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Howard Schultz, the former chair and CEO of Starbucks, enthusiastically lauded Brian Niccol’s turnaround plan for the coffee chain at a company event on Wednesday.
Schultz was speaking at “Starbucks Leadership Experience 2025,” an event which saw over 14,000 North American store managers gather in Las Vegas, when he praised Niccol’s work. The former and current CEOs of Starbucks discussed the company’s future during a fireside chat on Wednesday.
“I want to say, when I heard you speak for the first time about ‘Back to Starbucks,’ I did a cartwheel in my living room,” Schultz told Niccol.
“First of all, it was so brilliant. It’s short. It’s to the point, and it’s exactly the tip of the spear of who we should be, and who we are. And we are, above all else, a coffee company,” Schultz added.
Starbucks told Business Insider it had no further comments on Schultz’s remarks.
Niccol was the CEO of the Mexican grill chain Chipotle before he became the CEO of Starbucks in September.
Niccol’s predecessor, Laxman Narasimhan, stepped down after 17 months. During Narasimhan’s tenure as CEO, the company struggled with declining sales in the US and China.
Schultz publicly criticized Starbucks’ management in a LinkedIn post he wrote in May 2024. Schultz said the coffee chain’s senior leaders and board members “need to spend more time with those who wear the green apron” and overhaul its retail strategy.
“The stores require a maniacal focus on the customer experience, through the eyes of a merchant. The answer does not lie in data, but in the stores,” Schultz wrote on LinkedIn.
That idea of focusing on stores was echoed in Niccol’s “Back to Starbucks” plan, which he unveiled shortly after taking over as CEO.
“Today, I’m making a commitment: We’re getting back to Starbucks. We’re refocusing on what has always set Starbucks apart — a welcoming coffeehouse where people gather, and where we serve the finest coffee, handcrafted by our skilled baristas,” Niccol wrote in an open letter in September.
Starbucks announced its second-quarter earnings in April. The company reported $8.8 billion in net revenue, slightly lower than the $8.83 billion estimate compiled by Bloomberg.
“Our financial results don’t yet reflect our progress, but we have real momentum with our ‘Back to Starbucks’ plan,” Niccol said in April.
Starbucks’ stock is up by over 4.5% year to date.
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