Additionally, Starbucks will implement employee pre-checks with thermometers available in all stores. Every employee will take their temperature and then validate if they’re ready to work through a series of questions.

“Pre-COVID, 80% of our customer occasions in stores in the U.S. were for to-go take-away,” Johnson noted. “And so, by augmenting the in-store experience with mobile ordering and contactless pickup, we can service significant volume of customers without having the cafe seating area actually opened.”

While Starbucks has always spoke of its cafes as being the “third place” for community connection, as shelter-in-place orders lift, it remains to be seen if consumers will return to public gathering situations.  

In China, 83% of Starbucks stores that are open have seating with social distancing in place, said John Culver, group president, International, Channel Development & Global Coffee and Tea.

“We are seeing people come back into the cafes and sit there, albeit not to the levels that we saw pre-COVID,” he said. “What we’re seeing is that there is a higher percentage of to-go orders taking place in China and we expect that trend to continue. And, if there is a silver lining, I think it is forming a new habit in China, where you are seeing more people take to-go orders and get used to doing that.

“And so we’re optimistic that the shift will continue to occur. We anticipate the 80% of where we were pre-COVID will come back, maybe not as high, but the overall sales levels that we’ll see in China, we will get back to full recovery and on a path to full recovery by the end of this fiscal year.”