Starbucks says customers staying longer to take advantage of free refills

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Starbucks has spent the last few months "getting back to Starbucks," and its free refill perk is at the center of recent success, according to the company.

The Seattle-based coffee chain is in the midst of a rebrand that began after Brian Niccol, Starbucks chairman and CEO, took the helm in September 2024.

Niccol, who vowed to prioritize customers and boost sales, has enacted several changes since the beginning of the year, including but not limited to the reversal of its open-door policy, menu changes, updated dress code, as well as the return of certain coffeehouse amenities, such as free refills.

"We’re working hard to ensure our coffeehouses have the right vibe," Niccol said at a March shareholder meeting. "We want to invite customers in, showcase our great coffee, provide a comfortable place to stay, and make them feel like their visit was time well spent."

While most of the changes are still fresh, Starbucks says they're "seeing early signs" that customers are choosing to stay to enjoy the free refill benefit, which was previously exclusive to Starbucks Rewards members.

The coffee magnate recently shared those "insights" with Paste BN.

Here's what they've been seeing.

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Starbucks shares 'insights' about free refill perk

Customers have been able to get free refills on hot or iced brewed coffee or tea since Jan. 27, providing them with an incentive to stick around even longer.

The insights provided to Paste BN by Starbucks were derived from the number of free refill orders placed. Through this data, Starbucks revealed what the most popular refill beverage is overall, the most popular refill beverages in certain regions and other trends.

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Here's what Starbucks has learned so far:

• Hot brewed coffee is the most popular refill beverage, making up more than half of free refills ordered, even though cold drinks continue to make up a majority of Starbucks beverage sales.
• Customers are ordering refills of iced coffee and iced tea at the same rate.
• While refills are being enjoyed across the country, the West Coast is enjoying refills the most, ordering more than 40% of all refills. 
• As the country heads into the warmer months, Starbucks is seeing an increase in the number of iced coffee and iced tea refills ordered
• While hot coffee is the clear favorite across all regions, the Southwest, Midwest and West Coast are ordering more refills of iced tea than iced coffee. 

A pool of Starbucks customers shared in a recent interview with Paste BN that while they, themselves, might not be impacted by the chain requiring customers to buy something to hang out or use the bathroom, they could see how others might be.

“You go where you can to get work done,” Janna Weston said. “Starbucks can be kind of pricey at times. I could see for students in college how that might be a barrier to them.” Some employees and even a few customers have already felt the strain brought on by the enforcement of the new policy.

Contributing: Saleen Martin, Paste BN

This story was updated to correct a typo.