Starbucks Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Brian Niccol told employees that the company will be conducting corporate layoffs this spring in a new memo.
The notice was also posted on the company’s website on Friday.
Since joining the coffee chain in September, Niccol has begun a bevy of changes, including a revamped code of conduct and bringing back ceramic mugs, all with the intention of returning Starbucks to its coffeehouse roots to improve lagging sales.
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“In September, we outlined our plan to revitalize Starbucks by focusing on what has always set us apart: a welcoming coffeehouse where people gather and where we serve the finest coffee, handcrafted by our skilled baristas,” the memo begins.
Niccol outlines ways the company can “operate more efficiently,” which means he expects “we will have job eliminations and smaller support teams moving forward.”
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The memo notes the planned layoffs are for corporate workers and won’t affect in-store employees “or the investments we are making in-store hours.”
Starbucks has over 3,000 stores and 16,000 people in various corporate roles, per ABC.
The layoffs are scheduled to begin by early March. The exact number of roles being cut was not noted.
“I do not take these decisions lightly, and I appreciate that this will create uncertainty and concern between now and then,” Niccol wrote. “I wanted to be transparent about our progress and our plans and ensure that you hear about this work directly from me.”
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