Starbucks has appointed Laxman Narasimhan to the position of CEO.
Narasimhan most recently served as CEO of Reckitt Benckiser, which owns products such as Lysol, Durex, and Mucinex. He announced his resignation from that position earlier this week. He’ll start at Starbucks in October, learning about the firm and its reinvention strategy before taking over as CEO in April.
Narasimhan formerly worked for PepsiCo, where he held several positions including global chief commercial officer. He was a senior partner at McKinsey before joining the food and beverage conglomerate.
Howard Schultz, who took over as temporary CEO of Starbucks from exiting CEO Kevin Johnson last spring, will remain in that role during the transition. He will continue on Starbucks’ board of directors.
Narasimhan takes over at a critical juncture in Starbucks’ history.
As CEO, he will face a lot of challenges. Starbucks is facing a union movement in its home market, with more than 200 locations in the United States voting to unite under Workers United. The conflict has resulted in unfavorable publicity and legal issues. Inflation hasn’t yet harmed sales, but it has raised menu pricing. And China, the company’s second-largest market, is still recovering from the epidemic, impeded by the country’s zero Covid policy.
In the six months before taking over, Narasimhan will spend time with Schultz, other business executives, employees, and customers, getting acquainted with the reinvention plan recently spelled forth by Schultz, who has stated that the firm requires an overhaul. Starbucks said in a statement that Schultz will stay “closely involved” in the initiative and will advise Narasimhan.
Schultz has previously stated that he intends to reimagine the employee, customer, and store experience in order to account for how the world has evolved since the epidemic. On September 13, the business will conduct an investor day in Seattle, where it is anticipated to reveal further specifics about the big changes it expects to undertake.
