Since becoming Starbucks CEO two years ago and launching a turnaround of the struggling coffee chain, Brian Niccol said the company is ready to move into its next phase. “The shine is back on Starbucks,” Niccol declared in a CNBC interview Thursday. Niccol added that he aims to “finish the job on uplifting all of our coffeehouses,” with the goal to recreate the warmth and environment of the coffeehouse. The CEO said that over the past nine months, the company has renovated over 1,000 locations. By the end of the 2026 fiscal year, he expects to finish 1,500 or more, with thousands more to be updated in the next fiscal year. Overall, Niccol is focused on keeping Starbucks culturally relevant and attracting customers across more parts of the day. “We’ve really been focusing on making sure that the menu and brand [are] very much in culture and leading culture,” Niccol said on CNBC on Thursday. He said that will be accomplished through digital menu boards to give the company greater flexibility in offering different products throughout the day as well as new items altogether. That includes new beverages like protein drinks, refreshers, seasonal favorites like pumpkin spice drinks for fall, along with other products and experiences that are better resonating with customers today. Starbucks shares are up roughly 10% since Niccol officially started on September 9, 2024, and up about 30% since his appointment was announced a month before. At the time, investors — including us at the Club — cheered the announcement. Jim Cramer has long respected Niccol for his track record of reviving restaurant brands, particularly during his previous successful turnaround efforts as CEO of Chipotle and before that Taco Bell. SBUX YTD mountain Starbucks stock performance year-to-date. The company’s fiscal third quarter results reported in late July offered the latest evidence that the turnaround is gaining momentum. The company delivered strong headline numbers and improved profitability — welcome signs after Niccol committed billions of dollars in investments to address all the challenges Starbucks was facing. Following the earnings print, Jim expressed continued confidence that Starbucks is on the right track, and has said he sees any volatility in the stock that might push it below $100 per share as an opportunity to buy more on weakness. Despite the company being in a vulnerable consumer-focused sector, the stock has meaningfully outperformed the broader market — up 19% this year versus the S & P 500 ‘s 11% year-to-date gain. Starbucks stock is currently trading at $100. We continue to maintain our $120 price target and buy-equivalent 1-rating on the stock. Before Niccol took the helm, Starbucks was struggling with declining sales, service quality, long order delays, and losing the traditional “third place” coffeehouse experience. Niccol has tackled these challenges through an operational overhaul called “Back to Starbucks.” The turnaround plan has largely been successful in shortening wait times, simplifying the menus, reversing the sales slump, and focusing on the brand’s return to a coffeehouse community hub. The plan is underpinned by the “Green Apron” service model, Niccol’s standard of operations that he created for partners have the equipment, tools, and environment needed to provide the best in-house experience to customers. Niccol further summed up his two years as CEO in a letter to employees on Thursday. Part of his continued turnaround plan, which he detailed in that post and in the CNBC interview, also includes adjusting its international operations, specifically in China, the company’s second-largest market. Starbucks sold 60% of its China business to Boyu Capital to run its business in China. Moving forward, Niccol said on CNBC that Boyu and Starbucks have a “shared vision” to grow the China business in a meaningful way. There are currently 8,000 coffeehouses in China. Niccol said Boyu aims to eventually establish 15,000 to 20,000 locations there. One unresolved issue at Starbucks is ongoing labor negotiations. The company has yet to reach an agreement with unionized workers. While a small part of the company’s workforce, Niccol said that management will “continue to come to the bargaining table and figure where are the places we can come to an agreement on.” The next phase of the Starbucks turnaround, and the future for its stock, is ultimately about Starbucks’ improved operations into durable, profitable growth. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long SBUX. See here for a full list of the stocks.) 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Starbucks is back, CEO Brian Niccol says. Here is what hes focused on next
