What's the future of digital and mobile ordering at Starbucks? Ideally, what we'd love to do is match the drink with when you show up so that everybody gets their order in really good speed.
Venti dark roast. Venti dark roast. At what time do you need it? As soon as I walk in.
Mike and Brian. Hey, guys. How's it going? Nice. This is us. Hi, everybody. Welcome back to Sidekicks Conversations. I'm Mike Sievert. Today's episode is a special one for me because I'm not sure if you know this or not, but I serve on the board of directors at Starbucks, and that means I've had a front row seat to the exciting transformation happening there. And joining me today to talk all about it is a leader known for revitalizing some of the world's most iconic brands. He's the Starbucks CEO, Brian Niccol. Welcome, Brian.
Yeah. All right, let's get right down to business here. I know we're in Sidekicks Pub, but we're enjoying our Starbucks today. Of course. You must be an enthusiast. What's your go-to drink, man?
Yeah. So, first, great to be here. You know, I'm simple in the morning with an Americano, with an extra tall Americano with an extra shot. And then in the afternoon, I usually get a cold brew with a chocolate cold foam. So if you haven't tried the cold foam, by the way, it's great on everything.
I figured there'd be a commercial in there, so. Yeah. Yeah. And feel free to add egg bites or grilled cheese. Yeah. Now I'm going to get to that. All right. So what made you decide to come do this? I mean, I was part of the board of directors that recruited you and hired you. So you tell me. Why did you say yes? Why did. What made you decide to say yes?
Yeah. So before this, I was working on Chipotle and, you know, great business, great group of people. And, you know, when I got the phone call about this opportunity, it was one of those things where Starbucks is one of those brands that, frankly, I've always admired. I've always been a customer. And even when I started my career, I remember we were kind of almost studying how did Starbucks create this experiential business or brand? So to get the opportunity to work on one of these iconic American brands, that's global, I think that's actually an important brand and company to America. And the opportunity to hopefully work with great people to turn it around, it was just something, you know, I had to go give it a try. And, you know, I do believe we've got a really resilient brand that when we start doing a few things, I think better and more consistently, the business will get back on its front foot.
Tell us what you mean by turnaround. You know, to a lot of us who aren't experts at quick serve restaurants, you know, we love Starbucks the way it is. And yet, from a business performance standpoint, part of the reason why you came was to conduct a transformation and really get it going in a new direction. What did Starbucks need? What does it mean?
Yeah. So look, I think it's this classic case where I think Starbucks has drifted away from its kind of core reason that people love the brand or the experience. And, you know, the reality is the third place of Starbucks and that connection with a barista was a moment and an experience that I think truly makes it very unique. I think, unfortunately, COVID kind of took a little bit of the soul out of Starbucks because you're no longer allowed to gather. And the whole idea of connecting, really, they had to figure out how to adapt the model so that it could survive during those times. And so as a result, we started doing some things where we're like removing chairs, pick up only stores. I think trying to get more efficient at the expense of experience. And, you know, as an outsider, when the opportunity called to say, hey, look, the business is struggling, I saw some of these things. It's like, well, geez, this just seems like it's ripe to get fixed by doing some basic things that make the brand magnetic or the reason why people love the business and bringing those things back. I think it's something that will turn the business back around where our partners are more engaged, our customers are more engaged. We'll probably do better innovation because when the foundation is strong, the innovation is stronger.
I was personally really inspired when I heard your first set of insights, and probably more importantly, the label you gave them. You're calling your transformation of this company, you know, back to Starbucks. You say more about that?
Yeah. Well, it's interesting. So I was having a conversation with our marketing and food team and product team this morning, and I was like, look, the reason we need to get back to Starbucks is because if we get the foundation right, then that allows us to actually go forward a lot faster. And my point in this is, if you go back to what made Starbucks great, it was when you would walk in, the barista might know your name. Maybe they know your order, maybe they know your story. But ultimately, what they had was a connection with you as a customer, and that transformed it just being an Americano into my Starbucks order or my Starbucks experience.
With the extra shot. That's right.
I think one of the reasons our viewers are probably fascinated with you is that, as I said in my intro, you've had a transformational impact along with, I know, amazing coworkers in revitalizing Taco Bell as the leader of Taco Bell. You entered Chipotle years ago at a time of real crisis, and that business is twice the size now. So let's talk about your approach to leadership. I can tell just listening to you in these last five minutes how enthusiastic you are. And I also get the sense in your reputation is you're kind of hands-on, you know, you get in there and do it and really learn it. And from the lens of the person at Starbucks, the green apron partner, the person doing the work on the front line, tell me about that whole approach to leadership.
If you're going to lead these consumer-facing businesses, you got to understand what your customers are experiencing and what the frontline employee is actually experiencing. If you don't have that understanding, it's hard for you to implement change or implement programs that actually can be, I would say, additive in the store and then also remove the things that are getting in the way. So, you know, at Taco Bell, you know, the business was a little bit more entertainment than it was necessarily, you know, food, culinary techniques and so on and so forth. Right. And so, you know, while I was there, when I was talking to a lot of our employees, they were like, look, you know, it'd be great if we could simplify the menu and then also do these innovative things with the existing ingredients, just changing the way in which we layered the products, or sometimes putting in different textures or different spices. You know, the thing that most people know is Doritos Locos Tacos. You know, we added nacho cheese to the taco shell. And that took off. Chipotle was a little different from the standpoint of it really is culinary and a commitment to a certain type of ingredient from farm all the way to the grill. And, you know, Chipotle, it was interesting. I got there and, you know, we had struggled with a food safety incident. And as a result, we were trying to do things to get transactions back, and we were doing things that just didn't make sense for Chipotle. Like we were going to try a smaller burrito. We were going to try doing bundle meals. It was all these things that were just completely against what Chipotle is about. Chipotle is about actually great food but customized at speed. And frankly, you get to control that customization right in front of you. And so, you know, you got to recognize what makes the business unique and what makes the business special. And the other thing I tell you, too, is I had the opportunity to recruit and bring in really great people. They should be the ones that hopefully are pushing us to the next level, because they're more in the details. They're more of an expert than I am. And as you said earlier, the front line and the people managing and working with the front line should be doing the same thing.
And that's a big part of the leadership style, right?
