- Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol says the company is laying off 1,100 corporate workers and closing off "several hundred" open and unfilled positions. Starbucks will also say goodbye to over a dozen menu items starting March 4.
Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol announced Monday the company will eliminate 1,100 current support partner roles and “several hundred” additional open and unfilled positions in an attempt to “create smaller, more nimble teams,” he said in a note to employees.
Impacted employees will be informed by Tuesday midday.
“We believe it’s a necessary change to position Starbucks for future success—and to ensure we deliver for our green apron partners and the customers they serve,” Niccol said.
The Starbucks CEO also said VP leaders in North America will need to go into the Seattle and Toronto offices at least three days a week, but there will be no changes to the company’s hybrid-work policies or in-office expectations for everyone else.
The other major change, though, is coming to Starbucks’ menu. Niccol teased the changes during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call last October, and again during its first-quarter earnings call in January, that the coffee chain would nix several food and beverage items to rein in its “overly complex” offerings.
“We have to clear the noise out both in food and beverage menus, and that opens the door for better innovation that will hopefully resonate even more so for our customers and give our baristas the opportunity to demonstrate their craft and the time to connect with our customers,” Niccol previously said in a statement to Fortune.
Starbucks’ menu will be trimmed by 30% by the end of the fiscal year. But starting March 4, the chain will say goodbye to over a dozen “less popular” beverages, chief among them several of the frappuccinos that baristas reportedly hated making.
Here’s the full list of Starbucks menu items being put out to pasture:
- Caramel Ribbon Crunch Creme Frappuccino
- Caffe Vanilla Frappuccino
- Chai Creme Frappuccino
- Chocolate Cookie Crumble Creme Frappuccino
- Double Chocolaty Chip Creme Frappuccino
- Espresso Frappuccino
- Honey Almondmilk Flat White
- Iced Matcha Lemonade
- Java Chip Frappuccino
- Royal English Breakfast Latte
- White Chocolate Creme Frappuccino
- White Hot Chocolate
- White Chocolate Mocha Frappuccino
