Pumpkin spice lattes and the introduction of protein cold-foam toppings gave a boost to Starbucks’s sales in the latest quarter.
For the first time in nearly two years, global sales at stores open for at least a year rose, the coffee giant said on Wednesday, up 1 percent in the three months ending in September compared with a year earlier.
Overall, global revenue rose 5.5 percent from a year earlier, to $9.6 billion.
But net income slumped 85 percent to $133 million. The steep drop was a result of restructuring expenses related to the closure of 627 stores in late September, largely in the United States, and a reduction of about 900 corporate staff, in addition to the 1,100 jobs the company cut earlier this year.
Brian Niccol, who joined the company as its chief executive a little more than a year ago, said the improved results showed that his turnaround plan was working.
“I think the fourth quarter marked kind of a turn for us in our U.S. operations,” he said on a Wednesday call with analysts. He added, “We still have a lot of work in front of us, but it’s clear we’re moving in the right direction.”
For much of the past year, Mr. Niccol has raced to put the coffee chain on more solid ground. He has focused on addressing frequent customer complaints, from long waits for coffees to a lack of seating.
But increased competition from other coffee chains as well as belt-tightening by some consumers reduced traffic and spending at Starbucks for nearly two years.
In the United States, same-store sales were flat in the quarter, with transactions declining by about 1 percent from a year earlier.
Mr. Niccol said Starbucks had made changes around the sequencing of orders and placed additional baristas and help in stores during peak hours. As a result, 80 percent of U.S. company-operated coffeehouses got their orders out in four minutes or less on average.
Meanwhile, same-store sales in international markets increased 3 percent from a year earlier. Starbucks has struggled against local competitors in China, its second-largest market, over the past year or so, but saw same-store sales there climb 2 percent in the quarter.
Mr. Niccol said the company, which has been hunting for a strategic partner for its Chinese operations, said it had received “very strong interest from multiple high-quality partners.”
Starbucks executives said they were optimistic about a continued recovery in the U.S. market heading into the holiday season as the company brought back popular drinks like Peppermint Mocha and Eggnog Latte.
But Cathy Smith, the chief financial officer, remained cautious. ”Turnarounds are difficult to forecast,” she said on the call. While Starbucks believes U.S. sales should continue to build, “we also know that recoveries are not always linear.”
Julie Creswell is a business reporter covering the food industry for The Times, writing about all aspects of food, including farming, food inflation, supply-chain disruptions and climate change.
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