By Waylon Cunningham
(Reuters) – Starbucks’ latest CEO Brian Niccol has his work cut out for him.
Tasked with reassuring investors that the company’s coffee shops are still hugely popular inside the U.S., Niccol also has to contend with baristas and hardcore Starbucks customers who say they need a great deal of changes.
Baristas complain about what they’re saying are chronic understaffing and poor pay and benefits, and their inability to easily ban aggressive customers from Starbucks stores. Zealous customers want consistently good coffee.
On Tuesday, after Starbucks reported a 6% fall in fourth-quarter same-store sales inside the U.S. and pulled its earnings guidance for the approaching fiscal yr, Niccol said baristas needs to be supported to produce “exceptional service” to customers.
“To succeed, we’d wish to handle staffing in our stores, remove bottlenecks, and simplify things for our baristas,” he said in a video statement.
Liv Ryan, a barista and union organizer at a Starbucks in Long Island, Latest York, said that Niccol should put “an end to short staffing.”
She said baristas have long had gripes in regards to the lack of guidance from Starbucks on how one can contend with bad-tempered customers.
“I even have been told countless times that an element of our job is ‘just taking rude customers,’” Ryan said. “But there isn’t any clear line between ‘rude’ and ‘hostile’ and even then I shouldn’t should put up with anyone being rude to me at my job.”
Several other baristas who’re an element of, or who aim to be an element of, the brand recent Starbucks Staff United union, want to see Starbucks complete the contract bargaining process with staff. “All I’m seeking is a collective bargaining agreement by the tip of the yr,” said Parker Davis, a union organizer at a Starbucks in San Antonio.
Niccol inside the video said he would share more details about possible changes on the company’s earnings call on Oct. 30, after Starbucks releases earnings for its fourth quarter and the yr as a whole.
“We suspect multiple avenues of attack (by Niccol) are likely, including increasing labor hours at stores and reducing the frequency of limited-time promotions,” said William Blair analyst Sharon Zackfia.
As for the coffee itself, it’s overroasted, according to a zealous Starbucks customer whose legal name is Winter.
Winter, who has visited greater than 19,000 Starbucks locations internationally in a quest to go to each corporate-owned location, said he still enjoys the atmosphere on the Starbucks – not lower than when it isn’t the morning rush – but as of late, he’s found the coffee wanting.