Starbucks plans AI drive-thru tests and personalized digital menus for returning customers

What Starbucks said

Starbucks reported its fourth-quarter and full-year fiscal 2026 results on 29 October 2026, with global comparable sales up 7.2% and quarterly revenue of $9.1 billion, according to its earnings release. On the conference call that followed, chairman and CEO Brian Niccol set out plans for the drive-thru, which he said roughly half of customers use.

"In fiscal '27, we'll begin testing background AI models and the drive-thru that help our baristas input orders more accurately and efficiently as they interact with customers," Niccol said, according to the call transcript. He said the aim is to let staff focus on customers while improving throughput and speed of service. Starbucks is also exploring experiences that recognize participating customers as they arrive, present personalized digital menus and make payment easier. "We're early in this work, and we'll test, learn and scale what works," he said.

AI in the app and beyond

The drive-thru plan sits inside a wider digital push for fiscal 2027. Niccol said Starbucks will add more personalized recommendations to its app and is working on AI that makes search and discovery smoother, with the potential to support conversational and agentic ordering over time. It is also exploring ways to let customers place mobile orders from their cars and through emerging AI platforms. Delivery will be built into the Starbucks app from the second quarter, he said. Starbucks reported a record 36 million 90-day active Starbucks Rewards members, the loyalty base that personalized features in the app and drive-thru would serve.

Starbucks already lets customers order through ChatGPT and gives baristas an AI tool called Green Dot Assist for recipes and service standards, The Verge notes.

Why it matters

Drive-thru lanes are where fast-food chains are testing AI most openly, because speed per car translates directly into sales. The Verge compares the Starbucks plan with Taco Bell's experiments with menu boards that change car by car and a McDonald's pilot in which a chatbot recognizes repeat customers. Recognizing a customer on arrival requires a link between the car or phone and a loyalty account, so the word participating in Niccol's remarks matters: the feature is described as opt-in, though Starbucks has not said how recognition would work. Regulators are watching personalization closely; the US Federal Trade Commission opened an inquiry into personalized pricing this week. More deployments are collected under AI in Industry.

What to watch next

Starbucks gave no date, market or vendor for personalized menus, and did not say whether menu content or prices would differ between customers. Asked about timing by an analyst, Niccol said the company is just getting started and that the goal is better throughput. The first concrete milestone is the fiscal 2027 drive-thru test of background AI models; fiscal 2027 runs to late September 2027.

Questions people ask

When will Starbucks start testing AI at the drive-thru?

In fiscal 2027, which began on 28 September 2026. Starbucks did not give a more precise date or say which stores will take part.

Will Starbucks show different menus to different customers?

Starbucks is exploring personalized digital menus for participating customers it recognizes on arrival. Niccol called the work early and gave no details on how menus would differ.

Is Starbucks replacing baristas with AI at the drive-thru?

Starbucks describes the background AI models as helping baristas input orders more accurately, with the stated aim of letting staff focus on customers.

Sources

1. Starbucks Reports Q4 and Full Fiscal Year 2026 Results (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1) (Starbucks, 29 Oct 2026)
2. Starbucks (SBUX) Q4 2026 Earnings Call Transcript (The Motley Fool, 29 Oct 2026)
3. Starbucks wants to use AI to show you a 'personalized digital menu' at the drive-thru (The Verge, 30 Oct 2026)