Starbucks is using AI to help managers count inventory. | Photo courtesy of Starbucks.
Robots are about to start helping Starbucks managers with one of their most tedious tasks: Counting inventory.
The coffee shop giant is rolling out AI-powered, automated counting across its company-owned coffee shops in North America.
The technology features computer vision, 3D spatial intelligence and augmented reality to count stock in minutes, rather than the hour-plus it usually takes.
Employees, which Starbucks calls “partners,” use a handheld tablet to scan products on shelves, which counts the items as they go. The technology was developed in partnership with the inventory management company NomadGo.
In using the technology, Starbucks managers can spend more time serving customers. But the technology also enables stores to keep better track of inventory.
The data can then be used to speed delivery and minimize situations in which stores run out of product, which has been a problem for the chain in recent years.
“We’ve already deployed this innovation in thousands of coffeehouses,” Deb Hall Lefevre, Starbucks chief technology officer, said in a blog post. “The impact is clear: Inventory is now counted eight times more frequently, giving us real-time visibility and enabling faster, more precise replenishment.”
She said that the automated counting will be in place in all stores by the end of September.
Starbucks has been quickly adding AI to more of its coffee shops in multiple channels in recent months.
That includes Green Dot Assist, an AI-powered virtual assistant that can help baristas with a variety of tasks in a conversational manner, such as the ingredients that go into a certain drink.
There is also Smart Queue, which is designed to help baristas navigate peak times.
All this effort comes as Starbucks works to lift itself out of a difficult sales slump that started in late 2023 and led to an overhaul of management and numerous other changes at the company.
There are some signs of progress. The company showed signs of sales progress last quarter, and sales hit a record last week after the introduction of its Pumpkin Spice Latte.
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