Starbucks brings back condiment bar, free refills on drinks ordered "for here"
Starbucks customers will notice some changes brewing. Starting Monday, stores are bringing back the condiment bar and offering free refills of hot or iced brewed coffee and tea for dine-in customers.
The self-serve condiment bars, home to creamers, milk, sweeteners and stirrers, were removed from Starbucks locations during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Starbucks previously said the return to letting customers do it themselves will help free up baristas to make other drinks.
Starbucks baristas will also ask customers if they would like to order "for here" or "to go". Customers who order drinks "for here" will receive their order in a ceramic coffee mug or glass, or in a clean personal cup brought from home.
"Offering customers who sit and stay their beverages in ceramic mugs and glassware is one way we're returning our cafes to warm welcoming coffeehouses," a Starbucks spokesperson said in an emailed statement. "It's also another way that Starbucks is reducing waste and making each visit a more sustainable choice."
More than 75% of Starbucks' U.S. beverage sales are cold drinks, often served in plastic cups. Though the cafés offer recycling bins, a recent CBS News investigation found that many of those cups don't actually end up getting recycled. It's a problem that goes far beyond Starbucks — few recycling facilities around the country accept this type of single-use plastic for processing.
Starbucks says it aims to reduce its overall waste by 50% by 2030, and it rolled out redesigned cups last year made with up to 20% less plastic.
Customers who order any drinks "for here," in a reusable cup or mug, will also be eligible for free refills of hot or iced brewed coffee or tea during that visit to a participating Starbucks location in the U.S. and Canada. But fans of cold brew, nitro cold brew, iced tea lemonade, flavored ice tea and Starbucks Refreshers are out of luck — those drinks are not available for refill.
Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol last year shared his vision of Starbucks becoming "a welcoming coffee house where people gather and where we serve the finest coffee."
Under his leadership, Starbucks also recently reversed its open-door policy, requiring people to make a purchase if they want to hang out at its coffee shops or use the restrooms. The open-door policy had been instituted in 2018, after two Black men were arrested at a Philadelphia Starbucks where they had gone for a business meeting.
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