Starbucks China will require customers to make a purchase to sit in its cafes

Starting Thursday, Starbucks $SBUX Corp.'s China business will require customers to buy something before they use in-store seating at its cafes, according to Bloomberg. Starbucks China said on Wednesday that stores will display notices about the change.

The company said staff will receive training to deal warmly with customers and to show flexibility when reasonable exceptions arise, according to China Daily Asia. Customers who need help, such as pregnant women and those with limited mobility, will still be given priority assistance. Chinese social media had been buzzing over the requirement, which sparked controversy in recent days, according to ECNS.

Starbucks China also plans to invest over 300 million yuan ($44.9 million) in fiscal 2027, according to China Daily Asia. The spending covers more staff during peak periods, improvements to digital technology and key machinery, and refurbishment of roughly 1,000 stores on the mainland, according to Bloomberg, which cited a separate company statement on WeChat.

About half of Starbucks China's stores will be given extra staff at their busiest times, with outlets in transit hubs, commercial areas and tourist spots served first, according to China Daily Asia. The change will lift frontline service by over 200,000 hours every month. Starbucks Reserve stores will get another 70,000 monthly hours. A new mobile point-of-sale system offering over 70 added features is scheduled to start its rollout in January.

"In the new fiscal year, we will continue directing resources to the front lines of our stores," Molly Liu, CEO of Starbucks China, said, according to China Daily Asia.

Starbucks China saw same-store sales fall in both of the last two fiscal years. Starbucks has not broken out China results on their own since its fiscal third quarter, which wrapped up in June. Last November, the company struck a deal to hand Boyu Capital a controlling interest in its China operations, valuing the business at $4 billion including debt.

Starbucks operates roughly 8,000 locations across China. Local rivals such as Luckin Coffee have grown fast, and Luckin took the top spot among China's coffee chains from Starbucks three years ago, according to Bloomberg.

The seating rule follows a U.S. move last year, when Starbucks scrapped its open-door approach that let people sit in its stores, linger on patios or use bathrooms without ordering anything, according to Bloomberg.