancho Cordova near Costco. There was a sheet on the door saying it was going to get a renovation 1/7. I went again today and sheet was updated to say that there will be no indoor seating or a patio for seating, just grab and go. Seems weird they are transitioning since there was a decent amount of room and it is not a bad area(not really any homeless that I can tell hanging out). Have there been similar incidents of locations going to be grab and go from standard cafes? This was already a drive thru cafe. This will take about 3 weeks.

[babs]

A week ago, I visited the Starbucks on Sunrise in Rancho Cordova near Costco. There was a sheet on the door saying it was going to get a renovation 1/7. I went again today and sheet was updated to say that there will be no indoor seating or a patio for seating, just grab and go. Seems weird they are transitioning since there was a decent amount of room and it is not a bad area(not really any homeless that I can tell hanging out). Have there been similar incidents of locations going to be grab and go from standard cafes. This was already a drive thru cafe. This will take about 3 weeks.

Several in the Portland market have transitioned into Grab and Go with the Pioneer Courthouse SW and Grand Ave locations being two examples. But these were due to the homeless folks in the immediate area.

[storewanderer]

During a lot of times of day (evening) and on weekends it seems like the fast foods down there on lower Sunrise are very slow traffic. They are jumping busy in the morning and at lunch on weekdays. They have better traffic during other times of day now than they did 15 years ago though but still quite slow, and there is continued growth further down Sunrise, so this is surprising in that regard.

So for grab and go does this mean drive through only, or you can still walk in and order at a counter with a cashier? Or is walk in only going to be mobile order pick up?

[Alpha8472]

I assume walk up and purchase will remain. The changes are designed to get rid of the homeless loitering. If the seating is removed the homeless will go somewhere else.

Even in wealthy suburbs in Northern California there are homeless. I know of many homeless people who purposely live in the suburbs because they make money begging from the rich suburban people. You see many homeless camping near Starbucks or McDonald's. They may live in an alley or behind the business out of sight most of the time, but they are there.

[ClownLoach]

There are probably hundreds of locations that have removed all seating and all public restrooms, some in downright luxurious markets.

This is in response to the demands of Starbucks workers who claim that their work environment is unsafe due to homeless and drug users. Allegedly, many of the locations that were threatening to unionize were appeased by making this simple change. But is it right for the brand? I'm not sure.

There is a separate initiative at Starbucks for to-go locations that are mobile order only, with virtually no space inside and just a pickup window. Although some are in major areas, others are in suburbs. These Starbucks pickup locations are hardly large enough for more than two or three people to stand inside. This is not the initiative you're referencing from Rancho Cordova.

[storewanderer]

There are probably hundreds of locations that have removed all seating and all public restrooms, some in downright luxurious markets.

This is in response to the demands of Starbucks workers who claim that their work environment is unsafe due to homeless and drug users. Allegedly, many of the locations that were threatening to unionize were appeased by making this simple change. But is it right for the brand? I'm not sure.

There is a separate initiative at Starbucks for to-go locations that are mobile order only, with virtually no space inside and just a pickup window. Although some are in major areas, others are in suburbs. These Starbucks pickup locations are hardly large enough for more than two or three people to stand inside. This is not the initiative you're referencing from Rancho Cordova.

If people will continue to pay Starbucks prices for a take out or drive through only operation, with no restroom, they may as well continue down this path. They can save a lot of money by not having tables inside or offering public restrooms. It may impact their food sales to a point, but food sales were always an underperforming thing at Starbucks anyway.

[ClownLoach]

There are probably hundreds of locations that have removed all seating and all public restrooms, some in downright luxurious markets.

This is in response to the demands of Starbucks workers who claim that their work environment is unsafe due to homeless and drug users. Allegedly, many of the locations that were threatening to unionize were appeased by making this simple change. But is it right for the brand? I'm not sure.

There is a separate initiative at Starbucks for to-go locations that are mobile order only, with virtually no space inside and just a pickup window. Although some are in major areas, others are in suburbs. These Starbucks pickup locations are hardly large enough for more than two or three people to stand inside. This is not the initiative you're referencing from Rancho Cordova.

If people will continue to pay Starbucks prices for a take out or drive through only operation, with no restroom, they may as well continue down this path. They can save a lot of money by not having tables inside or offering public restrooms. It may impact their food sales to a point, but food sales were always an underperforming thing at Starbucks anyway.

I think they've wasted a decade or more, and billions of dollars on food research and brand acquisitions. The very limited, and shrinking current menu is probably all they need. They want to run a low payroll operation and that means they can't afford to complicate operations with any real serious attempts at growing the labor intensive food process that throws off the "rhythm" of drink making.

[buckguy]

There are probably hundreds of locations that have removed all seating and all public restrooms, some in downright luxurious markets.

This is in response to the demands of Starbucks workers who claim that their work environment is unsafe due to homeless and drug users. Allegedly, many of the locations that were threatening to unionize were appeased by making this simple change. But is it right for the brand? I'm not sure.

There is a separate initiative at Starbucks for to-go locations that are mobile order only, with virtually no space inside and just a pickup window. Although some are in major areas, others are in suburbs. These Starbucks pickup locations are hardly large enough for more than two or three people to stand inside. This is not the initiative you're referencing from Rancho Cordova.

If people will continue to pay Starbucks prices for a take out or drive through only operation, with no restroom, they may as well continue down this path. They can save a lot of money by not having tables inside or offering public restrooms. It may impact their food sales to a point, but food sales were always an underperforming thing at Starbucks anyway.

I think they've wasted a decade or more, and billions of dollars on food research and brand acquisitions. The very limited, and shrinking current menu is probably all they need. They want to run a low payroll operation and that means they can't afford to complicate operations with any real serious attempts at growing the labor intensive food process that throws off the "rhythm" of drink making.

Starbucks has had to to-go only locations of one sort or another for a long time. There was one in a building where I used to have meetings in Boston back in the late 90s. That one wasn't very successful and closed because it only drew volume in the early morning and didn't pick up trade during the day like a full service location. The model will work better in some places than others and the same can be said for drive throughs. . I've seen drive throughs that don't have customers but are in locations where that should work, like Breezewood, PA which is at the junction of I-70 and the PA Turnpike and has traffic all day long. Hundreds of locations out of over 15K is a drop in the bucket anyway. I haven't seen conversions in the DC area although they have done a fair number of remodels over the past couple years.