Americans pulling into a Starbucks drive‑thru may be greeted by a friendly staff member. But at some locations, it is actually an AI robot entering the orders.

Behind the counter inside the store, baristas can lean on a virtual personal assistant to recall recipes or manage schedules.

In the back of the shop, a scanning tool has taken on the painstaking process of counting the inventory, relieving staff of one of retail’s most tedious chores, in a bid to fix the out-of-stock gaps that have frustrated the firm.

The new technology is part of the hundreds of millions of dollars the 55-year-old coffee giant has been investing as it tries to win back customers after several years of struggling sales.

And there are signs that the effort is working.