Starbucks filed a fresh patent for a machine which could create the highly personalized, super complex drinks staff are so sick of making for customers

• Starbucks filed a fresh patent for a machine that enables workers to make customized drinks quicker.
• Modifications drive customers to Starbucks and bring in high profits, but cause headaches for staff.
• It is not clear if Starbucks has developed prototypes of the machine, or if it will come into use.

Starbucks has filed a fresh patent for a machine that could let baristas make complicated, customized drinks more quickly and enable customers to request particular colors for their beverages.

Starbucks' menu features a vast array of hot and cold drinks made using strict recipes that dictate the quantities of each ingredient as well as the order they're added in. In recent years, Starbucks has become a pioneer in menu customization, allowing people to modify their orders by adding more pumps of coffee, flavored syrups, or extra ice, for example.

The extensive personalization options have boosted sales, but have also created a headache for baristas as customers expect highly personalized drinks which are slower to make and easier to get wrong. In some cases, these drinks are linked to viral trends on TikTok.

Sara Trilling, president of Starbucks North America, said during its fourth-quarter earnings call with analysts in November that extras, such as syrups or sauces, generate $1 billion in sales per year for the company. Sales for this area of the business have doubled since 2019, she said. In the fourth quarter of 2022, 60% of drinks sold in its company-operated stores were customized.

The cost of these extras varies per item. When Insider tested out ordering a customized Starbucks drink online, syrups were the pricier option, costing up to 80 cents to add on. Many other items were free.

Starbucks said the machine being patented would make baristas' jobs easier by guiding them through recipes so they don't have to memorize them, cleaning itself, and dispensing modifiers like syrups and flavors, which Starbucks says will lead to staff having less "arm fatigue" from using mechanical pumps.

The automation may also increase how quickly drinks can be made and reduce the number of errors, Starbucks said in the patent filing on February 9.

When asked for more information about the machine, a spokesperson told Insider: "Starbucks takes a customer-centered approach to beverage innovation and is always looking for new ways to delight our customers as part of the Starbucks Experience."

It is unclear when, and even if, the machine will come into use, and it isn't known if Starbucks has built a prototype of the machine. The company initially filed a provisional application for a patent for the machine in July 2021.

Starbucks baristas previously told Insider that customers were taking advantage of the unlimited modifications available through mobile ordering, in some cases making ridiculous drinks with excessive quantities of syrup and coffee "just because they're there."

Baristas said that the modifications were a point of frustration, with many telling Insider that they wished Starbucks would limit how much customers could change their drinks. Drive-thru workers have strict targets on how long it should take them to make beverages and complex drinks slow them down. Customers can also get rude when their customized drinks take a long time to make or aren't made perfectly, many baristas said.

Starbucks, however, doesn't want to make its drinks any less customizable. Execs say that this customization differentiates Starbucks from rival coffee chains.

"There is no other coffee company anywhere in the world that has our ability to respond instantaneously to a customer's request about customization, nor there isn't a coffee company that has our ability behind the counter in terms of flavors, syrups, modifiers, foam, etc., to provide the customer what they want," interim CEO Howard Schultz said at Starbucks' November earnings.

Another feature included in the patent is a system to customize both the color of a beverage overall as well as its individual layers.

Customers could ask for a beverage to match their outfit, and these could be mapped by the machine, the patent said. There could also be an option for customers to choose the colors they want when ordering using Starbucks' app or at a digital order kiosk, potentially including the ability to upload pictures showing their desired color, such as a picture of the jacket they're wearing.

The patent didn't appear to provide details on how exactly Starbucks could color the drinks.

Starbucks said the system could also recommend colors based on the day of the week, time of day, weather, and holidays. There could also be even more localized recommendations, such as dispensers in sports venues recommending colors based on the teams playing.

Other features the machines could have include microphones for voice recognition, and a WiFi connection so they can get information on new recipes.