The controversial Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol has announced a reorganisation that will see his chain eliminate 1,100 positions worldwide to improve efficiency. Store staff will not be affected.
“Back to Starbucks”
“We are simplifying our structure, removing layers and duplication and creating smaller, more nimble teams“, Niccol said in a message to employees. The 1,100 positions that the CEO is now eliminating represent 7 % of the global workforce, excluding in-store staff.
The CEO, who joined in September last year from Tex-Mex chain Chipotle, is working on a turnaround with his “Back to Starbucks” plan, which already introduced a simplified menu and tackled excessively long wait times in the coffee bars. It remains to be seen whether this strategy is effective: in the first quarter of this year, sales still fell by 4 %, but that was less sharply than feared.
The CEO remains controversial because of his very generous salary and the fact that he commutes by private jet between his home in California and Starbucks’ headquarters in Seattle.
