Air travelers face a host of headaches on their journeys: slow security lines, long waits for plush lounges, the threat of delays or cancellations — and the airport Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX).
Many travelers, flight crews and even airport employees have at some point encountered long wait times for their Starbucks cappuccinos, cold brews and egg bites.
“They need to have a better system,” said Coresa Barrino, a Starbucks patron at New York’s LaGuardia Airport Terminal B earlier this month who said she had been waiting 10 minutes and counting for her coffee. The nursing assistant, who was taking a flight back to Charlotte, North Carolina, said the wait when she buys her coffee at a Starbucks in Charlotte is about two minutes.
The long waits have caught the attention of the coffee chain’s new CEO, Brian Niccol, who joined Starbucks from Chipotle (NYSE:CMG) in September, pledging to win back customers and reverse the company’s sales slump.
Niccol told investors he thinks that licensed locations, such as those inside Target stores or airports, are interested in following the company’s strategy of “getting back to Starbucks.”
SBUX shares eked up 14 cents to $102.64.
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