Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol has doubled down on the heightened customer service expectations he is hoping to deliver at its United States (US) coffeehouses.
The ‘Green Apron Service’ model was announced on 29 July alongside the brand’s latest quarterly results, which Niccol had labelled as a foundational term for the “wave of innovation” coming in 2026.
A key part of the new service model, which has been piloted in 1500 stores over eight weeks, is the expectation that custom, in-store drinks take no more than four minutes to prepare – whether they’re taken at the counter or in the drive-thru.
“I’ve said to our team, part of our turnaround is becoming the world’s greatest customer service company again,” Niccol told US news outlet WGN.
“It’s centred on putting enough partners on the roster in the stores, and then deployed correctly, so they can provide that customer connection and experience that, frankly, Starbucks really was founded on.”
Included in its new customer service pillars is what Starbucks has called Smart Queue technology, which is designed to help teams meet that four-minute service commitment.
It is hoped this new technology will help bring more focus back to the physical customer, and away from mobile orders that now make up about 30 per cent of Starbucks’ business.
The Green Apron and Smart Queue service models will be implemented in all of Starbucks’ approximately 11,000 US locations, with Niccol targeting a full rollout by the end of August.
“We’re rolling this out everywhere,” he says. “It’ll probably take the next two weeks for it to unfold, but by the time you get to September, all of our stores should be up and running with the Green Apron Service Model and Smart Queue technology.”
Starbucks posted its sixth consecutive quarter of same-store sales declines in its recent financial reports, which were released in July 2025.
