Starbucks hopes faster drinks, fewer upcharges and nicer mugs bring people back
Shoppers complain that Starbucks isn't fancy enough — but they also say it's too expensive. The new CEO, Brian Niccol, is ordering up big changes.
Starbucks
Inflation math is changing America's dinner plans
For the first time in years, people are buying more groceries, including pricier brands, to replace restaurant outings. From McDonald's to Starbucks, fast food and cafes are feeling it.
Oil gluts, Russian bucks, and Starbucks
Indicators of the Week is back! This week, we've got indicators about oil gluts, big bucks for Ukraine and fewer bucks at Starbucks. (Apologies for the slurping.)
Related episodes:
How to get Russia to pay Ukraine
An oil boom, a property slump and dental deflation
ICYMI, preorder our new Indicator t-shirt at the NPR shop. For more ways to support our show, sign up for Planet Money+ where you'll get sponsor-free listening, bonus episodes, and access to even more Indicator merch.
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
Related episodes:
How to get Russia to pay Ukraine
An oil boom, a property slump and dental deflation
ICYMI, preorder our new Indicator t-shirt at the NPR shop. For more ways to support our show, sign up for Planet Money+ where you'll get sponsor-free listening, bonus episodes, and access to even more Indicator merch.
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
More than 440,000 Starbucks mugs recalled after reports of a dozen injuries
The holiday-inspired mugs were sold online and in stores such as Target and Walmart from November 2023 through January 2024. The injuries included severe burns, blisters and cuts on hands and fingers.
CosMc's lands in Illinois, as McDonald's tests its new coffee-centered concept
The beverage-first McDonald's spinoff, named for a six-handed extraterrestrial, seems to be a grab at markets currently served by the likes of Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts.
Thousands of Starbucks workers go on a one-day strike on one of chain's busiest days
Workers at more than 200 U.S. Starbucks locations walked off the job Thursday in what organizers said was the largest strike yet in the two-year-old effort to unionize the company's stores.
Starbucks increases U.S. hourly wages and adds other benefits for non-union workers
The company said Monday unionized workers won't be eligible for some of those perks, a sign of the continuing tension between the Seattle coffee giant and the union trying to organize its U.S. stores.
Fed-up consumers are increasingly going after food companies for misleading claims
This week a federal judge in Manhattan allowed a case to move forward against Starbucks over claims its fruit-based drinks were lacking fruit.
U.S. Starbucks workers join in a weeklong strike over stores not allowing Pride décor
Starbucks workers in cities including Chicago, Philadelphia and San Antonio plan to walk out or picket over coming days following worker accusations that the company is scaling back its LGBTQ support.
Ex-Starbucks manager awarded $25.6 million in case tied to arrests of 2 Black men
Jurors in federal court awarded $25.6 million to a former Starbucks regional manager who alleged that she and other white employees were unfairly punished after the arrests of two Black men in 2018.