The world’s biggest coffee chain just completed its first trip around the sun under CEO Brian Niccol, the former Chipotle chief executive who got a ~$100 million pay package to join Starbucks one year ago this week. Since pivoting from black and pinto beans to roasted and ground ones, Niccol has been trying to reverse Starbucks’s falling sales by returning to its coffeehouse origins.
What he’s been up to:
Starbucks’s self-serve condiment bars are back, as are comfy chairs and ceramic mugs in some locations. Plus, refills of drip coffee and tea are free so that people stick around.
Upcharges for nondairy milk are gone, the menu is more streamlined, and a forthcoming protein cold foam will soon let customers gains-max their beverages.
Baristas—most of whom already felt overwh