People are spending more money at Starbucks than ever before by ordering complicated drinks, cold beverages, and food
- Starbucks posted its highest-ever quarterly revenues on Tuesday.
- Americans are placing more orders - and their orders are getting more expensive, too.
- The chain credited this to customers adding cold drinks, modifications, and food to their orders.
Americans are placing bigger Starbucks orders than ever before.
Starbucks posted its highest-ever quarterly revenues Tuesday, which the chain credited to more customers ordering complicated drinks and cold beverages, as well as a record number of people adding food to their orders.
Starbucks' net revenues were up 78% year-over-year, to a record $7.5 billion, fueled by huge growth in its Americas segment.
People have been placing more expensive orders during the pandemic. Average US ticket size at company-owned stores has now reached a record high, John Culver, group president of international channel development and global coffee, tea, and cocoa, said during the company's earnings call Tuesday.
More people have been ordering using the app or drive-thru, where they tend to place bigger orders, and people have been adding more modifications to their drinks, too. Nearly a quarter of all customers ordering milk-related beverages ask for an alternative to dairy, Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson said.
"Growth in cold beverages and customization, coupled with sustained strong beverage attach and record food attach in Q3, all contributed to the strong ticket," Rachel Ruggeri, Starbucks' chief financial officer, said.
Starbucks did not say what the average ticket size was, but a former Starbucks shift supervisor in Atlanta told Insider that the average customer order was more than $9, which is what new starters make per hour.
A Starbucks worker went viral earlier this month after she posted a video of a 22-drink order on TikTok, saying: "I guess Karen's little sister ordered today."
Starbucks baristas told Insider they've been flooded with orders for complicated drinks with tons of modifications, including an iced latte with 12 shots of coffee, alongside five shots of hazelnut syrup.
As well as orders getting bigger and more expensive, people are now placing more of them, too, after the transaction volume plummeted during the pandemic.
Customers placed 80% more orders at company-owned US Starbucks stores in the third quarter, between late March and late June, than they did during the same time period last year.
The number of transactions has reached nearly 90% of pre-pandemic levels, Ruggeri said.
As a result, comparable US store sales are up 83% year-over-year.
Culver said that sales had recovered at rural and suburban areas across the US, especially for drive-thru locations. Drive-thru now accounts for 47% of all Starbucks sales, and mobile orders make up a further 26%.
Culver said that he expected the average ticket to "moderately decrease" as more people order from Starbucks stores in urban areas when they return to the office. This could lead to a rise in single-drink orders, Ruggeri said.
"But we do believe that our ticket will remain slightly elevated compared to a pre-pandemic level," she said.
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