Starbucks said Friday it will lay off 300 corporate employees and close underused U.S. offices in cities including Atlanta, Dallas and Chicago as it pushes ahead with a multi-year turnaround plan, a fresh wave of cuts that spares in-store baristas and follows last year’s elimination of 2,000 corporate roles.
The layoffs apply to support functions such as marketing, human resources and supply chain management, the company said. No international corporate employees are affected at this stage, but Starbucks added that it is reviewing its corporate structure outside the United States as well.
Chairman and CEO Brian Niccol, who joined the company in 2024, said last month that the simplified organization is helping Starbucks move more quickly. In addition to trimming staff, the company is closing underused regional offices while opening a new corporate hub in Nashville, Tennessee, that it expects to house up to 2,000 employees within five years.
The restructuring is expected to result in $400 million in charges, of which $120 million covers employee separation benefits. The figure underscores the scale of the overhaul Niccol has pursued since taking the helm, which has included not only workforce reductions but also a push to redesign roughly 1,000 U.S. stores this year for a “cozier, more comfortable feel” and the hiring of additional baristas to ensure faster service during peak hours.
The efforts appear to be delivering early results. In the January-to-March period, Starbucks said its U.S. same-store sales — sales at locations open at least a year — rose 7 percent, a sharp reversal after the chain had struggled with falling foot traffic and longer wait times. Niccol described the quarter as “the turn in our turnaround” during a conference call with investors.
“Our focus now is on sustaining our momentum and making our results repeatable and durable, all while delivering a healthy cost structure that supports profitable growth,” Niccol said. “It’s how we turn progress into consistent results.”