Starbucks realigning, cutting 600 jobs
Starbucks Corp. is retooling its U.S. divisions and eliminating 600 jobs in an effort to strengthen its focus on customers, the company's CEO said.
Seattle-based Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz wrote in an e-mail to employees that the company is laying off about 220 workers and won't refill 380 jobs. Nearly all of the staff cuts came from non-retail support positions, he said.
Starbucks employs about 144,000 in the U.S., more than 90 percent of whom are in retail jobs.
The company's field divisions also will be expanded to four from two in an effort to "enable the company to align our leaders closer to our customers and partners," Schultz wrote.
"Unfortunately, we have not been organized in a manner that allowed us to have a laser focus on the customer," he said payday advance.
Starbucks has nearly 16,000 stores, with more than 90 shops and kiosks in Central Ohio. The company entered Columbus with standalone cafes in 1999.
Schultz also said the company is reorganizing or consolidating several operations, including store development, marketing, finance and in-store experience.
The moves come weeks after the company told investors it plans to slow its rate of expansion and even close some underperforming cafes by the end of the year, taking into consideration sales figures and lease arrangements.
Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) employs about 172,000 worldwide and in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30 recorded profit of $672.6 million on $9.41 billion in revenue.