Customers can now use their personal cups at the Starbucks drive-thru and with online orders.
This month marked a milestone for Starbucks as they endeavor to reduce waste by 50% by 2030. Customers are now able to use their clean reusable cups at the drive-thru and online app. This new innovation is food-safe and promises not to increase production times. Starbucks is the first major coffee retailer to finally crack the reusable cup conundrum.
Starbucks has been allowing customers to use personal cups for in-store purchases since 1985. However, they’ve struggled to find efficient ways to incorporate reusable cups into their drive-thru and online orders. Considering the fact that 70% of sales in their US stores are derived from drive-thrus and online apps this could help reduce waste by a considerable amount.
“At Starbucks, we envision a future where every beverage can be served in a reusable cup. Offering customers more options to use a personal cup when they visit Starbucks marks tangible progress towards the future.” said Michael Kobori, Starbucks chief sustainability officer.
The company is making it easier for customers to use their own cups for every visit. At participating stores in the US and Canada, customers who bring reusable cups will receive a $0.10 discount on their drink. US Starbucks Rewards members will also get 25 Bonus Stars.
“We know our customers are passionate about the planet, and now, they can join us in our efforts to give more than we take, no matter how they order.” Continued Kobori.
The new system is easy and hygienic. Drive-thru customers simply tell the barista at the time of ordering that they brought their own cup. Then when they advance to the window the barista will hold out a contactless vessel for the customer to place their reusable cup in. The drink will be returned in the same way.
Those ordering through the Starbucks app will open the “Customization” screen and select “Personal Cup” before continuing their order. Once they arrive at the store the customer alerts the barista in the pickup area and places their reusable cup in the contactless vessel for the barista to fill and hand back to them.
It’s important to note that the personal cups must be cleaned and emptied beforehand with the lids removed. Starbucks employees will not dump or rinse out the cups for safety and efficiency purposes. Customers also have to tell baristas what size they would like their drink made to as the new custom containers have standardized lines which help the baristas maintain consistency.
Brook an employee at one of the Colorado stores that tested the new process said “As long as we are following all our procedures and steps, it doesn’t add any more time, and it is actually making customers happier. This has been a really big hit.”
Starbucks is hopeful that this new procedure will prove to be a huge success and thus drastically reduce the amount of waste their single-use cups produce.