Do you have favorite personal coffee cup or travel mug that you use to take your home-brewed coffee out the door in the morning? But do you often find that nice mug sitting empty on your desk or in your car’s cupholder, next to a hot cup of coffee in a single-use, paper-based foodservice packaging cup? That mug remains in your car cupholder, while the actual coffee packaging ends up in landfill. Seems like a waste, doesn’t it?
As an incentive, consumers who bring any clean, personal cup will receive a $0.10 discount on their beverage, and in the U.S., Starbucks Rewards members will receive 25 Bonus Stars (rewards points).
Starbucks is looking to rectify this disconnect. Starting today, consumers at all company-operated and participating licensed Starbucks stores across the U.S. and Canada can use their clean personal cup when ordering in retail stores, in the drive-through, or when ordering ahead with the Starbucks app. With most Starbucks beverages enjoyed on-the-go, this milestone unlocks a big opportunity for consumers to choose reusable foodservice packaging and supports Starbucks commitment to reduce waste by 50% by 2030.
“At Starbucks, we envision a future where every beverage can be served in a reusable cup,” says Michael Kobori, Starbucks chief sustainability officer. “Offering customers more options to use a personal cup when they visit Starbucks marks tangible progress towards the future. We know our customers are passionate about the planet, and now, they can join us in our efforts to give more than we take, no matter how they order.”
Packaging impact & potential friction
What does this mean for foodservice packaging and packaging waste? Simply put, there should be less of it. Exactly how much less depends on consumer adoption of the program. But early tests at Starbucks Tryer Innovation Lab, and in-market beta-testing spanning 200 stores in Colorado last spring, have shown that adoption could be strong, thus impactful on limiting waste. Starbucks employees informed and helped co-design the consumer reusable cup "smallware" all stores will now use to transfer orders to personal cups.
“As long as we are following all our procedures and steps, it doesn’t add any more time, and it is actually making customers happier,” said an employee/barista who worked at a store that participated in the Colorado test. “This has been a really big hit.”
“Partner [employee] advocacy, or partners talking to customers in stores about the ease of bringing a personal cup, as well as the personal cup incentive, will be key to bringing customer behavior change to life. Starbucks has been championing reusable cup options for 30 years, and in recent years Starbucks has conducted more than 20 reusables tests in stores around the world with more planned in the year ahead,” the company said in a release.
One potential wrinkle, though it seems to be an easily scalable hurdle for motivated consumers, is that any mug you bring in must be reasonably clean. “For customers’ safety and ours, baristas are unable to rinse personal cups in Starbucks equipment sinks,” the company said in a release. “For this reason, no dirty cups will be accepted.” Starbucks needs to consider what it’s asking its personnel to come in contact with, so baristas won’t be able to rinse that mug out for you—you’ll have to do that. That seems reasonable, but it’s a noteworthy potential friction point from a consumer behavior perspective.
Nuts and bolts of the program
To help jumpstart program awareness and adoption, Starbucks is ponying up incentives. Consumers at participating stores in the U.S. and Canada who bring any clean, personal cup will receive a $0.10 discount on their beverage, and in the U.S., Starbucks Rewards members will receive 25 Bonus Stars (what it calls points in its rewards program).
In a retail location, consumers tell the barista when they order that they brought their own personal cup. Consumers choosing to sit and stay in the retail location can also request a reusable ceramic or glass cup at most stores.
While ordering in the drive-through lane at the retail store, consumers order their beverage as usual and let the barista know they brought their own cup. At the pickup window, baristas will collect consumers’ personal cup without the lid using a contactless vessel to ensure hygiene and safety. The beverage will be returned the same way.
While ordering in the drive-through lane at the retail store, consumers order their beverage as usual and let the barista know they brought their own cup. At the pickup window, baristas will collect consumers’ personal cup without the lid using a contactless vessel to ensure hygiene and safety. The beverage will be returned the same way. Finally, when consumers order via the Starbucks app, first they will hit the “Customization” button and then select “Personal Cup” in the customization menu and continue ordering as normal. When they get to the store, consumers connect with their barista at the pick-up area, and hand over their clean personal cup without the lid. The barista will serve the beverage, add any finishing touches and pass it back in a contactless vessel.
Consumers do not need to purchase a specific Starbucks cup for the program—they can use any personal cup provided, again, that it’s clean. That means there’s no up-front cost to participate, assuming you already have a mug or cup. There’s also not much limitation in what can be ordered. All Starbucks standard size options (short, tall, grande, venti) and beverage formats (hot, iced, and blended) are eligible to be ordered in a personal cup.
Here's how the interaction with a barista will go when they bring in a personal cup. Consumers order their beverage as they would normally, letting the barista know they brought their own clean, personal cup and the size they would like. Baristas then build the beverage using a new, custom beverage craft “smallware” that has standardized lines partners need for measurements. The barista then pours the freshly prepared beverage into consumers’ personal cup and adding any toppings.
when consumers order via the Starbucks app, first they will hit the “Customization” button and then select “Personal Cup” in the customization menu and continue ordering as normal. When they get to the store, consumers connect with their barista at the pick-up area, and hand over their clean personal cup without the lid.
For its part, Starbucks says it’s the first national coffeehouse in the U.S. to offer consumers the option to use their personal cup when mobile ordering. In Canada, Starbucks is the first to offer consumers the option to use their personal cup in mobile order for all drinks and all sizes. This is part of a larger cultural movement the company is leading to shift toward reusable packaging and away from single-use packaging, especially plastics, making it convenient for consumers to use their own personal cup for every visit.
"As we know, the most sustainable cup is likely the one you already own. Bringing your own cup to stores is a critical step toward reducing single-use packaging waste. Starbucks is a leader in this work, as the first national retailer of scale to offer personal cup ordering in every channel, including mobile order,” says Kate Daly, Managing Director and Head of the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners. “The NextGen Consortium is proud to have Starbucks as a founding member of the Consortium to reduce packaging waste and looks forward to supporting Starbucks in their work to advance a waste-free world.” PW
