Starbucks to close some UK stores amid global restructuring

Starbucks is to close some of its cafés in the UK as part of a restructuring plan that will include hundreds of global job losses.

The coffee chain has not confirmed the number of UK sites closing but said it had launched a consultation process with staff.

Starbucks runs around 520 company-owned sites in the UK in addition to nearly 900 franchise venues.

The closures come as part of a broader review that will see it close 1% of its North American sites this year, including the Reserve Roastery in its hometown of Seattle, and cut around 900 head office jobs.

It comes after 1,100 worldwide corporate roles at Starbucks were axed in February in a bid to “simplify” its business.

In a blog post, Starbucks’ chief executive Brian Niccol said the changes were necessary to create “a better, stronger and more resilient Starbucks”.

“During the review, we identified coffeehouses where we’re unable to create the physical environment our customers and partners expect, or where we don’t see a path to financial performance, and these locations will be closed,” he added.

Niccol, who was credited with boosting the fortunes of Chipotle, was brought in last year to turn around a 3% slump in global sales at Starbucks.

He has launched a wider restructuring plan dubbed ‘Back to Starbucks’ which has seen the chain simplify its drinks menu, return baristas to writing customer names on cups rather than printing out labels, and aim to make its cafés more inviting places to stay.

Other initiatives saw Starbucks stop charging customers’ extra for non-dairy milk in the US and Canada last year.

The group will also close or convert all its pickup-only stores over the next year.

Starbucks is the largest branded coffee chain in the world, with more than 39,000 stores.