Starbucks lost its way. New CEO Brian Niccol wants to get it back on track. Will he succeed? He’s saying and doing the right things, but time will tell.

So, how did the coffee company that is practically synonymous with a great customer experience come to need a turnaround CEO?

At some point in the past couple of years, consciously or not, Starbucks choose efficiency over experience. They strayed from their identity as the original third place, in part lured by the convenience of their mobile app.

It was so bad that founder Howard Schultz went on the podcast Acquired and said the mobile app “is the biggest Achilles heel for Starbucks” shifting it from an experiential brand to one driven by convenience. There’s no question that the mobile app has degraded the in-store experience.

I talk about – and show clips from – the Schultz interview in this video:

That’s what Niccol wants to change. In an interview on the Masters of Scale podcast, Niccol talked about his strategy, called “Back to Starbucks.”

What’s involved in that strategy (other than the Super Bowl commercial)? They’re upgrading their coffee shop experience. How? By writing your name on the cup instead of pasting a printed label. By giving free refills with all for-here orders. By bringing back the condiment bar.

As Niccol said in the interview:

“It’s also how we kind of create a little bit of the magic, right? What turns the coffee and that craft beverage into something really special is the moment that potentially you have in our store, the community of the store, the moment you might have with our barista, or just the moment where you grab your cup and unexpectedly there’s a little smiley face on your cup.

“And it just changes the entire attitude of the customer. Obviously, you have to have a great product, you have to have a great experience, but if you have those little moments of connection, it just adds so much more.”

I see this happen to businesses all the time and it’s one of the things I frequently get hired to help them fix. Without intention, growth can become the enemy of culture. It’s so easy to drift from the original mission and values – the original culture that made you successful in the first place.

In this interview, Niccol talked a lot about the public perception of Starbucks. He said that the television commercials are about reintroducing the brand.

But that’s not as important as the internal audience of Starbucks. It’s hard work to shift the mindset of tens of thousands of workers from efficiency to experience and human connection. Niccol and his leaders will have their work cut out for them training that team to think like Starbucks used to.

Will Niccol be able to bring the company back? If he gets the Starbucks associates to prioritize the customer experience, he will. And I’m hoping he does.