Restaurants has hired Chipotle CEO Brian Nichol to replace Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan.
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Starbucks The replacement of its CEO Laxman Narasimhan was announced on Tuesday Chipotle CEO Brian Nicol.
On the news, Starbucks shares rose 10% in premarket trading, while Chipotle shares fell 10%.
Narasimhan took over as CEO in March 2023. The coffee company’s performance has been particularly poor this year, hurt by lower sales in its two biggest markets, the US and China. Former CEO Howard Schultz, who picked Narasimhan as his successor, wrote an open letter in May weighing in on the company’s issues and offering advice but never mentioning Narasimhan by name. Enthusiast investor Elliott Management bought a stake in the company in recent weeks.
Starbucks shares fell 21% during Narasimhan’s tenure, excluding Tuesday’s move.
Narasimhan’s exit is effective immediately. Starbucks CFO Rachel Ruggeri will serve as interim chief executive until September 9, when Nicole officially takes over the leadership role.
Nicole has served as CEO of Chipotle since 2018. Before that he headed Yum Brands’ Taco Bell. As Chipotle’s CEO, he helped it recover from a foodborne illness scandal and steered its restaurants through pandemics. In recent quarters, while other restaurants have seen a sharp pullback in consumer spending, Chipotle has bucked the trend by increasing its traffic and sales.
Chipotle’s COO Scott Boatwright will serve as the burrito chain’s interim CEO. Chipotle CFO Jack Hartung, who planned to retire next year, will now stay on as head of strategy, finance and supply chain.
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