New York (CNN) Starbucks is changing its ice cream cones. Will her clients be efficient?
Customers ordering cold drinks now drink “nugg ice” in their drinks, smaller than the chain’s ice cubes.
Ice is a key ingredient for the coffee giant, especially iced craft brews that currently account for 75 percent of sales. Snow is also a flash point for its customers.
Initial reactions to the new snow on Reddit are mixed, but positive. Some notice it’s chewy or flaky and say it’s similar to the ice used on Sonic and Coffee Beans. The so-called “pellet ice” has some fans, but others worry that it will water down drinks or change the appearance of frappuccinos.
The nuggets don’t melt as quickly, the company says, and switching to nuggets doesn’t mean customers will get less ice because baristas use the same ice skates.
The company’s new iteration of Ice received “very good response” in the tests, he said.
Starbucks is revamping some of its drinks for the summer. The company announced last week that it would cost an extra $1 per undiluted Refresher drink, saying it “requires more ingredients.”
Refreshments are the chain’s popular line of non-coffee drinks, including cold juices and dried fruit slices, plus milk, water or lemonade.
New Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan sees areas for improvement in the business, including installing new equipment. Starbucks has a goal of cutting its water use in half by 2030.
Starbucks said in a statement that the new ice machines will use less water and will be rolled out to all of its stores over the next several years.
“There’s more work to do to keep our stores in line with the demand we’ve seen, to advance our technology, how we improve our equipment, and how we can focus and execute better on the core,” Narasimhan said earlier. This month on the earnings call.