Howard Schultz says Starbucks needs to fix its stores and mobile app to reverse its “fall from grace.”
The coffee chain must focus on the customer experience in its outlets, the longtime former CEO wrote in a LinkedIn post on Sunday in the wake of last week’s weak results.
“The company’s fix needs to begin at home: US operations are the primary reason for the company’s fall from grace,” Schultz wrote. “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 knows what he’s talking about — he’s had multiple stints leading Starbucks, spending more than two decades as CEO.
Although he didn’t found the chain, instead buying it from its previous owners, Schultz shaped the company’s growth and turned it into a global giant.
He most recently returned as interim CEO for nearly a year after Kevin Johnson retired in April 2022.
“Senior leaders — including board members — need to spend more time with those who wear the green apron,” Schultz wrote on LinkedIn, referring to its baristas. He said that Starbucks needed to “overhaul” its strategy and reinforce its “premium position.”
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