Starbucks plans to lay off 1,100 corporate employees and leave several hundred open positions unfilled, CEO Brian Niccol announced on Monday. These job cuts will not impact cafe workers.
In a message to corporate staff, Niccol explained that the company is streamlining its structure by eliminating redundancies and creating smaller, more agile teams. The goal is to improve efficiency, accountability, and integration while reducing complexity.
The decision comes as Starbucks struggles to attract customers back to its cafes, following four consecutive quarters of declining same-store sales. Facing competition from lower-cost rivals in the U.S. and China, Niccol has been working to revamp operations since taking over last year, including efforts to speed up service.
Starbucks had approximately 16,000 employees in non-store roles as of last year. The layoffs will affect corporate support positions but will not impact workers in roasting, manufacturing, warehousing, or distribution.
