Close-up of a Starbucks branded paper bag on a picnic table outdoors in a park, Walnut Creek, California, May 19, 2024.
Smith Collection/gado | Archive Photos | Getty Images
Coffee delivery has turned into a $1 billion business for Starbucks.
The coffee giant said on Wednesday that its annual delivery sales crossed the milestone in fiscal 2025, which ended on Sept. 30. In the company’s fiscal fourth quarter, delivery sales climbed almost 30% compared with the year-ago period, executives said.
The growth of Starbucks’ delivery initiative comes as the company’s broader U.S. business embarks on a turnaround. Starbucks reported flat U.S. same-store sales in the fiscal fourth quarter, reversing the previous seven quarters of domestic same-store sales declines as customers made their coffee at home or defected to rivals.
The coffee giant began testing delivery roughly a decade ago, but Starbucks has been slower to roll it out than many other restaurant companies. Nationwide delivery became available through Uber Eats in 2020, DoorDash in 2023 and Grubhub last year. Today, the vast majority of the coffee chain’s company-operated U.S. cafes offer delivery.
U.S. consumers have also been slower to embrace coffee delivery than other markets, like China. In Starbucks’ home market, drive-thru lanes and mobile order options offer similar convenience without the delivery fees.
Perhaps to justify the higher cost, the typical Starbucks delivery order is nearly twice the size of an in-store transaction, according to the company. More than 40% of the chain’s delivery orders include food.
Though broader restaurant spending has slowed as consumers face higher costs, food delivery hasn’t seen the same plummeting sales. Discounts and promotions have helped third-party apps hold onto customers, along with their moves to branch out into new categories, like alcohol and grocery delivery.
