6 Major Changes You'll See at Starbucks This Year

Although Starbucks is the world's largest coffee chain—even bigger than Dunkin'!—generating billions of dollars in revenue yearly, it's always looking for ways to improve.

Known for its delicious coffee, cold drinks, sweet treats, and savory snacks, the Seattle-founded brand has undergone many changes in recent years. For example, in 2023, it introduced new ice and upgraded drink toppings such as standalone blenders, expanded its delivery channels to partner with companies like DoorDash, committed to improving its food selection in the future, and outlined its sustainability goals. 

Although it's only spring, 2024 looks like another year filled with major changes for the brand. For instance, the company recently announced newly developed menu items, redesigned stores with accessibility kept in mind, exciting new merchandise, and green initiatives that will help the chain reach its longer-term sustainability goals—and there are still six months left in the year.

Read ahead to learn about six major changes you'll see at Starbucks in 2024.

New Cold Cups

Starbucks

If you've noticed that Starbucks cups are different lately, you're not imagining it—they are. The company announced on April 18 that it was rolling out new designs for its tall, grande, venti, and trenta sizes of single-use cold drink cups. The company developed these with the Tryer Center, the Starbucks innovation hub based in Seattle.

According to the company's website, these new designs use 10 to 20% less plastic, translating to over 13.5 million pounds of plastic saved from landfills each year. Even better? Besides keeping plastic out of landfills, these cups are also set to reduce emissions and conserve water. They're also cheaper to make, which is a bonus for the company.

This positive change is just the beginning of Starbucks' ongoing commitment to sustainability. Looking ahead, the company aims to cut its carbon, water, and waste footprint by 50% by 2030. Even more, Starbucks plans to make all of its consumer packaging reusable, recyclable, and compostable by then, too. 

Redesigned Stores

Starbucks

Cups aren't the only thing that Starbucks is redesigning. According to its website, the global coffee shop chain is having newly remodeled stores adhere to a set of guidelines that will make the renovated locations more accessible for both employees and customers. 

The guidelines include several innovations, including power-operated doors, longer vertical "push" buttons, lower counters, updated point-of-sale setups with adjustable angle stands, and voice assist. Washington, D.C., is the first city to get one of these newly designed spaces, and the company hopes to open 640 more throughout the next year.

Brand-New Summer Menu Items

Starbucks

If you've been pining for new Starbucks drinks and treats perfect for summer, you'll be happy to hear that the company recently dropped its new seasonal menu offerings. The summer-themed lineup includes the following:

• Summer-Berry Starbucks Refresher Beverage: A sweet, cold drink made from raspberry, blueberry, and blackberry flavors. It's shaken with ice and served in a cup with popping raspberry-flavored pearls.
• Summer-Berry Lemonade Starbucks Refreshers Beverage: Featuring the Summer-Berry Refresher ingredients combined with lemonade. 
• Summer Skies Drink: A creamy, coconut milk-based drink made with the Summer-Berry Refresher components and also served with ice and popping raspberry pearls.
• White Chocolate Macadamia Cream Cold Brew: Starbucks Cold Brew mixed with sweet macadamia syrup and finished with white chocolate macadamia cream cold foam and toasted cookie crumbles.
• New Iced Coffee Blend: A new take on the brand's famous cold brew made unsweetened without classic syrup but can be customized based on your preferences. 

Beyond drinks, Starbucks also rolled out summer-themed sweet snacks, including an Orange Cream Cake Pop made with buttercream and white chocolate and a tasty Pineapple Cream Cake prepared with pineapple cream, pineapple spread, whole fruit pieces, and a sweet drizzle on top. If you're worried about these menu items selling out too quickly, you'll also be happy to hear that the company is working on correcting its supply-chain issues to ensure that it can meet popular demand. 

Summer-Themed Merchandise

Starbucks

Attention, all Stanley cup enthusiasts! Starbucks has recently dropped a Starbucks x Stanley Quencher collab cup that sports a warm orange-yellow hue and can hold up to 40 ounces of liquid. Aptly named the Sunset Gradient cup, this colorful product is just one of many new cup designs that Starbucks recently introduced. 

Other standout merch available to buy include the Pastel Blue Vacuum Seal Cold Cup, which keeps your drink chilled even during the hottest summer temperatures, and the Light Green Bling Cold Cup, perfect for those who like a bit of glitz and glam. Besides cold cups, there are also collapsible water bottles, keychains, and tumblers. Keep in mind that these items are only available in participating stores for a limited time. 

In-App Deals and Offers

Starbucks

If you don't yet have the Starbucks app downloaded to your phone, you may want to change that. In May, the company unveiled an exciting list of in-app deals and offers, including personalized promotions for individual members every Monday throughout the month. Stay tuned for any June deals coming soon.

"Greener" Stores

Starbucks

Piggybacking off of Starbucks' recent sustainable changes to its cold cup designs, the brand is also hard at work making its stores more environmentally friendly as well. Starbucks currently has 6,091 Certified Greener Stores, a figure that has nearly doubled since last year. Its goal is to have 10,000 certified green stores by 2025, perhaps making its other company goal a little bit easier to achieve—reducing carbon emissions, water usage, and landfill waste by 50% by 2030. 

These Greener Stores are currently in 44 different markets, including the newly added India, New Zealand, Italy, France, Spain, and Singapore markets. Several sustainable features that make a store "greener" include solar panels, water recycling tanks, high-efficiency appliances, low-emitting paint and sealant, and food composting and donating. It also means meeting standards across eight environmental impact areas developed in partnership with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and SCS Global Services, such as water stewardship, community, and responsible materials. 

Michael Kobori, Starbucks' chief sustainability officer, shared on the company's website that the chain's "big vision for the future" is to make every Starbucks store more sustainable. "That's why I'm excited to see the continued growth of Greener Stores globally, driven by the passion of our partners," Kobori said in a press release. "Starbucks' environmental promise comes to life through our baristas' daily actions, which help define a Greener Store, our innovative shift toward reusable cups, and our partnership with coffee farmers on sustainable growing practices — it's all part of our commitment to give more than we take from the planet."