Hanging Out at Starbucks? You Now Need to Order Something
Coffee chain reverses policy that had allowed open access to its cafes, in a push to improve store environments
If you’re walking into a Starbucks SBUX 1.37%increase; green up pointing triangle cafe, you now need to be prepared to buy something.
Starbucks this month is rolling out a new code of conduct at its cafes across North America, aiming to improve guests’ and staff’s safety and experience. Included in the shift is a reversal of a nearly seven-year policy of allowing the general public to linger or use the bathroom, regardless of whether they buy a latte or a croissant.
The new chain policies include adding signs banning harassment, violence, threatening language, outside alcohol, smoking and panhandling in its stores, according to employee notices viewed by The Wall Street Journal. The new code of conduct for customers is part of the coffee giant’s effort to make its stores more hospitable, as it seeks to reverse a slide in customer traffic and falling sales.
“There is a need to reset expectations for how our spaces should be used, and who uses them,” Starbucks North America President Sara Trilling said in a letter sent this week. Executives said customers need a clean, safe environment, and that employees have also shared concerns about the chain’s open-to-all approach.
Starbucks since 2018 has allowed access to its cafes and bathrooms regardless of purchase. The policy was a response to the arrest of two men at one of its Philadelphia locations that year, after one of them attempted to use the bathroom while the other sat at a table.
Employees there told police that the men were trespassing because they hadn’t bought anything, and refused to leave after they were denied use of the restroom, authorities said at the time.
The incident drew widespread criticism, and Starbucks afterward temporarily closed all of its U.S. stores to conduct racial-sensitivity training. The men later sued the company and settled for an undisclosed amount.
People have said they appreciate being able to pop into a Starbucks to use the bathroom. But Starbucks baristas have said the policy can lead to messes, loitering and inappropriate behavior.
The chain said the new policy for company-owned cafes would take effect Jan. 27 at its more than 11,000 North American stores. Code-of-conduct signs will state that cafes, patios and restrooms are for customers, those accompanying them, and employees, according to the company communications viewed by the Journal.
Baristas will need to ask those not complying with the code to leave, one of the employee communications said. Free water will be restricted to customers and those accompanying them.
Starbucks said it hopes the new code will provide baristas clearer guidance about who can remain in its stores. The updated code will lay out guidelines for law-enforcement representatives who respond to disorderly-person calls at cafes.
Retailers for years have tried to balance welcoming the public and maintaining some restrictions on who is allowed to linger. Starbucks has been on the vanguard of opening up its cafes, but new CEO Brian Niccol is revamping the chain’s approach to improve the environment in its U.S. stores.
Many customers have said the rise in Starbucks’ to-go business has eroded its appeal as a place to linger over a latte, filling cafes with people waiting for orders. Others have complained about people loitering in cafes and long bathroom lines, sometimes as a result of the public coming in to use them.
Jim Fewel, a 72-year-old retired customer-service representative from Fremont, Calif., said a handful of Starbucks locations near him closed their bathrooms because of people coming in off the street. “Some areas just do not support the type of Starbucks that originally opened there,” Fewel said.
During a speech on corporate responsibility in 2018, Howard Schultz, the company’s longtime leader and then chairman, said Starbucks needed to embrace its place in the communities where it does business, including an open-door policy. “We don’t want to become a public bathroom, but we’re going to make the right decision 100% of the time and give people the key,” Schultz said.
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020, Starbucks closed its store interiors, removing furniture in some cases.
When Schultz in 2022 returned to lead Starbucks for the third time and tackle problems at the company, he said its cafe policy needed to evolve in response to societal problems that had increased since the pandemic.
The company closed 16 U.S. stores struggling with safety concerns including drug use among both customers and members of the public who were at the cafes but not buying anything.
“We read every incident report you file—it’s a lot,” leaders of Starbucks’s U.S. operations wrote in a 2022 letter to employees.
Niccol has targeted Starbucks’s cafes for improvement since joining as CEO last September. The company reported three consecutive quarters of declining same-store sales last year, and suspended its 2025 financial guidance in October.
“Our stores will be inviting places to linger,” Niccol wrote in an open letter last year.
The company is restoring condiment bars that the chain had removed in response to pandemic-era health concerns, allowing customers once again to fine-tune their beverages. Niccol has pledged to bring back comfortable furniture, along with ceramic mugs and plates. Baristas have resumed scrawling messages on cups as a personal touch for customers.
Later this month, Starbucks will also begin offering free refills on hot and iced coffee for customers who buy a drink and want to hang out in its cafes.
David Lakey, 67, a retired executive in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, Calif., said he hoped Starbucks can restore its old cafe environment. “I’m still scarred by Starbucks’s response to Covid-19, and it feels like that vibe is still present,” Lakey said.