Why I Finally Quit Starbucks
What is the coffee/carbon exchange rate?
Last month Starbucks made the news when the company fired its CEO Laxman Narasimhan, who was a former PepsiCo executive and took the reins at Starbucks in September 2022 from founder Howard Schultz, who had taken over from the previous CEO six months earlier.
The tenure of CEOs at Starbucks is not measured in decades. But that’s not why I will no longer be darkening the Starbucks drivethru.
The tenure of CEOs at Starbucks is not measured in decades.
The new CEO, Brian Niccol, left fast-casual Chipotle to assume leadership at Starbucks. Chipotle is based in Newport Beach, CA, conveniently not far from Niccol’s home. Niccol’s new office is in Seattle, at Starbucks HQ.
Unlike most employees, Niccol won’t be relocating. He gets a hybrid schedule of three days per week in the office, like many corporate employees. According to Google maps, that’s a commute of just under 1,000 miles each way. Fortunately, John Wayne Airport is conveniently located next door to Newport Beach.
As part of his agreement, Brian Niccol will be commuting to work for his three office days using the company’s GulfStream G550. He also gets a house in Seattle for when he decides to stay over.
As part of his agreement, Brian Niccol will be commuting to work for his three office days using the company’s GulfStream G550.
In 2020, Starbucks set a corporate goal of a 50 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2030. One wonders what they will have to change to make up for this sudden increase.
How much of an increase, you ask? I went to Perplexity.ai and asked that question. According to what I’ve learned (with references included), the average flight from Los Angeles to Seattle is about two and a half hours. A typical private jet emits about two tons of CO2 per hour of flight.
Each round trip will be about five hours, or 10 tons of CO2 up and back.
The average global carbon footprint per person is estimated at about 4 tons annually. For those of us in the uber-wasteful United States, it’s more like 16 tons, or 4x the global average per year.
Each round trip will be about five hours, or 10 tons of CO2 up and back.
If Mr. Niccol does indeed commute to the office three days per week, he will be putting out enough CO2 in one week to account for the yearly output of three Americans.
Put another way, in one year he will add more CO2 to the atmosphere than 160 average Americans, or 650 less wasteful humans from other parts of the globe.
This so you and I can get our coffee on the way to work (in our cars which emit about 0.012 tons per commute day on average). And to — as my first-year finance professor told us on day one of class — increase shareholder value.
He will add more CO2 to the atmosphere than 160 average Americans value.
Brian Niccol has a big job ahead. His predeccessors weren’t up to the task, and there is nothing in his history that indicates he will do better. His biggest task is likely to be changing the conversation away from his commute, but that will be more about the costs involved (fuel, flight crew, ground crew, maintenance, etc.) than carbon emissions.
I don’t believe for a minute that Starbucks will notice the loss of my Venti bold, no room. I have enough left on my gold Starbucks Gift Card, when combined with the 200-odd points, to maybe get a Double-Smoked Bacon, Cheddar & Egg sandwich to say goodbye.
