Starbucks customers no longer want to wait 20 minutes to get a coffee

Starbucks has had a disastrous start to the year - with tens of millions of customers heading instead to rivals or staying at home.

Tim Horton's, McDonald's and Dunkin Donuts have all taken market share from Starbucks across hot and cold drinks, and food.

The company this week reported a fall in sales for the first time in nearly three years, which was at the height of the pandemic. It was only in November it reported record takings.

Multiple factors are to blame - including high prices, customers cutting spending and bad weather - but slow service was highighted by the Starbucks CEO.

Starbucks' growth has come on the back of complicated and customisable drinks like Frappuccinos in the summer or pumpkin spice lattes in the fall - but each can take baristas several minutes to make.

Starbucks - which has about 17,000 stores in North America - also warned investors on Tusday it would continue to see slow sales in the spring and summer.

Boycotts by pro-Palestinian supporters over Starbucks' perceived support for Israel's military action in Gaza have also hit sales, particularly on college campuses.

On slow service, the company said that each day it sees millions of examples of customers ordering items but then abandoning their drinks since they took took long. 

'We have customers coming to our stores today, or on mobile order pay, who don't fulill their transaction because of wait times,' CEO Laxman Narasimhan said in an interview with CNBC's Jim Cramer on Wednesday morning.

'Our team in the US has done a phenomenal job in improving speed of service but we see more opportunities in doing that.'

Astonishingly, around one in seven customers ordering via the mobile app give up on their order since their local Starbucks is too busy. 

Customers have complained about the waits on social media. On TikTok, mikeylorenz0 complained he for a black coffee he has to  'wait 20 minutes' while others order a 'venti iced grande sugar caramel marshmallow ugat'.

He called for an express line for people who just want basic drinks like a black coffee or a latte without modifications. 

Starbucks shares hit a two year low after the company's dire first quarter earnings were released on Wednesday evening. Narasimhan went on CNBC to defend the company, but was slammed by Cramer.

The CEO told CNBC the quarter was also bad due to bad weather in the US and slow demand in China, its second biggest market.

Price hikes across the board at cafes and restaurants last year have forced customers to cut back. Instead, they are drinking more coffee at home, hurting business for chains such as Starbucks.

But rivals like Tim Horton's, McDonald's and Dunkin Donuts have not been hit as badly, CNBC's Jim Cramer said on the show.