Microsoft outage takes down Starbucks mobile ordering, causing chaos for baristas

An information technology glitch affecting Microsoft cloud computing services around the world Friday has also halted the ability to order Starbucks through its mobile app.

The issue has caused chaos for baristas and other Starbucks employees, leading to temporary store closures and frantic posts online seeking assistance.

A new software update to fix the problem was issued Friday morning by CrowdStrike, which provides cybersecurity services for many large companies that use Microsoft, but in the afternoon businesses were still working through technical issues and delays. Starbucks is no exception to the chaos.

“Starbucks is among those companies experiencing impacts due to a widespread third-party systems outage, resulting in a temporary outage of our mobile order ahead and pay features,” Starbucks spokesperson Jaci Anderson said in a statement emailed to NBC News. “We continue to welcome and serve customers in the vast majority of our stores and drive-thrus and are doing everything we can to bring all systems online as quickly as possible. We apologize for any inconvenience.”

Responding to the IT glitch that affected mobile ordering, early on Friday Starbucks began prompting users on its app that mobile ordering is unavailable.

An official Starbucks account began responding to social media posts, too, saying that some stores were unavailable to process any transactions and had closed as a result. The account also responded to people who said they placed mobile orders and were then unable to pick them up.

“Stores may be unable to process transactions and some stores may be closed. Mobile ordering is also currently unavailable. For stores that are open, we invite you to place your order with a barista,” the official Starbucks account wrote in one reply.

Since 2015, customers have been able to place orders at participating stores through the Starbucks app and pick them up without waiting in line. The mobile order system has become so popular that some Starbucks locations, such as those in some airports, have introduced mobile-only storefronts.

On the Starbucks subreddit, where customers and employees have both posted about app and in-store technical issues, recent posts described stressful situations and posted photos of mobile order errors.

“Almost every store in my district except mine closed because they didn’t want to deal with the outages,” one Reddit post from an account labeled as a store supervisor said. “We are SUFFERING. Mobile orders and deliveries were through the roof, drive thru was wrapped around the building and two accidents in our parking lot.”

Another Starbucks employee and Reddit user took to the subreddit to beg for help, seeking creative solutions to working during the outage. “Please, as a fellow barista, tell me the procedures your store is taking to work during this outage,” the employee wrote. “Currently my store is scrambling to keep up, myself and other partners keep offering suggestions (like putting up a sign, or writing on cups) but my store manager isn’t being receptive.”

A barista at a newly renovated Starbucks in New York City told CNBC that her store had to manually write out tickets for customer orders as they grappled with computer issues in the early morning. The location has disabled mobile ordering, and the barista said that their point-of-sale came back online around 7:00 a.m.

At other stores, employees created various handwritten signs for customers, announcing store closures or asking customers to walk up or show an employee a mobile receipt.

Online, other employees described their stores as being slower than usual, with some customers saying they chose not to go in because they couldn’t do a mobile order. When NBC News visited several Starbucks locations in Manhattan on Friday afternoon, lines were short and moved quickly. Four customers said they had no issue ordering in line instead of using the mobile app.

One of the customers, Linda Muller, said she found out about the issue Friday morning when a friend couldn’t place their Starbucks mobile order. But Muller, who was visiting from Switzerland, said she was used to standing in line — the app isn’t available at all back home, she said.

CORRECTION (July 19, 16:06 ET): A previous version of this article misstated the location of a Starbucks where workers were manually writing out tickets. The Starbucks was in New York City, not Washington, D.C.