A Starbucks worker of nearly 20 years says the chain has gone from ‘quirky coffee shop’ to ‘soulless fast-food empire’

Schultz has since come under fire for everything from Starbucks’ treatment of unionizing workers to the chain’s olive-oil coffee drinks.

But for one North Carolina Starbucks worker who has spent nearly 20 years at the company, Schultz’s decision on healthcare benefits symbolized what Starbucks once was.

“It used to be a great place to work,” the employee said. “People wouldn’t leave Starbucks unless they were college students and went up into a higher career, or they retired with the company.” The employee requested anonymity, citing fear of retaliation from Starbucks, but Business Insider has verified his identity and employment.

Starbucks is at a crossroads. The company has spent several years fighting employees at hundreds of stores as they attempted to form unions and negotiate contracts — though Starbucks said it would bargain with those employees this year.

The company is also in the midst of a CEO change. Starbucks said last month that Brian Niccol, who stepped down as the CEO of Chipotle on Sunday, would replace Laxman Narasimhan as CEO as of September 9. The switch comes as Starbucks faces slumping sales in the US, long customer wait times, and challenges in its business in China.

The North Carolina employee also pointed to the company’s stock-grant program, Bean Stock, and its decision to call store employees “partners” — both of which began during Schultz’s early years as CEO in 1991.

The employee, who started working at Starbucks in the mid-2000s, said the company had a reputation for treating workers well when he joined. But he said changes over the past couple years, such as cuts to staffing levels at his store and an increasing stream of mobile orders, have changed that image.

The Starbucks location where the employee works now has two or three people on duty most shifts, down from up to five a few years ago, he said. That leaves employees more stretched, especially with a constant stream of orders placed through the Starbucks app, and less time to serve customers who order in-store.

“It started out as a trendy, quirky coffee shop job, and it’s just morphed into this soulless fast-food empire since that time,” the employee said.

“Ever since Howard left, I said things have just really gone downhill,” he said about the period after Schultz stepped down as CEO in 2017.

A Starbucks spokesperson said the company seeks feedback from employees through surveys and meetings between employees and leadership. Store employees “have multiple opportunities throughout the year to voice their opinions, share their experiences, and suggest areas for improvement,” the spokesperson added.

Wall Street analysts have lauded Niccol as the turnaround expert that Starbucks needs, citing Chipotle’s severalfold stock price increase during his tenure.

But the Starbucks worker at the North Carolina store isn’t as optimistic. He told BI he’s skeptical that Niccol will address the problems he sees at his store, including a chronic shortage of worker hours and the surge of mobile orders that tend to overwhelm the employees on duty.

The Starbucks spokesperson declined to comment on any early plans Niccol might have for employee compensation or working conditions. They added that barista wages range “from $15.25 to $26 per hour.”

The North Carolina employee also pointed to another reason he’s not hopeful: the Chipotle near the Starbucks where he works.

“No matter what time of day I go in, they always look pissed off,” he said of the Chipotle employees he’s seen there. “And it looks like sometimes they don’t have enough people working.”

Do you work at Starbucks or another major restaurant chain and have a story idea to share? Reach out to this reporter at abitter@businessinsider.com.

Correction: September 6, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misspelled Howard Schultz’s name in the first paragraph.