Nav: Home > Coffee News >

One person manages 2 stores?! Starbucks will implement a new operating model

Published: 2026-08-25 Author:

Last Updated: 2026/08/25, ▲ Click to pay attention| Daily Boutique Coffee Culture Magazine Coffee Factory Today, according to Snack Group, starting January next year, Starbucks, which operates more than 7600 coffee shops in the China market, will launch a new operating model. Xiaozhidai revealed that at the District Managers Summit held behind closed doors in Starbucks China in November this year,

▲

Click follow | Daily boutique coffee culture magazine coffee workshop

Starbucks, which operates more than 7600 coffee shops in the Chinese market, will launch a new operating model from January, snack Dai reported today.

Snack Dai revealed that at Starbucks' closed-door regional managers summit in China in November, the company proposed for the first time that 2025 would focus on "refreshing the Starbucks experience, focusing on partner development, and strengthening brand equity."

In a recent employee letter from Starbucks China, the specific content related to it was described, which mentioned that the "sailing project" would be officially launched from January 2025. The project will bring new changes to stores across the country, changing some stores from the previous "individual combat" mode to "team attack".

"We will adapt measures to local conditions, gain a more detailed and in-depth understanding of the stores in different regions, business circles and customer groups, and form some stores into multi-store communities," Starbucks' vice president of operations in China said in the letter. As for the so-called "multi-store community", according to people familiar with the matter, it is made up of two Starbucks stores, under which a Starbucks manager will manage two stores at the same time for the first time.

However, the person said that the multi-store management model is not generally applicable, but through Starbucks comprehensive consideration to select suitable stores for combination. For example, if there is a difference in the peak time near the store, then after getting through to each other, managed by a manager, you can dispatch the staff of the two stores according to the actual situation to better operate the store.

In the eyes of industry insiders, the move may enable Starbucks China to manage its growing store network more efficiently and better cope with the fierce competitive environment.

In addition to the new operation model of "multi-store community", Starbucks is also adjusting its job settings and launching a new job title "SM-2 (Senior Store Manager)".

According to people familiar with the matter, senior store managers are between single-store managers and district managers, mainly aimed at multi-store communities in the new operation model and characteristic stores with more complex management. it will help to reduce the span and difficulty for Starbucks employees to be directly promoted from single-store managers to district managers, and also reflect changes in the scope of responsibilities and capabilities of store managers after "multi-store management."

Of course, "more work, more pay", the newly set up senior store managers will receive more compensation than single store managers, and Starbucks will also provide targeted training for employees to adapt quickly. In addition, the letter also said that Starbucks will increase the demand for duty supervisor positions, comprehensively upgrade the training system, and continuously digitally empower employees to improve the overall quality of employees and enable stores to operate efficiently.

In this regard, onlookers have said that Starbucks' new operation model has a precedent in China. McDonald's, KFC and other catering brands are now implementing this "shared manager" model. "KFC is far ahead of three, and not only the manager, but also three in the management group" and "McDonald's one person and four restaurants". In addition, Starbucks employees revealed that before the letter was sent, some stores in Beijing had already implemented the operation model.

They say that the "shared manager" mode of operation may reduce costs, increase efficiency and improve human efficiency for brands, but in their eyes, this change may indicate that Starbucks is not as profitable as it used to be. at the same time, it also makes people worry about whether the implementation of the measure will have a negative impact on the service quality of offline stores.

Picture from: Internet

Disclaimer: some of the pictures in this article come from the network, and some of the contents of the website, such as pictures, we will respect the origin of the original copyright, but due to the large number, there will be individual pictures and texts not in time to indicate, please forgive me. If the original author has any disputes can contact the website to deal with, once verified we will immediately correct, by the "coffee workshop" collation and editing, reprint please indicate, if infringement, please inform deletion, thank you ~!

FrontStreet Coffee is a long-established specialty coffee roaster in Guangzhou China, selling freshly roasted beans from its own farm in Yunnan as well as dozens of carefully selected single-origin beans from around the world for both pour-over and espresso. The products deliver consistently excellent quality and great value, with shipping within 24 hours. Guangzhou’s FrontStreet Coffee shop is recommended by many coffee lovers, and the beans are now available online at the Tmall 。