{"id":862777,"date":"2025-07-15T23:12:51","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T04:12:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/15\/starbucks-ceo-looks-to-snap-sales-slump-with-prices-and-protein\/"},"modified":"2025-07-15T23:12:51","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T04:12:51","slug":"starbucks-ceo-looks-to-snap-sales-slump-with-prices-and-protein","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/15\/starbucks-ceo-looks-to-snap-sales-slump-with-prices-and-protein\/","title":{"rendered":"Starbucks\u2019 CEO looks to snap sales slump with prices and protein"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Despite price pressures from tariffs and an extended sales slump, Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol said he is optimistic the company is on the comeback trail.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m genuinely excited about the opportunity for our company,\u201d Niccol told NBC News\u2019 Hallie Jackson<\/a> in an interview.<\/p>\n

Niccol is known as a turnaround expert, given his experience running Chipotle, which thrived under his watch. He\u2019s looking to replicate that success at Starbucks, the biggest coffee company in the world with 32,000 locations and $36 billion in annual revenue<\/a> as of the last fiscal year. <\/p>\n

Competition from the likes of Dunkin’, McDonald’s and Dutch Bros. has taken a toll on Starbucks, as has consumers’ weariness of stubborn inflation and rising prices. The company\u2019s same-store sales have fallen for five straight quarters, and it announced in April<\/a> that its profit was cut in half compared to a year earlier.<\/p>\n

Since taking over in September, though, Niccol has rolled out changes to Starbucks\u2019 business model \u2014 cutting 30% of its menu, requiring that customers buy a menu item to sit in its stores and introducing a new \u201cgreen apron\u201d service model that uses an algorithm to help baristas sequence orders. Starbucks’ stock<\/a> is on the upswing since the company\u2019s lackluster earnings report in late April. Its growth this year has outpaced gains in the broad S&P 500 stock index.<\/p>\n

Niccol pinned the company\u2019s recent struggles on a lack of focus on customers\u2019 experience. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe veered away from, I think, owning the idea of the third place, the coffeehouse experience, making sure that the customer was front and center,\u201d Niccol said.<\/p>\n

Prices are a big part of his proposition to customers, as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was our commitment. For this fiscal year we\u2019re not moving on prices. What I can\u2019t commit to is where the future goes,\u201d Niccol said. Starbucks\u2019 fiscal year concludes at the end of September.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut what I definitely can commit to,\u201d he added, \u201cis we\u2019re going to give people a great experience so that what you get for what they pay, they feel like they got a great value.\u201d<\/p>\n

Starbucks is introducing some targeted new products, including a new protein vanilla latte this week in select stores. There\u2019s also a chance, according to Niccol, that Starbucks may roll out trendy mushroom-infused coffees in future.<\/p>\n

Niccol acknowledged the company will continue to deal with external challenges \u2014 especially from Washington. President Donald Trump\u2019s uniform 10% tariff on all imports will likely raise the cost of Starbucks\u2019 raw coffee beans, which Niccol said \u201cfrankly cannot be grown in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Niccol is confident Starbucks can withstand any additional costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing that\u2019s great about Starbucks is we\u2019re a global company. We\u2019re an iconic brand,\u201d Niccol said. \u201cWe have the flexibility and scale to navigate wherever these policy changes go.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
<\/picture><\/div>\n

Hallie Jackson<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Hallie Jackson is senior Washington correspondent for NBC News.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
<\/picture><\/a><\/div>\n

Evie Steele<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Evie Steele is an NBC News intern covering business and the economy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

<\/span>Jennifer O’Neil<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Jennifer O’Neil is a producer for NBC News<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite price pressures from tariffs and an extended sales slump, Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol said he is optimistic the company is on the comeback trail. \u201cI\u2019m genuinely excited about the opportunity for our company,\u201d Niccol told NBC News\u2019 Hallie Jackson in an interview. Niccol is known as a turnaround expert, given his experience running Chipotle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":862778,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2003,76],"tags":[6721,5473],"class_list":{"0":"post-862777","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-looks","8":"category-starbucks","9":"tag-looks","10":"tag-starbucks"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=862777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/862778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=862777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=862777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=862777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}