Starbucks’ (SBUX) long untapped afternoon business is finally beginning to perk up. “As you kind of move through the day, we continue to see transaction growth, just not quite at the same level of what we’re seeing in the morning,” Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol told Wall Street…
alysts on its late Wednesday earnings call. Improving on the afternoon business is going to take “a combination of beverage and food, then also, just getting better at our routines in the afternoon,” he added
The afternoon business has considerable runway for growth, analysts say. The midday and afternoon generate $11 billion in sales after 11:00 a.m., Starbucks said in an April blog post. The company launched new energy drinks — more formally known as Refreshers — in April to get the ball rolling.
But more is on tap. Niccol said on the call that Starbucks is now testing wraps and soon will debut a line of sparkling beverages. “If you look at where the business was, there’s still lots of space to add more transactions both in the morning and in the afternoon. We’ve made tremendous progress in both day parts, but there still is a lot of room for growth,” Niccol said.