A Starbucks point-of-sale outage was resolved after machines at company-owned locations in the US and Canada were forced to close early Friday evening.
During the outage, the company allowed its locations to remain open and continue serving customers free of charge, before closing some time later.
Here's the statement from the company:
The point of sale register outage has been resolved and all Starbucks stores in the U.S. and Canada are expected to open for business as usual on Saturday, April 25. We apologize to our customers for this inconvenience. Evolution Fresh and Teavana Tea Bar stores are expected to open as normal on Saturday as well.
It's not entirely unusual for Starbucks locations to keep the doors open when service equipment goes down. The company has been known to offer discounts and other giveaways on such occasions.
Here's a look at how the outage played out on social media:
Lots of happy tourists (and some locals) getting free coffee at the "original"@Starbuckspic.twitter.com/s08dcYmcMi
— Seattle Refined (@SeattleRefined) April 25, 2015
Enjoying our free drinks from @Starbucks! Amazing customer service at Redmond Avondale store #9938! #freestarbuckspic.twitter.com/bET2xNQufr
— Joshua Decker (@jdbt) April 25, 2015
Free drinks at Pike Place Starbucks - company software down internationally. Lots of happy tourists here! pic.twitter.com/qBBssMVFBA
— Alison Morrow (@AlisonMorrowTV) April 25, 2015
Thanks 4 the free Starbucks @Starbuckspic.twitter.com/aS0EALHRaH
— jackie (@dat_kidd_jackie) April 25, 2015
.@ijustine so busy that you missed the free Starbucks tonight. Will I finish 4 drinks? Maybe pic.twitter.com/EsTJ0eRaZH
— Eric Lewis (@ericlewis91) April 25, 2015
Nationwide Starbucks system crash all drinks free 💘👅💘👅 pic.twitter.com/y1cQu64yXm
— Halle Deffertॐ (@hallee_deffert) April 25, 2015
Happy af cause we got free starbucks 😊 #CustomerAppreciationDaypic.twitter.com/VCXIH3pQcG
— momo. (@monii14_) April 25, 2015
Starbucks has been looking for ways to win back upscale, urban customers recently – many of whom have been going to smaller shops like Blue Bottle Coffee. To that end, the chain announced this week it would start selling coffee from its premium roastery in more than 1,000 stores.
Reuters reported Thursday Starbucks earnings beat expectations for its fiscal second quarter, with sales up 7 percent in the Americas region. Shares were up 0.08% to $51.88 after hours Friday evening.