Starbucks to cut 1,100 jobs in global turnaround plan

Starbucks is to cut 1,100 corporate jobs worldwide as part of its new chief executive’s turnaround plan.

Brian Niccol, who was brought in from Chipotle last year to shore up flagging sales, said the move was designed to “simplify” the business and focus on “priority work” to improve customer experience.

“Our intent is to operate more efficiently, increase accountability, reduce complexity and drive better integration,” he said.

“All with the goal of being more focused and able to drive greater impact on our priorities.”

Several hundred open and unfilled job postings across Starbucks’ business will also be removed.

Starbucks has around 16,000 corporate staff worldwide, including 10,000 in the US, according to reports. The latest job cuts for corporate staff are the first since 2018, when around 350 people were made redundant.

In-store staff, including baristas, are unaffected by the plans.

Senior staff in North America have also been told they must work from the companies’ offices in Seattle and Toronto at least three days a week.

The changes form part of Niccol’s ‘Back to Starbucks’ plan, which has seen him pledge to simplify menus and improve store service times after admitting the chain had “drifted from [its] core”.

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

Starbucks is the largest branded coffee chain in the world, with more than 39,000 stores. It operates around 1,250 sites in the UK, making it the second biggest chain behind Costa.

The group acquired its largest UK franchise 23.5 degrees in October as part of its bid to improve customer experience.

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