Starbucks’ new chairman and CEO said Tuesday that he plans to focus on improving service – particularly during the morning rush – and reestablishing stores as gathering places as he takes over at the struggling coffee giant.
In an open letter on the Seattle coffee giant's website, Brian Niccol said Starbucks is a beloved brand but that he found during conversations with employees and customers over the past few weeks a “shared sense that we have drifted from our core.”
Starbucks' sales have fallen this year due to weaker U.S. store traffic and other issues, including rising competition in China and boycotts in the Middle East. Niccol said improving the store experience for both baristas and customers will help turn that around.
“Many of our customers still experience this magic every day, but in some places — especially in the U.S. — we aren’t always delivering,” said Niccol, who was named Starbucks' CEO in August but officially started the job on Monday. “It can feel transactional, menus can feel overwhelming, product is inconsistent, the wait too long or the handoff too hectic. These moments are opportunities for us to do better."
Niccol, who was the CEO of Chipotle before coming to Starbucks, said the company “founded on a love for high quality coffee” needs to make sure baristas have the proper tools and time to make drinks and personally deliver them to customers.
A rise in different channels -- like mobile, drive thru and delivery, which now make up 75% of orders -- has made store operations more complex and added to wait times. Store design should acknowledge that change and make a clear distinction between “to-go” orders and in-store service, and stores should be an inviting place to linger with comfortable seating, he said.
Niccol also said Starbucks needs to ensure it’s meeting the needs of morning customers.
“This means delivering outstanding drinks and food, on time, every time,” Niccol said.
Coffee is the heart of the company, Niccol said, and Starbucks' marketing should remind customers of its coffee expertise. That may have been a subtle dig at recent product introductions at Starbucks, including bubble tea and energy drinks.
Niccol said he plans to spend his first 100 days in Starbucks' stores and support centers and meeting with suppliers.
FILE - Brian Niccol, named the chairman and chief executive officer of Starbucks on Aug. 13, 2024, is shown during an interview on June 9, 2015, in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)
Suspicious packages were sent to election officials in at least six states on Monday, but there were no reports that any of the packages contained hazardous material.
Powder-containing packages were sent to secretaries of state and state election offices in Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Tennessee, Wyoming and Oklahoma, officials in those states confirmed. The FBI and U.S. Postal Service were investigating. It marked the second time in the past year that suspicious packages were mailed to election officials in multiple state offices.
The latest scare comes as early voting has begun in several states less than two months ahead of the high-stakes elections for president, Senate, Congress and key statehouse offices around the nation, causing disruption in what is already a tense voting season.
Several of the states reported a white powder substance found in envelopes sent to election officials. In most cases, the material was found to be harmless. Oklahoma officials said the material sent to the election office there contained flour. Wyoming officials have not yet said if the material sent there was hazardous.
The packages forced an evacuation in Iowa. Hazmat crews in several states quickly determined the material was harmless.
“We have specific protocols in place for situations such as this,” Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate said in a statement after the evacuation of the six-story Lucas State Office Building in Des Moines. “We immediately reported the incident per our protocols."
A state office building in Topeka, Kansas was also evacuated due to suspicious mail sent to both the secretary of state and attorney general, Kansas Highway Patrol spokesperson April M. McCollum said in a statement.
In Oklahoma, the State Election Board received a suspicious envelope in the mail containing a multi-page document and a white, powdery substance, agency spokesperson Misha Mohr said in an email to The Associated Press. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol, which oversees security for the Capitol, secured the envelope. Testing determined the substance was flour, Mohr said.
State workers in an office building next to the Wyoming Capitol in Cheyenne were sent home for the day pending testing of a white substance mailed to the secretary of state’s office.
Suspicious letters were sent to election offices and government buildings in at least six states last November. While some of the letters contained fentanyl, even the suspicious mail that was not toxic delayed the counting of ballots in some local elections.
One of the targeted offices was in Fulton County, Georgia, the largest voting jurisdiction in one of the nation’s most important swing states. Four county election offices in Washington state had to be evacuated as election workers were processing ballots cast, delaying vote-counting.
The letters caused election workers around the country to stock up the overdose reversal medication naloxone.
Election offices across the United States have taken steps to increase the security of their buildings and boost protections for workers amid an onslaught of harassment and threats following the 2020 election and the false claims that it was rigged.
Salter reported from O'Fallon, Missouri. Volmert reported from Lansing, Michigan. Mead Gruver in Cheyenne, Wyoming; Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee; Summer Ballentine in Columbia, Missouri; Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City and John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, contributed to this report.
FILE - William R. Snodgrass Tennessee Tower stands June 22, 2023, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, File)
The Oklahoma State Election Board Office inside the state Capitol in Oklahoma City, was one of at least five states in the U.S. which election officials received suspicious packages on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Sean Murphy)
The Oklahoma State Election Board Office inside the state Capitol in Oklahoma City, was one of at least five states in the U.S. which election officials received suspicious packages on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Sean Murphy)
