Brian Nicccol, CEO of the coffee shop giant, said Starbucks will hire more baristas and scale back plans to launch automation.

The move is part of his strategy to provide customers with a better experience as other food and beverage chains adopt technology to reduce costs.

Also on Tuesday, the company announced that its financial performance was worse than expected as its sales continued to decline.

Niccol was brought to Starbucks last year with a mission to turn the business around as it battles higher prices and consumers cut spending.

"We have actually been evacuating labor from stores over the past few years. I think the hope is that equipment will offset the revocation of labor," Nickel said in a call with investors.

“What we found is…this is not an accurate assumption.”

When Mr. Nickel joined the company in September 2024, he tested the increase in employee numbers in a few stores. He has been expanding the approach to include about 3,000 stores this year.

Meanwhile, the company said it will back off deploying its siren beverage system.

Named after the iconic Starbucks logo, it is a suite of technology and equipment launched in 2022 to help simplify operations.

Mr Nicole stressed that taking over more employees would mean higher costs, but said he "has grown in investment."

In addition to recruiting more baristas, Starbucks is also modifying its coffee shop, menu and company dress code.

Starbucks said in April its barista will wear dark monochrome shirts, “let our signature green apron shine and create a sense of familiarity for our customers.”

In January, it reversed the rules of North American cafes, allowing people to use their facilities even if they didn’t buy anything.

The changes are turning around from a policy introduced six years ago that allowed people to linger in Starbucks media and use toilets without making purchases.

So far, Mr. Nicole's turnaround efforts have limited results.

The company's latest financial data shows that global sales fell 1% for the three months to the end of March, the fifth consecutive quarter of decline.

But while transactions continue to show the biggest market weakness in the U.S., sales in China and Canada rose.

Starbucks shares fell more than 6.5% in expanded trading after earnings were announced.