Starbucks is implementing yet another change in 2025 — this time to its mobile ordering system.
In an attempt to speed up service, the coffee company is decreasing the number of maximum number of items customers can order online from 15 to 12, Starbucks confirmed to TODAY.
Users on the Starbucks app and website will also no longer be able to make certain modifications.
Adding a splash of milk or lemonade to a classic Refresher is not an option anymore, and the option to order caffè americano without water has also been nixed, Bloomberg first reported.
According to the outlet, this is because these modifications are included in beverages that already exist on the menu.
Starbucks noted that about three-quarters of customized beverages have fewer than three modifications — and this doesn’t mean customization is gone for good.
Customers can still personalize their drinks by adding cold foam and syrups for an Americano, for example, as well as other options, the app shows.
The coffee giant is reportedly implementing these changes to reduce wait times, make a better ordering experience for customers and soften the workload for baristas.
Baristas and patrons alike have been complaining about the mobile ordering system for years, saying that it’s had a negative impact on the Starbucks experience.
“As a customer, I hate what mobile ordering has done to the cafe experience,” one person wrote on the Starbucks sub-Reddit page two years ago.
“It really seems like the mobile ordering changed the dynamic in the cafe. No longer are there people actually sitting in the cafe, it’s just people hugging the wall while staring down the baristas, and impatiently waiting,” they continued. “The customers are baristas both seem miserable.”
An employee confessed on Reddit in May 2024 that they “should not be feeling like I walked into a burning building every time I start my shift.”
“I should not be asked to stay well over what I was originally scheduled for almost every day. I should not be holding my pee for 1-2 hours because if I dare to go to the bathroom for 2 minutes, everything will collapse on 2 other people on the floor,” they continued. “How do they expect us to connect with customers when we have to do a 5 person job at the same time?”
However, some baristas are skeptical that this change will even make a difference, noting that customers are already finding their way around the order limits.
“This literally doesn’t even matter since there’s no cooldown on the mobile app. The other day, a lady ordered 12 drinks, and then 12 food items, and then another couple food and drink items,” one person wrote on Reddit. “This changes nothing.”
“Last week a woman ordered 35 drinks on 5 separate back-to-back orders,” someone chimed in.
“I had a customer who would place 2 orders every Tuesday since he hit the cap. That way he can get drinks for the whole office,” another added.
This is all part of CEO Brian Niccol’s “Back to Starbucks” initiative, a plan to simplify offerings and return to its roots.
When Niccol first took charge of the company last September, he noted that one of his priorities to accelerate growth would be to simplify the “overly complex” menu so baristas can speed up service.
In addition to changes in mobile ordering, the coffee chain will be cutting “roughly 30%” of food and drink options from its menu by late 2025, Niccol said. Menu items already booted include Starbucks’ olive oil-infused drinks, which were only around for one year.
Starbucks also reinstated its free-refill policy — with a catch. Customers who are ordering in-store will now be asked if they would like their drink “for here” or “to go.” Those who order “for here” will get their drink served in a ceramic mug, glass or a personal cup. These people will be able to get free refills during their visit.
Additionally, patrons will once again be able to use the old-school self-serve stations, where they can find milk, sugar, sweeteners, spices and stirrers. Starbucks recently changed its code of conduct, reversing their open-door policy which allowed anyone to hang out at the cafes or use its restrooms without a purchase.
The company is also bringing back Sharpies, having baristas handwrite customers’ names on their drinks — which some baristas are already growing resentful toward.
