Starbucks Corporation announced Tuesday its plan to lay-off 5% of their corporate workforce across the globe as the giant coffee purveyor hopes to become “more nimble” and react to changing customer demands more quickly.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the Seattle-based food chain is struggling to adapt in a highly-competitive market as new brands and smaller companies gain larger shares of once-loyal customers.
“The company on Tuesday said it will lay off 350 employees. That number doesn’t include any employees who work in its cafes. In a memo sent to employees on Tuesday, Chief Executive Kevin Johnson said the areas impacted include marketing, creative, product, technology and store development. Employees were being informed of the job cuts on Tuesday,” writes the WSJ.
“The job impacts announced today are the most significant in this transformation,” added the statement.
The company was thrust into the national spotlight months ago when they announced an “open-bathroom” policy; sparking outrage from customers who complained of filthy conditions and said the new guidelines effectively turned their local coffee shops into homeless shelters.
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COFFEE CRISIS: Starbucks Stock TUMBLES after ‘Bias Training,’ Open Bathrooms
Starbucks’ stock took a hard hit this week after the company announced its plan to close over 150 stores across the United States; plunging by 10% and reaching its lowest point in a year after the company shut over 8,000 stores for ‘anti-bias’ training.
According to the Washington Times, new CEO Kevin Johnson sought to ease shareholder worries following the sudden drop; saying the coffee giant had an “unplanned initiative driven out of the Philadelphia incident.”
“In this current quarter, certainly we had an unplanned initiative driven out of the Philadelphia incident, we closed all our stores for training, we had to delay some marketing, but none of that is an excuse,” said Johnson.
“The fact is the way I think about a growth company at scale is we’ve got to deliver consistent growth, month after month, quarter after quarter, and year after year. And we have not done that,” he added.
The negative news comes after the global coffee chain unveiled its “open bathroom policy,” permitting anyone to use the restroom facilities without purchasing a product; a move many critics claim turned their local cafés into “homeless shelters.”
h/t Washington Times
COFFEE CHAOS: Starbucks' 'OPEN' Bathroom Policy TURNS OFF Customers
Coffee retail giant Starbucks announced earlier this month their new policy allowing “anyone” to use the store’s restroom facilities; sparking a fierce backlash from customers who claim the new rules are turning coffee shops into a “squatters” paradise.
According to CBS Los Angeles, the worldwide chain revised their “bathroom policy” just five weeks after two African American men were arrested in Philadelphia while waiting for a friend.
“If you go into a business and you just sit there and you don’t buy anything you are taking up space at the table,” said one frequent Starbucks drinker.
“You could end up having a squatters problem where you just have people coming and staying. I mean if they are going to do that they need to limit how long people can stay in there,” added another.
Even some employees are complaining about the new policy; saying “we get attacked a lot.”
“We don’t want to become a public bathroom, but we’re going to make the right decision 100% of the time and give people the key, because we don’t want anyone at Starbucks to feel as if we are not giving access to use the bathroom,” said a statement from the company.
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