Starbucks Makes Baristas Change Their Clothes

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Apr 16, 9:15AM EDT

Starbucks Makes Baristas Change Their Clothes — © 2024 Getty Images / Getty Images News via Getty Images

Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX | SBUX Price Prediction) new CEO Brian Niccol has told the coffee shop company’s baristas that he has a new dress code. In North America, baristas have to wear black shirts under their aprons. Before, they could pick their shirts without restrictions. There are also new rules about the color of barista’s pants. According to CNN, Starbucks said it would “allow our iconic green apron to shine and create a sense of familiarity for our customers.” The decision is part of a long list Niccol has released to turn around the troubled company.

The Turnaround Plan

Empowering baristas and improving service.

Niccol has also cut the Starbucks menu by about a third. He has removed items that did not sell well. The argument is that food and coffee can be delivered faster if there are fewer choices. The items removed already sell poorly.

Niccol put out a letter just after he joined, and later, an announcement about the wider changes. Last September he released “An open letter for all partners, customers and stakeholders.” He listed four goals, which included plans to “empower” baristas to serve customers better, improve morning service, bring back Starbucks as a “community coffee house,” and tell the company’s story.

In February, Niccoil released his “Back to Starbucks” plan. As part of this, he cut 1,100 management jobs and said some open jobs would not be filled. He also changed the company’s work-from-home rules.

Starbucks has struggled. A difficult 2024 was highlighted in earnings released on January 28. Comparable store sales dropped 4%, and in North America fell by the same amount. China comparable store sales declined by 6%. China is the second largest market for Starbucks after the United States.

Revenue for the most recent quarter was flat at $9.4 billion, but per-share earnings cratered 23% to $0.69.

After rising sharply when Niccol joined, this year, Starbucks stock is down 8%, which is about the same as the S&P 500. New outfits for baristas probably will not change that.

These Product Boycotts Actually Scared Companies Into Paying Attention

Follow 24/7 Wall St. on Google

About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.