For Starbucks, the Strawberry Matcha Strato Frappuccino was one of the hottest drinks of summer.

对星巴克而言，草莓抹茶Strato星冰乐曾是今夏最火爆的饮品之一。

For Brooke Allen, a 23-year-old barista, the drink was the bane of her existence.

但对23岁的咖啡师布鲁克·艾伦来说，这款饮品却是她的噩梦。

The frothy concoction required six ingredients and two blenders. Under new policies, baristas are also required to greet customers and make eye contact when handing over drinks. They must also write a genuine message on each cup.

这杯有着轻盈泡沫的饮料需要六种原料和两台搅拌机。根据新规，咖啡师还需在递送饮品时问候顾客并进行眼神的接触，同时还要在每个杯子上写一句真诚的留言。

All within four minutes.

所有这些必须在四分钟内完成。

“If it’s the only drink I have to make, I can probably do it in 40 or 50 seconds,” said Ms. Allen, who works part time at a Starbucks near her school, the University of California, Davis. “But it’s frustrating to see orders for that come on during peak times. That one is so complicated.”

“如果只做这一款饮料，我大概40到50秒就能完成，”在加州大学戴维斯分校附近星巴克打工的艾伦表示，“但在高峰的时候看到这款订单，真的会让人崩溃，制作流程太复杂了。”

For Brian Niccol, who became Starbucks’s chief executive one year ago, the Strawberry Matcha Strato Frappuccino is a test of his turnaround strategy. Since lured to Starbucks from Chipotle Mexican Grill with a $100 million pay package (a large part to make up for compensation he walked away from at Chipotle), he has worked at a highly caffeinated tempo to get Starbucks’s mojo back.

对一年前上任的星巴克首席执行官布莱恩·尼科尔而言，草莓抹茶Strato星冰乐正是对其改革战略的考验。这位以1亿美元的薪酬待遇（其中很大一部分是为了补偿他离开Chipotle所遭受的损失）从墨西哥菜快餐店挖来的掌门人，上任后以高度紧凑的节奏试图让星巴克重振昔日的魔力。

Mr. Niccol got rid of charges for nondairy milk and brought back the coffee condiment station. He moved new people into the executive suite. The company is investing more than $500 million to add employees and develop order-sequencing technology that aims to deliver food and drinks faster. Stores are quickly being remodeled to add comfortable seating.

尼科尔取消了对植物奶的额外收费，并恢复设立咖啡调味台。他还调整了高管团队，引入新鲜血液。公司投入逾5亿美元增聘员工以及开发订单排序技术，以缩短取餐时间。各门店也在进行快速改造升级，增设舒适的座位。

The goal is to provide customers in the United States — across more than 17,000 stores — with premium-priced, unique beverages in a welcoming, coffeehouse environment, but at a fast-food pace.

目标是在全美逾1.7万家门店实现：在温馨的咖啡店环境中，以快餐般的速度为顾客提供高价位的独特饮品。

Some of the moves have been welcomed. Others, like the elimination of some drinks and foods, have resulted in confusion and frustration among customers and employees, according to interviews with baristas from Boston to California.

其中一些举措获得了市场认可。不过，在接受采访时，从波士顿到加州的咖啡师还提到了其他措施，比如取消部分饮品和食品，这些举措引发了顾客和员工的困惑与不满。

A fan favorite, the Petite Vanilla Bean Scone, disappeared. Then reappeared. And while the Java Chip Frappuccino may have been pulled, baristas must still make it should someone order it.

深受喜爱的迷你香草司康曾一度下架，后又重新上架。而摩卡可可碎片星冰乐虽然已经从菜单移出，但如果有顾客点，咖啡师仍需制作。

But the most pressing problem, bringing customers back, when coffee prices are soaring and competitors are circling, is going to take more time.

然而，在咖啡价格飞涨、竞争对手环伺之际，如何重获顾客青睐——这个最为紧迫的难题——仍需更多时间破解。

In July, Starbucks reported its sixth consecutive quarterly decline in sales at stores open for at least a year. In the past year, the company’s shares have fallen 8.8 percent while an index of restaurant and bar company stocks has risen 6.5 percent.

根据星巴克7月发布的财报，至少开业一年的门店销售额已连续六个季度下滑。在过去一年里，公司的股价下跌8.8%，而餐饮酒吧类股票指数同期则上涨了6.5%。

In an interview, Mr. Niccol rattled off a list of accomplishments from his first year, saying he was pleased with the state of the turnaround.

在接受采访时，尼科尔列举了上任第一年的成绩，并且表示对公司转型的现状感到满意。

“The thing I’m really delighted about is that a lot of the things that we said we were going to do with the ‘Back to Starbucks’ strategy, we’ve actually executed on,” Mr. Niccol said. He added, “And, I think, for the most part, it’s been very well received by both our partners and our customers, and we’re seeing the feedback that says, ‘Do more of what you’re doing.’”

“让我非常高兴的一点是，我们此前承诺的‘星巴克回归’战略中的多项举措均已落实，”尼科尔表示。他还说，“我认为大部分举措都获得了伙伴和顾客的积极反响，我们收到的反馈都是‘请延续现有改革方向’。”

But Mr. Niccol has more on his plate than fixing the U.S. market. China, Starbucks’s second-largest business and a region where it has made a hefty investment, is another problem. The coffee chain had long dominated in China but has lost significant ground to competitors like Luckin Coffee, a Chinese brand founded eight years ago.

但尼科尔的任务不仅仅是修复美国市场。作为星巴克第二大业务市场且投入了巨资的中国市场同样是一个难题。这家咖啡连锁巨头长期主导中国市场，但已被八年前成立的本土品牌瑞幸咖啡等竞争者夺走了大量市场份额。

Mr. Niccol has repeatedly said Starbucks is interested in finding an investor to take a stake in its business in the region. In July, he told analysts that Starbucks had received interest from 20 different parties and was evaluating options. He did not provide any details on the timing of a deal or how it could be structured. “We remain committed to our China business and want to retain a meaningful stake,” he said at the time.

尼科尔多次表示，星巴克有意寻找投资者入股其中国业务。7月，他曾对分析师透露，已有20家机构表达了投资意向，公司正在评估各种方案。但他未透露交易时间表或具体架构细节。当时他说，“我们依然致力于中国业务，并希望保留足够的股份。”

Long waits, especially during peak hours, have been a primary complaint from Starbucks customers in the United States in recent years. To address that problem, Mr. Niccol is hiring more baristas, increasing labor costs for the company. Starbucks has also rolled out a new order-sequencing system that it said would better manage drink orders, serving in-store customers first while spacing out mobile orders.

在美国，取餐时间过长——尤其是高峰时段——一直是顾客近年来的主要投诉点。为解决这一问题，尼科尔正在增聘咖啡师，但这也推高了公司的人力成本。星巴克还推出了一种新的订单排序系统，声称它能够更好地管理饮品制作流程：优先为堂食顾客服务，避免手机订单过于集中。

Mr. Niccol also wants to bring back seating that was pulled out of many restaurants during the pandemic.

尼科尔还计划恢复疫情期间从众多门店撤掉的桌椅。

纽约一家星巴克门店已经翻新，并增设了新的堂食区。

But those additional costs are slicing into profits. The company’s operating margin for the quarter ending in June fell to 13 percent from 21 percent a year earlier. Still, Wall Street analysts believe Mr. Niccol is on the right track.

但这些新增成本正在侵蚀利润。截至6月的季度，公司营业利润率从上年同期的21%降至13%。不过华尔街分析师认为，尼科尔的改革方向是正确的。

“Consumers have sticky habits, especially for breakfast. It’s very difficult to displace the habit of getting coffee, until they just get fed up and go elsewhere,” said Danilo Gargiulo, an analyst at Bernstein Research.

伯恩斯坦研究公司的分析师达尼洛·加吉乌洛指出：“消费者的习惯很难改变，早餐消费尤其如此。除非他们彻底失望转而投奔别家，否则很难改变买咖啡的习惯。”

“It’s going to take a bit of dating to convince consumers to try to find out what the new Starbucks looks like,” he said, adding that investors expect to see store traffic stabilize next year, and profit margins improving in 2027.

“这需要像约会般慢慢接触，才能说服消费者去了解星巴克的新面貌，”他说道，同时还说，投资者预计门店客流量将在明年趋稳，而利润率要到2027年才会改善。

Long waits are not the only thing keeping customers away. Some are pulling back on spending. Droughts in coffee-growing regions of the world have resulted in shortages and driven up prices sharply. And this summer, President Trump imposed a 50 percent tariff on coffee imported from Brazil.

让顾客望而却步的不仅仅是漫长的取餐时间。一些人正在缩减开支。全球咖啡种植区的干旱导致供应短缺，推动价格大幅上涨。而今年夏天，特朗普总统对从巴西进口的咖啡加征了50%的关税。

The tipping point for Dyanna Hough came in late June when Starbucks added a new charge for the pump of sugar-free vanilla syrup she put in her typical order of a grande cold brew coffee, extra ice, with salted caramel cream foam.

对迪安娜·霍夫而言，转折点出现在6月下旬——星巴克开始对她经常点的大杯冷萃咖啡（额外加冰配海盐焦糖奶盖）所含的无糖香草糖浆收取额外费用。

Now, instead of paying $6.71, she was charged $7.25. She canceled the order and now mostly makes her coffee at home.

原本6.71美元的价格涨至7.25美元，她当即取消订单，如今基本在家自己做咖啡。

“For the first time, I was like: ‘Oh, this is ridiculous. I’m not spending more than $7 on a coffee,’” said Ms. Hough, a hairstylist from Holly Springs, N.C.

“这是我第一次觉得：‘太荒谬了，我不会用7块多买一杯咖啡，’”在北卡罗来纳州霍利斯普林斯做发型师的霍夫表示。

Moreover, competitors like 7 Brew Coffee, which originated in Rogers, Ark., and Nebraska’s Scooter’s Coffee are rapidly expanding by offering their own unique beverages.

此外，发轫于阿肯色州罗杰斯的7 Brew Coffee和内布拉斯加州的Scooter’s Coffee等竞争对手正在快速扩张，它们通过提供独特饮品来抢占市场。

The stock price of Dutch Bros. Coffee, a chain of drive-through restaurants based in western Oregon that calls its drink makers “Broistas,” has doubled in the past year on sales of iced protein lattes and energy drinks that can be customized with sweet cream or boba pearls.

Dutch Bros. Coffee是一家总部位于俄勒冈州西部的免下车连锁餐厅，其股价在过去一年翻了一番，这要得益于冰蛋白拿铁和能量饮料的热销。这些饮品可以根据顾客的需求，加甜奶油或波霸珍珠进行定制。该公司将饮品制作者称为“Broistas”（把“哥们儿”和“咖啡师”合在一起的一个生造词。——译注）。

Alisha Townsend, a manager at a Starbucks in the Willis Tower in Chicago, said that the new system was working and that she liked writing on the cups. “The customers in the Willis Tower love it,” she said in an interview arranged by Starbucks. “They come in asking, ‘What’s on my cup today?’”

芝加哥威利斯大厦的星巴克门店经理阿莉莎·汤森表示，新系统运行良好，而且她很喜欢在杯身留言的做法。“威利斯大厦的顾客非常喜欢这个环节，”她在星巴克安排的访谈中表示，“顾客进门就会问，‘今天我的杯子上会写什么’。”

Ms. Allen, in California, said she had concerns about some of Mr. Niccol’s changes, particularly the new dress code.

加利福尼亚州的艾伦则对尼科尔推行的一些变革措施心存顾虑，尤其是新的着装规范。

“Suddenly the shoes I had been wearing for two years, the work Crocs that don’t have holes in them, I was told I could not wear anymore,” she said, adding that store managers threatened to “write up” anyone who didn’t meet the new dress code. “We all had this feeling that we were powerless.”

“突然，我穿了两年的工作鞋——那种没有洞的Crocs鞋——被告知不能再穿了，”她说，同时还表示，店长威胁说任何不符合新着装规定的员工都会被“记过”。“我们都有种无力感。”

In August, employees at her store voted to unionize.

8月，她所在的门店员工投票决定成立工会。