Starbucks Tiers are being reintroduced as the coffee store giant pushes margins and profitability. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
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Starbucks tiers are being reintroduced to the coffee store giant’s North American loyalty program as it seeks to lift customer frequency and spending and recognize its top customers as part of a wider turnaround effort that management insists is beginning to show results.
The coffee shop giant unveiled the changes at its investor day Thursday, where senior executives outlined plans to accelerate revenue growth and improve profitability, placing renewed emphasis on its loyalty ecosystem, which has become one of the most important levers in its consumer strategy.
Starbucks Rewards, launched in 2009, has long been a central pillar of the company’s digital and data-driven model. In fiscal 2025, transactions tied to the program accounted for roughly 60% of revenue, underscoring its role in driving traffic and ticket size.
Yet the company has struggled to balance the cost of rewards with the need to protect margins, particularly as inflation, labor cost, promotional intensity and low cost competition weigh on profitability.
Back in 2019, Starbucks dismantled its two-tier rewards structure in an effort to broaden engagement among newer customers, but the company now argues that the simplified system failed to differentiate between casual users and its most frequent, and valuable, visitors.
“Our very best customers are coming 200 times a year, and we were treating them the same as someone who comes once a year. “So, we’ve introduced tiers,” Starbucks Chief Brand Officer Tressie Lieberman said of the revamped strategy.
Starbucks Tiers Launch March
The new program will launch March 10 with three levels. Members with fewer than 500 stars will fall into the green tier, receiving birthday rewards, early access to select products, personalized offers, and stars that expire after six months unless activity extends their validity.
Customers who earn 500 stars within a 12-month period will move into the gold tier, where points never expire and spending generates 1.2 stars per dollar. Those accumulating 2,500 stars within a year will enter the reserve tier, gaining access to exclusive merchandise and events while earning 1.7 stars per dollar.
The core mechanics of the existing program remain largely intact, including the differential between payments made with preloaded Starbucks cards and those made with credit or debit cards, while the company is adding incremental perks such as a $2 discount option for 60 stars and a monthly ‘Free Mod Monday’ benefit, enabling a free modification to an order.
International sales rose slightly above domestic growth, Starbucks said.
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The shift comes as Starbucks attempts to stabilize growth after a prolonged slowdown in traffic and same-store sales. In its most recent quarterly results, released earlier this week, it reported consolidated revenue of about $9.9 billion, up roughly 6% year on year, beating analyst expectations, while global comparable-store sales rose about 4%, driven by both higher transactions and modest increases in average ticket size.
North America and the U.S. each posted comparable sales growth of about 4%, the first sustained improvement in U.S. traffic in nearly two years, while international comparable sales rose about 5% and the company pushed ahead with selling its Chinese business.
Management said the quarter marked the first time in eight quarters that U.S. comparable transactions increased, a milestone framed as evidence that its turnaround plan is gaining traction.
Starbucks Tiers To Boost Rebound
The rebound has been uneven, however. Profitability has been pressured by investment in labor, technology and new store formats and Street analysts have noted that margin recovery in North America remains a key challenge even as revenue trends improve.
Chief executive Brian Niccol, who took the helm in 2024, has sought to reposition the business under what the company calls its ‘Back to Starbucks’ strategy, simplifying menus, accelerating service and broadening product offerings beyond traditional coffee into areas such as health-oriented drinks and snackable food.
The company expects full-year same-store sales growth of 3% or more and has guided to earnings of roughly $2.15 to $2.40 per share, while also laying out longer-term targets for mid-single-digit revenue growth and operating margin expansion by fiscal 2028.
“You have to win both with your Rewards customers and, call it, the light or infrequent customer,” Niccol said of Starbucks tiers on the earnings call.