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Vol. 4, No. 2, June 2021
13
Impact of Covid-19 on Business Performance: A Case
Study of Starbucks
Rupesh Sinha1, Varsha Ganatra2, Priya Pandey3, Deepaa Darshanie Lim A/P
Arumugan4, Daisy Mui Hung Kee5, Gopalam Sree Lekha6, Navaneetha Kumar7,
Sin Dee Kew8, Asha Dhupad9, Rajesh Kumar Nair10, Ying Ying Tenh11, Haoran
Yue12
CMS Business School1,6,7
Bengaluru, Karnataka 560009, India
Vivekanand Education Society's College of Arts, Science & Commerce2,3
Mumbai, Maharashtra 400071, India
Universiti Sains Malaysia4,5,8,11,12
Jalan Sg Dua, 11800 Minden, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
SIES College of Management Studies9,10
Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra 400706, India
Correspondence Email: rupesh.sinha@cms.ac.in
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-5898-380X
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of Covid-19 on business
performance of Starbucks. There are many studies of the impact of Covid-19 on the
world economy which had been conducted, this study will focus more on the food and
beverage industry, especially one of the famous brands, Starbucks. Qualitative and
quantitative research methods such as online research and questionnaires were carried
out to ensure the evaluation of the research to gain fresh, valid and reliable data. The
result showed that the impact of Covid-19 has influenced Starbucks financially,
economically and socially, which includes the behaviour of consumers towards the
company. Therefore, Starbucks has to remain optimistic and position itself well to
overcome the pandemic crisis.
Keywords: Consumer Behaviour, Covid-19, food and beverage industry, Starbucks
INTRODUCTION
The coffee industry is one of the leading sectors among others in the food and beverage
market, a lot of people enjoy drinking coffee in their daily lives (Azriuddin, et. al, 2020).
Coffee is to be known as a popular drink that helps people to gain energy and go through
their daily tasks. A perfect example of a food and beverage brand that operates its
business entirely through bricks and mortar stores is Starbucks. It is the largest
coffeehouse in the world, which operates through company-operated stores and licensed
stores (Sholihah, Ali, Ahmed, & Prabandari, 2016). Starbucks Company’s founded in
1971 in Seattle, Washington, the United States by three partners, Jerry Baldwin, Zev
Siegl, and Gordon Bowker (Gopalakrishna, Victor & Fleischmann, 2016). The Starbucks
business logo was designed and inspired based on the twin-tailed siren from Greek
myths (Aiello, G., 2017). The mentor of the three partners, Alfred Peet, the founder of
Peet Coffee, is also known as a coffee-roasting entrepreneur. On March 31, 1971, the
Vol. 4, No. 2, June 2021
14
first Starbucks store was launched and located in Seattle, Pike Place Market, and started
its business as a retailer that supplies all the whole beans, ground coffees, teas, and
spices (Farley, 2020). In 1982, Starbucks company hired Howard Schultz as the director
of retail operations, marketing, and sales. After joining the Starbucks company, he
started dealing with all the fine restaurants and espresso bars by providing them with
coffee (Starbucks Company Timeline, 2018). Howard Schultz even gave a quote for this
famous coffee retail to redefine it in the food and beverage industry, “We are not engaged
in the coffee industry, but in providing services to customers. We are in the business of
customers; coffee is just providing services.” (Chuang, 2019).
Starbucks Corporation proliferated into the world market over the five decades based on
marketing, roasting, selling beverages, food, and branded products (Farley, 2020). Its
subsidiaries have even globalised to Asia countries, including Malaysia and India
(Taruliasi, Dewi & Suryadipura, 2017). According to Starbucks Website, its first outlet in
Malaysia opened in Kuala Lumpur, 1998. The brand's strong presence resulted in
expansion to over 190 stores in both West and East Malaysia (Isa, Subhan, & Saud,
2018). On the contrary, Starbucks opened India’s first outlet in Mumbai in October 2012.
The outlets in India are operated by a joint company called Tata Starbucks Private
Limited, formerly known as Tata Starbucks Limited (Starbucks, 2020). The number of
outlets in India is over 150 stores and they are called “A Tata Alliance”.
It was apparent that the recent pandemic crisis has affected Starbucks financially and
economically. At the beginning of 2020, the Covid-19 crisis has shocked the global
economy, including the food and beverage industry. This situation implies that the
pandemic has impacted one of the famous hospitality brands, Starbucks (Ali, Dogan,
Amin, Hussain, & Ryu, 2020). The impact on Starbucks's income was mostly due to the
decreasing number of consumers demands for Starbucks. Based on an article by Arnold
(2020), even Malaysian Starbucks operator, Berjaya Food Berhad reported loss as much
as $1.82 million for the latest financial year due to Movement Control Orders (MCO)
during the Covid-19 crisis. Starbucks’s revenues are bound to be a loss since most of
the earnings come from the United States, and the country has recorded the most
epidemics in the world (Courtemanche, Garuccio, Le, Pinkston, & Yelowitz, 2020). Under
the influence of COVID-19, Starbucks' economy, stocks, and cash flow are all declining.
Besides lesser demands from the consumers, Starbucks has to implement safety
protocols to create a healthy public environment in order to ensure the customers' safety.
The global outbreak of covid-19 has also led to the large-scale closure of the tourism
and catering industry and unemployment (Gossling, Scott, & Hall, 2020). These are the
leading reasons for the decline in Starbucks’s economy.
The outbreak also has an impact on Starbucks’s strategy and operation. Due to the
pandemic, the company was not able to go with its traditional way of operating. They
realised the strategy and process in the company need to be modified. The company
must consider how the progress, strength or recurrence of the pandemic has affected
their approach. The most significant change that we can see is closing down outlets.
According to Irdina, et. al (2020), top management is the highest part of the company's
hierarchy and the most influential executives. Hence, Rossann William, executive vice
president (EVP), actually wrote a letter to all the Starbucks employees about the
company’s next move on handling Covid-19 (Starbucks stories & News, 2020).
Vol. 4, No. 2, June 2021
15
Starbucks is about to close 4000 outlets as a precaution due to the pandemic (Keni,
Alexander, Nayak, Mudgal, & Nandakumar, 2020). The company has suffered over $3
billion losses and they had to go with drive-thru and deliveries only (Tyko, 2020).
The Covid-19 outbreak has also caused consumer behaviour towards Starbucks to
change. As Starbucks has to issue guidelines for the customers whenever they visit one
of the Starbucks outlets, the customers are asked to follow the safety protocols or
Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) prosecuted (Starbucks stories & News, 2021).
According to the fixed hours, the company has promised that all of the outlets will follow
the guidelines by observing the cleaning and sanitising protocols. Hence, customers
have to follow protocols like social distancing and wearing face masks for their safety.
Gatherings among friends and conversations among companies’ employees are not
allowed, which may cause the number of customers and Starbucks revenue to drop.
However, some customers might not comply with the guidelines stated, and it caused a
lot of issues for the company. Even if the ban has slowly lifted, social distancing
measures may have to continue for a while and it will still affect the number of people
unwilling to go since restaurants has to reduce seats for the safety of their customers,
especially during MCO in Malaysia (Chan, 2020). The Covid-19 pandemic has also
caused customer experiences to change, especially when the customers could not get
the feel of having their delicious Starbucks orders at home due to social distancing since
social gatherings and meetups are not possible (Prabhu & Soodan, 2020). Considering
that customer satisfaction and service quality are crucial for business (Maisarah, et. al,
2020). Although Starbucks outlets have started functioning back to their place, the
customers still feel that their wants and needs are not fulfilled during the Covid-19
pandemic.
When the pandemic has decreased Starbucks outlets' availability, the fall in the outlets'
access caused the customers to face many difficulties in placing their orders or having
to take away from the stores. Since most of the customers, especially Malaysians, are
drawn to the “Starbucks experience” (Chok, Isa, & Siddiq, 2017), the unavailability of
staying in the Starbucks outlets has somewhat disappointed, many customers say that
they do not get a feel of Starbucks even if they consume their products at home.
Starbucks has to realise the importance of the warm and friendly ambience even during
the time of a crisis (Goh, et. al, 2020). The business groups who used to come to their
outlets for meetings or deals, no onger comes, thus causing a fall in demand (Tison, et.
al, 2020).
When the outlets are not open to dine in, the workforce has to be reduced. Starbucks
Company still needs to load for expenses such as preparing face masks and sanitising
the outlets frequently. At that time, many companies chose to dismiss their employees
to cut down the expenses, causing the unemployment rate to rise in the food and
beverage industry. Many stores and outlets were forced to stop their businesses
(Starbucks stories & News, 2020). Meanwhile, the Starbucks employees, also called
partners, are advised not to come to work if they do not feel well (Bowe & Comfort, 2020).
Thus, many employees, mainly those with low positions, low wages or part-time workers
will face a difficult time being unemployed which causes issues like financial barriers or
family conflicts during the outbreak (Suresh, James & Balraju, 2020).
Vol. 4, No. 2, June 2021
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At the beginning of the Covid-19 outbreak, Starbucks understand that they had to keep
moving forward with their business globally, so they decided to focus more on the online
platforms. Due to the awareness of the Covid-19 pandemic, Starbucks customers have
to choose by ordering food and beverage from Starbucks either through the drive-thru,
Grab-and-go, Starbucks Delivers or Starbucks App online (Starbucks stories & News,
2021). Online platforms are always the best way to avoid contact with another person,
such as using Foodpanda, one of Malaysia's successful food delivery services (Kamilah,
et. al, 2020). Even India’s Starbucks outlets, Tata Starbucks, are launching drive-thru
and home deliveries to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 (PTI, 2020). However, some
people might face difficulties in using those applications. For instance, even though
customers can use Starbucks App to order and pay online, it might cause problems like
the food or beverages to become cold or unpleasant, consequently triggering customers
to be unsatisfied with the taste and the service. Hence, the reputation of the company
will slowly be shattered, and Starbucks will lose their customers.
In conclusion, the impact of Covid-19 on Starbucks has affected the company in many
negative ways, where it impacted Starbucks’ customers, workforce, economy, and
finance. Therefore, this study aims to help Starbucks to create ways for a favourable
environment to position itself well to overcome the pandemic crisis.
RESEARCH METHOD
This chapter will cover how the questionnaires are prepared, distributed, and how the
data is collected and analysed. The methodology used for this research was based on
the primary and secondary data.
In the primary research method, questionnaires were distributed to the 100 respondents
who are the regular consumers of Starbucks in India and Malaysia to gain their views on
the topic. In addition to that, we had conducted secondary research through reference
materials and internet material. Several suitable designs for this study were selected to
simplify access to information, and data amassment. The sampling method used was
the random sampling, where the respondents were selected randomly without any
specific population or demography (Kee, et. al, 2020). Strategic and structured research
procedures and methods are vital to derive a solution to the problem.
Research Design
A cross-sectional study was used in this research to retrieve answers from the
questionnaire. It is a study where the data is collected only once. There are an advantage
and disadvantage associated with this research design. This benefit of research design
is that it costs lower than other methods, because the data amassment is open for a
limited period. The decline response rate through this method is insufficient. Even so,
the drawback in this method was that the researchers are not able to make comparisons
among survey outcomes constantly, because data was only collected once when
conducting the research.
Furthermore, structured questionnaires were also provided and distributed to the
respondents. In the questionnaire, the Likert Scale was used to get the respondents'
comparison results once they had filled up the questionnaires. The Likert scale is being
Vol. 4, No. 2, June 2021
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used to discover a person's attitude, perception or opinion. It has five scale choices from
scale one to scale five, Scale one being strongly disagreed and then followed by disagree,
neutral, agree and the last being strongly agreed.
Data Collection
We have obtained a few combinations of research data, especially the primary data and
secondary data. These types of data are vital to achieve the purpose and objectives of
this study conducted.
Primary Data
The primary data is also known as the unique first-hand data acquired based on a survey
or an interview. This data is obtained directly from the source (Hox & Boeije, 2005).
Therefore, to smoothly carry out our study, a survey was conducted to collect the first-
hand data. A set of questions were prepared through "google forms". The google forms
are divided into three sections which are Section A, B, and C. Section A is about the
demography of respondents while in section B, and section C is about several
questionnaires regarding the respondent’s experience in Starbucks and the Impact of
Covid-19 on Business Performance. The demographics and segmentation taken into
account are the variables here. The google form questionnaire has been distributed to
the respondents from India and Malaysia through several social media such as
WhatsApp, Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram and they are given approximately 10
minutes to answer the questionnaire. At the end of the data collection, we received from
“google response” that a total of 100 respondents selected randomly had responded to
the questionnaire we have distributed. The final data collected was then further used for
later interpretation in result and discussion.
Research Instrument for Primary data
A survey is general and covers a wide range of issues. The questionnaire is designed to
find information which helps to determine the most important ideas, issues and questions
about a general trend in people’s experiences, behaviours and opinions. This method is
useful to make general claims by finding small amounts of information from a wider
selection of people.
Secondary Data
Secondary data is second hand data that is readily available in the market through
sources like books, articles, magazines, newspapers, existing studies on the F & B
Industry, information available via the internet and scientific journals.
Population and Sample Size
According to Netra (1974), the meaning of population is a group of people who are
general in nature where the mannerism of individuals tends to be the same. It was to be
known that the population has targeted towards the individuals that are meant to gain
the implementation of the research conclusions (Sukmadinata, 2009). According to those
definitions, the population of respondents for this research project mostly are Malaysian
and Indian people. For our project, the number of sample sizes will be 100 respondents.
Vol. 4, No. 2, June 2021
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RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Table 1. The Demography of Respondents. (N=100)
Table 1 shows that the responses are accumulated from 100 respondents which carry
the demography of respondents. As much as 68% of the respondents were females, and
the rest 32% were males. It indicates that female customers of Starbucks are more
dominated than male customers. Moving to the age groups, the majority of the
respondents are between 21 to 30 years old, which was 56%. For the second-highest
age group consists of 30%, which are 20 years old and below. Thus, 86% of Starbucks
customers are either 20 years old and below or between 21 to 30 years old. Following
are the nationalities of respondents, which most of the respondents were Malaysians
with the percentage of 95%, higher than Indians with 5%. This proves that percentage of
Malaysian Starbucks customers are higher compared to Indians. Furthermore, 82% of
Response
Frequency
Percentage (%)
Gender
Male
Female
32
68
32
68
Age 20 years old and below
21- 30 years old
31-40 years old
41-50 years old
51 years old and
above
30
56
10
3
1
30
56
10
3
1
Nationality
Malaysian
Indian
95
5
95
5
Employment Status
Student
Private Sector
Public Sector
Self Employed
Unemployed
82
6
7
4
1
82
6
7
4
1
Qualification/Education
Level Certificate
Diploma
Degree
Postgraduate study
Matriculation
15
15
65
4
1
15
15
65
4
1
Vol. 4, No. 2, June 2021
19
respondents are students, followed by workers from the public sector with 7%.
Subsequently, there are 6% respondents from the private sector, 4% of respondents are
self-employed, and 1% respondent is unemployed, hence implicates that most of the
Starbucks’s consumers may have been students. Based on education level, the largest
respondent is from the degree group, which is 65% of respondents, followed by diploma
and certificate level, which both are 15% respondents. The data shows that more
respondents on degree level of education would prefer to go to Starbucks.
Table 2. Summary of Respondents’ Response towards Starbucks Services during
Covid-19 Outbreak
Section B: Questionnaire
Questions/Response
Frequency
Percentage (%)
6. How many times have you visited Starbucks in a month before Covid-19
outbreak?
1
60
60
2
16
16
3
11
11
4
5
5
More than 4
8
8
7. How many times have you visited Starbucks in a month during Covid-19
outbreak?
0
59
59
1
27
27
2
11
11
3
0
0
More than 3
3
3
8. Rate the preferences of services that you would like to use to order Starbucks
during the pandemic.
Walk In
Strongly not preferred
15
15
Not preferred
17
17
Neutral
24
24
Preferred
27
27
Strongly preferred
17
17
Drive-thru
Strongly not preferred
6
6
Not preferred
16
16
Neutral
29
29
Preferred
30
30
Strongly preferred
19
19
Food delivery service like Foodpanda/Grabfood
Strongly not preferred
6
6
Not preferred
11
11
Neutral
15
15
Preferred
41
41
Vol. 4, No. 2, June 2021
20
Strongly preferred
27
27
Grab-and-Go
Strongly not preferred
4
4
Not preferred
17
17
Neutral
30
30
Preferred
32
32
Strongly preferred
17
17
Starbucks App
Strongly not preferred
9
9
Not preferred
10
10
Neutral
23
23
Preferred
36
36
Strongly preferred
22
22
Starbucks Delivers
Strongly not preferred
8
8
Not preferred
10
10
Neutral
34
34
Preferred
30
30
Strongly preferred
18
18
9. Rate the services provided by Starbucks during the pandemic.
Very bad
0
0
Bad
0
0
Okay
38
38
Good
54
54
Very good
8
8
10. During the pandemic, would you agree that the foods/drinks prepared by
Starbucks’s employees are safe?
Strongly disagree
0
0
Disagree
5
5
Neutral
37
37
Agree
43
43
Strongly agree
15
15
Based on Table 2, Question 6 shows that 60% of respondents went to Starbucks once
in a month before the Covid-19 outbreak. The results followed by 16% of respondents
that went to Starbucks 2 times in a month while the rest respondents went to Starbucks
more than 3 times before the pandemic.
The majority of the respondents as much as 59% said that they had not visited Starbucks
in a month during the Covid-19 outbreak, whereas 27% of respondents said that they
have been to Starbucks once only during the outbreak. It proves that the pandemic had
impacted Starbucks significantly as the number of respondents who went to Starbucks
once a month before Covid-19 was 60%. It decreased to 27% after the outbreak.
Moreover, within one month of the pandemic, the number of respondents who have not
been to Starbucks is as high as 59%. The data above indicates that most respondents
Vol. 4, No. 2, June 2021
21
actually feel unsafe to go to Starbucks even though Starbucks is taking the necessary
precautions.
Furthermore, as much as 44% either prefer or strongly prefer to walk into Starbucks to
order their food and beverage whereas 24% respondents said that they neither prefer
nor not preferred the walk-in service during the Covid-19 outbreak. For the drive-thru
option, 30% out of 100% of respondents prefer drive-thru service, followed by 29% of
respondents said that they are neutral about the drive-thru service. Other than that, the
data also shows that the majority of respondents (68%) prefer and strongly prefer to
order their Starbucks through food delivery services, such as Foodpanda or Grabfood.
In comparison, 32% out of 100% of respondents prefer to use Grab-and-Go service.
Based on respondents’ responses on Starbucks App, most of the respondents (58%)
prefer using the Starbucks App to order their food and beverages. For Starbucks Delivery
option, most respondents (34%) are unsure on that service since most of them are
unaware about it, followed by 30% of them agree to use Starbucks Delivery to order their
meal during the pandemic. From these data, it implies that most respondents rely on
these services to ensure that they are still able to order their food and beverage service,
especially food delivery services.
Based on the data above, among the 100 respondents, 43% agreed the food and drinks
prepared by Starbuck’s employees are safe, while 37 respondents were unsure about it
as they think the food and beverages may or may not be safe during the Covid-19
outbreak. By comparing the above frequency percentage table, some respondents still
feel that food and beverage prepared by Starbuck’s employees are very safe. This
implies that even when Starbucks is under the big challenge of COVID-19, their staff had
provided good service and impressions to these respondents without adverse treatment.
Table 3. Summary of Respondents’ Response towards Impact of Covid-19 on
Starbucks
Questions/Response
Frequency
Percentage (%)
11. Do you agree with the impacts of Covid-19 on Starbucks below?
Bad business performance
Strongly disagree
2
2
Disagree
16
16
Neutral
36
36
Agree
33
33
Strongly agree
13
13
Financial loss
Strongly disagree
3
3
Disagree
6
6
Neutral
24
24
Agree
54
54
Strongly agree
13
13
Unstable economy in food & beverage industry
Strongly disagree
1
1
Vol. 4, No. 2, June 2021
22
Disagree
9
9
Neutral
34
34
Agree
49
49
Strongly agree
7
7
Changes in operation & closing outlets
Strongly disagree
1
1
Disagree
4
4
Neutral
28
28
Agree
48
48
Strongly agree
19
19
Price of food & beverages increase
Strongly disagree
1
1
Disagree
13
13
Neutral
36
36
Agree
33
33
Strongly agree
17
17
Fall in demand
Strongly disagree
2
2
Disagree
1
1
Neutral
28
28
Agree
49
49
Strongly agree
20
20
Food delivery service increase
Strongly disagree
1
1
Disagree
1
1
Neutral
16
16
Agree
43
43
Strongly agree
39
39
Unemployment rate increase
Strongly disagree
2
2
Disagree
5
5
Neutral
21
21
Agree
51
51
Strongly agree
21
21
Changes in consumer behaviour
Strongly disagree
0
0
Disagree
6
6
Neutral
25
25
Agree
55
55
Strongly agree
14
14
12. Would you still willing to spend on these pricey drinks?
Very unwilling
14
14
Unwilling
22
22
Neutral
37
37
Willing
20
20
Vol. 4, No. 2, June 2021
23
Very willing
7
7
Based on Table 3, Question 11 asked 100 respondents to strongly disagree to strongly
agree on the impacts of Covid-19 listed in the questionnaire. Among the 100 respondents,
some of them (36%) are unsure that bad business performance is one of the impacts of
Covid-19 on Starbucks. Simultaneously, the data also shows that 46% of respondents
believed that Starbucks’s business performance was poorly affected by the pandemic.
As much as 54% of respondents are agreed that one of the impacts of Covid-19 on
Starbucks is financial loss as they believed that pandemic affected Starbucks’s business
to face financial loss badly instead of gaining earnings. Among the 100 respondents, 49%
respondents were agreed that the impact of Covid-19 on Starbucks will get the unstable
economy in food and beverage industry, followed by 34% of them chose ‘neutral’ option,
it means that the outbreak may or may not be affected Starbucks to be unstable in the
economy. Next, 48% out of 100 respondents were agreed that Covid-19 impacted the
changes in the operation of Starbucks and Starbucks outlets closing. In comparison, 36%
out of 100 respondents were unsure about the increase in food and beverage prices as
the impact of Covid-19 on the company as they neither agree nor disagree with it.
According to the data above, 49% of respondents were agreed that the fall in demand
from customers on Starbucks was one of the impacts of Covid-19. One of the possible
reasons would be that most of them were forced to stay in their homes instead of in
Starbucks outlets. Besides, majority of the respondents (82%) believed that Starbucks’s
food delivery service had increased rapidly during the outbreak since they chose ‘agree’
and ‘strongly agree’ options. This data describes that the majority (51%) also believed
that Starbucks’s unemployment rate would increase due to the impact of Covid-19. Lastly,
most of the respondents (55%) agreed that the Covid-19 would affect consumer
behaviour changes towards Starbucks. In conclusion, the impacts that are mostly
decided by the 100 respondents would be the surging of food delivery services,
unemployment rate and changes in consumer behaviour.
For Question 12, the information about the negative effects of the Covid-19 outbreak on
global economics may increase the price of Starbucks food and beverages given to the
respondents. Most of them (37%) chose the option “Neutral”, because they did not want
to spend their money to buy food and drinks from Starbucks. It should be understood
that when Covid-19 strikes, Starbucks had to increase the price of their food and
beverages to recover their losses. Therefore, the respondents’ behaviour towards
Starbucks has changed, most of them are unwilling to spend their money on the
expensive drinks with their low financial. Due to the global economy being hit and the
unemployment rate rising, we believed that the respondents are unable to consume as
they did before because there is no stable income source, or for some people who have
no habit of saving money became a huge challenge during the pandemic crisis.
Table 4. Summary of Respondents’ Response towards Starbucks Effort in
Improving Business during Covid-19 Outbreak
Questions/Response
Frequency
Percentage (%)
13. Do you agree that Starbucks is doing a great job on handling the Covid-19
crisis?
Vol. 4, No. 2, June 2021
24
Strongly disagree
1
1
Disagree
0
0
Neutral
39
39
Agree
45
45
Strongly agree
15
15
14. Would you normalize your visit to Starbucks after you know Starbucks has
implemented the safety protocol?
Strongly disagree
0
0
Disagree
4
4
Neutral
39
39
Agree
40
40
Strongly agree
17
17
Table 4 displays a summary of respondents’ response towards Starbucks’s effort in
improving business during the Covid-19 outbreak, which contains Questions 13 and 14.
Starbucks has put in a lot of effort to improve their business during the pandemic that
most people may not be aware of, such as launching activities to raise awareness,
converting outlets into takeaway points, doing promotion activities on online platforms
and implementing safety protocols.
With this information, only 1% of respondents who chose strongly disagree, while 60%
of respondents were agreed and strongly agreed that Starbucks is doing a great job on
handling the Covid-19 crisis. This concludes that respondents' responses describe that
the customers do believe in Starbucks’s effort in making sure that their business will
become better even during the pandemic.
According to Table 4, most of the respondents (40%) agree to normalize their visits to
Starbucks after knowing that the company has implemented the safety protocol. This
shows that the respondents are more reassured when they know that Starbucks is doing
their job at ensuring the customers’ health safety during the pandemic. It proves that
Starbucks has very strict controls on food safety and delivered good attitude towards
food safety. This is an excellent basis for the development and progress of Starbucks in
the future.
CONCLUSIONS
Due to this project has a significant number of students as respondents, most of the
respondents are not a big fan of Starbucks. Even before the pandemic, majority of the
respondents do not go to the outlet very often. The result shows that most of our
respondents put their trust in the company and believe that they handled the pandemic
well. The impact of Covid-19 on Starbucks is noticeable and the company faces a
massive test in terms of economy, supply chain, food safety, and consumer behaviour.
It is to be generally known that most of the impacts are negative on Starbucks. Even
though the company provides many delivery services options, not many customers are
willing to use it during this pandemic period. Although it seems that Starbucks business
has not improved during the pandemic, it is undeniable that Starbucks was able to
stabilize their performance throughout the year (Trefis Team, 2020). Their efforts in
Vol. 4, No. 2, June 2021
25
making sure that the activities like converting outlets into takeaway points, promoting
events on online platforms and raising awareness in society helped them to gain some
recognition from the consumers. This has to be one reason the company’s reputation is
excellent in others' eyes. Nonetheless, it is essential that Starbucks have to consider
how the pandemic might progress and how the outbreak can influence its business
performance in the future so that the company may be able to strive well in the food and
beverage industry.
Throughout this study, it is obvious that Starbucks is not just doing business
independently, but they are taking care of every position in the company. Despite
following all the SOPs and ensuring hygiene, the company puts in a lot of efforts for their
employee’s welfare. All those actions Starbucks took during the pandemic period are
also an opportunity to stand out among its peers, strengthening the company’s
differentiation and competitive advantage compared to its competitors. In addition to that,
Starbucks can improve its business model during this unusual situation to fulfil as many
needs or wants from its customers. Obtaining such an advantage during the Covid-19
period would significantly enhance Starbucks’s employees' motivation and attract more
customers to become its consumers. The company could also try to find new strategy to
plan for the future programs that may help their business performance during the crisis
and prevent financial losses from happening again.
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