Starbucks has a new CEO — and I have some suggestions as a former barista

Starbucks needs some improvements, including easier ways to order customized drinks.

Starbucks just replaced its CEO after a rocky, short stint — and as a former barista, I can see why!

I worked at Starbucks as a teenager way back in 1999. I agree with former longtime CEO Howard Schultz and his recent manifesto. He’s right — the company has lost its way.

In the last few years, I’ve found myself feeling baffled looking at Starbucks’ menu. Strange, newfangled drinks I’ve never heard of. I can’t even predict what they’ll look like when served. I love trying new things and a fun new beverage, but I get intimidated by the menu.

I have a few ideas for new CEO Brian Niccol when he comes over from Chipotle:

• More lavender powder. This was a seasonal item this past spring, but I never got a chance to try it because it was always sold out. It was apparently so popular that stores had trouble keeping it in stock. The outgoing CEO had said the lavender flavor was on par with pumpkin spice latte as an all-time top flavor. So, more!

• Reopen the Astor Place Starbucks location in New York City that just closed. The iconic East Village location, right by NYU and Cooper Union, had been there since 1995 — an institution! This was about as close to a flagship store east of Seattle as Starbucks could get. New Yorkers need it! The premier destination in lower Manhattan for using the bathroom!

• Make wild and wacky drinks easier to order. TikTok has had a huge effect on people coming up with new drink ideas that can be made with customized ingredients. People will share those ideas with “recipes” for how to order — usually a complicated mix of syrups and add-ins and foams on top of a regular iced latte, for example. This is fun! But actually placing these customized orders on the Starbucks app is complicated. I’d love to see a function with a rotating daily or weekly “wacky drink” with all the customizations set up in the app for you. Better yet — a way to seamlessly find a strange new drink combo on TikTok and just tap it right into the app. Maybe Starbucks could even figure out a way to use AI for this.

• Label more clearly which non-coffee drinks have caffeine. I accidentally ordered a fruity refresher drink for my kid, not realizing it was caffeinated. More decaf options in general!

• Help the old timers like me figure out how to try new stuff. I usually just stick to plain hot or iced coffee, partly because I’m bewildered by the new options and don’t want to waste everyone’s time. More photos of the drinks, for example. I want to know what a blended lemonade looks like.

• Forget the boba popping balls. Boba is fun and great, but it’s better at a proper boba joint.

• Bring back the espresso brownie. I probably ate 500 of those in 1999. Top tier treat.

Now, I don’t necessarily think all of these ideas will instantly boost Starbucks’ stock price, but hey, I’m just a customer, not the CEO.