Though “coffee is the core to who we are,” said Starbucks Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Rachel Ruggeri earlier this week, the Seattle-based company plans to “add new variety to food” to its menu.
Speaking at the Deutsche Bank dbAccess Global Consumer Conference in Paris, Ruggeri explained that Starbucks is leveraging its scale ensure it can keep pricing and costs steady. She added that Starbucks just started offering a “more elevated” blueberry muffin and added an egg and pesto mozzarella sandwich to the menu.
Starbucks recently announced that its profits and sales fell during the company’s first quarter, ending March 3, with revenue dropping 1%, adjusting for currency wings, and earnings sinking 14%. Comparable stores decreased 4%, and operating margins shrank from 54.5% to 51.7%.
The company is focused right now on the efficiency of its stores, Ruggeri said, particularly during the busiest morning hours. “Almost 50% of our volume comes by 10 a.m., and that’s up a couple points from even a few years ago,” she said. Priorities include optimizing throughput during these times and minimizing wait times for customers ordering through the mobile app.
