Cinnamon, Sharpies, and the 1990s: Brian Niccol’s plan to save Starbucks

Brian Niccol was hired to turn things around at Starbucks, and the new CEO is already bringing in some of that classic Niccol heat.

The former Chipotle boss, who oversaw the development of “Chipotlanes” (drive-throughs) and an 800% increase in the company’s share price from 2018 to 2024, has spent a sizable chunk of his first 52 days at Starbucks coming up with ideas to return the $110 billion global chain to its former glory.

A nonexhaustive list of those plans (which, perhaps notably, does not include changing or improving the taste of the coffee in any way whatsoever):

• Buying 200,000 Sharpies to bring back handwritten names on cups

• Replacing some metal chairs with comfy chairs (and possibly installing some warmer lightbulbs?)

• Bringing back the condiment bar (i.e.: putting sugar, milk, and cinnamon out for customers to add themselves)

• Serving to-stay coffee in ceramic mugs

• Ending the olive-oil coffee thing that worked like a laxative

• Nixing the alt-milk tax

• Scaling back on limited-time-offer drinks like the Unicorn Frappuccino

• Pivoting away from discounts but also freezing menu prices for the rest of the fiscal year

If most of these ideas sound like just Starbucks in 1998, that’s by design. Niccol said he wanted the chain to “reclaim the third place” vibe customers once associated with it and pivot back toward the idea of a community coffeehouse.

The test for Niccol and Starbucks will be if misspelling customer names (charming) and trusting customers with their own milk (homey) will be enough to snap three straight quarters of declining sales, cover its free fall in China, or make up for the nearly $250 million it spent fighting its workers’ unionization efforts (mostly unsuccessfully).