Starbucks will try to cut down on wrong orders

The Seattle-based coffee chain will enhance its new and renovated stores with ceiling baffles, which absorb sound and cut down on reverberations, as part of a framework to make its stores more accessible for people with disabilities. Other design changes include power-operated doors, lower counters, and a board for customers to see when their order is ready, a Starbucks spokesperson told Fortune.

The company predicts that, in particular, the baffles, which hang from the ceiling and can be installed with relative ease, will help baristas to better hear customer orders along with making its coffee shops more welcoming for those with hearing loss. The new accessibility framework was first announced in February and has already been implemented in a store in Washington D.C.’s Union Market neighborhood. 

The changes to reduce background noise could also cut down on barista mistakes, especially for those taking drive-thru orders in a noisy café. Cutting down on barista errors could be a boon for Starbucks, especially as it plans to invest big in drive-thrus over the coming years, said Sara Trilling, president of Starbucks North America, in an interview with Bloomberg. 

“Imagine you’ve got all that background noise happening, and then you’ve got a window open in front of you, and you’re trying to communicate with a customer,” she said, adding that improved acoustics “will translate to order accuracy and just a better customer experience overall.”

As of October, Starbucks had already reported a combined $68 million in costs related to increasing efficiency and bettering the customer and employee experience over its past two fiscal years in line with a major reinvention plan. The company recorded an 11.9% increase in net revenue between its fiscal 2023 ended in October and the year prior for both its company operated and licensed stores, according to its most recent 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In part because of the complexity of its menu (possibly along with the noise) Starbucks employees are known to make errors—so much so that the phenomena has spawned a multitude of online memes. Some articles by former baristas even speculate on the telltale signs of an impending wrong order.