（Singapore, 28.01.2026）Starbucks has spent years trying to solve a problem that sounds simple but has proven costly and complex: keeping its thousands of U.S. coffee shops consistently stocked with everyday essentials such as milk, pastries, sandwich ingredients and even cup lids. Over the past five years, four different chief executives have pointed to supply shortages as a reason for lost sales and frustrated customers.
The company’s current chief executive, Brian Niccol, has made fixing these issues a core part of his turnaround strategy since taking over in September 2024. Yet despite fresh leadership, new hires and increased use of technology, the problems appear far more deeply rooted than many customers or investors realize.
According to a Reuters investigation that included interviews with current and former Starbucks employees, the company’s supply chain continues to be hindered by outdated technology, a fragmented network of suppliers and automation tools that do not always work as intended. Together, these weaknesses have made it difficult for Starbucks to reliably get the right products to the right stores at the right time.
Late Trucks, AI Glitches, Old Systems
Supply disruptions at Starbucks became more visible during and after the pandemic. While many restaurant chains gradually regained stability as global supply chains recovered, Starbucks continued to struggle with empty shelves and unavailable menu items. Former CEOs Kevin Johnson and Laxman Narasimhan both acknowledged inventory problems during earnings calls, often citing them as a reason customers abandoned orders.
Niccol has been more direct in framing supply reliability as a key operational priority. However, employees interviewed said shortages continued well into late 2025, indicating that the issues were not short-term hiccups but structural weaknesses built up over years.
One of the clearest indicators of trouble is delivery performance. Supply chain experts generally say that a healthy system should see at least 95% of shipments arrive on time and in full. Former Starbucks employees with direct knowledge of logistics operations said that in early 2024, fewer than one-third of deliveries to Starbucks distribution centres met that standard. Late or incomplete deliveries then cascaded through the system, leaving stores without critical ingredients.
Technology was meant to help close these gaps. Starbucks has rolled out an AI-powered “automated counting” tool designed to replace manual inventory checks in stores. Baristas use tablets to scan shelves, with the system relying on camera and sensor data to identify and count products such as syrups, milk cartons and other beverage components.
In practice, however, many café workers and managers say the tool frequently misidentifies items, confuses similar products or misses them altogether. As a result, staff often still have to manually verify counts, reducing the efficiency gains the system was supposed to deliver and weakening confidence in the data used for reordering.
Behind these newer tools lies an even older challenge. Employees say much of Starbucks’ supply chain infrastructure still relies on legacy computer systems first introduced in the late 1990s. While Starbucks has said it is modernizing these platforms, workers involved in the process describe it as complicated, expensive and risky, with older systems struggling to integrate smoothly with newer AI-driven applications.
Automation Pullbacks and Food Waste
Under former CEO Laxman Narasimhan, Starbucks leaned heavily on automated ordering systems that used machine learning to predict demand and place orders on behalf of stores. Employees said these systems often erred on the side of caution, recommending smaller shipments that increased the risk of running out of popular items.
To address this, Starbucks briefly tested an internal initiative known as “Never-Out,” which aimed to ship more products to reduce shortages. The programme was later rolled back after leadership changes, and Niccol subsequently scaled back automated ordering, returning more control to store managers so they could adjust inventory based on local conditions.
While this shift has helped some locations respond more flexibly to customer demand, it has also exposed to deeper weaknesses in Starbucks’ supply network. The company relies heavily on small, regional suppliers for many food products. Former warehouse employees said these suppliers often struggle to ramp up production quickly when demand spikes, leading to delays or shortages.
The lack of standardization across suppliers adds further complexity. Starbucks sources cups, lids and packaging from numerous vendors, many of which use different designs and materials. Employees say this makes it difficult to automate inventory tracking using cameras, unlike some competitors that rely on more uniform packaging.
Store design also plays a role. Many Starbucks locations were originally built to focus on beverages, with limited backroom storage. As food has grown into a larger share of revenue over the years, this lack of space has left stores with little margin for error. Too little inventory leads to lost sales, while too many results in excess food that cannot be stored safely.
Employees say that during periods of overstocking, stores are forced to donate or discard large amounts of food. In some cases, food banks reported a noticeable increase in donations from Starbucks following changes to ordering systems, highlighting how quickly forecasting errors can translate into waste.
Investors are closely watching whether Niccol’s changes can deliver results. Starbucks’ share price has risen modestly since he took over, but U.S. sales were flat in the most recent quarter after six consecutive quarters of decline. Analysts say consistent product availability will be critical if Starbucks hopes to rebuild customer confidence and improve margins.
For Starbucks, keeping milk, sandwiches and cups consistently available may sound straightforward. In reality, it has become one of the company’s toughest operational challenges — one that will likely require deep, long-term structural fixes rather than quick technological solutions.
