Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson is proud that the coffee giant was able to withstand the COVID-19 pandemic through actions like focusing on drive-thrus and improving its mobile app. But, like many executives, he can’t wait until life returns to some sense of normalcy.
Speaking on Tuesday during Fortune’s Global Forum conference, Johnson explained the importance of people getting out of their homes and socializing, a phenomenon he described as “the great human reconnection.”
It’s part of Johnson’s plans for Starbucks to regain its position in people’s lives as the “third place,” a term referring to locations outside of people’s homes and workplaces that function as community hubs where folks can socialize.
Although technology like mobile apps have helped Starbucks stay afloat during the pandemic, it’s no substitute for the real world. For retail companies like Starbucks that have developed reputations as maintaining stores that people want to shop and hang out in, it’s been a challenge to replicate the traditional in-person shopping experience via apps.
“What we’ve really worked [on] is to orient our stores and the store experience that we create to be that place—that third place—where people can come and socialize and reconnect and start to feel some of the feelings and emotions they had before the pandemic,” Johnson said.
Having people congregate again in physical stores will be crucial for people to heal, reconnect, and “look to the future,” he added.
Despite the challenges the coronavirus pandemic introduced, there were some positives for the company, he said. Because Starbucks had to quickly shift gears to adapt to the unexpected decline of physical shoppers, the company has gotten better at adapting to sudden changes.
“That adaptability,” Johnson explained, “has basically positioned us very well for the shifts in consumer behavior that we see unfolding,” implying that people may continue their digital shopping—even for coffee—when life returns to normal.