Starbucks staff give new boss a brutal warning on why chain’s sales are plunging

Stressed Starbucks employees have complained of chronic understaffing issues, leading to backlogs at coffee shops.

This is evident from an internal investigation BloombergOnly 33 percent of employees at the company’s 10,000 U.S. locations say stores consistently have enough employees.

Staffing was the issue with the lowest approval rating in the 45-question survey conducted in April.

“All we get is a skeleton staff all the time,” one worker said in comments collected as part of the investigation.

Making early efforts to address employee concerns around staffing levels will be key for new CEO Brian Niccol, Bloomberg reported, who took over the top job last month.

In addition to high prices, slow service and long waiting times, this is one of the biggest customer complaints at the chain, which has seen sales decline in recent months.

Employees said understaffing leads to backlogs at locations, which often have snaking lines of frustrated customers.

Less than half of employees who took the survey, which was shared internally in July, said their equipment was reliable, exacerbating staffing problems.

Employees asked Niccol about the issue at a companywide forum on his second day on the job, according to a transcript of the event seen by Bloomberg.

‘The team is already working on it. You are being listened to,” the new CEO said.

He promised to empower baristas to take better care of customers and, in an open letter later the same day, give them the “tools and time” they need to do their jobs.

Three anonymous managers at Starbucks locations in the US told Bloomberg that they have little bandwidth left for administrative tasks such as scheduling or coaching employees because they have to spend more time making drinks for customers.

One of them told the outlet that baristas and supervisors at their store regularly skip breaks and meals to keep up with the flow of orders.

Sometimes an employee must operate multiple stations at once, including taking orders at the drive-thru and reheating food, which slows down service.

Starbucks said in a statement that it is refining the model it uses to allocate staff to ensure it more accurately meets the needs of each store.

The company has increased headcount across 3,500 stores over the past year, it added.

Starbucks’ new CEO Brian Niccol (pictured) has promised to ’empower’ baristas to take better care of customers

Customers are increasingly put off by long waiting times and rising prices in the chain

Starbucks customers think the chain is the least affordable, according to a new survey

It comes as it was revealed that the chain is scaling back promotions offered through its mobile app, as part of early moves by Niccol.

The goal is to take some of the pressure off employees who are swamped with orders when discounts are available, and to reposition Starbucks as a premium brand after a turbulent few months.

It marks a turnaround for the coffee chain, which has been increasing its promotions and special offers over the past year after largely avoiding discount offers for decades.

Like many other restaurant chains and major supermarkets, Starbucks used deals as a way to woo inflation-weary and cash-strapped customers after years of price hikes.

Furious customers expressed their anger on social media after news of the discount cuts.

“$8 cup of coffee, no thank you,” one user wrote on social media site X.

It comes as a new survey shows only 51 percent of customers believe Starbucks is affordable – far below its competitors.