SEATTLE — Starbucks said it would cut 600 jobs and restructure operations as it seeks to reverse a decline in customer visits.
About 220 of its more than 170,000 workers were fired, with other cuts coming from the elimination of open positions, the coffee giant said Thursday in a statement. Most terminated employees were support people who don’t serve customers.
The changes come after chairman Howard Schultz resumed the position of chief executive Jan. 7 with the stated goal of improving the customer experience at the coffee chain’s more than 15,000 cafes. Schultz said last month he would slow the pace of store growth and close 100 underperforming locations.
“We have to step up to the challenge of being strategic as well as nimble as our business evolves,” Shultz said in a letter to Starbucks employees. “Unfortunately, we have not been organized in a manner that allowed us to have a laser focus on the customer.”
The organizational changes include doubling the number of U.S. divisions to four. Visits to U.S. locations have declined the past two quarters.
