About Brian Niccol
Brian Niccol, chairman and CEO of Starbucks, has been discussing the company’s turnaround efforts following several quarters of reported growth. In earnings interviews, Niccol stated that the company’s sales growth was driven by an increase in transactions, which he attributed to initiatives such as the “green apron service model” and a focus on customer service. He said the company had line of sight on over $2 billion in cost savings over the next two years and described Starbucks as an “affordable luxury item” that is “priced pretty darn competitively.” Niccol also discussed the upcoming launch of a scheduled ordering system on May 11, which he said was intended to address bottlenecks created by mobile ordering.
In April 2026, Niccol appeared alongside Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to announce that Starbucks would open a new corporate office in Nashville, with plans to invest over $100 million and create 2,000 jobs. Niccol described the move as “strategically smart,” citing access to talent in procurement and technology, as well as an opportunity to grow the company’s presence in the Southeast. He stated that Seattle would remain the company’s global headquarters. In a separate leadership discussion, Niccol said he aims to lead by ensuring “you have the smartest people in the room” and described his management style as “knights of the round table versus king and court.”
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Brian Niccol's recent appearances.
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✨ AI-enhanced transcript with speaker attribution
K
Kate Rogers0:02
Mike, we'll see you a bit later in the show. Let's get to Kate Rogers along with Brian Niccol.
Morgan, thanks. And Brian, thanks for being with us.
B
Brian Niccol0:18
Thank you, Kate.
K
Kate Rogers0:20
Are you seeing any signs of resistance to the pricing of the brand?
B
Brian Niccol0:24
Yeah, look, we're really excited about our growth, and I think that's just an outcome of that great value proposition. What we're seeing is every income cohort continue to show an affinity for Chipotle. We're excited about the momentum we have in the business. We're going to continue to push great culinary, great customization, terrific speed, and all of that combined to just a tremendous value proposition.
K
Kate Rogers1:03
Brian, you talked with us before about pricing levers, the ability to adjust as needed. Is that going to be it to end the year?
B
Brian Niccol1:20
I think the thing that's important, we really didn't take price. This growth was driven by transactions and great operational execution. You know, I'm delighted to see consumers respond to what I mentioned earlier, and obviously we took some, probably frankly, the last two weeks in October. That was to offset some labor inflation, but we feel good about where we're positioned, and we're optimistic about where we go from here.
M
Morgan1:51
Brian, it's Morgan. Great to have you back on the show. I want to ask a question that many of our CEOs in the food and beverage business as well as med tech have been being asked: your take on the weight-loss drugs. Have you seen any impact? How are you thinking about that from a business perspective, if you are?
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Brian Niccol2:14
Thanks for the question. Good to see you, Morgan. These drugs, we're not really seeing an impact. The more we study and understand it, frankly I think this is another place where we're positioned well. Our food is clean, highly customizable, so if you do decide to go on these drugs, you can get exactly what you want to eat. Pretty much all these things, you can create exactly what you want. Behind all of it, it's rooted in clean food, food with integrity. As we look out in the future, we think we're well positioned, even for those who decide to use a drug for weight loss.
M
Morgan3:05
I'm curious about the Aces in Places strategy you've been pushing, making sure you have the employees in the store really working down that line and being efficient at key times. You mentioned labor costs. How is the tightness in the labor market and the turnover you're seeing or not seeing in the workforce impacting your ability to really keep those Aces in Places and being as efficient as you want to be?
B
Brian Niccol3:32
Look, we may need to put you on the line with that knowledge. Aces in Places is a critical piece of the puzzle to execute our throughput. Our turnover with the managers is the lowest in years. That delivers stability for the team. We're seeing really good abilities to hire. Seeing with our growth is resulting in better retention. So, we're in the best labor position we've been in in a while. Really what we're focused on is ensuring how best to execute the model. We brought in everybody to talk about this exact thing: how do we perform on the standard of excellent food with great family served really fast.
M
Morgan4:31
I know the company has been testing some processes. How are workers responding to the automation? Do they think it works well?
B
Brian Niccol4:47
Look, we're very much in our staging process on all these things. The dual-sided grill, the avocado processor. When our teams are putting it into test stores, they love the automation. We call it co-botics, because it works with them, cutting, coring, scooping avocados. This is something a team member told us: if we figured out how to automate it, that will help. The dual-sided grill, we're testing at about ten restaurants. Chippy, we're doing some additional work on how to clean that better. The avocado processor is off to a good start. We want to make sure that it delivers on the food experience, the people experience, and obviously the business results.
