Starbucks cuts back on discounts

The chain has been offering a series of discounts over the past year as it attempted to lure back customers. But The Wall Street Journal reports new CEO Brian Niccol is ending that practice, opting to return to a positioning as a premium brand.

Starbucks, for much of its history, resisted efforts to offer deals, relying on its products and seasonal drinks to bring in customers. But repeated price increases and inflation began to chew away at the loyalty of those regulars, forcing the company to offer everything from extra loyalty points to discounts.

Over the summer, for example, the coffee chain introduced a new “pairings menu,” which gives customers the ability to pair a tall hot or iced tea or coffee with some staple foods, including a butter croissant or breakfast sandwich for $5 to $6.

This holiday season, however, you won’t see offers like that. Last month, some deals were reduced to just once per week. And as November and December approach, the company plans to focus on promoting its seasonal drinks, according to the Journal.

Starbucks didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Niccol has vowed to bring Starbucks back to its former glory, a challenging assignment, as the company has run through four CEOs in the last two years.

“In some places—especially in the U.S.—we aren’t always delivering,” Niccol wrote in a memo to employees last month. “It can feel transactional, menus can feel overwhelming, the product is inconsistent, the wait too long or the handoff too hectic… We’re refocusing on what has always set Starbucks apart—a welcoming coffeehouse where people gather, and where we serve the finest coffee, handcrafted by our skilled baristas.”

Niccol previously was CEO of Chipotle and is credited for turning around that Tex-Mex chain, which saw its stock price soar 250% in the past five years.