These Executives Could Replace Starbucks CEO Niccol

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Oct 7, 9:15AM EDT

Quick Read

Expectations for the upcoming Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) earnings report are low.
Perhaps it is time for a new chief executive to be named.

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These Executives Could Replace Starbucks CEO Niccol — © Pattanaphong Khuankaew / Getty Images

When Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX | SBUX Price Prediction) releases earnings on October 29, the report will likely confirm what many people who follow that company believe. Same-store sales will still be in trouble. Revenue is expected to remain flat, and earnings are projected to decline. CEO Brian Niccol has frantically changed Starbucks’ direction. The latest move was to close several hundred stores. Closing stores is rarely a good tactic when same-store sales are struggling.

Starbucks’ stock is down 15% in the past year, while the S&P 500 is up 17%. Bad earnings will likely further lower the price.

Niccol tends to give names to his significant corporate changes. The store closing one is called “Project Bloom.” During the last earnings call, he referred to a “Back to Starbucks” strategy. This included creating new barista uniforms, reducing the number of menu items, positioning Starbucks as a local coffee shop, and laying off hundreds of corporate employees.

Independent lead director Jørgen Vig Knudstorp will have to push the plan for a replacement. Some of the best candidates:

“Founder” Howard D. Schultz, who keeps coming back as CEO when Starbucks is in trouble. Worker unions do not like him, but he knows every aspect of the company.

Josh Kobza is Restaurant Brands International’s chief executive officer. The company owns Tim Hortons, Burger King, Popeyes, and Firehouse Subs. He has held positions including chief operating officer, chief technology officer, and chief financial officer. The company has 32,000 locations in 120 countries, and its annual revenue is almost $45 billion.

Rick Cardenas is the president and chief executive officer of Darden Restaurants. The company runs Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Yard House, Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, The Capital Grille, Chuy’s, Seasons 52, Eddie V’s, and Bahama Breeze. He also has strategic training from his time at management consulting firm Bain & Company.

Scott Mezvinsky, CEO of KFC, reports directly to the CEO of Yum! Brands. KFC is arguably its parent company’s most successful division. He has run the financial and strategy parts of the division, and KFC has 30,000 stores across 150 countries.

The board has several good candidates, and it should move now before that stock collapses.

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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.